Newspaper: Giorgio Tsoukalos Blames Aliens and Religion for the "Crap That We're in Today"

6/7/2018

This week, I am busy working on my All About History cover feature, so I don’t have a lot of time for blogging. Instead, I will share with you today a report from the unreliable tabloid Metro about what Ancient Aliens star Giorgio Tsoukalos is reported to have said a few days ago at the annual Contact in the Desert gathering of Ancient Aliens stars and their hangers-on. According to the paper, Tsoukalos was rather blunter about allegations of proof of extraterrestrial visitation when speaking to a friendly crowd than he is when opining on television.

He said, ‘The reason that we’re in the crap that we’re in today is because of misunderstood technology.

‘The reason we have religions today is because of misunderstood visits of extraterrestrials.’

Tsoukalos claimed in his two-hour speech that ancient artworks which appear to describe aeroplanes are ‘proof’ that aliens visited Earth.

Tsoukalos claims that the Pyramids are an example of alien technology, as well as ancient Sanskrit texts.

With the caveat that I don’t entirely trust Metro to report anything related to ancient astronauts with anything approaching accuracy, I do find it interesting that Tsoukalos would declare the pyramids to be an example of alien technology, given that he spent most of the past decade loudly insisting that aliens didn’t build the pyramids and weren’t involved in their construction except to have delivered the plans for how to build them to the Egyptians. “Repeat after me: The pyramids were NOT built by aliens,” he said in 2011. Of course, he went on in that same statement to wrongly claim that al-Maqrizi’s Al-Khitat was an “ancient text” that proved that the aliens offered “assistance” in the building of the pyramids. This was wrong on two levels: First, the text doesn’t attribute the pyramids to sky beings but to antediluvian Egyptians, and second, it’s not ancient. It’s from 1400 CE.

I more astonished, though, by Tsoukalos’s allegation that the world today is full of “crap” and that it’s the fault of religions inspired by space aliens. That quotation really called for a bit more context, and I would have liked to see the article explain just what he was talking about in a bit more detail. That said, it seems pretty clear that Tsoukalos has a low opinion of religion, and in private he is much more willing to express his liberal and anti-traditional views than he is on TV. It amuses me a bit that even pundits on the far fringe of acceptable thought feel compelled to self-censor to avoid offending cranky TV audiences, or that producers censor them for such purpose; but then I remember that these jerks are doing real and lasting damage to science and civilization by promoting a quasi-racist cult of unreason. They should be put on TV to rant away in all their awfulness and see how long they last.

33 Comments

Tom mellett

6/7/2018 10:45:36 am

Hello Jason,

How exciting to see that you too have become an intrepid correspondent for GNN (Giorgio News Network)

Yesterday, I did my aggregating duty by posting this GNN report on 3 of your recent blog entries that involved Giorgio.

Now I must post it here where it really belongs.

=============

*****BREAKING GNN NEWS*******.

GIORGIO’S ASTOUNDING CLAIM ABOUT GOD
DELIVERED TO ENRAPTURED CONTACT IN DESERT AUDIENCE

MAKES NEWS ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE POND IN UK EXPRESS

“The reason we have religion today is because of misunderstood visits of extra-terrestrials.”
— Giorgio Tsoukalos, Ancient Aliens

https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/970172/Alien-news-Giorgio-Tsoukalos-ancient-aliens-UFO-conference-Contact-in-the-Desert

Aliens created GOD when they left Earth - TV history presenter claims

ANCIENT alien civilisations were once mistakenly venerated by humans, creating the base for modern-day religion, it has been spectacularly claimed by History Channel presenter Giorgio Tsoukalos.

BY SEBASTIAN KETTLEY

Mr Tsoukalos presented his incredible theory about the origins of religion at the annual Contact in the Desert UFO conference in Indiana Wells, California, this weekend.

The TV conspiracy theorist known for hosting Ancient Aliens on the History Channel gave an impassioned two-hour talk about ancient encounters between humans and extraterrestrial astronauts.

The UFO-hunter alleged early people misrepresented alien visitors as deities and their technology was interpreted as magic.

He said: “The reason that we’re in the crap that we’re in today is because of misunderstood technology.

The reason we have religion today is because of misunderstood visits of extra-terrestrials.”

According to Mr Tsoukalos, examples of the misrepresented technology are evident in the Egyptian and Central American Pyramids as well as ancient literature and art.

The TV host blamed archaeologists for dismissing evidence of alien visitors in ancient relics as artwork of gods, magic and other fantastical beings.

Among other things, the Ancient Aliens host claimed the Earth is round and not flat, humans will one day explore the far corners of space and aliens do in fact need space suits when travelling through space.

He said: “If the alien guy says that the Earth is round, trust me, it’s round.”

Mr Tsoukalos is a vocal proponent of the idea alien astronauts interacted with ancient humans in the past.

His offbeat theories came to prominence and online fame thanks to his appearances on the History Channel series Ancient Aliens.

The TV host has since appeared on the Travel Channel, the Sci-Fi Channel and National Geographic.

However, his work on Ancient Aliens has been described by audiences to be farfetched and extremely speculative.

Historian Ronald Fritze criticised the “pseudo-history” presented by the show’s experts.

He said: “The producers provided the window dressing of giving both the true believers and the skeptics some screen time.

“In the end, however, the final presentation was heavily stacked in favour of those who believe in ancient astronauts.”

The Contact in the Desert Expo is an annual UFO and alien conference held in the US.

Riley V

6/7/2018 10:57:45 am

So Aliens and Religion are the cause of all our problems? So he is half right.

Dunior

6/7/2018 12:48:51 pm

Oh the irony. Every word that comes out of this guys mouth is an advertisement for the Theosophical Society. But its all religion and aliens fault? He is promoting a way of faith while degrading ways of faith. Pretty slick.

Americanegro

6/7/2018 01:51:27 pm

The fact that you didn't mention the Plungers pretty much negates everything you did say.

6/7/2018 02:15:46 pm

The only thing we would need a plunger for is to unclog all the shit that spews out of your mouth from time to time.

6/7/2018 05:35:18 pm

First, such language! Second, if it's spewing, how is it clogged?

6/8/2018 11:26:46 am

Your logic has defeated me. I concede.

Niggar

6/11/2018 02:44:27 pm

White folks like it when a niggar can write.

Machala

6/7/2018 01:40:14 pm

Jason,
A small quibble with one description you use: "...the annual Contact in the Desert gathering of Ancient Aliens stars and their hangers-on."
STARS ????
I realize that Tsoukalos et al. are legends in their own minds, but they would hardly qualify as "stars", in the true Hollywood or Broadway sense of the word.
I would considered the talking heads of such shows as "television personalities" - and that's being overly generous, since many of them lack personality.
I suppose one could consider these people "minor celebrities" but certainly not leading lights or stars - dim wits rather than bright minds !

Jason Colavito link

6/7/2018 02:16:26 pm

Unfortunately, in Hollywood usage, "star" has long since degraded to mean nothing more than "paid cast member."

Kal

6/7/2018 02:01:44 pm

I would call him a TV star ,as the lead of a top rated conspiracy show that has been around for years.

Newspaper: Giorgio Tsoukalos Blames Aliens and Religion for the "Crap That We're in Today"

Doesn't mean he's right, or that it makes sense he's a celeb.

Having interned for a US version of the Metro, not really the same producers, some years ago, they will print celeb stories about anyone even slightly famous. It dosn't matter so long as it sells the ads in it. Probably the case for the UK one too.

Hal

6/7/2018 02:31:59 pm

Jason does the same thing he criticizes fringe writers for: he uses an unreliable secondary source and treats it as factual. What a hypocrite.

An Anonymous Nerd

6/8/2018 07:41:06 pm

What Jason's not doing that your folks do is pretending the source is reliable, and/or pretending it was his original finding, and/or hiding or disguising the source.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Uncle Ron

6/7/2018 02:47:06 pm

The reason we're in the crap we're in today is the same reason that people actually believe the crap Tsoukalos, and his ilk, say: the abject failure of the American educational system.

Great Uncle Ron

6/7/2018 07:20:35 pm

The tipping point was when the schools stopped teaching kids respect for my lawn.

Bob Jase

6/7/2018 02:58:07 pm

Giorgio Tsoukalos could just look in a mirror to see one reason this world is full of crap.

Pops

6/7/2018 08:55:48 pm

What I find odd about the religious views of ancient alien/fringe history charlatans is the similarity but yet polar opposites of difference. Some are either very anti-theist mixed with new age features or religious fundamentalists. It’s mostly those two views that fringe “historians” hold with nothing in between. Both use the perceived aliendidit fallacy to either attack religion or be fervent religious nutjobs. I enjoy that Jason frequently critiques new age mumbo jumbo but he should reserve a few future posts to critique religious fundamentalism and their abuse of history and archaeology. Jason had done this before but the urgency to cover it more seems to become more dire as the days pass. For example Ted Cruz is spewing anti-Evolution pro-Creationist absurdities as we speak. The secretary of educatio (the one destroying the education system) and the Vice President are creationist (among others, including majority of Republican politicians and voters) and who have been vocal in placing Creationism and sabotaging Evolution in science classrooms. As we all know, Creationism abuses the heck out history and archaeology for their extreme version of religion.

6/7/2018 10:09:36 pm

I love what the character Henry Drummond ( a fiction version of the lawyer Clarence Darrow ) in Inherit The Wind, has to say to the court, about banning evolution:
" Can't you understand? That if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime to teach it in the public schools, tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools? And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it. And soon you may ban books and newspapers. And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant, and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion upon the mind of man. If you can do one, you can do the other. Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy, and needs feeding. And soon, your Honor, with banners flying and with drums beating we'll be marching backward, BACKWARD, through the glorious ages of that Sixteenth Century when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment and intelligence to the human mind! "

Stickler

6/7/2018 10:18:11 pm

"The secretary of educatio (the one destroying the education system) and the Vice President are creationist (among others, including majority of Republican politicians and voters)"

Source on "including majority of Republican politicians and voters" please?

6/7/2018 11:18:40 pm

He probably should have said " including many 'Trumpists' - politicians and voters ".
You'd have to take a poll to conclude that a majority of Republicans supported this position and, given the predilections of politicians to lie, I doubt you'd get a straight answer from any of them.
With regard to Republican voters, I sincerely doubt that the "majority" support creationism. We have to separate what used to be considered the registered Republican voter from what has now become the party of Trump - and I don't consider Trumpists to be true Republicans.

Huh? What?

6/8/2018 12:55:45 am

Trump is a walking Bitter Bitch Litmus Test.

6/8/2018 07:40:13 pm

Let's see here...I can't speak for what source Pops was using or referring to but here's a possibility.

https://www.publicpolicypolling.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/PPP_Release_National_22415.pdf

Question 16. Not a majority, really, but a plurality of 49% ("plurality" means it was the most-popular choice, but it was less than half plus one, which would constitute a majority), because there were a lot in the "undecided" camp. Based on potential voters in the Republican Primary, so good for capturing the politically active folks. I'm very uncomfortable with the small sample size, though: 316. So let us move on and see what else we can find to round things out.

Same folks did a narrower poll of Republicans in Georgia. Per those results, 70% of Georgia Republicans (way more than a majority) believed in Creationism.

(Here's an interesting note though: A plurality of Democrats in Georgia ((43% but the most-popular choice)) picked the same choice.)

Again though a sample size I'm uncomfortable with: 520, covering both parties.

The Pew Research Center found results similar to Public Policy Polling.

http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/30/publics-views-on-human-evolution/

Sample size of 4,000, fusing together the results of what technically were two different surveys, but even if you feel that means you should halve the sample size it still puts you at 2,000. Once again a plurality (not a majority, but a plurality; see above) of Republicans went for Creationism. 43%. It's gotten worse, I note, from 2009 to 2013. Depressing but not surprising.

So all told if Pops had said a "plurality" he'd be on safer ground but he's got a solid point. Interestingly, you seem to be conceding what Pops said about your leaders. which to me is a wise move on your part, so I won't address that at present.

Put together, we can see that among Republicans, a plurality of everyday people and some very high-placed leaders choose to ignore scientific evidence on this point. That, I argue, says a lot about the special relationship between the Right and the Fringe.

-An Anonymous Nerd

6/8/2018 11:26:27 pm

NERD,
Very good points !
BTW, though, regarding conceding points about my leaders... I'm NOT because they AREN'T my leaders.
I don't live in the United States and consequently, have no dog in that fight.
I merely observe, cringe or scream, write sarcastic observations ( usually in Spanish ) for various publications not read in the U.S.

6/9/2018 12:03:31 am

Hi Machala. I was, so you know, responding to "Stickler."

-An Anonymous Nerd

6/9/2018 01:14:57 pm

Noted with interest: You don't mention the Democrat percentage in the Pew poll.

6/9/2018 04:10:50 pm

"Noted with interest: You don't mention the Democrat percentage in the Pew poll."

It wasn't at issue in the discussion until now.

In 2013, only 27% of Democrats believed in Creationism, as defined by the poll, compared with 48% of Republicans. A distinct minority of Democrats, and a clear plurality of Republicans.

What if anything to make of this is another question, of course. One could argue the issue is highly sensitive to question wording.

However, a clear plurality of the rank and file of a certain group having an anti-science notion (a very important one to boot), and that same notion existing among the elite of the same group, is not likely to be a coincidence.

You asked for a source for a specific claim someone else made. I'm not the person who made the claim, but I gave you some possibilities. You then tried to change topic.

-An Anonymous Nerd

6/10/2018 08:06:27 pm

How dare you criticize my Senator, AnoinTed Cruz. As a Christian Dominionist he wishes to make America a Fundementalist Protestant Christian Nation.
His father truly has anointed him with Holy Oils so that Ted will be one of the Seven Earthly Kings (likely of America). In his Pre-Rapture Tribulationist view he will rule for the 7 years of Tribulation before the Rapture.

6/9/2018 05:52:13 pm

I didn't change the topic asshole, I simply raised a qualm after you stepped in in "Pops"'s stead, some might say hijacked the thread.

At least I didn't take the easy road and ask "Which is better, a creationist or a klansman?"

6/9/2018 06:53:22 pm

No, you changed the topic. I'll elaborate.

Someone raised the Republican belief in creationism, you asked for a source, I took a stab at finding one. When I did find multiple sources, you said: "Noted with interest: You don't mention the Democrat percentage in the Pew poll."

This wasn't "raising a qualm," this was an attempt to change the topic and, further, to raise an implication. Democratic belief in Creationism wasn't the topic, you brought it in. Also your question makes no sense phrased as it is unless you wanted to imply a certain answer. An implication which I then dispensed with appropriately, and further pointed out that you had changed the topic.

Your response to that was to call me a name and to accuse me of "hijacking the thread."

Hijacking a thread typically refers to attempting to change the subject of a thread, usually from a topic unfavorable to the poster to one favorable to the poster. I suppose it could be an accurate description of what you tried to do, and have done before here.

-An Anonymous Nerd

6/10/2018 03:00:13 pm

Noted with interest: You still obstinately don't mention the Democrat percentage in the Pew poll.

Creationists are preferable to the Ku Klux Klan and the Democrat party is the party of the Klan.

You still obstinately don't mention the Democrat percentage in the Pew poll.

6/10/2018 03:30:58 pm

I did mention it, actually. Here is the quote from my earlier post:

[[In 2013, only 27% of Democrats believed in Creationism, as defined by the poll, compared with 48% of Republicans. A distinct minority of Democrats, and a clear plurality of Republicans.

What if anything to make of this is another question, of course. One could argue the issue is highly sensitive to question wording.]]

Also regarding the KKK and the Democrats, it appears as though you've fallen for a recent urban legend, propagated by a Republican official in the State of Wisconsin.

Here are some details.

http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2017/oct/23/dane-county-republican-party/debunking-claim-kkk-was-founded-military-arm-democ/

That article explains how the KKK was formed separately from the Democratic party; how their agenda did indeed align with the Democratic party in the South a long time ago; and, finally, how the political lines have changed since the 1870s. I note that 148 years have passed between 1870, and now. (This is 2018.)

Regarding the changes of the political lines, I note that the article quotes a History Professor from the University of Buffalo:

[["Although the names stayed the same, the platforms of the two parties reversed each other in the mid-20th century, due in large part to white ‘Dixiecrats’ flight out of the Democratic Party and into the Republican Party after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964," she said. "By then, the Democratic Party had become the party of ‘reform,’ supporting a variety of ‘liberal’ causes, including civil rights, women’s rights, etc. whereas this had been the banner of the Republican Party in the nineteenth century."]]

Finally here's the President of the United States (Donald Trump, a Republican from New York City) regarding a violent incident perpetrated by the Right against the Left, over statues dedicated to the Confederacy. Note which side he's pretty clearly on.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/15/full-text-trump-comments-white-supremacists-alt-left-transcript-241662

[[REPORTER: You said there was hatred and violence on both sides?

TRUMP: I do think there is blame – yes, I think there is blame on both sides. You look at, you look at both sides. I think there’s blame on both sides, and I have no doubt about it, and you don't have any doubt about it either. And, and, and, and if you reported it accurately, you would say.

REPORTER: The neo-Nazis started this thing. They showed up in Charlottesville.

TRUMP: Excuse me, they didn't put themselves down as neo-Nazis, and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group – excuse me, excuse me. I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down, of to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name. ]]

-An Anonymous Nerd

6/10/2018 06:13:18 pm

Again, you obstinately didn't mention the Democrat percentage in the Pew Poll. It makes you look like a liar, liar, liar. The Democrat Party and the Klan were founded at different times? Well that's okay then.

6/10/2018 06:39:03 pm

[[Again, you obstinately didn't mention the Democrat percentage in the Pew Poll.]]

Twice now, actually. Despite that not being the initial topic.

Please see my other posts for the specifics, because I copying and pasting the same thing for three times in a row grows tiresome.

[[ It makes you look like a liar, liar, liar. ]]

My being a liar wouldn't be a good conclusion to draw even if I hadn't mentioned it, but I did mention it, twice now, so we'll never need to face that dilemma.

[[The Democrat Party and the Klan were founded at different times? Well that's okay then. ]]

Again see the other post. I not only linked you but provided you a partial excerpt.

I know you'll never stop insulting and casting about increasingly-desperate, and decreasingly-accurate, negative comments, and I know I'll never persuade you, but you aren't my audience. The audience is anyone who might, for whatever reason, take you seriously.

-An Anonymous Nerd