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Review of Ancient Aliens S13E01 "The UFO Conspiracy"

4/27/2018

54 Comments

 
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​Welcome the thirteenth season of Ancient Aliens, a depressing milestone that also offers another sad monument to American stupidity. At the conclusion of this season, the show will have been on the air for ten calendar years, a decade of recycling the same claims originally made in the show’s 2009 pilot TV movie. More amazing still: Ancient Aliens has surpassed In Search Of… and all of the other fringe history documentary series in longevity, and even in total episode count. In Search Of… ran 144 episodes, while this season will take the show beyond that total, adding another dozen or so to the 135 episodes that have run so far. Let that sink in as we turn to the new season’s two-hour-long debut, “The UFO Conspiracy,” inspired by the recent disclosure of the Pentagon’s UFO tracking program.
Note: I watched the two-hour season premiere on a screener posted to A+E Networks’ press site. This screener was missing some of the visual effects, and some minor edits might have occurred before the final version that aired on History.
 
Segment 1
The episode opens with the New York Times report about the Pentagon UFO program, which we have covered in these pages several times since the publication of the story in December. “It is the single biggest ever news in the entire history of the UFO phenomenon,” Nick Pope says, breathlessly. He wrongly implies that the aerial phenomena tracking program, funded by the effort of U.S. senators Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), at the request of billionaire UFO believer Robert Bigelow, to whom the actual tracking work was subcontracted, is much more involved, serious, or important than the midcentury UFO investigations of various government and military agencies. Those were more serious, more thorough, and broader in scope and scale.
 
The show then rehearses the career of Luis Elizondo, the former head of the program who is now the head of security for Tom DeLonge’s To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science. Ancient Aliens notes that Elizondo felt the government did not actually care about the UFO phenomenon, undercutting Pope’s statement from a few minutes earlier. Ancient Aliens initially omits the key fact that Elizondo left the government at the same time that he signed on with DeLonge, as well as the role of To the Stars in bringing the story to the Times as part of their own effort to launch the company’s stock offering at the same time. (Soliciting stock sales is still the most visible business the company conducts.) The show, to its credit, does discuss To the Stars at length, but they are reluctant to give too much credit to the company for pushing a specific narrative—or the financial reasons for doing so.
 
George Noory of ​Coast to Coast AM doesn’t seem to notice that he can’t both agree that the government sees UFOs as a joke and to also allege that the same government is covering up UFOs and hiding the truth, even from its own secret UFO investigators. It’s not possible to have it both ways, but he and Ancient Aliens try their best. To make it work, they need extra layers of conspiracy, even if it undermines the claim that the Pentagon program was actually important.
 
Most surprising of all is the fact that Ancient Aliens convinced former White House and Hillary Clinton campaign official John Podesta to appear on the show to discuss Tom DeLonge and space aliens. Podesta is a longtime believer in space aliens, and he was the recipient of several emails about aliens from DeLonge, which were published by Wikileaks after they were stolen from his account. Podesta is surprisingly (and rather disturbingly) enthusiastic about DeLonge’s company, and he puts in a plug for DeLonge’s fundraising prowess—and this almost suggests to me that we ought to be asking whether Podesta has a financial stake in To the Stars.
 
The show rehearses some of the UFO videos To the Stars has publicized, though they do not share with viewers the fact that these videos have been in the public domain for years, or that they have been debunked as the effects of infrared video on the heat signatures of other planes, and even as a balloon.
 
After this, the show discusses the alleged extraterrestrial alloys that Elizondo claimed Bigelow Aerospace was holding and studying. As we have discussed several times, there is no evidence for there being any indication that any metal that actually was recovered belonged to a UFO. Instead, these alloys seem to be connected to meteoric material. As we know, Elizondo is the only source of the claim, and the Times reporters misunderstood his original description, and according to paid Bigelow consultant Jacques Vallée—who tried to find someone to test the metal—the sample was unusual not because it was an alloy but because it had unusual isotope ratios, suggesting an origin in outer space. No lab reports have been released, and the whole thing, so far, is speculation and exaggeration atop half-understood facts.
 
Segment 2
In the second segment (at least on my screener; commercial breaks may vary in the broadcast version) describes the formation of the Pentagon Advanced Aerial (or Aviation) Threats Identification Program at the hands of Reid, Inouye, and Stevens and at the request of Robert Bigelow, whose longstanding interest in space aliens and UFOs the show reviews. Even though this was an actual conspiracy in which a handful of men worked in secret to direct public money to an undisclosed project for the benefit of a campaign donor, Ancient Aliens treats this like a heroic endeavor, even as it implies that the government has secret UFO programs that must be disclosed. “I’m very glad that my friend Harry Reid decided he would pursue this,” Podesta says, pouring what little remains of his credibility into the bottomless wishing well of the lucrative fringe history media circuit. Just imagine this: Ancient Aliens is praising the government for hiding UFO research with a secret and borderline corrupt financial deal to pay back Bigelow, one of Reid’s biggest campaign donors. In their minds, Bigelow wasn’t the driving force creating a boondoggle UFO program but rather a “point man” who could “operate in total secrecy” to help keep UFO information safe and secure. None of the producers seem to even notice that these claims contradict those from segment 1, when the program was a “joke” that no one took seriously.
 
Linda Moulton Howe says that “somebody” “must” ask Robert Bigelow about his beliefs and to demand to see the results of the AATIP program, which ended in 2012. Gee, if only there were, say, a documentary program about UFOs that employs dozens of so-called investigators and journalists who might have access to futuristic technologies like telephones and email to do that… But where might we find such an enterprise?
 
Segment 3
In the third segment, the usual crew of ancient astronaut theorists finally show up, but they have very little to say. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this segment is that Giorgio Tsoukalos has deflated his hair and has abandoned his vest and tie for an open paisley designer shirt. However, this piece of video doesn’t match his other appearances in the episode, and it appears to be a leftover clip from last year. This segment goes back in time to review some of the efforts the U.S. government made in the twentieth century to investigate various aerial anomalies, beginning with the so-called “Battle of Los Angeles” (a sighting of balloons mistaken for a Japanese invasion in World War II) and progressing through the Roswell crash (a secret spy balloon that the government tried to pass off as a weather balloon) to more recent UFO sightings. Nick Pope tells us that we should believe that UFOs are actually alien spacecraft because the Air Force was interested in the details of the sightings. But he and the other talking heads neglect to note that there are many other reasons to examine UFO sightings—ranging from interest in the social factors that lead to sightings, to an effort to understand how known physical phenomena (or even secret U.S. and Soviet spy technologies) can be misunderstood as spacecraft. By limiting their frame of references to a false dichotomy of either alien spacecraft or nothing at all, they artificially restrict their understanding of what the government actually did.
 
Pope claims that after the Air Force ended Project Bluebook, they must have secretly continued their UFO research without telling anyone. “I smell a rat!” Pope said, alleging that the Air Force wrongly reclassified unexplained UFO sightings as explained in order, as the narrator says, to cover up UFOs “even deeper than before.”
 
Segment 4
In the fourth segment (of my screener at least), the show discusses the “Majestic 12” hoax documents from the 1980s. These documents are familiar to most Ancient Aliens viewers since it was the subject of an entire hour just last season. The show might want to recycle its material, but I don’t feel like recycling mine. You are welcome to click the link to read my discussion of MJ-12 from last year. The segment folds this into familiar claims from past seasons about the secret goings-on at Area 51, most of which have been debunked over the years, or called into question because of the dubious credibility of most so-called “whistleblowers.” The show also discusses Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 sighting of unidentified objects, and Mike Bara wrong credits Arnold with inventing the term “flying saucer”—it was a newspaper reporter who spun the story in that direction. For a show that is obsessed with finding U.S. government documents about UFOs, they are strangely silent on the fact that the FBI investigated and determined that the origins of the UFO phenomenon actually originated with Ray Palmer, the editor of Amazing Stories, glomming on to Arnold’s sighting and using it to help make the pulp fiction stories he published seem real. We also see some early UFO media materials, and we hear a conspiracy theory that the Air Force cut the audio from Maj. Donald Keyhoe’s final summation of his belief that “UFOs are real” on a 1950s TV broadcast. Keyhoe believed that space aliens had been observing humanity since the 1770s.
 
Tsoukalos, now dressed in a different suit, and with his hair at attention—clearly shot at a different point in time—tries to compare this to the ancient astronaut theory, but can only give a brief summation of “misunderstood technology” and a milquetoast statement of his belief that the government knows “more” than they let on. What more? He won’t say.
 
Segment 5
The fifth segment reaches back to the show’s previous episodes about conspiracy theories surrounding NASA in order to allege that the space agency runs secret space missions to investigate UFOs and ancient astronauts and their ilk. There are certainly secret military space missions, often launching satellites into orbit, but the show offers no proof of their wilder implications. The segment also discusses astronauts’ sightings of lights or objects in space, which appeared in earlier episodes. Many of the stories are familiar, and they make no use of skeptical accounts that have debunked many of the alleged astronaut UFO sightings. The salient point is that just because an astronaut doesn’t recognize what an object is, it isn’t necessarily a flying saucer. Astronaut UFO sightings have been explained as space junk, pieces that fall off of NASA spacecraft, jettisoned water or other fluids, and many other non-alien things.
 
At the end of this segment, I reached 50% of the show’s 90-minute runtime (minus commercials), and given how punishingly boring the first half is, I can’t imagine who willingly sits through the two hours of a program like this for fun, much less the butt-busting four-hour Ancient Aliens Declassified clip shows that have occupied the show’s timeslot since it went on hiatus several months ago. Super-fans, I suppose. But the real secret is probably that this is a show meant to be consumed in segments, by grazers and channel-flippers, rather than all at once in a massive multi-hour dose.
 
Segment 6
The next segment starts with the moon landing and discusses the beginning of the space shuttle program as a propaganda effort to help Nixon look as active in the space program as Kennedy had been. As part of the effort the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP) asked if there were a classified program that could be declassified to help drum up interest. One of the men involved in the effort recalls an Air Force man offering him UFO evidence for an exposé. This became the 1974 Rod Serling film UFOs: Past, Present and Future, which I discussed years ago and is worth quoting at length:
The bulk of the film was shot in 1972 and 1973 at the request of the Republican Party, the Air Force, and/or the Department of Defense (depending on the source you consult), which in 1971 asked filmmaker Robert Emenegger to produce a UFO documentary based on credible U.S. government sources. There are many versions of the story, most with contradictory details. One of the most common is that Emenegger was the fraternity brother of Nixon chief of staff H. R. Haldeman and that the Committee to Re-Elect the President had asked him to make a scientific documentary to make Nixon look strong on science for the upcoming 1972 reelection campaign. Allegedly, Republicans associated with the Nixon administration promised Emenegger authentic footage of the landing of an alien spacecraft at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico in 1964. We have only the word of Emenegger to support this. Emenegger does not appear in the index to the Nixon Library holdings of the CREEP files.

When the footage never materialized (allegedly because the Air Force feared Watergate had made it too risky to show), Emenegger replaced it with painted illustrations and broadcast what he had as UFOs: Past, Present, and Future in 1974, with Serling as host. (The real scandal here would be that a Nixon campaign movie was airing covertly on U.S. television as a science documentary, if the claims were in fact true.) The film did not claim that a UFO landed at Holloman Air Force Base, only, as Serling said, that one could have done so, and Emenegger did not begin to claim that the hypothetical incident from the film was in fact true until many years later when he started telling varying versions of the above story, sometimes attributing the origins of the film to Nixon, sometimes to the Air Force. Over time, his claims became more outlandish, involving dead alien bodies and vast conspiracies. One might think that if this were derived from official campaign acts or by government request that Emenegger would have kept some record of it, or that there would be an indication in government of Nixon campaign records. It is the genius of conspiracy: Absence of proof is its own proof! 
Do I have to say that Ancient Aliens accepts the later, fanciful account as the true one? The film was re-released in 1976 and again in 1979, the final time with new material from none other than Jacques Vallée. Funny, is it not, how closely connected all of this material is?
 
Segment 7
After the break, the show discusses presidential denials of knowledge about UFOs. The segment includes references to the MJ-12 hoax and to a fake transcript of an oral briefing allegedly given to Ronald Reagan in 1981 about ancient astronauts and Roswell. Why would this information be recorded if it were real? Just for fun, I guess. A bigger chunk of the segment is given over to Bill Clinton’s stated aim to find the truth about UFOs, an effort that resulted in the Air Force admitting that the Roswell crash was in fact a cover-up not of a UFO but of a spy balloon. Linda Moulton Howe admits that she and Robert Bigelow attended a meeting with Laurance Rockefeller in the early 1990s to help influence Bill and Hillary Clinton, and their lackey, John Podesta, to address UFO issues—and for this superbly stupid reason, as the show gives it: Rockefeller saw a documentary on TV about Roswell and went bonkers over UFOs. (In real life, he was a longtime advocate of fringe science, supporting John E. Mack, Steven Greer, and paranormal research.) So, basically, sensational media stories about Roswell caused rich dilettantes to become interested in UFOs and to use their wealth and social influence to get the government to “investigate” their interests, thus generating new conspiracies when nothing emerged, spawning more sensational media—like this show. It’s a big feedback loop that has basically no connection to reality.
 
Segment 8
Stephen Bassett opens this segment by describing his efforts to secure U.S. government UFO disclosure. He believes that acknowledgement of UFOs will usher in an age of peace and cultural reform, and he laments that the government is too dysfunctional today. He rhapsodizes about his ersatz congressional “disclosure” hearing from 2013 in which six former members of Congress listened to UFO believers share their views, which ranged from moderately plausible ideas to paranoid conspiracy theories. The subject has been alluded to a few times on Ancient Aliens since 2013, but Ancient Aliens leaves out some of the mitigating facts, such as the payments made to the former members of Congress to lend their dubious credibility to the hearings. Given that several members of Congress are actual UFO believers, the kabuki theater was something of a waste of time—like this segment, which burned time without contributing either useful information or anything to forward the narrative of the episode. Like most episodes, the segments aren’t really connected, but are simply thematically linked.
 
Segment 9
This segment would have followed more logically after Segment 7, but logic isn’t really their strong suit. In this segment, Bassett describes his efforts to influence Hillary Clinton to support UFO disclosure. Bassett claimed that his efforts provided a “significant” dilemma for the Clinton team, even though it did not. Podesta and Clinton are both UFO nuts, and this is something we have known for years. The show speculates that Clinton would have led a UFO disclosure movement had she won the presidency in 2016, and there is a strange implication that “the CIA and the Pentagon were worried about Sec. Clinton” and therefore arranged for her to lose the election. Since most conspiracy theories have government agencies working against Trump—the so-called Deep State—it’s a strange position to take. Rather than follow this line of reasoning to its conclusion, the show changes topic to the CIA’s document dump of 13 million UFO files. Rather than do anything with this information, Nick Pope and narrator Robert Clotworthy complain that there was too much disclosure and that it is too hard to find the good stuff in such a massive block of documents. The narration states that the CIA might well have declassified and released these documents in order to hide the truth somewhere in their unwieldy mass. Sure, why not? It would be just like the government to make their evil secrets public and then dare lazy ufologists to do the logical thing and divide the documents among themselves and read them.
 
Segment 10
As we bring this turkey in for a landing, the narrator circles back to Segment 1 and recaps what we already heard about disclosure and the New York Times and UFOs, and we listen to various ufologists and John Podesta wax poetic about their desire for UFO disclosure. Giorgio Tsoukalos laments that “nobody cared” about the Times story, and the narrator asks if the U.S. government and other countries will reveal the truth about UFOs. But nobody stops to ask the more sobering and frightening question: What if they already have shared everything they know, and they actually know nothing?
 
Overall, this was both an expected episode for the series, given the publicity surrounding To the Stars Academy, but also an unusual choice for a season premiere. The episode had only token appearances from their two most recognizable ancient astronaut theorists—Tsoukalos and Childress—and many in the regular cast are absent altogether in favor of a ragtag group of largely anonymous ufologists and paranoiacs. The subject also had virtually no connection to the “ancient” half of the show’s title, despite another token effort to shoehorn in some irrelevancies. The added hour of runtime doubled the length, but not the depth, of the episode, and at twice the length, the essential laziness of the production team, and the cheapness of the production, stand out in stark relief. In the four months between December and now, they could have done all manner of investigation—or even just made use of published inquiries into To the Stars Academy—but they chose not to. Oddly, watching on a screener in which the computer animation wasn’t ready, these problems are even more obvious because the visual doodad aren’t there to distract from the threadbare narrative and complete lack of effort to do anything more than to read the internet at us and call it a TV show.
54 Comments
Machala
4/27/2018 10:50:13 pm

Jason,
Does anyone even give a shit anymore about this 4th-rate television show ?
Frankly, I think it's a waste of your time and intellect reviewing this crap. It never says or shows anything new or revelatory. That makes your reviews seem repetitious and almost ( but not quite ) as trite as the program, itself.
I am a fan of your blog and your writing but I am definitely NOT a fan of this ridiculousness passing as serious extraterrestrial study.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
4/27/2018 10:55:18 pm

Reviews of "Ancient Aliens" are the single most popular thing I write, with the largest readership. Even if you don't care for them, they bring in new readers who, I hope, will read some of my more serious pieces.

Reply
An Anonymous Nerd
4/27/2018 11:03:27 pm

They provide a valuable service because they are a point-by-point refutation of specific claims made by the show, rather than just a refutation of the general idea.

Thank you for doing your show reviews/refutations -- not just of Ancient Aliens but any other fringe show you take a fancy to.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Jim
4/27/2018 11:25:15 pm

Somebody has got to refute these programs. There is so much pseudo nonsense out there gaining traction and not enough credible people dispelling this stuff.
I get that this is probably viewed as a waste of time by most academics, who don't want to use up time that could be put to better use. It's just that there are so many people buying into this stuff that more and more, it's affecting our lives and even our governments decisions.

Joe Scales
4/28/2018 12:19:31 pm

Yeah, but Wolter is more fun. Too bad he got too old for TV.

B.D.
4/29/2018 06:28:57 pm

I stumbled across your blog while looking for more information on the whole AATIP thing. I must say, as merely another, "I'm so much smarter than everyone else" blogger, you actually made me chuckle. Thank you for that. I do find it strange that so many, like yourself, try to spin opinion as fact. That we're the ones who just don't understand what should be so obvious. Again, thank you for making me chuckle.

Steve michael
4/29/2018 11:29:17 pm

If you honestly think that with all the evidence available that UFOs and ets don't exist , well john you live a ignorant and sheltered life... Ridiculous

An Anonymous Nerd
4/27/2018 11:01:15 pm

Reactions.

1 - I don't know whether this is a lot to take in, or just nothing disguised as a lot. (Most likely the latter given which show this is.)

2 - I suppose it's just coincidence that we on this blog on occasion argue about the political implications of this stuff, and suddenly the series seems to reverse its own Right Wing political implications and suddenly attach itself (partially) to the Left for an episode. Coincidental it may be, but it's sure as Hell funny!

3 - Maybe Alex Jones, Fox News, and the usual gang will pick up on the idea of the Deep State conspiracy against Mrs. Clinton. But probably not.

4 - Maybe Jason's (seemingly just) scorn of some Lefty figures in this review will cause some of his detractors to give up thinking he's politically unfair. But probably not.

5 - Podesta is one depressing fellow.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Reply
E.P. Grondine
4/28/2018 01:45:13 pm

Dear Anonymous -

Thanks to NEWT's attack politics, we're beyond discussion in political terms.

It has well been known that on a personal level a sudden loss of status can lead to paranoid schizophrenia with delusions of grandeur.

We're now looking at this process on a societal level.

The usual lack of judgement required to believe in bizarre political concepts, such as Newt's Deep State, is the same lack of judgement required to believe in Ancient Aliens, and that is what Jason is noting.

On the other hand, Ms. Clinton's Vast Right Wing Conspiracy really does exist: it is Newt's collection of oligarchs, Judicial Watch.

I hope this clears it all up for you.

Reply
Mark
5/5/2018 08:26:20 am

Hi there,

I found Your remark about the Battle of Los Angeles rather troublesome - why after hours of continuous firing US military couldn’t effectively shot down the balloon You claim it was down?

An Anonymous Nerd
5/5/2018 10:16:30 pm

Dear Mark:

Regarding the Battle of Los Angeles and the balloons....

The Rational Wiki has a good explanation based on the behavior of zeppelins under gunfire during World War One of why the balloon might not have just popped.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeles

See the section called "If it was a balloon, why didn't it pop?" The short version though is that stuff doesn't always react the way you think it might. Physical properties are funny that way.

Let's also consider this: If I see an object of a certain size, and mistake it for another object of a different size, and fire at what I think I see rather than what's actually there, am I really aiming in the right place? Or am I aiming where I think something else should be? I wouldn't be surprised if no one hit it on that basis alone. They didn't think they were firing at a balloon.

Also note that there was A LOT of gunfire and very powerful search lights, which had the effect of distorting what was actually there. Shells thrown at the supposed enemy were mistaken for more enemy. There also were false reports of other targets in the air, bombs being dropped, Japanese paratroopers, etc.

So if the balloon were downed, would anyone really know or care after a certain point?

Here's some supporting links.

The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco has text from the Office of Air Force History:
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist9/aaf2.html

Also, just for the Hell of it, let's use the History Channel's own Internet site against the fringe!
https://www.history.com/news/world-war-iis-bizarre-battle-of-los-angeles
The Internet site of the channel that puts Ancient Aliens on the air does not seem to support the claim that show wants to make, which is that these events support the UFO narrative.

So, yeah. There you go.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Everett Calhoun
4/28/2018 07:24:01 am

Breaking news!!

The History Channel is nothing but a front for the "Democrat/Reptilian/Clinton Axis!" and John Podesta is the Reptilian leader!

The only thing "breaking" about that news is Podesta being leader of the Reptilians. I thought for sure it would have been James Carville. Wow, thanks History Channel!

Reply
Henry
4/28/2018 09:01:23 am

Great show last night. One of the best with lots of new information.

Reply
silkworm
4/28/2018 09:17:00 am

John Podesta? Really? The overlap between ancient aliens believers and pizzagate believers must be very, very large, so why on earth would they accept the word of a satanic child sex leader? Such a bizarre choice.

Reply
An Anonymous Nerd
4/28/2018 09:40:14 am

Perhaps they're going for a crossover audience in a bid for Total Fringe Domination.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Reply
M
5/1/2018 04:53:48 am

After the episode in question had aired, the digital lynch mob that is David Wilcock’s batshit insane (and possibly dangerous) fanbase demanded an explanation from him.
He has recently tweeted his explanation/excuse, as to why a show, that he’s closely associated with, features a ‘known pedophile’.

Reply
Michael link
6/11/2018 02:11:21 pm

Podesta didn't even mention any sightings of pizza or hot dog shaped craft.

Reply
Reminder
4/28/2018 09:31:10 am

Ancient Aliens for 10 years?

We've had the Bible for thousands of years!!
God, Angels, Miracles -- all parallel the contents of The Bible

Get real.

Reply
Jim
4/28/2018 09:58:29 am

This show is so bogus that entire seasons are faked and made up.

Reply
GEE
4/28/2018 10:20:23 am

I can't get over how much information they jam into one episode. Each segment is like a rollercoaster. Thanks Jason! :-)

Reply
Dunior
4/28/2018 12:28:51 pm

Good read. Amazing how this stuff is political with both sides having advocated disclosure as in supporting their political views. In one corner Wilccok and Weidner with their pro Trump stance. In the other Delonge,, Podesta, and Reid. You just can't make this stuff up. Interesting that Wilcock and Crew are obsessed with "Archons" as the word "Podesta" means the same thing from a latin perspective. Look up definitions of both words.

Reply
Joe Scales
4/28/2018 01:39:02 pm

Fringe beliefs cross all political spectrums.

Reply
E.P. Grondine
4/28/2018 01:53:55 pm

Not only fringe beliefs, but it appears that UFO encounters cross political lines, and those encounters often cause dissonance, both personal and cognitive. You have to remember that Reid saw something while flying in the service of our country. I hope MUFON gets back to its original goals.

An Anonymous Nerd
4/29/2018 08:57:44 pm

To my knowledge no one questioned that. I sure haven't. Nor has Jason.

The broader issue, however, is the not-reasonably-deniable special relationship between the Right and the Fringe, which Jason's highlighted, and I have too, and both have demonstrated our point capably, despite your repeated attempts to deny it.

A Left fringe is not new, though it's not as well-funded as the Right fringe and, more importantly, the Left fringe is recognized as a fringe whereas the Right fringe these days is mainstream. In terms of content, Glenn Beck is no less fringe than Ancient Aliens.

What is new, however, is Ancient Aliens' appealing to the Left fringe! I'm genuinely as amused as I am shocked by this and am wondering what to make of it.

Sadly we'll find out through the rest of their season where this is going. Would that the answer to that question would be rendered moot by the cancellation of the show.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Clete
4/28/2018 02:14:42 pm

I know there is a conspiracy to hide the truth. About ten-twelve years ago I too had a UFO encounter. I was out near Wendover, Utah where I saw a large silvery disk in the desert. It had landed and several humanoid creatures were outside of it. As I approached, they re-entered the craft and took off, heading West into the setting sun. I went where they had taken off from and found several piles of what I took to be Alien shit. As a good citizen, I immediately called this in. About twenty minutes later, several black cars pulled up. A group of men, all dressed in black and wearing sun glasses exited the cars. Two approached me, while the others secured the area. The two who approached me began to question me, asking what I had seen. I was then presented a document and told to sign it denying any knowledge of the encounter with a threat that the government would take dire consequences against me if I ever disclosed what had happened. I signed, in fear of what they would do to me and my family if I did not. Before I was let go, they told me that the government would classify my sighting as a "Close Encounter of the Turd Kind."

Reply
QUESTION
4/28/2018 02:26:09 pm

Why don't you use the word facts instead of truth ?

Truth is different things to different people, it's a nebulous word.

Reply
Answer
4/28/2018 02:27:39 pm

The angel of the Lord visited me in a dream, and revealed the mansions of the Lord.

That was a truthful statement.
But not a factual statement.

Angel of the Lord
4/28/2018 02:29:27 pm

I am the real occupant of the Flying Saucer
Lift off from the Mansion of the Lord in Heaven

Here is a factual statement
4/28/2018 02:35:04 pm

Once the US leaves South Korea after peace talks, North Korea will nuclear blackmail South Korea
So transparent
People are such morons and docile

Jah Wasul
4/28/2018 05:39:49 pm

Can you refute the 7 astronauts who have confirmed their belief in UFOs though? I mean, they it's not like they are lacking in credibility...

Reply
Jah Wasul
4/28/2018 08:44:18 pm

There is a lot of disinformation on both sides, however it seems that refuting and debunking the UFO and Alien visitation claims are becoming a full time job due to the sheer number of reported cases. If there are a couple of reported cases then sure it's an anomaly, but thousands of reported sightings, visitations and incidents CANNOT continue to be regarded as hoaxes, or whatever you want to claim as. In short, the mounting evidence to backup the validity of these claims is piling up much higher than than ever before. Are all these people really that deluded, or is it time that you accepted there is some element of truth that is congruent throughout these case files? Why is it so hard to simply admit there is something more to these files? I guess if you make a career based on debunking UFO files then you are, in fact, far more biased and prejudiced as the very same people you seek to debunk. I know it's hard admitting something that you have fought so hard against, but just look at the evidence, it's pretty overwhelming. Stop living in denial, this is a real phenomenon that has undeniable evidence in support of it. You have extremely reputable people in positions of high military status that are on record as saying this is real and actually happening. Isn't it time that you came to grips with your obvious position of bias and admit there is more fact than fiction pertaining to these accounts?

Reply
Jim
4/28/2018 08:50:38 pm

Exactly, and also, look at the ever increasing number of people who are sure that the earth is flat. With more and more people saying this, maybe it's time for us to admit that the earth is indeed flat.

Reply
rackham
4/29/2018 12:14:50 am

And when asked to defend their position, they generally makes broad statements about their guts feeling...

Whomever
4/29/2018 01:24:03 am

The real issue here is applying the scientific method to these events. I would not assume that these are hoaxes or delusion, but that these events are automatically attributed to UFO’s. I have not heard one actual fact that proves these are aliens, and when provided, almost always violate Occulm’s Razor. There is always a more simplistic explanation that is quickly thrown away.

Reply
Joe Scales
4/29/2018 10:18:33 am

Yes, a UFO is simply an unidentified flying object awaiting definition. There is no inherent confirmation that beyond a more reasonable explanation it is otherwise alien. So let's say when a pilot or astronaut says they've seen a UFO, that doesn't necessarily mean they're believers in little green men.

Asdf
4/29/2018 10:18:32 am

Former Russian president Medvedev flat out stated that aliens are for real and that Russia has a supersecret agency monitoring them.

Reply
Shane Sullivan
4/29/2018 11:17:19 am

Wow, Medvedev is really bad at keeping secrets.

Asdf
4/29/2018 11:48:56 am

What exactly is wow here? It is rather old news. Watch the interview and tell me if you think he is intentionally not telling the truth or is joking.

44th White President
4/29/2018 12:08:19 pm

"Tell Vladimir I will have more flexibility after I am no longer President."

Jim
4/29/2018 12:09:57 pm

I think somebody's putin words in his mouth.

RobZ
5/1/2018 08:12:44 am

@Jah Wasul,

The US have had a president who claimed God told him to go to war in Iraq. Neither his reputable job, nor his high military standing, change the fact he was a nutcase. And the existence of God is still unproven.

Reply
Doc Rock
4/29/2018 01:51:11 am

The population of the US has nearly tripled in the time-frame since UFOs entered the popular imagination. The more people you have to make reports when they see (or think they see) something strange the more reports you are going to get thru time. That off course weather balloon that might get reported as a UFO by 100 people and get a blurb in the local paper in 1950 now gets reported by 300 and gets coverage multiple news media outlets and social media.

The general population increase is also going to be accompanied by an increase in the number of legitimate wackjobs who think that an insurance salesman walking down the sidewalk in a dark suit is a Man in Black or believe that they were beamed aboard the Mother Ship during their 72 hour meth binge.

I don't think that "Overwhelming evidence" in this context really means what those on the fringe want it to mean.

Reply
Clete
4/29/2018 04:17:00 pm

Jason, I have noticed over the last couple of years that many of the posters to this blog seem to have no real sense of humor. Everything is serious, even though the fringe types should really not be taken seriously. I realize that we have a "President" who has in many cases embraced many fringe types of the ultra-right. However, the ancient alien believers and the few Scott Wolter followers are more figures of fun and should be made fun of instead of being taken as seriously as they are.

Reply
Henry 2
4/29/2018 05:01:31 pm

Despite all these biased opinions that show was awesome. AA has gone to new levels. More people need to watch to become informed.

Reply
Clete
4/29/2018 06:08:51 pm

That is certainly true. It has reached new levels of stupidity. The level reached is that of the sub-sub-sub basement.

Reply
Frank link
4/29/2018 07:57:53 pm

Alloys are never a natural phenomenon. Curious alloys do exist, They have been studied. Some may well be in the hands of the USG, some most certainly in Bigelow's hands, but not all. These have been openly discussed. AFAIK, I have compiled the most thorough compilation on the subject at this page:

http://ufopartisan.blogspot.com/2017/12/the-science-behind-pentagon-ufo-study.html

Reply
Shane Sullivan
4/29/2018 09:57:23 pm

Actually electrum does occur naturally, as does iron-nickel alloy.

Reply
Stickler
4/29/2018 11:07:04 pm

"Alloys are never a natural phenomenon."

Idiot.

Reply
Frank
4/30/2018 12:08:30 am

I should have been more precise. Alloys made of the elements that have been studied, like titanium, magnesium, don't occur naturally and there's no need to be rude. You might want to read the material compiled before hurling insults asshole.

Emil Venere link
4/30/2018 03:55:36 pm

My two cents: https://emilvenere.me/2018/04/30/podesta-in-ancient-aliens-this-is-whats-wrong-with-ufology/

Reply
Prog-guru 'Skippy' John Podesta
5/9/2018 04:21:14 pm

Well well, can you believe it, I am a known pizza lover, renowned the world over for what's in my spirit cooking closets. I mean, is there really any mistaking the facts about me here? Nothing in dispute, everyone in DC knows, and yet, I am still free and infecting what used to be good television programs (slightly absurd but still good) with my sane mix of leftist politics. Viva Las Vegas!

Reply
Damian
5/13/2018 07:12:11 pm

At this point, I don't think I can keep watching this show. Every episode is the same thing. Sure there are a few new things, but all I hear is "misunderstood technology." I guess reading these reviews makes it worth it, but I'd like video reviews from Jason, those could be hilarious, but perhaps time consuming.

Reply
Cosmin Visan
5/22/2018 10:49:28 am

As I am watching, I am now at the part where they show an interview with Buzz Aldrin - and this is how I can tell you that Colavito is a shill.
Because he has time to make fun of Tsoukalos' suit but he quickly glosses over the Buzz Aldrin and Apollo 17 segment (Segment 5).
A quick search online shows contradictory and 'debunked' reports of what Buzz Aldrin saw. But in this segment, Aldrin makes it clear it was something with an engine that took off.
Second: Apollo 17, Ron Evans reported seeing a UFO that flew alongside him on the dark side of the moon (this is retold by JoAnn Donaldson, the doctor who monitored his vital signs on return).
Again, completely not mentioned by Colavito.
As to the Colavito hand wavy statement that these sightings were debunked... well, watch that segment with Aldrin and Joann and tell me how you can debunk them.

Reply
Darryl Myers
1/15/2019 12:53:28 pm

The plural of anecdote is not data. A lot of bad, fuzzy, or dubious "sightings" or phenomena do not add up to a solid fact. The quantity of sightings or stories doesn't matter, what matters is the quality. A bunch of low quality points does not add up to anything solid. Any number of job interviews, no matter how positive they seem, do not equate to a job offer for someone who really needs a job. A single job offer blows any number of promising interviews out of the water. In the case of aliens and the like, what we have is a bunch of fuzzy and second-hand job leads, but never a firm job offer with a salary and a start date.

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        • Fragments on Giants
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      • Extreme History >
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        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
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