Welcome to my blog. My name is Albert Ramos. I'll be your host.
Originally published in 2008 and again in 2010, How Modern Society Invented UFOs was written with the intent of not only being skeptical of alien visitations, but also to understand why such beliefs are so prevalent in our culture and time. Thus, the idea of alien visitations is deemed as a complete myth. Some will accept this hypothesis while a great amount of many others would totally disagree with me.
My sociological background has provided me with solid training of understanding belief systems and how they reflect that culture and its relavent historical circumstances. Case in point, when UFOs came into the scene in 1947, the most popular perception was that they were of American or Soviet origins. It was the start of the Cold War and Americans were concerned of a Soviet attack.
It was right about 1949 that scientists were speculating about the possibility of space travel. The space race was about to begin with the Soviets. So, the secret-weapon theory changed to the exterrestrial hypothesis. Circumstances in society led to a new belief system where UFOs were believed to be from outer space. Some, known as contactees, made public that they were in direct communication with the benevolent extraterrestrials who came here to save Earth. Hollywood, on the other hand, capitalized on this myth and made movies of evil-invading aliens, a reflection of the American fear of a Soviet attack.
The post-World War II world wasn't the same. We entered into an atomic age. This led many people to believe the world was about to end. The Cold War changed the American political structure as well as the kind of role the military played alongside the U.S. government. They were accused of having knowledge of exterrestrial visitations. The institution of UFOlogy investigated UFOs while speculations of an alien cover up continued to be perpetuated. The UFO conspiracy theory became even more exotic later.
Some theorists were fascinated with ancient cultures' ancient ruins. These theorists so marveled at the structures, it was wondered how they were built with "primitive" technology. The perfect answer was that the aliens helped them. Some writers went as far as saying that aliens created humans. It was thought the ancient peoples went on to consider aliens as gods. This is a form of creationism, which can be dubbed as "Extraterrestrial Creationism." Evidence of this, they say, can be found in the creation stories of old mythology, including the Biblical story found in Genesis.
Myths have been studied by scholars and it does seem that as society changes, so do myths. This is no exception to the UFO mythology. The motifs and characteristics of purported alien vistations was different during the 1950's as compared to today. It is also interesting that alien reports outside the U.S. tend to be different. English aliens have the blond-Nordic types while in Latin America have seen furry monster-looking aliens. Chupacabras (the Goat Sucker) came into the scene during the 1990's. Mass delusions play a role. A neighboring culture may share the same myth, but may change certain features to coincide with its native idiosyncracies. To add to this, alien abductions are largely a Western phenomenon. Interactions with aliens in this fashion stem from internal processees. Aliens are not objectively real. Thus, the UFO phenomenon is a social construct that provides believers with a new understanding of their world.
The main idea of How Modern Society Invented UFOs is to expound on the thesis that anxieties, uneasiness, paranoia, and outright myths have emerged as a result of social crises, more importantly, a unique transition in Western culture. As scientific materialism was emerging, perceptions about reality changed. The West was particularly grappling with how the supernatural should be dealt with. Parapsychology began imitating science in confirming the belief of an after life. Various novellas and story telling told tales of aliens from outer space during the late nineteenth century, decades before the Flying Saucer craze. Aliens were even depicted in pulp fiction magazines throughout the 1920's and 1930's.
UFOs has its origins in science-fiction, scientific theory, and was a response to the changing climate of traditional religion. In the face of a changed world brought on by science, it is appealing that aliens can break natural laws. How Modern Society Invented UFOs addresses that need for magical thinking even in these secular-modern times. http://www.amazon.com/How-Modern-Society-Invented-UFOs/dp/1449976948/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1300182117&sr=8-2#_
