UFO spotting clubs dying out

[Hueij]

Originally posted by Winston
No, suicide is wrong and should be heavily fined, on top of the perpetrators ending up in Hell.

Heavily fined?? Death penalty!

[MosesPresley]

Originally posted by Winston
No, suicide is wrong and should be heavily fined, on top of the perpetrators ending up in Hell.

What is crazier? Believing in UFO's, which is statistically likely or believing in hell, the existence of which has a snowball's chance in ....

Anyway, what is the address of hell? Can I get a postcard? Do they schedule flights?

[Theben]

I never noticed any increase in UFO craziness from the 80s to the 90s.

And I've heard that UFO belief was more like ancient belief in fairytales and folklore. The idea that something out there was smarter, stronger, and more dangerous than you.

[Solver]

Nineties UFO fad? Sorry? The nineties weren't even the biggest period of UFO sightings, and as far as I am aware, popular interest in UFOs is still rapidly rising.

I understand I am in the minority here, but I think it would be very hard not to believe in UFOs (not in the broad sense) after reading up on the various cases. The truth is out there.

For the record, the last major UFO incident is just over a year ago. What is a little bit surprising is that there isn't a high amount (read - any) high quality tapes of UFOs flying in the sky, which were generally expected to surface in the early 2000s.

Currently, the number of people that are ready to accept the possibility of alien visitations on Earth or to consider such issues seriously is not high, but it's a rising number - which is pretty much what should be happening.

I'm pretty sick, though, of all the hoaxes and other stupid stories that make the UFO phenomeon into some sort of a joke. You know, hundreds of people telling everyone about being abducted by green men with huge eyes and getting a probe stuck up their butt - sorry, that is nonsense. The problem is that these things get a lot of attention, including on shows such as "Unsolved mysteries", and therefore little green men are imagined whenever someone mentions UFOs.

And yes I'm ready to argue that .

[Sava]

UFO freaks are bigger morons than creaionists

[Sandman]

What evidence is there that popular interest in UFOs is 'rising rapidly'?

MosesPresley is right: they'll be back in a decade or two. But not now.

[Solver]

What evidence is there that popular interest in UFOs is 'rising rapidly'?

I can not accurately speak for America, but here in Europe, there has been a massive increase in airings of (often American) TV shows related to UFOs, as well as in the number of publications regarding that topic. From what I see on the related Internet websites, their activity and member count is also rising, and UFOs, Area 51 and related things also feauture in a number of recent computer games.

In Eastern Europe, ufologist organizations start forming up. The "Disclosure Project" is a thing active in the 2000s, and MUFON International Ufo Symposiums are still alive and kicking.

I fail, therefore, to see how the interest in UFOs is declining. And if the number of people claiming to have UFO experiences while they in fact had nothing similar is declining, that's only good for ufologists and everyone else.

[Sandman]

So the article is wrong?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
It suddenly becomes not funny anymore when you think about cults such as Heaven's Gate.

What's not funny about Heaven's Gate?

[Dis]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


What's not funny about Heaven's Gate?

nothing. or everything. They are hilarious. These guys could have scored with gullible easy chicks. And what do they do? Castrate themselves.

[Solver]

Originally posted by Sandman
So the article is wrong?

Not really wrong. But what the article says is basically that a group of UFO fans has ceased - and it's a group that was a spotting group, guys who want to sit around, gaze at the skies and see UFOs. That's really unsurprising because even a believer in alien visitations will immediately ascertain that the chances of seeing a UFO, even if you're looking for it, are extremely slim. As the resident Apolyton ufologist, I can say that major UFO sightings/incidents are rather rare, and that the chances of seeing anything interesting are indeed very slim.

Such "spotting clubs" dying out is no surprise, but that is in no way an indication of the global interest in UFOs declining.

[Chemical Ollie]

Originally posted by MosesPresley


What is crazier? Believing in UFO's, which is statistically likely or believing in hell, the existence of which has a snowball's chance in ....

Anyway, what is the address of hell? Can I get a postcard? Do they schedule flights?

Hell is a town in Norway - and it expedits God

[Dracon II]

I always get a bit toey when someone proclaims the "death" of something... I mean Nietzsche lived 100 years ago and we still have to put up with Pat Robertson and Co.... will someone tell them that GOD IS DEAD!!??

[Odin]

I am always annoyed when people beleive all those alien abduction stories. the appearance of the supposed aliens look too human, too much like the big-headed gray humaniods of pop culture to be real. Also, in the late 80's and early 90's there were many UFOs that turned out being test flights the B2 Stealth Bomber before it was de-classified.

[Solver]

Originally posted by Odin
I am always annoyed when people beleive all those alien abduction stories. the appearance of the supposed aliens look too human, too much like the big-headed gray humaniods of pop culture to be real. Also, in the late 80's and early 90's there were many UFOs that turned out being test flights the B2 Stealth Bomber before it was de-classified.

As I was saying, this is one of the most major problems that ufologists are facing. Without going into the details of each individual case, there are several cases that are very distinct and generally a matter of research among ufologists - the Betty & Barney Hill case, the Linda Napolitano case (one of the most confusing UFO cases IMHO), the Travis Walton abduction case - those are three of the most important ones. Then, there are literally hundreds of reported abductions which have very little if any supportive evidence, and these abductions are usually the ones that follow the same pattern: big-headed greyish aliens with big eyes that surround the person and then start sticking needles everywhere and such. There are several explanations to these cases, and by far the most plausible one is sleep paralysis.

Unfortunately, these very duvious to say the least stories are now what the general public imagines as an alien abduction, and therefore it's no suprise that the very concept of abductions is treated with, uhh, skepticism.

As for UFO sightings, I do not know of many ufologists who consider seeing something in the sky a noteworthy event. A UFO is just that, an unidentified flying object, and indeed in most cases they turn out to be man made flying vehicles, satellites, even groups of birds (!). The interesting UFO cases normally have something else, which is more than a sighting of an object in the sky - an abduction claim, a UFO-crash clame, or somesuch. The sightings that are notable by themselves are very different from just seeing something in the sky - we're then talking something like the UFO wave over Washington DC in 1952, with confirmation from multiple sources of objects exhibiting intelligent behaviour and technical capabilities far beyond any human-made aircraft, as well as attempts of Air Force fighters to intercept or close up with UFOs.

Of course, if something is merely seen in the sky, chances are it's an aircraft, especially near US military bases, where experimental aircraft is being flied. B2 isn't the only thing responsible for UFO reports - as far as I know the SR-71 Blackbird is also responsible for a good amount of UFO reports.