Ancient aliens on the history channel. Arrrrghhh!

[ProfessorPain]

Tonight on the history Channel, I saw a 2009 documentary called Ancient Aliens, which argued that many ancient mysteries from the bible and from history were interventions by an Alien race. ARRRRGHH. There was a great deal wrong with this program. But I will stick with its discussion of the Piri Reis Map. As a history student we had to research the significance of the Piri Reis map for our Historiography final. It is a 16th century map of the world by a Turkish admiral named Piri Reis. It shows Europe, Parts of Africa, North America and South America. There is a landmass in the bottom of the map attached to south america that some claim is antarctica. The show makes several incredible claims. First, that it must be from aliens, because it is the first map to show antarctica and it is rendered accurately. This couldn't be further from the truth. The map is not accurate at all. It has numerous errors. The errors are understandable given the time period, but they exist. Also, it is unclear if this is meant to be antarctica at all. It is attached to South America on the map and many think it is just a sloppy way to continue the coast of that continent. It also isn't the first map to have a landmass in the vicinity of antarctica. It was convention to do so. Not because people knew it was there, but because they anticipated another continent might exist to the south. I wouldn't mind the history chanel presenting these theories, if they placed them into context, and explained few take them seriously. They should also show the other side of the debate. Curse you History Chanel!

 

[frankthedm]

I'd rather have whacked out shows like that than shows like "Iceroad Truckers" on the History Channel.

 

[Relique du Madde]

Psssst... You do know they are helping set up the upcoming alien invasion/big reveil that humanity was created by aliens < / tinfoil hat>

 

[freyar]

This kind of, uh, "reporting" was why I dropped a subscription to Discover mag 10 years ago, though there is was the article about pets being psychically linked to their owners.

 

[Wycen]

I actually looked at the name last night while flipping channels and said to myself "huh, well I guess they are trying to branch out and not be just the World War 2 channel".

 

[ssampier]

This is different from the series where they try to find Bigfoot and other oddities?

I do enjoy the History Channel. I find more it interesting than competitive reality shows. However, the History Channel is hardly scientific.

 

[Orius]

And people say we don't need PBS. Their documentaries are at least well-produced and well-researched. Cable hasn't made them irrelevant, if anything, cable has sunk to the level of cheap sentationalism for the sake of ratings. The History Channel was actually better when it was "Old WWII Footage You've Seen a Gazillion Times Before, 24/7."

Ancient aliens, bah. Yeah, those early maps are accurate alright, so accurate they have a giant Antarctica but somehow manage to leave out Australia. Especially since they were supposedly mapped by aliens who presumably would have technology greater than our own current satellite mapping capabilities! You're right though, telling viewers about contemporary theories about the "Terra Incognita Australis" would have been interesting, as would some of the secretive missions the British Admiralty sent to the south seas to find said continent.

I've toyed with the idea of including a similar sort of southern continent in my own game worlds because I've always been fascinated with the idea, and maybe even connect it to my campaign's equivalent of Australia or something. I'd use it as a home for all sort of strange non-human cultures, particularly for obscure old monsters few players have ever heard of.

 

[Umbran]

Let me get this straight: you are watching a show about "Ancient Aliens", and your primary concern is the reporting about a map?

That's... kind of like walking into Taco Bell and complaining that there aren't place settings on the table

 

[ProfessorPain]

Let me get this straight: you are watching a show about "Ancient Aliens", and your primary concern is the reporting about a map?

That's... kind of like walking into Taco Bell and complaining that there aren't place settings on the table

No. My primary concern is that the "History" Channel is airing a show about Ancient Aliens and presenting the theories in a vacuum. The map was an illustration of how badly their evidence was presented.

 

[ProfessorPain]

This is different from the series where they try to find Bigfoot and other oddities?

I do enjoy the History Channel. I find more it interesting than competitive reality shows. However, the History Channel is hardly scientific.

To be fair, this is the first time in a while I sat down to watch the history network. But they used to have respectable documentaries. This is just conspiracy theory non-sense, which has no real place in anything that presents itself as History. Unless you dealing with the History of Conspiracy Theories. But to view the past through the lens of conspiracy is irresponsible on their part.