Ancient aliens on the history channel. Arrrrghhh!

[Umbran]

I see your point, and maybe I am over reacting. I just think conspiracy culture is dangerous. And a station like the history channel promoting it, irresponsible.

Ah, you see, I view conspiracy theory and culture to be a fun mental plaything, but not something that's apt to have notable real-world impact. It presents no palpable danger to me.

Plus, consider that showing such things is self-limiting their credibility. When History is showing things about Aliens and Bigfoot and all, they rather tarnish their own good name, such that they are taken less seriously overall.

So, the more they do this, the less meaningful it is.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Ah, you see, I view conspiracy theory and culture to be a fun mental plaything, but not something that's apt to have notable real-world impact. It presents no palpable danger to me.

Plus, consider that showing such things is self-limiting their credibility. When History is showing things about Aliens and Bigfoot and all, they rather tarnish their own good name, such that they are taken less seriously overall.

So, the more they do this, the less meaningful it is.

What if shows like these turn out to be one of the primary sources of information for most people? At what point does it lead to people on a large scale believing in such stuff and basing their actions (or policies) on it?

And it's not as if you couldn't get viewers by refuting myths and conspiracy theories!

 

[ProfessorPain]

What if shows like these turn out to be one of the primary sources of information for most people? At what point does it lead to people on a large scale believing in such stuff and basing their actions (or policies) on it?

And it's not as if you couldn't get viewers by refuting myths and conspiracy theories!

This is the issue. There are places in the world where this is the case, and the results usually lead to greater degrees of racism, intolerance and willingness to fight the government. If you read Arabic Media for instance, conspiracy culture is mainstream. Something like 65% of Arabs believe 9/11 was an inside job. And many buy into Jewish conspiracy theories. And the widespread existence of these sort of beliefs, makes rousing a crowd to violence against their government or a foreign adversary that much easier. Or if you look at groups in the US like Aryan Nation or Christian Identity, they feed off of conspiracy theories. I will be the first to admit, a show about aliens is a far cry from a show that demonizes ethnic or religious groups; but these shows do have a consistent theme of Us v. Them. The marginilized conspiracy buff against the mainstream forces that reject conspiracy (or even the government that usually has a hand in covering up conspiracy in these narratives).

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

I saw the show and rather enjoyed it, even though I think most of the "alien sightings" stuff is bs. I just like ancient history, and seeing those cultures continually befuddle us at how freaking smart they were. Thanks to the OP about the map, though. I had never heard of it before and they didn't do a great job of showing how it was a perfect map, anyway.

I really liked the ruins in Bolivia and the massive drawings in the Chile desert. The former especially, I can't fathom how they built that stone wall, if it's true about needed a diamond-tipped tool to cut some of that stone, as well as the sheer weight of it all. Most annoying part of the show to me wasn't so much the lack of dissenting voices, but how utterly awful they were. In particular, I couldn't stand that catholic college professor, that I think was a nun, having the most idiotic, rationalization-free arguments I've ever heard on that channel. Than again, I've purposely avoided Monster Quest...



As for the channel itself, I disagree with the majority. I'm very, very, very glad it is no longer the hitler 24/7 channel. I can't stand modern history, I love ancient/medieval as well as martial arts history. So lately, the channel's been pretty nice. Human Weapon, sadly gone, remains one of my favorite tv shows aired. They just started a show last week Battles B.C., which, once they go to more obscure stuff than Hannibal and David vs. Goliath (the premiere and next monday's eps, respectively), I could really enjoy. Last night was the premiere of Warriors, and was about the Mayans. The host kinda sucks at narrative, but it was still enjoyable, and assuming he gets better at it, will also be a great program. Oh, the History of Sex series that aired not too long ago was also excellent.

Down with constant WW2 footage!

 

[jaerdaph]

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

QFT. And that "Ax Men" crap too. Move those to Spike or something.

 

[Elodan]

I'm not sure what the conspiracy was here.

This was about one dude's (whacked out) theory that aliens helped out our ancestors. They didn't have a lot of them but they had people rebut the guy's theories (i.e. the guy from Skeptic magazine).

I thought the Lost Book of Nostradamus was more favorably biased toward its topic (of course if you paid attention you noticed that all the pro "experts" had books on the subject and had a financial stake in getting people interested). Buyer beware and all that.

 

[ProfessorPain]

I'm not sure what the conspiracy was here.

This was about one dude's (whacked out) theory that aliens helped out our ancestors. They didn't have a lot of them but they had people rebut the guy's theories (i.e. the guy from Skeptic magazine).
.

To be fair they did present other opinions, but they skewed so that the opposing viewpoints appeared weak. This guy has been around forever, claiming mainstream academia won't take his views seriously. When his "research" is really just a rehash of some pop-books that came out years before. The fact is, he doesn't really present evidence at all. All he does is draw conclusions from specious arguments. Most of his arguments boil down to gee this looks awfully like something aliens built. Or our ancestors were far too primitive to construct something this nice without the aid aliens. If you watch the show, there is never any actual proof presented. There is vague circumstantial evidence, that are explained with simpler arguments than aliens coming down and giving mankind a hand in the building process. The truth is ancient people were advanced in their own way. The greeks had all kinds of unusual devices and technologies. These were very smart civilizations. It does not take aliens to know how produce power from steam or design gears. Men like Von Daniken, just prey on peoples' ignorance of the past; and amaze them with things most historians already know.

 

[Umbran]

What if shows like these turn out to be one of the primary sources of information for most people?

Then we are not educating our own people in how to think critically, and we/they deserve what we/they get.

And it's not as if you couldn't get viewers by refuting myths and conspiracy theories!

I wouldn't expect you to get too many viewers with "debunking" - the ones who believe the theories generally won't believe your program. The ones who don't believe the theories don't need the program.

 

[ProfessorPain]

Then we are not educating our own people in how to think critically, and we/they deserve what we/they get.

But we are educating our people to think critically; and these things are still having an impact. There are more classes on media availble in colleges today than ten years ago. And they are even teaching media criticism at the junior high and highschool level. In fact, I'd wager a bet that these shows are most popular among those with college education. At least, judging by the way the evidence was presented. I know a guy who has a masters degree in communication and media-- he knows all the tricks documentaries use to make people believe the absurd, yet he buys into documentaries just like this...because the subject matter itself is outside his field. These documentaries are not shoddy productions, which is what makes them so effective. They actually present their argument very well, and cherry pick evidence to support their position. But someone who doesn't have in depth knowledge of something like the Piri Reis map, could easily swallow what they say.

I wouldn't expect you to get too many viewers with "debunking" - the ones who believe the theories generally won't believe your program. The ones who don't believe the theories don't need the program.

The best way to market a debunking program is as a conspiracy program. I remember when I was a kid I bought a book called Monsters (or something like that); that looked like it was going to be all about big foot, loch ness, etc. And it was, for about the first 120 pages. Then after presenting all the evidence for why you should believe Big Foot Exists, it set about debunking itself.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

I wouldn't expect you to get too many viewers with "debunking" - the ones who believe the theories generally won't believe your program. The ones who don't believe the theories don't need the program.

One of the amusing bits on Monster Quest is where they do debunk things.

Like, for example, the "rods", which they confirm at the end of the show are merely camera artifacts. Or these Alien Big Cats that they point out, based on proportions of pictures and video, are just big housecats. Or that without a reference, you can't tell how big or high something is flying.

The problem is that these come in towards the end of the show, and people miss those after they leave in disgust.

Brad