Ancient aliens on the history channel. Arrrrghhh!

[jaerdaph]

Feeling adventurous? Try experimenting with quantum immortality! (NOTE: DO NOT DO THIS!)

LOL! I LOVE it! Russian Roulette for physicists!

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Prejudice has no friend like education. Our vast middle class has been programmed by the Agents of Darkness to sneer at any suggestions not approved by our Evil Overlords. I do envy the certainty about the world many posters on this thread share, but I cannot share it. I can't stick my head in the sand and pretend that the Aliens are not here, excersizing power on our species as they have for thousands of years. While my experience and (like ANYONE) my innate prejudices lead me to my beliefs, I believe I am being reasonable when I feel certain we have been visited/interfered with by aliens, and have Faith in various other "Conspiracy Theories". I will happily admit that these are just my opinions, but I am not alone in these beliefs. I would also point out that, even though your own conclusions may have been shaped by currently popular "experts" and the (possibly Alien controlled) education system du Jour, opinion is all that lies at the heart of the smartypants naysayers arguments as well.
While the History channels' nod to ancient astronauts and "True" fiction like the Davinci Code do a little good, they are pop culture simplifications that are hardly in any danger of making converts; they just preach to the choir. Still, it would be nice to see views so close to my own so prominently featured in the media, until one pauses to remember that the saurian Aliens control the media.
So, why is it all of a sudden not a threat to the saurian media overlords to be a prominent part of the popular myth lexicon? Are they grown so powerful that they are ready to emerge, and fight the Vampire Illuminati directly? These are the questions we should be asking ourselves, instead of denying their existence/effects on our species development.

Well, I'll just say that to me, personally, the concept of there being alien life is a lot easier to believe than religion and the existence of god(s).

Also, it doesn't much help your case when you rant like a crazy person. Coming from someone who frequently rants like a crazy person.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Also, it doesn't much help your case when you rant like a crazy person. Coming from someone who frequently rants like a crazy person.

I think it was parody... the "saurian media overlords... fight the Vampire Illuminati directly" was probably rather obvious, no?

Cheers, LT.

 

[baphomet68]

Gnomes of Zurich to grant Sasqhach sanctuary; deny extradition to Vampire Illuminati

I think it was parody... the "saurian media overlords... fight the Vampire Illuminati directly" was probably rather obvious, no?

Cheers, LT.

To spread the TRUTH, you have to hide in the cloak of a wingnut - otherwise THEY get wise to you.
We see what we expect to see. While mostly figurative (or symbolic), I see aliens and monsters all around us. Some people, adherents to the church of the Modern Rational, would appear to be constitutionally unable to see an Alien even if one landed in their driveway, popped out of its Flying Saucer and demanded to be taken to our leader. It seems that today one needs to be a member of the Modern Rational Church to fit in with the educated crowd. While perhaps not a formal organization, the church of the Modern Rational is a clearly body of Faith, with a cosmology and set of necessary assumptions no more provable or objective than the cult of the sinister saurian T.V. executives.
Daniken raises some ideas that are exciting to many people; many of us have wondered if the stories in the ancient books could have been inspired by alien visits, etc. I think relatively harmless wingnuts like him are so popular because they are so thin and non-threatening (to the C.M.R.), and are accessable to the general public, with no demanding or technical language. People that make better arguments in that vein (like David Icke) do not get as much attention, even though they have (sometimes) stronger arguments accompanied by more "factual facts".
Well written, competently argued compositions supporting ancient extraterrestrial astronauts or uncovering that the Unseelie Court and Supreme Court are in cahoots will never gather the attention that light, dismissable attempts achieve. The OP was upset about the ancient Astronauts story being presented as a supported view. Even though the entertainment vector you select is called "History", it is still an entertainment vector. I was entertained; but sadly there is no danger of Daniken convincing any but the already converted. To get on the NYTimes best seller list, you have to be a nonthreatening crank like Daniken, or hide behind a veil and pretend to be "fiction", like the DaVinci code. To contrast us, the OP dislikes the presentation of Toy Fluff as Fact; I dislike the presentation of Fact as Toy Fluff. (both in reference to the ancient astronauts show/book)

 

[baphomet68]

StreamOfTheSky taunted with accusations of sanity

Also, it doesn't much help your case when you rant like a crazy person. Coming from someone who frequently rants like a crazy person.

I am just hawking up loogies of truth, not trying a case. The case cannot be lost or won here - and I would be pretty worried if my post convinced anyone of anything. Best case is we understand one another better. I know I run a rich Signal-to-Noise mixture, sometimes the method overwhelms the message.
And its easy to claim Crazy Rant Cred, why waste most of your post quoting mine? I call you on it - throw down with some Crazy Rant or admit to mundane sanity.

 

[Eridanis]

Let's keep clear of real-world politics and religion, please.

 

[megamania]

What if I were to say that Bigfoot is a byproduct of alien manipulation of early man?

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

What if I were to say that Bigfoot is a byproduct of alien manipulation of early man?

I'd ask why australopithicus had to be an alien manipulation.

Brad

 

[megamania]

Wasn't it about 200,000 years ago there was a HUGE evolutionary jump for "mankind" that originated in Madagascar. Why the huge jump? Manipulation? Bigfoot the natural progression and we are the test subjects running amok?

 

[Dr. Harry]

Maybe my expectations were unrealistic. I don't mind them having a program on aliens if they want. I just wish they would present the mainstream arguments against their evidence, and make it clear how far fetched their so-called experts' line of reasoning is.

.

I feel your (Professorial) pain. I'm an astronomer, and that's how I read your original post. I was OK with the sixteenth century admiral knowing about Antartica because I thought "Hey, didn't Magellan see Antartica?" Then I looked it up and saw how large the Drake Passage really is. What set me off was the idea that aliens would pay a truly unbelievably gigantic energy/time debt to come to Earth to ... what? Give us incomplete maps, and maybe Chicklets? Aliens are smart enough to cross the distances to get here and avoid leaving any physical evidence, but not good enough to keep Skeeter from seeing them?

I second everything that you have said on the thread.

Do you have a book on the subject of historiography that you would recommend? I might actually have gotten into DMing because maps are cool.

Oh, by the way, all the stuff later posters said about physicists is pretty much true. Happily, observational astronomers are better off. Sure, there's still that tiny objects in a mind-staggeringly big universe, but at least we get to see how pretty it is. Always go for the shiny to take the edge off.