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The Effects of UFO's on People
By Steve Edwards
Almost every civilization in history that has kept a written history
has recorded the sightings of strange objects and lights in the skies. These objects have
been described as glowing wheels, colored balls of light, and disk shaped objects. Today
unexplained aerial phenomena are generally referred to as unidentified flying objects
(UFO's) or flying saucers.
The effects of extra terrestrial sightings can have an adverse effect
on people if influenced the wrong way. No solid proof has shown that UFO's are real, but
many sightings cannot be proven otherwise. The media, stories, or one's own experience may
often influence what one believes. The government once stated that they had captured extra
terrestrials. (60 minutes, CBS) On the contrary, most scientists now agree that almost all
sightings and stories of extra terrestrials are not authentic.
The United States government has records of thousands of UFO sightings since 1948,
including photos of alleged UFOs and interviews with people who claim to have seen them.
Since UFOs were considered a potential security risk, the report on these sightings was
originally classified as secret. (Craig, 917) When the report was later declassified it
showed that 90 percent of all UFO sightings could be easily explained. Most of the
sightings turned out to be celestial objects, such as stars or bright planets like Venus,
or atmospheric events such as auroras or meteors falling through the atmosphere. Many
other sightings turned out to be objects such as weather balloons, satellites, aircraft
lights, or formations of birds. Often these sightings were accompanied by unusual weather
conditions. Only 5.6 percent of these cases were not explained.
Testimonies by people are often very inaccurate and dramatized. People have the tendency
to explain everything they see, which is not usually completely accurate. The unaided
human eye can be tricked into hallucination and has an inaccurate depth perception.
Reflections from windows and eyeglasses can provide an optical illusion of a UFO. Radar is
much more reliable to identify objects, but it cannot detect many characteristics that
separate natural phenomena and physical objects. Radar often picks up ionized gas, rain,
or thermal discontinuities. Electronic interference is also a frequent problem. Either
way, scientists are left with many unanswered questions.
There are many mysteries about UFO's with many indefinite answers. Many investigators have
tried to solve some peculiar questions about UFO's, but many of their conclusions cannot
be proven. In 1968 the United States Air Force asked Edward U. Condon, a physicist at the
University of Colorado, to head a panel studying the claims of extraterrestrial crafts.
(Unidentified Flying Objects, Encarta encyclopedia) The committee's final report was
reviewed by a special committee of the National Academy of Sciences and released in early
1969. The 37 scientists who contributed to the report interviewed UFO witnesses and
studied physical and photographic evidence. The report, also known as the Condon Report,
concluded that not only was there no evidence of extraterrestrial control of UFOs but also
that no further UFO studies were needed. Their advice was accepted by the United States,
but for other independent laboratories it was not enough.
Whether or not a person believes UFO's are, in fact, real or not is
probably because of influence from the media. For instance, the smash hit movie
Independence Day was a movie about aliens attacking Earth so they can keep it for
themselves. The company that made the movie, FOX, has been promoting extra terrestrial
ideas to bring media attention to UFO's. The company bought the stretch of highway 375
outside the mysterious secret military base named Area 51, which plays an important part
in the movie. In it, several aliens were captured and stored along with their aircraft. In
fact, the government has announced that it has captured aliens and their aircraft, but
that was later denied. (Woolward, 912) This has been said to be the cause of the vast
amount of UFO reports since 1948. The government also denied that Area 51 even existed for
several years, even though it had been photographed many times. Today, the military base
is thought to be a very heavily guarded test sight for many stealth planes in development
for the military, including some possible "flying saucers". This sight is
responsible for several of the military's top planes used today. Local residents persist
that they have never seen any UFO's that couldn't be explained by the military's aerial
experiments. Tourists swear they have seen several UFO's that couldn't be anything else
but extra terrestrial. Many magazines and tabloids visit the area to report about such
sightings and print there own far-fetched ideas.
People interpret these articles in many different ways. Because there
is no true proof of any extra terrestrial crafts, people are forced to make their own
decisions about reality. For instance, in March 1997, thirty-nine people committed suicide
to join with "Ti and Do", two "UFO forces". Printed on their page on
the Internet, it stated, "Our 22 years of classroom here on planet Earth is finally
coming to conclusion - 'graduation' from the Human Evolutionary Level. We are happily
prepared to leave 'this world' and go with Ti's crew." (Heaven's Gate, WWW) Such
cases like these are extreme, but recent studies have shown that fifty percent of America
does believe that there is life on other planets that may be trying to visit us. However,
the majority of these people do not worry about any unwelcome situation.
Opinions may vary, but until any conclusive evidence can be shown that
life is visiting Earth from somewhere out in space, it is safe to say that humans are
alone in their home planet. It is possible that this theorem will be proved wrong in the
future, but until then all any person can do is guess, hope, and wait. What the future
holds for Earth may not be what is expected, but until then scientists will be examining
all the evidence to help provide a better future for the home to life as we now know it.
Works Cited
"Unidentified Flying Objects" World Book Encyclopedia, 1992. Page 19, volume
U-V, 1992
Craig, Pat. "On Nevada's Extra Terrestrial Highway." Tribune News Service August
19, 1996: Page 819 from InfoTrack/Super Tom+. On CD-ROM. Foster City, CA: Information
access, 1997
"Unidentified Flying Objects" Groiler's Encyclopedia, 1994. Page 17, volume U-V,
1994
Woolard, John. "UFO Investigators Scoff at Abduction Claims." Tribune News
Service, September 12, 1996. Page 912 from InfoTrack/Super Tom+. On CD-ROM. Foster City,
CA: Information Access, 1997
60 Minutes, CBS Television Network. April 4, 1997
Heaven's Gate Home Page, http://www.aeok.com/heavensgate/index.htm
Steve Edwards, 1
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