The great thing about conspiracy theories is that when they are inevitably debunked, the debunking is almost immediately counter-debunked, usually with a fresh ratcheting of the whole conspiracy framework. This has now predictably happened in response to The Wall Street Journal‘s two-part investigation into a wide range of UFO claims since the 1950s. It goes like this: the public has been subjected to decades of government lies about UFOs, so the very reporting about why the government has been lying to us is actually part of the overall deception plan. It’s enough to make you dizzy.
An outfit called the New Paradigm Institute has labeled the Journal a “mouthpiece” for the Pentagon, arguing that the government is trying to discredit ongoing inquiry in “Unidentified Aerial (or Anomalous) Phenomena” as a crank preoccupation. This is the same New Paradigm Institute that last year announced it was partnering with the non-accredited Ubiquity University to award degrees in “Extraterrestrial Studies” (Ubiquity considers traditional accreditation to be “outmoded” and is, of course, offering an alternative). In dissing the Journal’s reporting, they cite suppression of “significant UFO events,” which kind of gives the game away. Who, exactly, determined their significance? Could it possibly be… you guys?
The UFO-investigative complex
Outside of Hollywood movies and long-running TV series such as “The X-Files,” it’s hard to say that UFOs are big business. But they have been a reliable feature of various disinformation campaigns, during and after the Cold War. Of late, there’s been a resurgence of interest, as Congress has launched investigations and plenty of UFO “experts” have made the rounds of the podcasting circuit.
The basic premise is that the government can’t be trusted and that we, the truth seekers, are going to blow the cover off this thing. What the Journal’s investigation revealed was that the government has indeed been lying, in order to conceal legitimate weapons programs and distract the media and the public by using the abundantly compelling narrative of visitors from outer space. So while the UFO crowd was right about the deception, they’re not very happy that they were themselves dupes in the psyop and had been amplifying Pentagon disinformation. The more cunning UFO-ologists would certainly see an effortful debunking, by serious journalists, as a threat to their continuing ability to exploit a profitable obsession.
There is nothing out there
Crashed alien ships, extraterrestrials living among us, weird flying objects spotted by military fighter pilots, crazy lights in the skies, many years of abduction tales — UFO lore is rich and varied at this point. I’ll be the first to confess that I’ve always been completely fascinated by the tall tales while understanding that none of them are supported by science and that the evidence is basically non-existent.
I’ll also be the first to confess that as soon as the Journal’s investigation broke, I prepped for the pushback. Entire careers have been devoted to UFOs, and the boosters of assorted conspiracy theories have enjoyed a long run of everyday people ignoring the physics and committing themselves to deep dives into all manner of weird rabbit holes. To their credit, the folks behind the New Paradigm Institute at least have a history of public-interest advocacy. So what if they want to push for greater transparency around UAPs? They’ve been taking on the Deep State for decades.
Sure, fine, but please don’t give into reckless speculations about the motives of proper journalists finally doing the work of showing us what the UFO craze has always been about.
