Is obsession with UFOs becoming a mental illness?
I am worried that for some people, it already is.
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As you’re reading this, there is yet another UFO hearing taking place in Washington, DC. I realize that in the grand scheme of “ways to waste public funds” this does not rank particularly high; but jeebus, this is getting tiresome and repetitive. Here’s the briefing notice:
Like many others in scicomm I’ve had a pretty full plate doing TV, radio, and podcast interviews this week, what with the *actual* alien news of potential biosignatures being detected by James Webb from K2-18b, and the *fake* alien news coming from Mexico. At least it’s given me plenty of opportunity to promo my UFO movie (which isn’t about UFOs so much as it is about teaching astronomy, using the public interest in UFOs as a springboard).
Maybe it’s because I “research weird stuff” for a living so I’m very accustomed to all this nonsense, but I am able to gratefully take a breath and walk away and do something else. Anything else. It’s very nice to take a break from this stuff. But then I eventually have to come back to my office chair, and sit down and take a look at the hot sheets to see what’s cooking. Here’s one of my bookmarks, and I do recommend that you click on it:
https://x.com/search?q=%23EndUAPSecrecy
It’s a Twitter hashtag, “EndUAPSecrecy”. Scroll that timeline. Notice the level of emotion. There are people who are passionate about their belief that the government is hiding UFO secrets. Very passionate. Passionate to the point of unpredictability, like, sometimes I’m a little worried for some of these people.
Has obsession with UFOs become a mental illness? And, if the answer to that is “yes” to any degree, then what does that say about those who are building their businesses or their brands around cultivating and encouraging such belief?
Allow me to explain, and also to explain my own role in that, as the producer of a film that obviously appeals to this cohort.