The Alien Abduction Myth: Surrogate Spirituality
Offline 1. Alien abduction mythology is memetic: it is a thought contagion.
2. Alien abduction mythology is a surrogate spirituality, just like new age mysticism.
3. Most alien abduction "experiences" follow a fairly typical pattern which is observed in media representations of said "experiences." It is enshrined in popular culture. Anyone who has seen "Taken" or the "X-Files" can construct an elaborate abduction scenario on command.
4. Taking a meme's eye view, we can think of the alien abduction phenomenon as a co-adapted meme complex, or memeplex, much like specific religious belief systems (Catholicism, Orisha Worship, Neo-Paganism, Fundamentalist Christianity, etc...). The memes, woven together, support each other within the memeplex. It is thus a self-sufficient system of belief that does not rely on scientific evidence.
5. Most developed industrial regions, including Asia, North America, and mainland Europe, have their own variations of the abduction myth. The Greys, while ubiquitous in the America, take a backseat to other types of alien creatures which seem to correlate geographically. Ask yourself a question: if all of it is true, why then do "Zeta Reticulans" seem particularly interested in the US and Canada to the exclusion of most everyone beyond North America? Such variation in mythology is temporal as well as geographical: before the "Roswell Grey-type" reports, when little green men were considered the staple intergalactic visitor, most close encounters were attributed to them. Now that the Greys are in, we see that American and Canadian "contactees" describe variations of Greys. Similarly, mechanical beings were at one time nearly ubiquitous in the UK, perhaps due to the popularity of the Daleks and Cybermen of Dr. Who. Alien visitors to the US and Canada, however, tend to closely resemble humanoids from American TV shows like Star Trek and Star Gate, and Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind.
6. I am not suggesting that so-called "abductees" are liars. I think many of them truly believe what they claim to have experienced, but that their sense of reason and objectivity has indeed been overridden by a particularly virulent thought contagion which is so pervasive as to demand far more respect for our society than it deserves, especially when a closer look reveals the typical abduction experience to be largely a disguised spiritual experience.
“It is true that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. It is equally true that in the land of the blind, the two-eyed man is an enemy of the state, the people, and domestic tranquility… and necessarily so. Someone has to rearrange the furniture.”
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Yes. It is.
Ok. I'll conditionally agree, though I notice that many people believe this in addition to new age mysticism and other quasi-religions.
Yes. It's not unlike the way people who have NDEs seem to see their own god so often.
I love this whole post. Great job.
Yep. And they're all anthropomorphic in some way... just like gods.
And so, it is the same as religion in the way it spreads, and the way it 'infects' the normally functioning brain. Great post. Thanks!
(On a personal note, Hawkeye is probably my favorite character from a 30 minute TV show... ever.)
Atheism isn't a lot like religion at all. Unless by "religion" you mean "not religion". --Ciarin
http://hambydammit.wordpress.com/
Books about atheism
I'd have to say that in addition to Plato, Darwin, and Marx, Hawkeye Pierce has provided some of the greatest philosophical and moral commentary in history. Did you know Alan Alda is an atheist who's been awarded for promoting the public understanding of science?
“It is true that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. It is equally true that in the land of the blind, the two-eyed man is an enemy of the state, the people, and domestic tranquility… and necessarily so. Someone has to rearrange the furniture.”
Where are all the Third World alien abductees? As far as I know, the bulk if not all of these abduction stories come fromt he Developed, Industrialized countries. I suppose we in the First World have the economic luxury of being able to indulge in superfluous thought contagions.
“It is true that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. It is equally true that in the land of the blind, the two-eyed man is an enemy of the state, the people, and domestic tranquility… and necessarily so. Someone has to rearrange the furniture.”
I think half the reason is because the government is paranoid that the UFOs will attack us if we attempt to cooperate with them. I think the other half is that they're afraid to even disclose the information because people are so closed minded and entrenched in their little beliefs that it would destabilize a huge part of society. I was skeptical about UFOs for the longest time until I started listening to Mysterious Universe. I'm not going to say that I'm convinced they exist now, but I'm definitely a lot more open minded when it comes to forming opinions about the paranormal. Also, if you guys didn't know, we're due for a solar storm in 2012 - which (although I'm normally not very adamant about things like this, I'm convinced that it's coming). Is it just me or has it seemed like there has been a greater frequency in solar flares over the last couple of years? I've been watching http://www.spaceweather.com over the last few years and I'm not a scientist, but I have noticed an increase in sunspots. I also have satellite internet, so whenever there's a solar flare the signal gets disrupted and I get a headache along w/ it. It could just be my ISP (the *edited for possible spam* that I use in case you were wondering) but with the increase in reports of solar flares and articles like these I'm beginning to think that we really ARE in for a toasty treat in 2012 :/
(I let this through because it is a delicious blend of fruitiness -mellestad)
thanks
haha
You should make a full account, we've got some folks you would get along with.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
Thanks mellested but how exactly did he manage to get his "thank you" 1:19 hours before he posted the origenle?
Remember master your Eye-gore is here for you....... tee hehehehehe, gasp.
"Very funny Scotty; now beam down our clothes."
VEGETARIAN: Ancient Hindu word for "lousy hunter"
If man was formed from dirt, why is there still dirt?
Different day.
Go get me some brains, and Angelina Jolie.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
No, it is not just you.
It is in fact a very well documented cycle in solar activity that repeats just about every 11 years. Right now, the number of sunspots is close to the maximum but it will be dropping off in another year or so.
=
I don't find the idea of alien abductions bizarre per se, I am kind of with George Carlin on the whole thing of how strange it is that alien life seems to be seen as stranger than a divine being. I think that yeah, most of the abduction stories could either be very vivid dreams or a case where they try to 'remember' what happened through hypnotism, hallucinogens, etc. and end up with very vivid ideas but are also influenced by the cultural memes and ideas like X-files or Close Encounters. I also remember seeing a claim by someone arguing that wasps were in fact aliens (good for a laugh if nothing else).
Sherri Tepper - The Fresco - hilarious and one of the alien species are giant wasps who also happen to be the "peace keeping" force. Strange how few people wanted to get crosswise of them - LOL
-- I feel so much better since I stopped trying to believe.
"We are entitled to our own opinions. We're not entitled to our own facts"- Al Franken
"If death isn't sweet oblivion, I will be severely disappointed" - Ruth M.