According to a report released for the Scientific Integrity Program by the Union of Concerned Scientists:
Using their vast financial resources, corporations attempt to exert influence at every step of both the scientific and policy-making processes, often to shape decisions in their favor, or to avoid regulation and monitoring of their products. In so doing they often attempt to fundamentally alter the decision-making process.6
Between 2005 and 2011, over five thousand scientists were surveyed at nine American federal agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Agriculture. The results of the survey proved that hundreds of scientists experienced direct interference in their work that “stemmed from corporate influence.”7 The report provides many examples of large pharmaceutical companies, energy companies and various other multinational corporations pressuring scientists, and, more importantly, government regulators, such as the FDA, to be complicit in altering and even hiding scientific findings in order to bring various products and methods to market.
Large multinational corporations make up over 65% of all scientific research and development in the United States alone.8 Science is controlled by those in already established positions of power, primarily major corporations whose only fiduciary responsibility is to their shareholders and to the promotion of deregulated free market capitalism. It begs the question as to what (or whose) ideologies are being preserved, maintained, or developed, and for what purpose?
We have given “science” a sort of anthropomorphic consciousness, but science is not a literal “thing,” rather, it is a collection of socially accepted ideological constructs, methods and mechanisms, financially controlled by economic and political forces. Scientists do not work in a vacuum, able to explore any project they wish, such as UFOs; instead, they are bound to work for various established organizations, which have a wide range of agendas. First of these agendas is the promotion of modern capital, or, at the very least, maintaining the economic and ideological status quo. The sciences, without a doubt, have become the tool of multinational corporations.
We, typically, do not question the scientific establishment, and with good reason. Science is, for the most part, a good thing. It saves lives, creates vaccines, and advances humanity towards a better and easier future. We cannot call for some revolution against science because it is ideological, nor that it promotes a primarily capitalist agenda. All human endeavours are ideological, and all ideologies change over time. More importantly, capitalism itself is undoubtedly here to stay with no perceivable reality outside of the ideology it establishes. There is simply no place “outside” of our social reality from which to revolt.
There is no grand conspiracy or agenda within the scientific or corporate communities to raze UFO discourse. Within the physical economic realm of modern capitalism, ufology and the UFO subculture is irrelevant, at least right now. The elites within the corridors of economic and political power generally have little interest in the UFO subject. It is the ideological constructs and mechanisms established by modern capitalism that constrain the discourse.
The only question we can ask then is, why do the ideological mechanisms of modern capitalism, which science supports, reject ufology and UFO discourse?
(Anti-)Capitalism and the UFO
UFO discourse is the antithesis to modern capitalist ideology. While ufologists, and members of the subculture, function within the physical capitalist economic system along with the rest of the planet, there is a sort of hypocrisy to it. To the UFO community, the ideological mechanisms of capitalism are present but not permanent; this is where ideological capital must draw the line and reduce UFO discourse, to attempt to oppress and control it. Capitalism, much like a living organism, deems its own self-preservation as fundamental. However, capitalism is not a predator. It does not hunt down an opposing discourse and destroy it. Instead, it is a survivor. Any discourse or ideology that opposes it will be negotiated back into capitalist ideology, that is, sanitized and marketed, and/or alienated to the fringe as taboo if renegotiation is currently impossible.
Ultimately, UFO discourse has little economic value. Ufology is not a large-scale producer or consumer in the economy. While some aspects of the discourse have been negotiated into capitalist structures, such as television shows, books, magazines, conferences, and other consumable goods, the majority have not. More importantly, the consumable aspects created by UFO discourse are economically inconsequential. Most UFO discourse exists in a free format, such as blogs, websites, and social media platforms. While these formats do generate some economic benefit, via advertisements or subscriptions, the actual dollar amount is miniscule and allows for very few members of the UFO subculture to live off their ufological work.
This is really no surprise to anyone involved in UFO community. Economics is only one piece of the capitalist puzzle and, in our modern world, a very small piece indeed. While someone can explore the actual financial impacts that ufology has on the economy, it is ultimately unimportant here. We need to explore the ideological aspects of UFO discourse and how it is in opposition to modern capitalism.
The UFO discourse opposes modern capitalist ideology in three key ways.
1. Predisposition for Dissent:
If we examine UFO literature, as well as the vast collection of websites, blogs, YouTube videos, and other discursive media that comes from the United States, it all generally carries with it a tone of dissent. The UFO subculture has a certain feeling towards the government, the military-industrial complex, and the establishments of authority, such as the corporate and scientific communities: it is that they are not worthy of trust. Conspiracy theories, alleged whistleblowers, and leaked top secret documents all lend to this ideological build-up of opposition to elite power structures. While much of this opposition is misguided, conspiratorial, and even ridiculous, the culture of the discourse is problematic for the general ideology of modern capitalism.
It is not the overt dissention which is problematic, as ideological capitalism merely negotiates dissenting ideologies into itself, as it has done with Civil Rights, Punk rock, and many other similar “anti-establishment” movements. Rather, it is the rate at which the dissent moves, shifts and readjusts. While certain aspects of government, or other powerful corporations and institutions, are perpetually under scrutiny from the UFO subculture, the “flavor of the week” changes so often that the dissenting ideology is essentially non-negotiable. The constant shifting of who can and cannot be trusted is chaotic and seemingly follows no rhyme or reason. In simple terms, the tendrils of dissent move and spread so quickly in varying directions, with no discernible pattern, that modern capitalism is impotent in its continuous endeavor to subjugate dissenting ideologies into itself. Since it has no way of containing the dissent, it must make it unpalatable; it must ensure the dissent is relegated to the fringes. However, this has become increasingly difficult, especially since Wikileaks and Edward Snowden have muddied the playing field with regard to trusting authorities. According to polls conducted in 2015, roughly 50% of the American population believes in at least one major conspiracy.9
2. Culture of the Disenfranchised:
Capitalism fundamentally requires an alienated and disenfranchised group—the poor—since economic capital cannot be distributed evenly. Capitalism ensures that certain groups remain economically disenfranchised; however, for this situation to be maintained, the disenfranchised themselves must believe in the ideological illusions generated by capitalism. During the Occupy protests of 2011, there was a surge of anti-capitalist sentiment, so much so that there was significant potential for a major disruption of capitalist ideologies. However, because much of “the 99%” were unable to envision a reality outside of the capitalist illusion, the Occupy movement’s wave broke on the ideological rocks.
Dissidents of mainstream ideologies, by default, exist upon the fringes, alienated by the mechanisms of power. This distrust of established so
cial order has forced many members of the UFO subculture into a dual state—they function within physical economic capitalism, but work against it ideologically, often unknowingly. The illusion is more important than the economics: if people cease to engage in the ideological illusion, then there is a major upheaval to the status quo. The upheaval will not necessarily end capitalism, but will force it to undergo a significant adjustment, the most damaging of aspect of which is a democratization of power.
While many in UFO discourse view Disclosure, exopolitics or the channeling phenomenon as purely speculative, these are key examples of movements within UFO discourse that attempt to democratize power. While many disclosurists, ‘exopoliticians,’ and channelers are simply con-artists, the ideological perception of the phenomenon by the subculture generates a call of equality, free of production and consumption. In essence, the Disclosure and exopolitics movements and the channeling phenomenon “promise” to reshape the world into one free of wealth or poverty, where all are equal and consumerism is no longer necessary. They attempt to create a worldview free of capitalism itself. While a deus ex machina style visitation from an intelligent Other would potentially shatter modern capital, that has yet to occur. Rather, mainstream ideologies are in contention with a subculture which is attempting to envision an end to capitalism. The picture is unclear, but even considering that such a picture may exist is unacceptable. The magician, who uses gaudy trinkets and mesmerizing lights to distract, cannot have the audience thinking about how he performs the trick, lest they understand the mechanisms used to dupe them.
3. Democratization of Power:
The final method in which the UFO discourse subverts modern capital is via ideological democratization. Many philosophers and critics plainly suggest that real democracy cannot exist under the capitalist system. There are many reasons for this, but Noam Chomsky states it here:
If we mean by Democracy, citizens having an equal share in participating and determining decisions that affect the society, then capitalism, in any form, is inconsistent with Democracy… any form of capitalism that is likely to exist will have sharp inequalities because it’s based on hierarchy, domination, production for profit and not need, accumulation of capital, deprivation of others, subordination of people who have to sell their labor in order to survive. Of course that is going to translate automatically into any political arrangement…10
In the previous two methods by which UFO discourse subverts capitalist ideologies, we see a subculture that functions upon dissent and is therefore disenfranchised by that dissent. Much like Nada in They Live, UFO culture looks upon the world differently. While participants in the discourse may not be aware of their opposing ideology, it exists, nonetheless, and modern capital is unable fully to negotiate that threat into something it can fundamentally control as it has before; it ensures, then, that the UFO discourse exists in the taboo fringe. However, by doing so, the subculture has gained a pseudo-freedom—it can function unhindered and establish its own set of ideologies.
One of these ideological principles is that within UFO discourse and subculture, there exists no hierarchy, domination, or subordination. It is a discourse with no locus of control, no elites, and no ivory tower that establishes ideological truth. There is no established power in the discourse, therefore power moves openly between constant shifts in ideas. The sciences, and any other academic or mainstream discourse, have visible establishments which govern. They establish rules, hierarchies, and systems to control who is a member of the discourse, and what the discursive ideologies are. The UFO discourse has no such mechanism; it is democratized, with members of the subculture able freely to express their own ideologies, which vary from reasoned logic to utter speculative hokum. While this may be a key reason as to why ufology, as a field of study, has made little productive and objective progress, the discourse itself has functioned in this state since its inception. It is, in simple terms, a field of study which is completely democratized. It is an example of a living and functioning discourse that counters modern ideological capital—it creates a pseudo-reality that does not require mainstream official ideologies in order to exist; it is in this democratic state where modern ideological capital is impotent, unable to entrench itself and establish ideological order.
Into a Terra Obscura
Ideological capitalism is not some beast that needs to be slayed by “free thinkers.” We, the free thinkers included, are the beast. In the act of destroying the illusions of our reality, we would destroy ourselves. There is no perceivable line between the ideology of modern capital and our reality. The two are intertwined because we, as a society, have forced them to be so. The UFO discourse is not an agent of change, destined to end the illusion of capitalist forces; rather, it is a world view, which calls those illusionary forces into question. UFO discourse does not fit into the ideological reality of the mainstream. It is by virtue of the discourse’s chaotic nature that ideological capitalism has no choice but to relegate it into the taboo fringe, and negotiate it into mainstream consumption when it can.
Ufology, then, as a field of study, and the subculture that subscribes to its tenants, are at a crossroads. It will require more than UFO investigators, researchers, and scientists to continue progressing forward. It will also require a critical theory, a philosophical approach, that will continue to examine not only the discourse itself, but the reality in which the discourse exists. The ideological reality of modern capital, as well as other social mechanisms and structures, will continue to shift, and, with those shifts, the UFO discourse is affected. We must begin to explore that ebb and flow, to perceive the illusion of the ideology and, thereby, resist and change it. Ufology must continue to push towards democratization, towards a shared body of knowledge and ideas that cut against the grain of mainstream official culture.
How then can UFO discourse thrive in the capitalist ideological reality currently predisposed to ensure its relegation to the cultural edge? In simple terms, it cannot and it will not. There is no future for ufology, and UFO discourse as a whole, in the mainstream. If a grandiose extraterrestrial contact event occurred tomorrow, and the UFO question was forced into mainstream ideology, ufology would die an instant death as the entire subject would quickly become negotiated into the general sciences and, therefore, into capitalist ideological structures. If we assume that the status quo is maintained, and there is no public announcement regarding extraterrestrials, ufology will remain where it is. What can only occur then is a grassroots movement, which always operates against the current ideological reality. It will take scientists, researchers, investigators, philosophers and critics who exist in the fringe, open to a continuous shaking and fragmenting of socio-cultural order. The UFO discourse will continue to function in an authentic state, completely democratized, with all of the issues that come with such a relativism. The mainstream scientific establishment will never adopt ufology; rather, ufology must adopt the scientists. It must do the same with theorists, philosophers and other academics who are able to thrive within the fringe, instead of shy away from it. Many of my colleagues in ufological circles would argue that it is essential for UFO discourse to move away from the theological, and towards the scientific method. I would agree with them; however, the razor cuts both ways, and the ideological mechanisms of the sciences can be as dogmatic as the religious tenets of the UFO believers.
The next generation of ufologists are beginning to accept the fact that the lack of ufological progress is evidence enough to show that change is required and, ultimately, unstoppable. Mainstream capitalist culture has no choice but to resist UFO discourse, as it calls into question the ideological illusion, which capitalism must maintain. The future of ufology is a terra obscura, an unknown land, which has yet to be trod. Much like the drifter in They Live, we wander through the shadows, blinded by the illusion, but aware that there is a path laid for us by the strange UFO phenomenon.
ANARCHY IN THE UFO!
Red Pill Junkie
�
�Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos.”
—BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)
Let us start with a somewhat impertinent question: Why are you doing this? I mean, why do you find yourself presently with your hands on this book, reading these words at this particular moment? Don’t you have anything better to do with your time? Friends to meet, bills to pay, a lawn to mow, or a TV show to binge-watch? If the answer lies in the fact that you are interested in the topic of this volume—the UFO phenomenon—well hooray, and good for you, fellow weirdo. But is that it?
Have you ever bothered to pry deeper into the origin of this odd interest of yours? Tried to understand the fuel driving your passion for a subject perceived as an absurdity by most of humanity and our social institutions?
One of the reasons you’re reading this essay is because I, its author, have too held a lifelong fascination—nay, obsession really—with UFOs. Like most people lured by the hypnotic power of those bright, multi-colored objects, throughout the years I consumed claim after claim of encounters between witnesses and this Other reality, as if the pages of those books now gathering dust in my library had been laced with an addictive substance.
UFOs- Reframing the Debate Page 20