Essay/Term paper: The effects of ufo's on people

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Essays

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,
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