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Public's interest in UFOs (TV/Radio/Books/Magazines)

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dhatz

Skilled Investigator
I remember Peter Jennings saying in his 2005 ABC TV UFO Special that Art Bell's show once was the 4th most popular show in US radio. Based on stats I've seen, I assume that would translate into several millions of listeners, perhaps up to 10M or more.

Fast forward today, I see a picture where

  • Both UK UFO magazines have closed down and US one is hanging by a thread.
  • Discovery Channel cancelled "UFOs over Earth" (with MUFON) after only a handful of episodes.
  • History Channel discontinued (admittedly flawed) "UFO Hunters" after the 2008/2009 season
  • radio shows e.g. Canada's SDI show went from being on the radio since the 1990s, to podcast-only a few years ago. And there has been no knew episodes for over half a year (note: I obviously greatly prefer the podcast option in UFO shows, since it allows listeners all over the globe)
Btw I'm not sure that a "serious" vs "entertainment" UFO show argument can be made.

So I ask, does there seem to be a medium-term shift in the public's attitude and interest towards UFOs? Is it just cyclical ?
 
Good point. When something actually happens, I think people are very interested. For example, the Chicago O'Hare incident found that newspaper (Chicago Tribune?) got millions (literally) of hits when they reported it. But when nothing is happening at all, I don't think people are particularly interested.

What you have pointed out is a lack of sustained interest. Organizations have had a hard time staying afloat in the best of times. I don;t know what Mufon membership is these days, but I doubt they have experienced rapid growth.

I've always had a hard time believing Art Bell is that popular. It's on so very late that it is past most people's bedtimes. If you're working graveyard shift and up anyway, I could see listening to it as background, but if I'm going to stay up that late, I'm going to be interested in doing other things.
 
Schuyler, since you brought up MUFON, IMHO more indicators that there is a downturn in UFO interest not only among the general public, but even at the "core" of UFO enthousiasts are e.g.

  • the overall quality of the MUFON Journal from 1990s to recent years (in 2007, MUFON and TheBlackVault published 30 years of issues from 1967 to 2007) and
  • the attendance of the MUFON Conference, which blogger Joe Capp reported about a few months ago.
Certainly the Chicago O'Hare and Stephenville Texas incidents made headlines in mainstream media, as have the periodic releases of UFO Files by British MoD (and to a much lesser extent similar actions by other countries during the past 3 years: France, Canada, Denmark, Brazil etc).

But where is the follow-through ? Have we lost our collective curiosity?
 
Now I may be wrong on this but can't you just download C2C shows like any other podcast assuming you are a member?? I thought you could and might be a reason it is popular, along with the quantity of such stuff.

As far as interest.... I think people generally aren't interested because the phenomenon doesn't do anything. It doesn't alter peoples lives, it doesn't interfere, it doesn't hurt, it doesn't enlighten, .. it really doesn't affect anyone in any significant way. People are busy and the last thing they probably have time to do is look over UFO reports or sit on their rooftops and look.

Now I know in the background someone is saying, what about abductions?? What about them taking me from my bedroom and doing all sorts of things to me?? And I'll tell you I don't know what to think about that. I don't even know if it is real, alien, human, mind control, mental instability, sleep/dream paralysis, or whatever else. My point is for the average Joe, UFO's DO NOTHING!! Why have an interest in nothing??

Now when something does happen, people perk up. Thats because something is happening or appears to be or is reported to be. Thats because the reality of some kind of other intelligence engaging us is quite profound. So I think it's natural to perk up when we hear stories like that. An interest certainly exists, but is for all purposes defunct when nothing is happening, ... a fairweather fan. But I don't think it is because of our short attention spans (which we certainly seem to have).

This has been apparent to me with this 4th Kind movie. Lots of hullabullu because apparently the UFOs/aliens have actually done something,.... something terrifying. People again see some truth to it and perk up! But then they find out it's not true and go on living their life.

I think there are a few scattered that remain interested despite anything really happening. But no deep widespread interest among the population at large and probably rightly so. Until whatever it is (if indeed it is "something") decides to engage us on a large scale, I wouldn't expect a lot of people to be wondering about UFO's.... mainly because they are irrelevant to their lives. But if something did engage us, you would see the masses perk back up!! So it's up to "them".
 
jkoci said:
Good point. I think that is true of many issues these days. Maybe it is a sign of the times and short attention spans.
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Face it, UFOs have to compete with many other issues which seem more relevant--unemployment, ongoing deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq, to say nothing of myriad personal issues. A poor economy in particular may lessen public interest, as fewer people than ever can afford the luxury of thinking about something which, however fascinating, has little if any bearing on people's lives (or so it seems).
 
Frank Stalter said:
The numbers are pretty significant as far as what people think. The intensity of the interest in the matter isn't really calibrated and I think we all know it's a very small number who actually look into the subject actively.
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Right, it's interesting to many but not exactly high on their priority lists. Btw you've posted on KDR's blog; welcome here. :)
 
Frank Stalter said:
A lot of people really love that case. Zamora was a terrific witness, honest and very detailed under the circumstances. At least everybody can agree on that.
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Yep, and IMO his testimony rules out a hoax. He saw two beings with the egg shaped craft. Hard to see how pranksters could've built a manned vehicle.;)
 
Trajanus said:
Yep, and IMO his testimony rules out a hoax. He saw two beings with the egg shaped craft. Hard to see how pranksters could've built a manned vehicle.;)
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In all fairness, we don't know that it was a manned vehicle. Zamora never saw anyone or anything get into the craft. It was assumed.
Just saying..
 
TClaeys said:
In all fairness, we don't know that it was a manned vehicle. Zamora never saw anyone or anything get into the craft. It was assumed.
Just saying..
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That is a good point, Zamora saw small beings just before he saw the craft fly away, i do think he saw the beings enter the craft before take-off , so largely based on assumption, it was figured they must have jumped into the craft and taken off, since they where no where to be seen either after take off.
 
Irishseekers said:
That is a good point, Zamora saw small beings just before he saw the craft fly away, i do think he saw the beings enter the craft before take-off , so largely based on assumption, it was figured they must have jumped into the craft and taken off, since they where no where to be seen either after take off.
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IIRC Lorenzen saw, besides footprints, evidence of a ladder i.e. marks other than those presumed to have been caused by structures supporting the craft. Of course the fact that Zamora saw nobody after the craft was gone indicates the beings he saw weren't college pranksters, unless they had built a very unusual craft, which hardly seems plausible.
 
Trajanus said:
IIRC Lorenzen saw, besides footprints, evidence of a ladder i.e. marks other than those presumed to have been caused by structures supporting the craft. Of course the fact that Zamora saw nobody after the craft was gone indicates the beings he saw weren't college pranksters, unless they had built a very unusual craft, which hardly seems plausible.
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I do not disagree with you on that point, but we still have to be open to the possibility that what Zamora saw was a secret government project of some kind. A ladder seems a very simplistic device to me for a advanced race to be using, i guess they use the simple method' like us to get out and up into the craft.
 
I really don't think it is 'pretty obvious' that it was a hoax by college students any more than it is 'pretty obvious' that Bentwaters was the result of a guy with a truck full of shit on fire or that crop circles, including a perfect Mandelbrot set, were made by two old geezers and a 2 x 4 in the dead of night. How many times have we seen this? Years, even decades later someone shows up and says, "I did it." And we just accept their word on it without any kind of investigation at all.

This is the sloppiest form of debunking imaginable, like Phil Klass saying, "It's plasma!" and actually having the gall to claim he's solved the issue. I would also say, "It's swamp gas," except Hynek was really raked over the coals, in my opinion unfairly, for that one. He took it in good stride, though, and even collected all the cartoons on it.
 
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