Sure we've all seen movies and read books about extraterrestrial beings landing on the Earth and conquering the human race. And millions of us have viewed TV shows like "The X-files" and "Third Rock From the Sun." These forms of popular culture share a common thread -- extraterrestrial life. Yet the underlying question is, does the mass media take extraterrestrialism seriously? Or do they mock it? Or do they simply exaggerate its credibility? In the majority of these cases, the mass media not only takes on the third mode of exaggeration, it shifts focus from more important and serious issues such as extraterrestrial life at the cellular level. The media loves to play with the minds of viewers, making them believe in something which realistically is probably untrue.
The early history of extraterrestrial life traces back to the 1940s and 1950s. Stories of alien abduction sprang up everywhere becoming a general trend. At the time, alien abduction was defined as the forced removal of a person from his /her physical location to another place. It may include an altered state of awareness for the purpose of physical, surgical or psychological procedures performed by non-humans. After the abduction, the person is returned to his or her physical location and frequently has little or no recollection of the experience.
Where did this all begin?
It began in 1898 when H.G. Welles published his book The War of The Worlds. The time period was one of huge tension and military armament. This was a marker that World War I was going to break out. Welles novel addressed that very dread. The aliens were from the future and were perceived as an evil threat to mankind. But books like these and TV shows like "The X-Files" are always a projection...
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...Visitors?" Frank McConnell,Commonweal Volume 123 #20 Nov.22, 1996
Bibliography
Books:
Sagan, Carl. Cosmos; Contact.
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space.
Kieffer, H.H. Mars University of Arizona Press 1992
Articles:
Sagan, Carl. "The Search for Extraterrestrial Life." Scientific American. October 1994
"The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: Scientific Quest of Hopeful Folly?"
"Titan: A Laboratory for Prebiological Organic Chemistry." Accounts of Chemical Research. July 1992
"A Search for Life on Earth from the Galileo Spacecraft." Nature. October 21, 1993.
McKay, David. "Evaluating the Evidence for Past Life on Mars."
Web Sites:
SETI Institute Web Site: http://www.seti-inst.edu/
http:// www.abduct.com/experien.htm
http://ntdwwaab.compuserve.com/homepages/Andy page/abduction.htm
http.//www.gtm.net/"geibdan"/
All of these definitions are exact and significant to this research because sometimes it is obvious people are unaware of the true meanings of these words. The meanings of extraterrestrials and aliens have been commonly misinterpreted. An extraterrestrial is something, living or nonliving, which is not from earth, while an alien can be something from earth, but is not native to its surroundings. An unidentified flying object is something that has never been officially recorded. In this case, the witnesses refer to th...
Around June 25th, 1947 a pilot, Ken Arnold had reported strange objects in the sky while flying near Mt. Rainer, Washington. He stated that they flew like "saucers being skipped over water." This was where the term "Flying Saucers" derived from. The Roswell UFO Incident all started on the evening of July 3, 1947, Dan Wilmot and his wife were sitting on their front porch when they saw the distinct shape of a saucer flying through the sky. A few days prior to this sighting, military radar in the area was tracking an Unidentified Flying Object for four days. On Independence Day the radar indicated that the object had gone down about 30-40 miles Northwest of Roswell. A few days after the actual sighting from the Wilmot's, W.W. Brazel, the Foreman of the J.B. Foster Ranch went to check on his sheep after some intense thunderstorms the night prior. He happened to discover a very large amount of debris of an unknown metallic substance scattered throughout the field. It was also stated that he stumbled across a shallow trench in the ground that stretched hundreds of feet. Brazel would gather some of this debris to show family and friends. A few days after he would contact sheriff Wilcox of Chaves County. Once Wilcox had the information he needed, he contacted the Roswell Army Air Force Base, where Major Jessie Marcel was briefed to look int...
A multitude of literary works possess much more information than an initial review reveals which is no accident on the author’s part. One author who epitomizes this method of writing is Nathaniel Hawthorne and his book The Scarlet Letter. Following a thorough review of the book, the underpinnings of literary elements reveal the way in which he incorporates his dynamic tone throughout the story, and, with extensive research, conclusions can be made as to why he wrote the novel. Exploring the latter topic allows analysts of all kind gain further insight on his character and its relation to the books content.
Let take a simple example from Nagel’s paper to acquire a brief understanding on the idea of moral luck. Driver A and B were both drunk when driving home. Drive A passed the red light and killed a child who was passing the street while driver B got home safely. To Williams and Nagel, driver A should be, of course, responsible for manslaughter under the laws, but also should be morally treated as the same as driver B since the difference outcomes are solely based on luck. As Williams argues “luck of this kind affects whether he will be justified or not, since if it strikes, he will not be justified” (Williams, p.25). Therefore, in his book “Moral Luck”, Williams introduced a new term “moral luck” referring to “luck that occurs when an agent can be correctly treated as an object of moral judgment despite the fact that a significant aspect of what she is assessed for depends on factors beyond her control” (Nelkin).
On June 24th of 1947, a pilot named Kenneth Arnold made the first and most famous claim that he saw a flying saucer. In that same year, William Brazel noticed piles of debris around thirty miles from Roswell, New Mexico. A combination of these two events sparked a popular culture phenomenon that has changed the world. Extraterrestrials have become a part of the average American’s everyday life. Even as children exposure to the idea of there being a different intelligent life in the universe is something they encounter in movies, television shows and books. In March of 2009, the children’s movie Monsters vs Aliens was released and has grossed over three hundred and eighty-one million dollars so far. As children grow up and become teenagers
How often should an individual be confronted with those three words in a lifetime? What makes them pick one or the other? Is the right decision dependably fundamentally the ethical decision? Who chooses what is correct or off-base? These are every single significant question in this battling issue in life. Could the confidence in karma be sufficient for one to lead a "decent" moral presence? The finger is constantly pointed towards one 's self interest and one 's result of their choices. In Thomas Nagel 's paper, Right and Wrong, Nagel endeavors to clarify the distinctions and the contemplations behind good and bad choices. He makes references to individual advantages, religion, and disciplines of choice making. Nagel 's paper really characterizes manners of thinking and how individuals come to choose life decisions and pathways for their
Naively, we human beings believe we live in the dazzling golden age of technological advancements. Only, news flash: we’re not. Global food insecurity is at an all-time high. We’re struggling to feed a population that rises as quickly as the mercury in my thermometer. As demand soars and food dwindles, the men in power only seem to grow in size: from their wallets to their waistlines. So, you must ask yourself: what’s the easiest way to produce high quality crops to satisfy our hunger and their lust for money and power? The answer: Genetic Modification. As the documentary Food Inc. suggests, the concept may be brilliant, but the outcome is abhorrent.
The existence of life – Aliens, beyond our planet has been a controversial topic for several centuries, and is a debatable issue even today in the 21st century. What is our topic you may ask? Aliens, Do, Exist. According to theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking, it would be improbable for life not to exist somewhere other than Earth. This is a bold claim, but there is evidence to support this statement. The evidence we seek is in the many Alien occurrences we have experienced throughout human history.
Since the beginning of settled civilizations, people have had more mutual sharings than ever before. By the same token, there have been some conspiracy theories that are usually against the culturally accepted beliefs of religions, science and society. A conspiracy theory can be described so differently. However, as in his text, Marshall Brain explicates, a conspiracy is generally defined as a theory seeking to explain a disputed case or matter as a plot by a secret group or alliance rather than an individual or isolated act (Brain). Especially, after the new media has become quite popular, more and more conspiracies are theorized every single day, which aim to catch society’s attention via such media tools as the internet, journals and newspapers. Thus, people who theorize those conspiracies tend to use such objects as spiritual and mysterious ones in order to interest people. To illustrate, many examples can be given. For instance, many people have claimed that they were abducted by aliens, although they could show no evidences. Here, a citation from Blackmore could facilitate to understand the circumstance better. She states that people occasionally claim that they have been abducted from public places by aliens, in this case that may provide them with witnesses and affirmations but no evidence could be shown so far (Blackmore). As it is well known, only a small number of people believe such alien abductions, however, rating of this kind of news is quite high on media, because humankind has been wondering if there are extraterrestrial creatures out of the earth. Another example can be conspiracy theories which are about the origins of religions such as the rejection of Jesus Christ. There are some people who pay attention to...
Moral realism makes it conceivable to relate rules of reason to arbitrate moral statements. Thus, a moral conviction can be labeled as untrue or conflicting similar to truthful beliefs. Moral realism shines when there are moral discrepancies about the integrity of particular moral views. Moral realism considers that if two theories are opposing then clearly only one of them is true, and therefore the attention should be on looking for the factual moral belief. A moral realist is of the assessment that, amid all the facts, there is one moral fact which is significant and cannot be put on the back burner. According to moral realism, moral declarations are on occasion right. The influential element is the presence of a truth-making relation which brands the moral proclamations true. Accordingly, the things that create the truth of moral statements must actually be. For instance, a moral declaration such as “Cheating is bad” must be assessed in terms of its fact or falseness. It has to then be determined in terms of everyday associations established on its benefits and hindrances to an individual and the
The Hidden Relationship Between Government and Media Rather than being a neutral conduit for the communication of information, the U.S. media plays an intricate role in shaping and controlling political opinions. Media is extremely powerful in the sense that without an adequate functioning media, it is virtually impossible for a sophisticated social structure like the U.S. Government to exist. Henceforth, all known sophisticated social structures, have always been dependent upon the media’s ability to socialize. The U.S. government generally exploits the media, often times manipulating the enormous power of the printed word. Ultimately empowering the U.S. government, strengthening it with the ability to determine and control the popular perception of reality.
Chapter 13 explains our intuitions and the moral judgements around them, one of the examples being the 1999 cyclone in India, in which relief was denied due to the genetic nature of the grain. Chapter 14 and 15 both explain the moral implications of actions, in which people are held accountable for their actions as well as for their word. The accountability keeps individuals in check in a society, thus preventing cheaters in the system and immoral acts. Morality exists in order to keep society from turning into a chaotic mess, in which people cannot trust each other in exchanges or prevent actions such as
Nagel discusses the issue of luck in a moral assessment in the way things turn out. Negligence can range from slightly blameworthy
The main aim of this report is to analyze the impacts of changes in the media concerning the societal and individual view of politics and politicians. The report also describes significant milestones in mass media since the year 1960 and examines the impact of mass media on how people think politically. The report then considers the effect of technological advancements in mass media and the effect on the results of elections. The use of mass media has increased over the last fifty years in that it is a primary medium through which supporters of various campaigners share their ideas and views concerning politicians and different political parties. Through social media, behaviors and performance of several activists have brought
Many among us believe aliens are real because of claimed sightings, people that have been experimented on, and some physical evidence from that. Hundreds among thousands of the population from all over the world have seen, and even made contact with extraterrestrial life. Aliens live among us! Think of the uneasy feelings we get around certain people who act out of the ordinary. What do you think those little shivers are when someone stares and you think to yourself is it an alien in a human form? What about when the tiny hairs on the back of our neck stands up when someone gets too close or touches us? Will you be abducted next or have you already and you don’t remember?