21 votes

Spaceship of fools: Behind every conspiracy theory lies a golden opportunity for companies and hucksters to make money. UFOs are no exception.

Posted by Autoxidation
Tags: uap, ufo, skepticism, david grusch, securities and exchange commission, fraud, to the stars academy of arts and sciences, luis elizondo, christopher mellon, media, the new york times, the debrief, the washington post, journalism, leslie kean, ralph blumenthal, us congress, pentagon, uap task force, author.art levine, source.washingtonspectator, long read
https://washingtonspectator.org/spaceship-of-fools/

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Title
Spaceship of Fools
Published
Jul 20 2023
Word count
7886 words

9 comments

  1. [9]
    updawg
    Link
    No explanation? Just a no-context headline? Why should I click this link when I have no idea what is on the other end?

    No explanation? Just a no-context headline? Why should I click this link when I have no idea what is on the other end?

    5 votes
    1. [2]
      cfabbro
      Link Parent
      I just finished reading/skimming the article, and have added a bunch more relevent tags, which hopefully helps with that: And here are the ledes, which also provide a decent summary, IMO:

      I just finished reading/skimming the article, and have added a bunch more relevent tags, which hopefully helps with that:

      uap, ufo, skepticism, david grusch, securities and exchange commission, fraud, to the stars academy of arts and sciences, luis elizondo, christopher mellon, media, the new york times, the debrief, the washington post, journalism, leslie kean, ralph blumenthal, us congress, pentagon, uap task force, author.art levine, long read

      And here are the ledes, which also provide a decent summary, IMO:

      Major U.S. media and Congressional leadership swallow new unverified stories of alien visitations.

      Allegations of fraud filed with the SEC against conspiracy-promoting former DOD officials, rocker Tom DeLonge and the company they fronted for peddling false UFO-related claims.

      Growth in UFO cults and cult-like behavior, violence and cyber-stalking by UFO zealots raise new concerns.

      12 votes
      1. updawg
        Link Parent
        Thank you. Not knowing what the Washington Spectator was, I was expecting a source that was pretending to be a legit news site while actually just being a site to push conspiracies.

        Thank you. Not knowing what the Washington Spectator was, I was expecting a source that was pretending to be a legit news site while actually just being a site to push conspiracies.

        3 votes
    2. [6]
      Autoxidation
      Link Parent
      Are we that against link sharing on Tildes now? Are tags not sufficient? I considered writing something, but the subtitle(s) that appears I thought was a solid peek into the whole article, which...

      Are we that against link sharing on Tildes now? Are tags not sufficient?

      I considered writing something, but the subtitle(s) that appears I thought was a solid peek into the whole article, which is very thorough.

      7 votes
      1. [5]
        cfabbro
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        I don't think that's what updawg was suggesting. And to be fair to them, considering how long, detailed, and well-sourced the articles actually is, IMO the headline does it a huge disservice by...

        I don't think that's what updawg was suggesting. And to be fair to them, considering how long, detailed, and well-sourced the articles actually is, IMO the headline does it a huge disservice by giving the opposite impression. So I can understand their hesitance, since I hesitated to read it at first too due to the headline.

        So do you mind if I edit the title to offer a bit more context, and hopefully draw focus back to the contents rather than the headline? I was thinking "Spaceship of fools; Behind every conspiracy theory lies a golden opportunity for companies and hucksters to make money. UFOs are no exception." which combines the headline with the first few lines from the article. But I am open to suggestions, if you can think of something better though.

        Edit: I edited the title. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, and all that. But if you don't approve I can change it again later.

        13 votes
        1. [3]
          Autoxidation
          Link Parent
          Your edited title seems appropriate to me, thanks! I'm bludgeoned from years of reddit and "USE ORIGINAL TITLE ONLY NO EDITORIALIZATION" rules, so have always been wary of adding anything else.

          Your edited title seems appropriate to me, thanks! I'm bludgeoned from years of reddit and "USE ORIGINAL TITLE ONLY NO EDITORIALIZATION" rules, so have always been wary of adding anything else.

          7 votes
          1. [2]
            cfabbro
            Link Parent
            Some subreddits were definitely bad for that, but Hacker News is way worse. They don't even care if the original headline doesn't make any sense with the additional context removed, they manually...

            Some subreddits were definitely bad for that, but Hacker News is way worse. They don't even care if the original headline doesn't make any sense with the additional context removed, they manually edit them back to the original regardless (and then sometimes downrank the submission purely out of spite, like they did to the Tildes announcement). :|

            6 votes
            1. Autoxidation
              Link Parent
              I didn’t know HN did that! Thanks for the insight.

              I didn’t know HN did that! Thanks for the insight.

              1 vote
        2. updawg
          Link Parent
          Thank you. Your title implies the opposite of what I had been expecting given the URL.

          Thank you. Your title implies the opposite of what I had been expecting given the URL.

          6 votes