[RoosterRedux]

There are people right here at FR that continue to do the government's work of stigmatizing the subject. If people like them all over the country (and in the military) were still successful in putting down any discussion of this subject, the objects seen over the weekend, including the Chinese spy balloon shot down in the ocean just off South Carolina, would never have been identified and destroyed.

Perhaps it's time to stigmatize the stigmatizers.

[Alberta's Child]

I suspect a lot of the “stigma” associated with UFOs was aimed at curtailing public conversation about sensitive military matters.

I’d also suggest that the public association of UFOs with “alien life forms from outer space” — fed by generations of fictional books and movies —didn’t do the subject any favors.

[Sirius Lee]

Well, to be fair, it's not the first time military pilots mistook a balloon for a UFO.

[cgbg]

Rooster:

Exoacademian keeps making hints that could explain that we do not really understand where the ridicule comes from.

His latest podcast:

https://podbay.fm/p/liminal-phrames/e/1676163629

I will spell it out—and understand that nobody believes a word of it—yet.

It appears that the aliens made contact with government officials (Truman, Eisenhower etal) who thought they were “making a deal” on “equal” terms.

However, the aliens had the ability to affect human minds—to influence them (not true “control”, just influence) in certain ways—including helping them to create a policy of ridicule.

I know I am way ahead of what people are comfortable believing—I totally get that—it is what it is.