this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2024
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Showerthoughts

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If tomorrow it was announced that aliens were real, highly intelligent, and in communication with our governments, no one would be talking about it by Halloween (slrpnk.net)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/showerthoughts
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Seriously, I doubt it would even take that long. We get used to shit so quickly, and the news cycles have to keep feeding us new things, the only way we'd keep talking about the aliens if they kept doing new and interesting things. I'd be willing to bet a year later there would be some people who straight up forgot about it. "Oh yeah, aliens! Are they gonna, like, visit at some point or just keep exchanging calls with the Whitehouse?"

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[–] scarabic 9 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This POV is too extreme but there’s some truth to it. Not only is the news cycle always relentlessly moving on, and not only are attention spans short, but TBH we’ve seen so much sci fi that discovering real aliens would practically feel like old news.

But two things:

  1. you’re underestimating how much the news cycle would make of this - it’s a honeypot of ongoing intrigue. It’s got elements of science, government conspiracy, threat of war, and spirituality to it: the media would set up camp around this topic and make a permanent circus of it.

  2. there are a lot of smart people in the world who would pay a great deal of attention to the details and facts coming out of this. Yes there are more stupid people than ever but I think there are also more smart people than ever. If you belong to those circles and subscribe to the right media outlets then you know. If you just consume an IG feed everyday, you don’t.

[–] Evrala 1 points 3 months ago

It would be another outrage lever to push in America between Maga and dems.

[–] GladiusB 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

When the Pope said it was likely they existed EVERYONE knew that meant they are likely out there. I know that religion is not the best cross section of rational science going folks, but that's the point. When even the angry sky daddy is saying they are somewhere, we are definitely not alone.

Now do we know what they are or if we can even communicate? Fuck if I know.

[–] scarabic 1 points 3 months ago

I know what you mean. The church is usually the last to recognize new realities so if they are open to it that definitely says a lot about where the Overton Window is.