Senior US General Says Not Ruling Out Aliens as Source of UFOs

[crossfire]

'Tis the season for sky lantern festivals. Japan's was held on February 10th.
Sky lantern - Wikipedia

 

[exchemist]

I personally think it's more down to part of it being a demand for ratings (and thus sales) and sometimes a journalist being sent to cover a specialized or expert topic the journalist just doesn't know enough about to understand, and next thing we know we have this "god particle" thingy floating around.

No it's a line of questioning designed to lead the general into answering further questions and getting into a speculative discussion about what it might or might not be. The journo starts with the most crazy option, hopes to trick the general into ruling that out and then follows up with more suggestions, hoping to get further comments on them as well. But the general wasn't playing that game.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

No it's a line of questioning designed to lead the general into answering further questions and getting into a speculative discussion about what it might or might not be. The journo starts with the most crazy option, hopes to trick the general into ruling that out and then follows up with more suggestions, hoping to get further comments on them as well. But the general wasn't playing that game.

And the general should have politely said, "no, it's not aliens you idiot."

 

[Quagmire]

Holy ****!

Can you imagine how advanced they're technology must be if they can send a balloon across light years?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Technically, she is correct.
As long as the source is not known, aliens are a possibility.

ciao

- viole

So is the possibility that the balloons were sentient creatures. Not just sourced from aliens, but actual aliens! Oh my God! We just killed aliens on first contact!!!

How are they going to respond to us murdering members of their blobby race!!!!

Technically...as you said...you're correct. It's not a smart path for the General to allow.
'We have no reason to believe that' is probably a better...and equally technically accurate...comment.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Holy ****!

Can you imagine how advanced they're technology must be if they can send a balloon across light years?

You're thinking in a very old-fashioned way, though. They've just blinked in from a different dimension.

As if aliens are sending balloons all the way across space...*laughs*
That is sooooo last aeon man....

(J/K)

 

[lewisnotmiller]

That’s not actually what he said. He was asked if they could be alien and replied he was going to await the intelligence reports before ruling anything out. That’s a bit different. He does NOT think they are little green men, obviously.

Blue?

It does make one wonder...we picture little green men, or homogenous alien races. Maybe they have different colours, and issues of systemic racism based on them.

We meet the aliens, and they're all friendly to us, but poor old K'Weigh has to carry the bags all the time. We ask why, and get the old 'He doesn't mind...he's mauve...that's why we brought him with us...'

 

[Brian2]

It's obviously not aliens and in his position he shouldn't have said something so absurd and stupid.

Yes we all know aliens use flying saucers and not balloons.
Actually from the link we can see that the whole thing was whipped up by a reporter who asked the right question to get a response that could be used as a headline.

Asked whether he had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for three airborne objects shot down by U.S. warplanes in as many days, General Glen VanHerck said: "I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything."

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Yes we all know aliens use flying saucers and not balloons.
Actually from the link we can see that the whole thing was whipped up by a reporter who asked the right question to get a response that could be used as a headline.

Asked whether he had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for three airborne objects shot down by U.S. warplanes in as many days, General Glen VanHerck said: "I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything."

Which is stupid. Of course any idiot with half a brain can tell they aren't extraterrestrial in origin and the general should have nipped it in bud and not allowed to live.

 

[We Never Know]

Yes we all know aliens use flying saucers and not balloons.
Actually from the link we can see that the whole thing was whipped up by a reporter who asked the right question to get a response that could be used as a headline.

Asked whether he had ruled out an extraterrestrial origin for three airborne objects shot down by U.S. warplanes in as many days, General Glen VanHerck said: "I'll let the intel community and the counterintelligence community figure that out. I haven't ruled out anything."

Aliens are masters of disguise. They are everywhere

 

[Brian2]

Which is stupid. Of course any idiot with half a brain can tell they aren't extraterrestrial in origin and the general should have nipped it in bud and not allowed to live.

I suppose it was not up to him to say they aren't from outer space.
But we all know what journalists do to sell newspapers or whatever is sold these days.

 

[exchemist]

And the general should have politely said, "no, it's not aliens you idiot."

He should have said "Wait for the intelligence reports".

 

[Mock Turtle]

An example of click-bait:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/scientists-believe-aliens-made-contact-29194418

(Scientists believe aliens made contact after 'impossible' object sends bleeps to earth. Astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker and her team spotted the mysterious object sending repeat radio signals every 18 minutes and believed they may have found proof of extra-terrestrial life.)

But the team "breathed a sigh of relief" after a few hours because the source was being detected across a wide range of frequencies "so the power it would take to generate it could only come from a natural source". They now believe it could be a neutron star or white dwarf - the name for collapsed cores of stars.

Not reflected in the headline of course - but this is a popular newspaper after all rather than a more respected source.

 

[exchemist]

An example of click-bait:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/scientists-believe-aliens-made-contact-29194418

(Scientists believe aliens made contact after 'impossible' object sends bleeps to earth. Astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker and her team spotted the mysterious object sending repeat radio signals every 18 minutes and believed they may have found proof of extra-terrestrial life.)

But the team "breathed a sigh of relief" after a few hours because the source was being detected across a wide range of frequencies "so the power it would take to generate it could only come from a natural source". They now believe it could be a neutron star or white dwarf - the name for collapsed cores of stars.

Not reflected in the headline of course - but this is a popular newspaper after all rather than a more respected source.

Also a good example of how using "may" instead of "might" leads to a mischaracterisation.

 

[Wandering Monk]

A USAF general has refused to rule out aliens as a possible source of the recent downed UFOs:





Ruling out aliens? Senior U.S. general says not ruling out anything yet

What do you think? Are these from aliens or China/another US rival?

For nearly 80 years UFOs have evaded our defenses and suddenly we can shoot them down?

In the past the were so fast the could nearly instantly disappear and now the can only manage scores of miles per hour?

Come on generals! Get real.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

He should have said "Wait for the intelligence reports".

We don't need to when it's obviously not aliens and when it's obviously a trap (and not even a good one).

 

[Secret Chief]

Blue?

It does make one wonder...we picture little green men, or homogenous alien races. Maybe they have different colours, and issues of systemic racism based on them.

We meet the aliens, and they're all friendly to us, but poor old K'Weigh has to carry the bags all the time. We ask why, and get the old 'He doesn't mind...he's mauve...that's why we brought him with us...'

Are you feeling ok?

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Are you feeling ok?

You've met me before, right?
My brain takes little detours and I share...lol.

I've met a couple of people from here IRL, and I think they found me disappointingly normal.

 

[Secret Chief]

You've met me before, right?
My brain takes little detours and I share...lol.

I've met a couple of people from here IRL, and I think they found me disappointingly normal.

Perhaps they caught you on a bad day? No-one IRL thinks I'm normal.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Perhaps they caught you on a bad day? No-one IRL thinks I'm normal.

Ha!

I am kinda normal on the face of things. It's under the surface my weirdness resides.