not grant legitimacy to space alien abductees because
their ‘reality’ exists in a completely different paradigm
than the one considered ‘normal’.

One place where transgressive realities are usual-
ly welcome is the televisual, informational space. It is
on t.v. and the internet that UFOlogists have taken a
space to define the boundaries of their own realities.
“Abductees may not get parades, but they do get on
television. Their televisual presence, moreover, links
them with the real, with that which happens." (p. 103)
The ever-shifting sphere of reality is what is represented
by space-alien-infatuation on the ‘anything goes’ infor-
mational media.

"In fact precisely because the alien violates myri-
ad borders, crossing from news to entertainment to
tabloid spectacle, it can operate as an icon of the insta-
bility of formerly clear distinctions. At a time when talk
of the future is ever present, the alien accesses a host of
associations with technology, conspiracy, violation, and
the changing face of the real." (p.156)

Conspiracy theories, like space alien abductions
stories, have emerged from the shifting fields of reality
to make sense of personalized perceptions and experi-
ence. "... Through its links and associations, conspiracy
theory codes critical reflections on democratic society as
a particularized set of threats. Like abduction and the
Internet, conspiracy theory challenges secrecy with
information. And, of course, to ask about the ‘truth’ of
this information is to miss the point. As Paige Baty
writes, ‘On the one hand, the conspiracy theory
searches for the truth. On the other, many truths, are
repeatedly shown to be the products of fictions, plots,
and lies.' (p.143) Just like ‘reality’ in twenty-first centu-
ry North America.

Last week at a cafe on the ‘drive, | was talking
about conspiracy theories with my friend Peter, (a con-
spiracy theory ‘observer'), and we kept coming ‘round
to the phrase: ‘crisis of meaning’. Our cultural, agreed-
upon reality is shifting into the virtual, into the
unknown of outer space, into the unknown of inner
(hallucinogenic) space, into the nothingness of possible
planetary demise, and the speed of change is ever
increasing. The crisis in meaning comes from trying to
keep up, to make sense of it all. We're making up this
modern-day mythology based on paranoia to deal with
the crisis.

: We thought the cracks in the crisis first started
to appear when the baby boom bubble began to burst.
When John F Kennedy was shot many times from dif-
ferent directions, lots of people (rather than the usual,
straggling, political ‘radicals'!) started to question the

validity of the government. The cracks have now grown
into fissures, and the crisis in meaning is growing.

Jodi Dean has said that the crisis in meaning has
originated, at least in part, from too much meaning, and
no ability to click on capital ‘T’ truth. "...We in late-
capitalist societies lack neither information--we're inun-
dated with that--nor knowledge--that we also have.
What we lack is the capacity to discern and distinguish,
to use and deploy, to judge and evaluate the knowledge
we need for ethical decisions and responsible political
action. We don't know what's real." (p.109)

One way Peter and | came up with dealing with
the question of what is real is to rely more on intuition.
We can't discern ‘Truth’ through purely intellectual pur-
suits any more; there's too much info to shift through
operating only on a left-brain level. If something ‘feels’
true then it can be ‘Truth'--for the moment, or for as
long as it feels like it fits in with our construct of reality.

However, we realized we still need to be discern-
ing with others’ subjective ‘truths’. Say, if denying the
holocaust is your truth, then your racist truth becomes
dangerous to society as a whole.

Finally, we realized that reality, individual and
collective, is constructed, and re-interpreted everyday
over lunch. Conspiracy theories about the CIA, about
hidden global power structures, and about the explo-
ration of the last great unknown of outer space, overlap
other belief systems. Many Indigenous mythologies
have origins in the stars, like space alien mythologies.
Perhaps the one thing in common between those forced
onto reservations, and those abducted by extraterrestri-
al, is the pervading sense of powerlessness in discarded
voices of experience.

Everyone's story deserves to be heard. Reality
really is just stories told to ourselves. The time is now to
take back the ability to express individual truths,
through global networked media like the internet and
through just plain talking. Perhaps then we can let the
cultural, collective intuition sense the captal ‘T' truth of
the voice of reality.

“The Weekly World News says that an alien has
visited Newt Gingrich. Reporting on the alien's
exchange with the [US.] Speaker [of the House], the
tabloid quotes the spokesman Tony Blankely: "I can
assure you that no extraterrestrial that comes to this
country from outer space would be eligible for welfare
benefits of any kind.". MAD magazine asks why the
aliens don't take Newt.” (p.4)

Phil Cousineau’s book UFOs A Manual for the
Millennium provides the following ‘Quick UFO Facts’:
"...UFO believers outnumber Roman Catholics by a
ratio of better than two to one; UFO believers outnum-
ber the voters who placed Reagan Bush and Clinton in
Office; There are three adult Americans who believe
that UFO's are real for every two skeptics..." (p.10)

13

not grant legitimacy to space alien abductees because
their ‘reality’ exists in a completely different paradigm
than the one considered ‘normal’

(One place where transgressive realities are usual-
ly welcome is the televisual, informational space. It is
on tv. and the internet that UFOlogists have taken a
space to define the boundaries of their own realities
“Abductees may not get parades, but they do get on
television. Their televisual presence, moreover, links
them with the real, with that which happens." (p. 103)
The ever-shifting sphere of reality is what is represented
by space-alien-infatuation on the ‘anything goes’ infor-
mational media.

"In fact precisely because the alien violates myri-
ad borders, crossing from news to entertainment to
tabloid spectacle, it can operate as an icon of the insta-
bility of formerly clear distinctions. At a time when talk
of the future is ever present, the alien accesses a host of
associations with technology, conspiracy, violation, and
the changing face of the real." (p.156)

Conspiracy theories, like space alien abductions
stories, have emerged from the shifting fields of reality
to make sense of personalized. perceptions and experi-
ence. *...Through its links and associations, conspiracy
theory codes critical reflections on democratic society as.
a particularized set of threats. Like abduction and the
Internet, conspiracy theory challenges secrecy with
information. And, of course, to ask about the ‘truth’ of
this information is to miss the point. As Paige Baty
writes, ‘On the one hand, the conspiracy theory
searches for the truth. On the other, many truths, are
repeatedly shown to be the products of fictions, plots,
and lies.’ (p.143) Just like ‘reality’ in twenty-first centu-
ry North America.

Last week at a cafe on the ‘drive, | was talking
about conspiracy theories with my friend Peter, (a con-
spiracy theory ‘observer’), and we kept coming ‘round
to the phrase: ‘crisis of meaning’. Our cultural, agreed-
upon reality is shifting into the virtual, into the
unknown of outer space, into the unknown of inner
(hallucinogenic) space, into the nothingness of possible
planetary demise, and the speed of change is ever
increasing. The crisis in meaning comes from trying to
keep up, to make sense of it all, We're making up this
modern-day mythology based on paranoia to deal with
the crisis

We thought the cracks in the crisis first started
to appear when the baby boom bubble began to burst
When John F Kennedy was shot many times from dif-
ferent directions, lots of people (rather than the usual,
straggling, political ‘radicals") started to question the

validity of the government. The cracks have now grown
into fissures, and the crisis in meaning is growing.

Jodi Dean has said that the crisis in meaning has.
originated, at least in part, from too much meaning, and
no ability to click on capital ‘T’ truth. *...We in late-
capitalist societies lack neither information--we're inun-
dated with that--nor knowledge--that we also have.
‘What we lack is the capacity to discern and distinguish,
to use and deploy, to judge and evaluate the knowledge
we need for ethical decisions and responsible political
action. We don't know what's real." (p.109)

(One way Peter and | came up with dealing with
the question of what is real is to rely more on intuition.
We can't discern ‘Truth’ through purely intellectual pur-
suits any more; there's too much info to shift through
operating only on a left-brain level. If something ‘feels’
true then it can be “Truth’--for the moment, or for as
Jong as it feels lke it fits in with our construct of reality.

However, we realized we still need to be discern-
ing with others’ subjective ‘truths’. Say, if denying the
holocaust is your truth, then your racist truth becomes
dangerous to society as a whole.

Finally, we realized that realty, individual and
collective, is constructed, and re-interpreted everyday
over lunch. Conspiracy theories about the CIA, about
hidden global power structures, and about the explo-
ration of the last great unknown of outer space, overlap
other belief systems. Many Indigenous mythologies
have origins in the stars, like space alien mythologies.
Perhaps the one thing in common between those forced
onto reservations, and those abducted by extraterrestri-
al, is the pervading sense of powerlessness in discarded
voices of experience.

Everyone's story deserves to be heard. Reality
really is just stories told to ourselves. The time is now to
take back the ability to express individual truths,
through global networked media like the internet and
through just plain talking. Perhaps then we can let the
cultural, collective intuition sense the captal ‘T’ truth of
the voice of reality

"The Weekly World News says that an alien has
visited Newt Gingrich. Reporting on the alien’s
‘exchange with the [US.] Speaker [of the House], the
tabloid quotes the spokesman Tony Blankely: "I can
assure you that no extraterrestrial that comes to this
country from outer space would be eligible for welfare
benefits of any kind." MAD magazine asks why the
aliens don't take Newt.” (p.4)

Phil Cousineau’s book UFOs A Manual for the
Millennium provides the following ‘Quick UFO Facts’.
* ..UFO believers outnumber Roman Catholics by a
ratio of better than two to one; UFO believers outnum-
ber the voters who placed Reagan Bush and Clinton in
Office; There are three adult Americans who believe
that UFO's are real for every two skeptics..." (p.10)

3 @)