Insecurity and arrogance are as much to blame as stigma and taboo for UAP hesitation
We’ve previously written about the need to move past the stigma and taboo surrounding the reporting of UAP sightings. But this is not the only psychological consideration. There’s an even bigger issue that blocks the acceptance of UAP as a bona fide subject, including the practical necessity for proper investigation so we can learn more about what’s going on.
There was a sniff of this “other” problem that’s linked with UAP hesitation as we all listened to Ronald Moultrie and Scott Bray, during the recent congressional hearing, which was underwhelming and less than many of us would have liked to have seen in terms of transparency. When you know what you’re looking at, you see it more or less everywhere.
Insecurity is sometimes obvious, expressed as anxiety or a lack of confidence. But usually it is masked, hidden, or else just ignored. Whatever means of deflection is employed, it’s nevertheless there - an ill-defined inadequacy, lurking in the inner depths of past disappointment and emotional pain.
Far too many who are in positions of authority, power, or influence - whether it be in academia, government, the military, or the mainstream media - suffer from a combination of arrogance and insecurity. The former invariably masks the latter. These individuals often worry about a fall from grace, most knowing they’ve got to where they have without an abundance of capability. Instead, they’ve merely played it safe, picked the politically correct words to say, licked the right arses, laughed at the poor jokes, generally done what they’re “supposed to do”. They now hold on to their positions, fearful it all might slip. This situation isn’t great - and it’s certainly a long way off from aiming to be the best they can be.
Then stories of anomalous objects or craft annoyingly crop up, suggestive of possible extraterrestrial visitation. When you’re insecure - whether you readily admit it to yourself or not - there might be a fear of the unknown, of possibly having to change your fundamental way of thinking. That said, some happily jump on the half-baked idea of grey aliens abducting people from their boring little lives as a means of escapism from (you’ve got it) their boring little lives - failing to understand that sleep paralysis is a known phenomenon that can seem real and often terrifying to those who experience it.
Credit: NASA
Arrogance is just one means of pumping yourself up for the purpose of psychologically avoiding that gnawing insecurity. A few claim credit for someone else’s work. Many talk the talk, without walking the walk. A common and unpleasant tactic is to put others down, making yourself feel empowered, perhaps as part of a clique. Self-image through enhanced physical appearance is another means of inflating yourself, easily achieved by splashing the cash. This all has the unfortunate consequence of blocking or diminishing humility. You become somewhat closed, shut-off, defensive - your attention often focused on what doesn’t really matter - with integrity nowhere in sight. The barriers, walls, and no-go areas are erected to keep what is seen as threatening at bay - and everything is quickly normalised. Before you know it, you’ve become comfortably numb. Curiosity suffers. These self-inflicted limitations are made worse by the mass reflection of others who are likewise restricted. It’s a combination of personal failings, together with the social conditioning of monkey do what monkey see.
The vast majority of people are reluctant to change. Many might claim to want change, but not if they have to do the actual changing themselves. So the combination of the unknown and the prospect of having to change is a challenge or threat too big to handle. Better to stay the same, even if it does suck.
The idea that there might be highly advanced civilisations out there in the galaxies is intimidating for those I mentioned at the beginning of the article who are in positions of authority, power, or influence. They can handle the idea of black holes and billions of other galaxies. After many once denied the very possibility of exoplanets, the same profession now embraces the career opportunities of finding more and more of these planets which exist beyond our own solar system. And they’re gearing up for the chances of finding microbial lifeforms in acidic clouds, under rocks, or beneath the oceans of distant moons. They quietly understand that microbes, if found, won’t challenge their intellectual prowess or worldview.
But the idea of life elsewhere being intelligent in nature - especially way beyond our own limited evolutionary stage of development - causes the anxiety level to immediately rise. It’s not a fear of being gobbled up for breakfast, lunch, or supper - or being enslaved to carry out some menial, repetitive task forevermore. No, the deep lurking dread is of being shown up for being what we actually are: a species that’s emotionally-defunct and still at the adolescent stage, barely able to think. And the possibility that They Might Already Be HERE is just way too intimidating. Hell, that might imply they could have developed super-fast space travel, even perhaps faster than the speed of light, which would really show up our arrogant insistence that that’s “impossible”.
So curiosity is stifled. Yes, of course stigma and taboo play their part. People don’t like being laughed at - or, worse, overlooked for promotion. But the biggest concern is being potentially exposed as a bunch of dysfunctional primates. As a species, we not only love and show kindness, make and appreciate great music, invent and manufacture clever contraptions, learn to heal the sick, etc etc. We also bitch and moan, rape and murder, go to war, happily distract ourselves if we’re not immediately in the firing line, ignore contradictions and hypocrisy as if they don’t apply to us, and much much more.
A classic form of psychological avoidance is minimisation. And there are two distinct offshoots of this means to downplay or shrug off anything that is overly challenging: trivialisation and intellectualisation. These lowly tactics of dismissal are common faults of those in the aforementioned positions of authority, power, and influence. They’re amongst the many unworthy tools of arrogance. And they go against the better qualities of asking probing and pertinent questions, seeking evidence, and linking relevant aspects into a coherent whole picture.
Moving beyond the stigma and taboo associated with UFOs and little green men is a relatively simple task. It only requires a minor cultural shift in attitude and approach. You first show that it’s a responsible act to report sightings of UAP, especially within the relevant professions where it could conceivably make a difference - as something to be encouraged, with no fear of career reprisals. Those individuals then feel useful in helping to unravel what is currently a mystery. But doing something constructive about the insecurity/arrogance issue is a very different and much more difficult undertaking by comparison. Such a mission involves fundamental change at the individual level, including the need to challenge flawed psychology and the resulting behaviour that also involves everyone else in society. Yes, it can and must be done - but that’s beyond the scope of an article about UAP.
Written by Iain Scott, 14th June 2022