The secret isn’t in the skies. It’s in social mood
“Mysterious lights” recently circling the New Jersey skies have seized the world’s attention. The story moved from local curiosity to “widespread panic” (The Guardian, Dec. 16) as said lights, deemed “unmanned aerial vehicles” have been counted by the thousands up and down the eastern seaboard, plus in Ohio & Texas. And the list keeps growing.
The panic was run up the flagpole, from small-town sheriffs, the Pentagon, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, all the way to the White House.
Meanwhile, with each new sighting, the public’s imagination regarding who controls these car-sized-drones grows ever wilder. They’re enemy spies (Google: “Iranian Mothership”). They’re a long-planned political plot for world domination (Google: “Project Blue Beam”). And near the top of the conspiracy theories: alien spacecrafts. From the news:
- Are drones over New Jersey alien tech? UFO expert says there’s ‘something nefarious about this’ – Dec. 14 Daily Mail
- Drones are not human? Viral video sparks UFO fears, reports of clock tampering across New Jersey – Dec. 16 Times of India
- Drones, Planes, or UFOs? Americans Abuzz Over Mysterious New Jersey Sightings – Dec. 14 Associated Press
- Mysterious Drones Spark Conspiracy Theories – From Aliens to Adversaries – Dec. 16 Forbes
Writes the Guardian, Dec. 16:
From UFOs to drones, the US fascination with – and fear of – ‘anomalous detections’…
Widespread panic about drones or other unknown low-flying objects has gripped New Jersey in recent days, but many other parts of the US remain cheerfully gripped by another very American mystery in the skies that has had a modern resurgence of interest: UFOs.
It arrives at an opportune moment: in recent years, congressional and Senate hearings have thrust the subject – which rises and falls in public attention, often at times of national or political insecurity – back into the spotlight.
Only one thing seems certain: seeing UFOs is not going away.
In fact, the October 2024 Socionomist’s cover story “Flying Saucer Mania: Part 1” underscores a historic correlation between negative social mood and increasing fascination with alien life. In turn, the subject of UAPs rises and falls in public attention as social mood rises, and falls. The Oct. Socionomist:
Tales of Lizards and Martians
America’s UAP craze began during Supercycle wave IV, from 1929 to 1949. (See Figure 1.) During this period, the U.S. experienced two of the most ruinous expressions of negative mood in its history: the Great Depression and World War II.
It’s no surprise that the early years of Supercycle Wave IV saw people begin to believe shape-shifting lizards lived on earth, masqueraded as humans and planned to take over the planet.
The October 2023 issue of The Socionomist traced this belief to a 1929 novelette titled “The Shadow Kingdom,” which described a race of Serpent Men with the ability to disguise themselves and “covertly control the levers of power.”
The Oct. Socionomist follows the full trajectory: from a brief recession in 1960, to the 20-year downturn that followed the Jan. 1966 market top, the public and political belief in UAPs was alive and well.
Today we see the real-and-present fear of the mysterious drones first sighted in New Jersey being manned alien spacecrafts that “go dark upon approach” and “stop clocks” in their wake.
On Halloween eve in 1938, the “War of the Worlds” broadcast of a fictional Martian invasion of New Jersey caused a similar panic. The difference between these two events? The drones actually exist!
As the Bible said: “There is nothing new under the sun.” Thanks to socionomics, we can understand why these all-too-recognizable patterns reappear across decades.
Subscribe to the Socionomist and get access to the complete October 2024 cover story “Flying Saucer Mania: Part 1” – not to mention the entire archival library of publications going back to 2004.
See for yourself how social mood drives historic trend changes in the social, cultural, and political landscapes.