Ufology and capitalism
I enjoyed reading Peter Brookesmith’s opinion of my work on how ufology threatens capitalism [ FT354:26, 355:28]. However, his understanding of modern and post-modern philosophy and theory is somewhat lacking. Perhaps he should begin by exploring the work of Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci who thoroughly explored how ‘hegemonic’ power systems, such as late capitalism, affect Western democracy and its ‘ideals’. Gramsci postulated that civil society ruled the individual via a “manufactured consent” which normalised, using media and other cultural media, the unequal and undemocratic machinations of late capitalism.
To suggest that UFO discourse is a cacophony of noise, “midges”, as Brookesmith suggests, is to oversimplify the meaning of discourse itself. Debate is loud, especially concerning a topic no one can truly explain, and for which no answer exists.
Furthermore, he falls into the established, albeit tired, dogmatic trappings of trying to fit ufology into a traditional academic or social framework. His complaint that ufology has “achieved precisely nothing” due to “delusion and incompetence” reeks of elitism. Perhaps UFO discourse is chaotic because the phenomenon itself, whatever it may be, is chaotic. Yes, ufology has its fools and charlatans, but so does every other field of study.
Where UFO discourse differs is in its ability to separate its own ideologies from the established ideological tenets of late capital. It is not that ufology attempts to offer up an alternate social system to replace modern capital, it is that ufology challenges the ideologies of capitalism itself. It continuously throws ideas around, some rational and some wildly insane, which oppose current power systems. Capitalism is not threatened because ufology will replace it with something better, but because an entire community (deluded and incompetent according to Brookesmith) exists that ideologically challenges its current hegemonic dominance.
Capitalism is, for better or worse, here to stay. The old men in the boardroom Brookesmith refers to are safe and sound. While ufology will not slay capitalism, it may adjust it slightly in the minds of people, and that is a problem for the status quo. Novel ideas generate anxiety and shift power, and there is one thing old men fear above all else: change, both in social systems and ufology itself. Michael Banias writer and curator, Terra Obscura