Comments | anthropologist: A rather dry article on alien faces and mothers

caatinga in anthropologist

A rather dry article on alien faces and mothers

Jan 19, 2006 12:04

Comments 19

malkin767 January 19 2006, 20:19:13 UTC

I don't have the time read the article fully right now, but the statement, "The Descriptions of alien faces historically reported by UFO abductees are almost boringly uniform" caught my attention. I'm not huge into aliens or UFOs, but one thing I have read is that descriptions of aliens vary from culture to culture. For example, most Russians report sighting aliens that look more like giant, boxy robots than the little grey men that are spotted in America. This could have to do with culturally preconceived notions of what aliens are supposed to look like.

caatinga January 19 2006, 21:42:54 UTC

Really? Huh. Rovots indeed.

malkin767 January 19 2006, 22:44:46 UTC

Well, that's what I've read. But who knows who legitimate the source was. Here's one Russian example.

malkin767 January 19 2006, 23:45:06 UTC

Heh, I just wanted to say that your icon reminds me of these latch hook kits. :p

Thread 5

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caatinga January 19 2006, 22:06:47 UTC

I was thinking maybe Americans are a lot more ambivalent about their mothers? And maybe Russians have similar issues about robots...

The scary thing is, I'm only half kidding.

heyitsmonk January 19 2006, 22:03:55 UTC

Carl Sagan has a lot to say about aliens in his book ... umm ... I think it's called "Science as a Candle in the Dark" or something like that. He talks about how aliens resemble the traditional "fairies" that people used to see, with their big diagonal eyes as well as other similarities. Which makes sense with the article.

rimrunner January 19 2006, 22:43:24 UTC

I believe you're thinking of The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Great book, and he's right; there are a lot of similarities. I'm no expert, but I've found few examples of fairies that were actually beautiful or angelic-looking (though some could make themselves appear so) before Tolkien came along (and he had a specific reason for describing them the way he did). In most of the folklore I've read, they're either quite alien-looking or else resemble ordinary people.

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eukarya January 20 2006, 02:50:53 UTC

Because they might anally probe us.

itsalljustaride January 24 2006, 23:20:39 UTC

because aliens look like STEP-mothers.

ba-dum bum

caatinga January 19 2006, 23:02:23 UTC

Are you saying you never want to kill your mother?