UFOs make a comeback, but why?

For my response to the question posed on page 135 of "Everything's An Argument", I decided to turn to the opinion section of the Wilmette Life. I was immediately drawn to an article titled "Don't look now, but UFOs make a comeback" by Paul Sassone. The article begins by pointing out how interest in UFOs has risen in the past few years. Apparently, NBC and ABC both aired prime time specials in the recent weeks. Also, according to a 2002 poll, 56% of Americans believe in UFOs, and 70% believe that the truth is being covered up by the government. The height of the UFO craze was in the 1950s, when Americans were terrified of communist takeover. Sassone argues that the revived interest in UFOs has come from our new fear of terrorism, or a failing economy. I mean it makes sense, many scholars say that the original UFO sightings were a symbol of our fear of communism, and now that we have a new fear we have more UFO interest. However, Sassone slightly under cuts his argument with his statistics on American opinion of UFOs. He references how more than half of Americans believe in UFOs, and how many sighting organizations have expanded. But, this takes away from his argument that we turn to UFOs to symbolize our fears as a nation. These opinions have been built up over 50 years, and so have the organizations. In the end, the reader is left confused. Are we merely personifying our fears as extraterrestrial visitors, or do we actually have a legitimate belief in these flying saucers? I think Sassone was trying to lead his readers to this question, rather than heavily argue a certain side. That way, the reader can walk away pondering the collective sub-conscious of America and what the real reason is behind the UFO comeback. 

Yes She Can!

Don't worry, I'm not really a supporter of Sarah Palin, or John McCain for that matter, I am merely quoting the new line of campaign signs I have seen around Winnetka this past week. I've seen about 10 of them on the fronts of houses, or attached to the trees in front yards, and they are priceless. I tried for like 15 minutes to find a picture of one, but to no avail, so I will try to describe it. Basically you've got a white poster board. On the top it reads "Yes, She Can!" in some lame Microsoft Word font. Below that is a nice, big, proud American flag. Then, on the bottom, is written "You Go Sarah!" in an even lamer Word font. Overall, not that great to look at. On Saturday I walked up to one to get a better look. I've determined that they are probably being made and distributed by someone locally, for they have no '.com' or anything that would associated to the McCain campaign. I just realized that rhymes. Anyways, they are homemade. These signs are merely proof that Palin is not being considered a political candidate. She is definitley not being thought of as the woman that will become president if/when McCain bites the dust. The homemade, Word font signs seem more appropriate for a sports team. "You Go Sarah!"...c'mon. This is a presidential race, not a high stakes sporting event. Despite their humorous qualities, these signs are really interesting when analyzing the tactics being employed by each campaign. Although these signs are not being created by the McCain campaign (rhyme) itself, they are being made by its loving supporters. And they are, after all, the voters that could win these two the office. All I can say is that I hope the people proudly displaying these Palin signs are putting more thought into their vote than they would for a decision on who to root for in a Cubs/Sox World Series. 

It Blew My Mind

My friend showed me this movie yesterday. We were just sitting around and he suddenly rushes to my computer, demanding to show me something he described to be "pretty cool". I thought it was merely a short YouTube video or something, but I was wrong. He puts on "Zeitgeist: The Movie" on Google Video. The 5 minute introduction was hard to get through. It was just alot of quotes and speeches and nothing. But after the intro came the first part of the movie, which discusses how Christianity and many other early religions all follow the same general pattern that is based off the zodiac. The second part of the movie explains a conspiracy theory that the terrorist attacks on 9/11/01 were planned and executed by the leaders of our nation in order to gain the support they needed to go to war in the Middle East. I have always been against such conspiracy theories, but I found myself questioning everything after I saw the evidence the film had gathered. The third and final portion of the movie is about the Federal Reserve. It explains how the Federal Reserve was founded by a group of elite bankers in the early years of our nation, and that it is not actually a part of the government. It goes into great detail on how all the money that is created by the Federal Reserve is loaned out to the government with a tax associated to it. Therefore, the movie says, the nation will forever be in debt because they will need to get more money from the reserve to pay off the tax they had from their previous money. Overall, the ideas discussed in the movie are incredibly interesting. While watching the film, I constantly found myself thinking back to American Studies. All three parts share strong relationships with what it means to be an American. Millions of Americans are followers of Christianity. One is very hard-pressed to find a person who fully believes in 9/11 conspiracy theories. And of course, every single dollar you have ever spent started in the Federal Reserve. The movie attempts to show Americans that what they believe is sometimes very far from the truth. In American Studies, we are trying to get closer to 'What it means to be an American' and similar ideas. This film is great in helping to research these ideas because it presents a completely new perspective on many ideas that are considered unquestionable facts. 

First post right here. Just added some cool stuff like the last.fm feature along with the Cubs news thing. There losing right now unfortunately. I need some pictures and music.