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Secret Files Reveal UK Police Feared That Trekkies Could Turn On Society
An anonymous reader writes: Scotland Yard was worried that fans of shows like the X Files and Star Trek might run amok during the Millennium according to secret files. The file, called UFO New Religious Movements (NRMs) And The Millennium, reveals that anti-terrorism experts were also concerned about the brain-washing effect of Dark Skies, Roswell, Millennium and The Lawnmower Man on viewers. According to the Telegraph: "The secret briefing note was obtained from the Met under the Freedom of Information Act by Sheffield-based British X-Files expert Dr Dave Clarke while researching a new book, How UFOs Conquered the World. Dr Clarke, who teaches investigative journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, said: 'The documents show the police and security services were concerned about the export of some new religious movements concerning UFOs and aliens from the USA in the aftermath of the mass suicide by followers of the Heaven's Gate.'"
The article labels them "anti-terrorism experts" but the mere fact that they even considered this long enough for there to have been a written record belies that title and proves instead that they are "anti-terrorism idiots".
Wanna keep us off the streets? Stop canceling our goddam sci-fi shows!
well, they were just concerned that people are really, really, really stupid.
which is fair. I mean, look at youtube now. full of newage idiots babbling about how we're moving to a new age and all that stuff. luckily the people who believe in that kind of crap and conspiracy theories about the government suppressing information about crystals usually just stick to their homes(and to scamming money out of other idiots, seriously, look at any youtube channel about newage/conspiracy stuff. if they have more than 2 hours of content they want to sell you something, even if they're babbling about the end of the monetary system).
This. It seems really stupid to think that these shows will lead someone down those roads--notably, if these shows will, so will almost anything. But sometimes people are really, really stupid. See, e.g.: anti-vaxxer movement. There probably actually *should* be a government conspiracy to silent the anti-vaxxer movement because it presents a serious threat to public health.
We could call the conspiracy the "NIH" and ask it to do "peer-reviewed research." :)
But a good propaganda machine designed to promote research over stupid ideas that threaten public safety, scary as it is, might actually be called for on occasion... be a bit transparent about it, but still.
The dossier – called UFO New Religious Movements and the Millennium – was drawn up in response to the 1997 mass suicide by 39 cultists in San Diego known as Heaven's Gate.
Given that cults with a somewhat "sci-fi" approach to their idiocy exist it seems fair game to, at the very least, think through possible scenarios and plan accordingly. This is surely good disaster planning, certainly logical. What has happened here, it seems, is that someone has suggested regular "trekkies" are the real risk to garner attention and to sell someone's book.
I've read neither in about 20 years since taking a comparative religion class at school.
It's the same God in both the OT and the NT. I wonder why, when Christianity's holy book's text is looked at, people leap through hoops to try to break apart the trinity or add all sorts of explanations for the hideous, God-sanctioned behaviour, with the Qu'ran it's apparently a factual guide book and evidence that all Muslims are violent psychopaths. It's all bullshit. Most Christians don't live by the Bible just as most Muslims don't live by the Qu'ran.
But whatever. This discussion is pointless. Neither book is at all suitable for teaching how to behave to your fellow man.