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Secret Files Reveal UK Police Feared That Trekkies Could Turn On Society

Posted by samzenpus on from the live-long-and-riot dept.

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.'"

15 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. Seems obvious now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Sure, it seems obvious now, but I'm kind of glad we have people looking at these ridiculous scenarios and planning how to deal with them *just in case*. It's difficult to predict the unknown so might as well be prepared for it even if it's unlikely.

    1. Re:Seems obvious now by Etherwalk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    2. Re:Seems obvious now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I agree, I am glad the police are looking into trekkies, those people are strange and different and who knows what they are capable of! The police should investigate minority group and subculture, it's the only way to ensure our freedom. There are some very dangerous groups out there. Have you ever heard of slashot? They're like trekkies but with black hat hacker skills.. cyber criminals more dangerous than anything the police could have imagined in 1999. I hope the police investigate and round up the lot of them, better safe than sorry.

    3. Re:Seems obvious now by Rei · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Can you imagine the dystopian dictatorship where trekkies come to power? All of the halls of power full of people walking around in spandex and fake ears and brow ridges, the fed directed to work toward the absolution of currency, the military directed to accelerate development of phasers and for all recruits to undergo "Kobayashi Maru" training.... NASA would finally get their proposed $18,5 billion dollar annual budget passed - except that the bill would have the word "annual" crossed out and the word "monthly" written in its place. National anti-bullying legislation would be passed, probably with a name like Spock's Law. And of course they'd insist on referring to the UN as the United Federation of Planets.

      --
      POTUS Witch Hunt tracker: 75 charges filed against 19 witches, 4 witches cooperating and 5 witches have pled guilty.
    4. Re:Seems obvious now by antiperimetaparalogo · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yes, you posted before me but they are my thoughts too.

      That's because THEY transmit the "thoughts" to people's brains... think about it!

      --
      Antisthenes: "Wisdom begins by examining the words/names." - excuse my English, i am (slightly...) better with my Greek!
    5. Re:Seems obvious now by Minwee · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, I read TFS as a big giant "holy cow are police forces actually this damned stupid?"

      How can these idiots take themselves seriously when they have such monumentally idiotic ideas? And why should they expect us to take them seriously?

      You're talking about someone who managed to make it his paid, full-time job to write X-File fanfic and hang out at Star Trek conventions, most likely putting everything on a government expense account. The word you're looking for isn't "stupid", it's "brilliant".

  2. Trekkies Could Turn On Society by bug1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    With those uniforms ?

  3. anti-terorism experts or idiots by crbowman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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".

  4. Not to worry ... by Forever+Wondering · · Score: 4, Funny

    Trekkies always keep their phasers set to stun ...

    --
    Like a good neighbor, fsck is there ...
  5. Trekkie Hooligans, Unite! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Wanna keep us off the streets? Stop canceling our goddam sci-fi shows!

  6. Reasonable by symes · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.

  7. well, they DID. we just don't remember. by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Informative

    that Men in Black flashy thing.

  8. There are quite a few haters on this thread but... by Afty0r · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Protecting people from evil cults (even if they got the specifics of meme transmission a bit off by choosing "X-Files" and similar) is definitely something I would like my government to do. You need to research the cults, methods etc. to do that.

    Further, if this was in existence a few decades ago, perhaps we would have nipped Scientology in the bud before it landed in the UK.

  9. Journalism 101 by itsdapead · · Score: 4, Informative

    The headline:

    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 actual story:

    '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.'"

    Slight difference...

    Anyway, was this going to be the Star Trek Wars or the Star Wars Trek?

    --
    In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
  10. Re:Its funny by dave420 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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.