Ever since the term “centrism” became a euphemistic, “dog whistle” term for corporatism, I have been distancing myself from the ranks of so-called Centrists. These days, a left-leaning politician will claim to be “tacking to the center” while heading to K Street to pick up a fat campaign contribution. Some conservatives claim to be Centrists simply because they disavow QAnon.
However, there is one subject where I have maintained a consistently centrist, middle-of-the road stance and that is with respect to the subject of UFOs. People demonstrating any concern for this bailiwick usually fall into either of two camps: The Cult of the Credulous (those who never question any claim about a sighting or entity encounter) or the Denialists (who regularly insist that “this can’t be happening because it’s impossible”).
Whenever an unsupported, sensational claim about UFOs triggers an avalanche of clicks on websites, the Denialists benefit as mainstream media outlets beg for a perspective that might counterbalance what appears as (and sometimes is) a delusional rant.
On Jan. 31, 2017, I discussed how the December 16, 2017, edition of The New York Times contained an astonishing story about the Defense Department’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). AATIP was headquartered on the fifth floor of the Pentagon’s C Ring and was managed by Luis Elizondo for the Defense Intelligence Agency. Since that time, the flow of sober-minded, yet intriguing reportage on the subject continued and Lue Elizondo found himself as the star of a television program called, Unidentified on the History Channel.
Despite the increased quality of recently published information on the UFO phenomenon, the occasional oddball story worked its way into the national spotlight to restore some of the ridicule previously directed at this subject.
More recently, a December 3, 2020, article published by Israeli newspaper, Yediot Aharonot reverberated throughout the world’s major news outlets. Most of those outlets focused attention on a few sensational revelations from Prof. Haim Eshed, the 87-year-old former head of Israel’s space security program. As The Jerusalem Post reported, Professor Eshed claimed that a “Galactic Federation” has made some formal agreements with the United States. The reference to a Galactic Federation sparked some commentary suggesting that at his advanced age, Eshed might have been confusing Star Trek episodes with his real-life experience.
On his new website, The Debrief, Tim McMillan reported that Yediot Aharonot journalist Raanan Shaked insisted that Professor Eshed’s remarks about the Galactic Federation were taken out of context and that Eshed was discussing some popular folklore about the UFO subject, rather than any information he acquired through his position with Israel’s space security program.
While the Cult of the Credulous continued to ponder the possible details of a “secret deal” between the United States and the Galactic Federation, a less-sensational report surfaced featuring an interview with former CIA Director John Brennan. Libertarian economist, Prof. Tyler Cowen of George Mason University published a report (and a video) of his recent interview with John Brennan, detailing their conversation concerning UFOs. The interview prompted the creation of several memes which became popular at websites dealing with the UFO phenomenon. Brennan’s comments about the UFO topic appear in the linked video at 6:42 thru 9:39.
The foregoing Brennan meme was reminiscent of the meme which resulted from Tucker Carlson’s interview with theoretical physics Professor Michio Kaku during the Sept. 20. 2019, broadcast of Carlson’s Fox News program:
