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A connection has been drawn by observant researchers that UFO devotees, whether they be nuts and bolts techno-fetishists, space-brother wannabe spiritualists, or abductionologists seeking physical proof, exhibit similar traits as those "third worlders" who worship the cargo of us "moderns" (hence the term Cargo Cult). [see volume 1 of The Anomalist] The analogy intimates humanity's search for the UFO as philosopher's stone, and is indicative of our hunger for divine product .This desire is evident in the need for divine space brothers as masters, so that we may attain enlightenment; the search for advanced alien technologies supposedly being researched in places like Area 51, Groom Lake, Nevada; and the quest for physical proof of the psychotronic implants of our abductors.
We already live in a world where "psychological methods to sell" are already in abundant use by the materialist product peddlers. New products have emerged to satisfy the New Age, Cyberpunk and Ecology markets' hunger for goods. The media increasingly utilizes images of the fantastic, with Science Fiction motifs in many forms of advertising, from the glowing Lite beer aliens dancing in wheat field formations (aka Crop Circles) to the Stove Top Stuffing mother whose children wonder if she hasn't been abducted by a blue beaming UFO and replaced with an alien duplicate. Children's programming, and advertisements in particular, involve psychic and paranormal phenomena and quite often feature intelligences from other planets, and physical and spiritual dimensions, including the realm of mind and dreams. Examples include the animated series Beetlejuice (he may be dead but he still likes to have a good time taking you into the realm of his very strange afterlife), Tiny Toons Adventures (produced by the E.T. and CE3K man himself Steven Spielberg), Dark Wing Duck (episodes have included themes of time travel and alien mind-controlling hat-shaped entities), and the educational program Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? (based on the original computer game series of the same name).
In fact, the premiere episode of WITWICS? included the series' two young stars chasing after master thief Carmen Sandiego, who has stolen the radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Stonehenge, and an Easter Island statue. Carmen gives them a clue by referring to the Mayan glyph that many suggest is indicative of a human crouched within the workings of a modern rocket. The youngsters' artificial intelligence friend (who can teleport them around the world to stop the criminal Sandiego) tells them that the link between all the items and clues, (the Mayan pyramids, the Easter Island statue, and Stonehenge) is that it has been theorized that they are connected to persistent tales of UFOs and the incredible feats of engineering required to produce the artifacts. The Max Headroomesque AI even draws a diagram showing the similarities between Mayan pyramids and Egyptian ones, complete with an eye-like flying saucer hovering above and between the two monuments. There are, of course, wavy rays emanating from the UFO to the pyramids. The kids catch up with Carmen after they realize that she is trying to use the Arecibo dish to contact extraterrestrials. They stop her just in the nick of time, but Carmen escapes... allowing for the continuation of the series.
Slapped in between all this animated weirdness are disorienting videoesque montage sequences called "commercials," which prey on one's deepest hungers for... what else, but breakfast cereal. Kids are subjected to unbelievable amounts of advertising which looks more and more like the DreamTime come to life in reality. From the maddening Kool Aid Punch and Fruit Roll-Up ads to the mind bending surrealism of that rainbow colored Toucan pushing his Froot Loops flavored crack!
Commercials for Campbell's Soup often feature altered reality scenarios, where visual puns and obvious tricks of technology are employed to manipulate your senses. Mitsubishi car commercials currently feature themes of "meteors" falling across the sky which crash and reveal the 'new sleek heaven sent' vehicle, "vehicle" being as much a spiritual metaphor as physical transportation. In one of their ads, a "quick response team" with dark uniforms and sun glasses are seen examining the crash site for debris. In another ad, the alien vehicle, called The New Eclipse, roars past a country hick standing beside his stalled and beat up pickup truck. The Eclipse spins around to a halt in front of him promoting fear and jealousy, looking like some scintillating techno bug beast! This sort of trend is evident throughout the media.
Within this column we will explore the specific paranormal and UFO trends in all advertising and entertainment mediums, including computer games, simulations, television and print advertising, music, etc. If you would like to contribute data on this vast repository of dada culture please send us your information. We can't keep tabs on all the media exposure these subjects receive, so drop us a line, and keep us posted.
