If the US government has proof positive that there are UFO’s, why hide it?

In the X-Files universe, or the Star Trek Original series universe, or the Picard babbleverse, or the Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy universe, or the Doctor Who universe (in which of many situations), or the Men In Black universe, or the E.T. universe, or the Close Encounters universe, or the Starman universe, or the Cocoon universe, or the Mork and Mindy universe . . . ?

Point being, since none of us AFAIK are in a position to know what “the US government” knows about UFOs, it’s impossible to accurately answer “why?” they might think to hide what they know.

We could make intelligent guesses based on postulates about what they know, but those will tend to be contradictory. For example:

* Maybe they think there are strategic advantages to not revealing what they know.
* Maybe they think people will start doing undesirable (for the oligarchy) things, if they know.
* Maybe the oligarchy manipulates them into saying nothing, for their own reasons.
* Maybe they are in an advantageous agreement with space aliens, and don’t want to share.
* Maybe they are convinced or mind-controlled by aliens, who don’t want others to know.

Because, get mad if you want to, the average person is an idiot, and by not telling us they think they will prevent mass panic.
Personally if they ever approached me and said you want to come with us?
I would have only 2 questions, can Mrs Squeeky come with us, and can I drive?

Governments believe we need protecting from ourselves on any manner of subjects, this being just one.
The probe hitting that asteroid, at least the real reason, being another.

You can’t handle the truth !

UFO doesn’t mean extra terrestrial. It’s literally an object that they weren’t able to identify that was flying.

That means it could be something we know about, but the camera angle and footage made it impossible to identify. It could be a prototype flying craft (civilian and military, both domestic and foreign). It could be natural phenomena in come cases too. It’s also possible that these objects are extraterrestrial in origin (I think very unlikely though).

If we were to interpret the question in the manner I believe you intended, I’m not sure how the public would interpret incontrovertible proof of extraterrestrial visitors. I certainly think some people may take it upon their own authority to protect humanity and could well be a religious zealot of some flavor from nearly any part of the globe.

@gorillapaws Thanks for that link. I have never heard of that before. I need to check into it further.

I would assume several reasons. People not being able to handle it is one. Perhaps it’s something that undoes what we know about history and/or religion. Could be we know we can’t keep people safe and it’s better to keep quiet about it. Could be they don’t know. Could be they’re ours. Could be we want others to think they’re ours. Could be the secrecy justifies an unseen power structure. It could all be made up and we use it as psychological warfare…

Because we can’t handle it….people can’t even take their kids to the doctor because they believe a bearded male will save them.

Mass panic and hysteria is a real thing.

I presume by UFOs you actually mean aliens from other worlds visiting Earth.

I don’t know why they’d hide such information were it to exist (it doesn’t).

It would probably be impossible to hide. Imagine having good evidence that aliens are real, and not telling anyone? Far lesser secrets end up getting leaked.

The USA is 6.1% of the world’s landmass. That leaves 93.9% that any interstellar travelling aliens could conceivably land on or visit, and over a hundred other governments that might have information that they’d have to be hiding for some reason. And then there’s countless amateur astronomers and hundreds of observatories scanning the skies that would be as well placed to find evidence of alien visitation as any government.

Any alien species with the technology for interstellar travel probably wouldn’t be beholden to any human government, and could just reveal themselves whenever. There’s no reason they’d reveal evidence of their existence specfically to the US government and no one else.

The US government doesn’t really behave as if it’s discovered alien visitors. I think such a thing would dramatically change how we view ourselves and our national relationships. It would be incredibly humbling to find that you’re not only not the only intelligent life in the universe, but also a technologically primitive one.

Instead, we see its attitudes continue to be generally exceptionalist and parochial—like it’s the greatest thing on Earth and really fucking special and blessed by god.

Thar would blow up the religious community and I don’t think we could handle that!

^ (they) typo again :)

They want it to be a surprise!

How do you hide something that is unidentified?
It is what Governments do best. Hide the truth.

But what about the little men with big eyes that they are hiding in Area 51?

^^ Not hiding at all. Just “swipe Left” when those guys come up.

- to avoid “mass panic”
– to avoid being seen as “weak” for not being able to prevent alien incursions into national airspace.
– to prevent people asking for evidence, which would mostly consist of recordings and data from military equipment, the release of which would reveal their technical capabilities to hostile nation states.
– the government has already reverse engineered alien technology, and wants to prevent an accelerated arms race which would put their technological advantage over other nations at risk.
– because aliens have already taken control of the government and would like to keep ruling from the shadows.

^I agree with most of that. And I do think Mitch McConnell is an alien.

@chyna Mitch administers the Anal Probes.

I mean, IF they have evidence, there are any number of reasons to hide it. They may have a negotiated deal. They might think the public would panic. They might think knowing gives a defense advantage.

But honestly, they almost certainly DO NOT have such knowledge. Remember, these are the people who haven’t been able to keep ANYTHING secret. Every top secret program and airplane gets outed before the military wanted it to. The conspiracy people always imagine govt workers as these hypercompetent, cold, calculating machiavellian agents…they’re not. They’re just people punching a clock trying to feed their family.

If the govt had evidence like this, it would have leaked. And I don’t mean evidence like ‘we have some pilots who think they saw something….here’s some videos of camera artifacts that are easily debunked by anyone who knows how cameras work’. I mean REAL compelling evidence. There’s no way they would have SUCCESSFULLY kept that secret for decades.

The presumption of a hypercompetent govt is the very silly foundation of every big conspiracy theory. And as someone who has worked inside the NSA and DOJ, let me tell you, that’s not how they are. They’re just people.