A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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object <strong>of</strong> desire, <strong>the</strong> modes <strong>of</strong> explanation available veered <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> ne<strong>the</strong>r regions <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong> rationally possible.<br />
The displaced utopian imag<strong>in</strong>ary’s engagement with <strong>the</strong> fly<strong>in</strong>g saucer, both <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong><br />
ufology and that <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>rs, was oddly marked by a dynamic <strong>of</strong> absence and<br />
disappearance. In <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> ufology, <strong>the</strong> constant tug-<strong>of</strong>-war between agnosticism and outright<br />
skepticism constantly threatened <strong>the</strong> UFO’s erasure. Even among researchers sympa<strong>the</strong>tic to <strong>the</strong><br />
possibility <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> UFO’s existence, <strong>the</strong> object <strong>of</strong> study was always already a residuum, a remnant.<br />
It was only <strong>the</strong> cases that survived attempts at quotidian explanation that were rendered suitable<br />
for analysis. In treat<strong>in</strong>g a phenomenon that seemed about proliferation and divergence, that<br />
pr<strong>of</strong>ligate energy was apparently put <strong>in</strong> service <strong>of</strong> explanations to <strong>the</strong> contrary. UFO’s were<br />
swamp gas, errant celestial bodies, temperature <strong>in</strong>versions, willful deception. It was ironic that<br />
<strong>the</strong> ostensibly centripetal forces <strong>of</strong> rational <strong>in</strong>quiry seemed bent on such dissolution, as if<br />
<strong>in</strong>fected by its object <strong>of</strong> study. Even <strong>the</strong> cases that made it through <strong>the</strong> vett<strong>in</strong>g process were so<br />
beset by skeptical <strong>in</strong>terpretation that <strong>the</strong>ir significance was all but canceled out. For obvious<br />
reasons such rema<strong>in</strong>dered cases were perhaps <strong>the</strong> targets <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most energetic <strong>of</strong> skeptical<br />
attacks. The game <strong>of</strong> skeptical ufology recalled <strong>the</strong> zero sum logic <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> octoroon. If <strong>the</strong> case<br />
was not all <strong>the</strong> way true (white) <strong>the</strong>n it was all <strong>the</strong> way false (black). In its struggle to rescue <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong>tegrity <strong>of</strong> a fully rational view <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world, this stark sense <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> true or false b<strong>in</strong>ary did<br />
noth<strong>in</strong>g to approximate <strong>the</strong> both/and logic <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> phenomenon.<br />
In <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> space bro<strong>the</strong>rs, <strong>the</strong> saucer did a different but no less notable<br />
disappear<strong>in</strong>g act. In <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> so-called contactee ma<strong>in</strong>stream, saucers were absent because<br />
unneeded. Communication between human and O<strong>the</strong>r us<strong>in</strong>g traditional occult means—telepathy,<br />
astral travel, automatic writ<strong>in</strong>g—required no physical vehicle. In <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> contactees such as<br />
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