by William Skink

Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) is the new term for UFO. The stated reason for this rebranding is because the proliferation of unmanned drone technology warrants a more inclusive term to cover all the new gadgetry buzzing through the air.

Another reason to update the term (the main one, I would argue)is to shed the embarrassing cultural baggage associated with it so that people will take the coming disclosures more seriously.

Which raises the question, why would anyone be invested in a rebranding effort that could bestow a higher degree of seriousness and credibility to the idea of flying saucers and aliens visiting earth from other planets?

Before dismissing this out-of-hand, recall the distant year 2016, before Trump was elected and those leaked emails were circulating. While odd references to pizza and handkerchiefs became the focus, there was also some communication between Tom DeLonge (of Blink 182) and John Podesta. Here is how Rolling Stone reported it at the time:

The guitarist sent his first note to manager John Podesta in October 2015, though the two had previously met, as DeLonge introduced himself as, “The one who interviewed you for that special documentary not to [sic] long ago.” DeLonge goes on to discuss a multimedia project – ostensibly his vast To the Stars effort – before requesting another meeting with Podesta.

“I would like to bring two very ‘important’ people out to meet you in DC,” DeLonge wrote. “I think you will find them very interesting, as they were principal leadership relating to our sensitive topic. Both were in charge of most fragile divisions, as it relates to Classified Science and DOD topics. Other words, these are A-Level officials. Worth our time, and as well the investment to bring all the way out to you.”

Ok, maybe a band member from Blink 182 and a shady political operative who likes spirit cooking are not the best examples to provide for taking UFOs more seriously, but combine that with the new military openness about this phenomenon, and a religious academic’s book released last year, tiled American Cosmic, and you start seeing UFOs getting pushed from multiple angles.

To highlight what I’m talking about, check out the title of this Vox piece about American Cosmic: The new American religion of UFOs. From the link (my emphasis):

Her book isn’t so much about the truth of UFOs or aliens as it is about what the appeal of belief in those things says about our culture and the shifting roles of religion and technology in it. On the surface, it’s a book about the popularity of belief in aliens, but it’s really a deep look at how myths and religions are created in the first place and how human beings deal with unexplainable experiences.

This is important to consider as we wonder what the hell “off-world vehicle” means (my emphasis):

Eric W. Davis, an astrophysicist who worked as a subcontractor and then a consultant for the Pentagon U.F.O. program since 2007, said that, in some cases, examination of the materials had so far failed to determine their source and led him to conclude, “We couldn’t make it ourselves.”

The constraints on discussing classified programs — and the ambiguity of information cited in unclassified slides from the briefings — have put officials who have studied U.F.O.s in the position of stating their views without presenting any hard evidence.

Mr. Davis, who now works for Aerospace Corporation, a defense contractor, said he gave a classified briefing to a Defense Department agency as recently as March about retrievals from “off-world vehicles not made on this earth.”

I provide all this information as background to the book I’m currently reading, titled Prisoner of Infinity: UFOs, Social Engineering, and the Psychology of Fragmentation, by Jasun Horsley.

Horsley’s work is intensely personal, and he treats topics many would deride and ridicule with an honest, earnest desire to understand, even when that understanding is bringing controversial figures, like Aleister Crowley, down to earth, where the myths dissolve and atrocities take shape.

In Prisoner of Infinity (POI) Horsley does a deep dive on Whitley Strieber, the author who wrote a personal account of abduction called Communion, a “true story” that did more to cement the images of alien abduction into popular culture than any other work. If the title sounds unfamiliar, look it up and the cover image of a grey alien with the big, black orbs for eyes will jog your memory (if you’re old enough).

Thanks to Horsley’s work, my concern about topics that don’t seem (at first) to be connected to alien abduction experiences, like Transhumanism and child abuse, has deepened considerably. I’ll try to explain.
While I’ve long accepted that systemic (often ritualized) child abuse is not just happening, but is actually much more pervasive than most are willing to acknowledge, Horsley introduces an argument (backed up with research) that there is a different way of looking at this abuse.

I know this is difficult material (how many are still reading?), but stick with me.

The argument Horsley constructs is that instead of senseless abuse inflicted on innocent subjects, ritualized child abuse is a kind of technology that uses specific methods with developing psyches (children) in order to split their forming ego-self into a regressed fragment and an evolved fragment that acts as a sort of guardian over the regressed part of the psyche that disassociates instead of facing unspeakable trauma.

Horsley applies the framework of child abuse over Strieber’s varied and often contradictory explanations about the experiences he claims to recall regarding his multiple abductions. Strieber has even claimed to have been abused in government MK Ultra-type experiments as a child in Texas.

What lends credibility to Horsley’s treatment of this subject is his blending of his own personal experiences.

It’s clear (at least to me) that Horsley is not coat-tailing popular authors and controversial figures to peddle books. The places his research has taken him has put him in uncomfortable company with religious/right types he would have, a decade ago, quickly dismissed.

I know exactly what this feels like, as my own research has led me to similar territories, questioning some of the very artists I was once inspired by, like Leonard Cohen.

While I still consider myself an artist and poet, I’m growing into a very different hope of discernment that my previous, more hedonistic approach to art making has produced. Maybe that’s a byproduct of not having taken a drink of alcohol since the 4th of July.

I am putting the finishing touches on a collection of 44 poems I started writing in March, titled WELCOME TO THE COVAXICON. Here is one of those poems, dedicated to Jasun Horsley.

FAB
for Jasun Horsley

in gradual steps
the Fabians came
slow like a poison
they melted their name

encoding proclivities
in progressive garb
Jasun’s dark map
examines his yard

the public can’t see it—
like water to fish?
or cannot accept
we wait on their dish

waiting bovinely
we hear the bell
and slobber like Pavlov
trained not to tell