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Asklemmy @lemmy.ml
SpaceAce @lemmy.blahaj.zone

How to deal with Ancient aliens in the workplace?

Two of my coworkers frequently mention shows like "Encounters" or "Ancient apocalypse" or whatever. I'm not the best at debating or forming arguments against these though I do feel strongly that bold claims require better evidence than a blurry photo and an eyewitness account. How do you all go about this?

Today I clumsily stumbled through conversation and said "I'll need some evidence" and was hit with "there's plenty of evidence in the episode 'Lights over Fukushima'". I didn't have an answer because I haven't watched it. I'm 99% sure that if I watch it it's gonna be dramatized, designed to scare/freak you out a little and consist of eyewitness accounts and blurry photos set to eerie music. But I'm afraid I just sound like a haughty know-it-all if I do assert this before watching.

These are good people and I want to remain on good terms and not come across as a cynical asshole.

(Sorry if language is too formal or stilted. Not my native tongue)

96 comments

  • Ignore it or mock it. I start preaching about Great Cthulhu at people who have loonie beliefs, and let them try to debunk me.

    I've got good at reciting "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!" in a high-pitched preacher voice.

  • "How to deal with Ancient aliens in the workplace?"

    Man, for a second I thought you are talking about older, immigrant co-workers.

  • Woah woah woah. Hold on a second. There are actually people who take Ancient Aliens seriously?! I thought we all watched it because it was hilariously stupid.

  • This is not worth challenging, especially if you are outnumbered. You are not likely to change their beliefs with evidence. The beliefs are flexible and can be endlessly swapped out with new beliefs that demand new evidence. I don't know what you should do but you definitely shouldn't attempt to change their minds like that.

  • "Stilted"?

    You sir, are one of those fucking amazing people who profusely apologize for not being a native English speaker and then blurt out 37 paragraphs of perfect English.

    You have nothing to be ashamed of - your English is better than a lot of them native speakers ! And always remember this :

    "You are speaking English because that is the only language you know; I am speaking English because that is the only language you know. We are not the same."

    And as to your original question - if I ever ask them "what evidence did you see which proves X happens?", I have almost always been hit with the reply, "Oh yeah? What proof do you have that says X does not happen???". And then I tell them the anecdote of the Invisible Dragon by Carl Sagan. Look it up if this is new to you, and for a more formal treatment, check out Karl Popper's theory of Falsifiability.

    I have personally converted at least one conspiracy theorist to being an Agnostic. So I know it works. Try them out, it's fun.

    And I also am not a native English speaker to be honest :-)

  • "I was unsure of whether I could trust y'all with this info, but after talking with you a bit I think it's time to come clean." And then start talking about Second Impact as if it happened IRL and not in a famous anime. (Spoilers for Evangelion in the link.) There's already in-lore conspiracies and coverups to use as talking points.

    1. your written English is great
    2. conversation does not need to be debate. What these people really want is to talk. Ask questions, like "what evidence did you find most convincing?" Odds are they won't even notice you didn't agree with them, they just want to be heard.
    3. there doesn't need to be a conversation at all. Drift out of these sorts of conversations or change the topic. I can't imagine a scenario in which debating the existence of aliens with a coworker would be worth my energy.

  • @SpaceAce this is firmly in the "I could teach you, but I'd have to charge" category. You're not their mother or their teacher so if they want to believe nonsense then let them.

    There are some documentaries debunking Ancient Aliens though.

  • The thing is that other than the odd true believer, most people who watch these things are not interested in engaging in an intellectual debate about them. It's essentially a diversion and light entertainment.

  • Jason Colavito does the hard work so you don't have to. There's such a firehose of claims that it is almost possible to keep up with it all unless you are a fan. Colavito does a good job of keeping on the various series and pointing out the problems.

    If you wanted to engage with people who are promoting this kind of thing you could try and engage on a more meta level rather than slog through each claim. They often rely on the argument from disbelief: I can't believe the ancients were capable of this, therefore it was aliens. Or you could point out that not believing ancient people were capable of building some monument and had to rely on aliens of Atlanteans is a bit racist. However, be warned, you'll soon be considered the Fun Police and you are better off letting it slide unless someone won't stop banging on about it.

  • Why do you feel the need to "deal with it"?

    You can express your opinion without pushing it on others or trying to convince them. Is this a mystery to the social media generation?

96 comments