I think using the 'alien' phenomenon as a convenient disinformation tactic /and/ the possible (past, present, future) presence of a non-human intelligence interacting with the Earth and/or the human species can exist simultaneously.
Just like everything else, people like to project their naturally, extremely, human ideas of what this intelligence may be, how it acts, what its motivations are, etc. onto it. And, heck, what else should ya expect?
Out of the thousands upon thousands of accounts throughout history of folks describing this type of phenomenon, only one instance needs to be true for our understanding of the cosmos to get a whole lot weirder. The same goes for near death experiences, in my opinion - how many people across a multitude of religions and cultures have oddly similar experiences…I digress.
That said; where is everything…how is it possible for the required number of people to keep this shit a secret? Is the truth really that bad? …or is this just a really great psy-op long game playing out?
I read up on the uap/ufo thing for kicks all the time. I am a sysadmin, I need to read dumb shit while I wait for servers to boot! …I take it all with a grain of salt. Some folks make really compelling cases - from “experiencers” to pilot testimony to the whole Bob Lazar thing — who’s full of shit? Somebody. Everybody? Harder to say.
My main take away over time has been this - I am actually /GLAD/ to live in a time where this is still up in the air. I think the ontological shock this would have on our society, at almost any level, would be severe …and if there is a reason the ‘truth’ is kept under wraps, I think this is it. That or our alien overlords have struck up a deal with our billionaires to allow us to keep trudging along so they can make a few more dollars before “the experiment” is cut short…
Lastly - I have enjoyed reading through this thread. I think anyone’s insight or guess on this shit is as good as anyone’s …that said, I don’t think a lot of folks think outside the box enough. I don’t think the human race has the nature of reality, science, anything really figured out, maybe just enough for a false sense of security - I suspect there is a large part of the spectrum of reality we may not be able to perceive, spiritual traditions have tried to teach that for millenia. We truly can’t even comprehend what we /might/ be dealing with.
…back to my Yorktown…have a nice one!