UFO Sighting in St. John's!

            For those who haven’t heard, last week there was a strange sighting in the sky above Signal Hill here in St. John’s. A girl, named Kayla, called into an open line radio show to report that she had seen three lights flying in a fashion that no plane could emulate and then suddenly disappeared. The call soon elicited a response; another man called in and spoke of strange lights above his cabin near Bonavista Bay that he claims could not have been a plane. Story was then picked up by VOCM (who, irritatingly, seem not to have a story archive) and was discussed on a popular radio station.
            I find this story fascinating, but not for the reason you may expect on the surface. You see I know Kayla personally, though she does not go by that name, and her call was a hoax. So what was interesting? Well the response of course. The purpose was to elicit the exact response it got; namely, it was to get people to call in and support it without it ever being true.
            This story demonstrates a terrible flaw in the media, and should highlight the need for scepticism. A news organization picked up the story without any investigation into the legitimacy of Kayla’s claims. It should be noted that while the news does not make any false claims, as it merely reports Kayla’s call, it nonetheless spreads the lie rather efficiently. The media, as a group of businesses, are motivated by a profit. While a desire to keep a reputation as a valuable source acts to keep these companies honest, a desire for profit leads them to feed on the passions, legitimate or not, of the public.

Many believers out there love to see media report on such issues. It lends a sense of legitimacy to their shaky claims. While I proudly wear the badge of scepticism today, I used to be a steadfast believer. I would read every book of sightings I could get my hands on and reports like this would really excite me. Ever hoping for that evidence that could shed light on the phenomena, I went deeper into the rabbit hole. This is highlighted by one of the comments left on the VOCM article by a user named ‘Believer’. It ran:

“Given the current social and economic climates, the sighting makes total sense. When are people going to start being so ignorant and start believing in this phenomenon? We have never been alone!”

 First of all I’d like to ask the rhetorical question: What does this even mean?

What do social and economic situations have to with flying saucers? Regardless, it is clear that this individual was very excited about this and, despite it not being grounded in truth, it will lead to an even deeper held belief.