# Is it me or is there just the tiniest bit of racism in all those ancient alien shows?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 23, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972 "2015-07-23T17:38:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/1 "2015-07-23T17:38:01Z")
At first it annoyed me that all of those guys (it’s almost always guys) think that the homo sapiens sapiens who lived thousands of years ago were retarded versions of humans living today with absolutely no imagination. They needed guidance from space in order to build anything beyond a grass hut. But then I began to notice that these ancient alien guys believe the Aztecs were too dumb to build pyramids in the 12th century but have no problem with Romans building underwater piers, coliseums and huge aqueduct systems over two thousand years ago. Ancient Greeks built palaces more than three thousand years ago? But of course. Egyptians build pyramids? Gotta be aliens.
So, it’s not that homo sapiens sapiens were stupid in ancient times, just the non-white ones. At least that’s what I’m seeing. That and it helps to have stupid hair if you’re gonna leap to dumb conclusions.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/2 "2015-07-23T17:40:17Z")
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/3 "2015-07-23T17:44:40Z")
I dunno, those ancient aliens dudes are all over Stonehenge being alien-fodder.
I think it is more a case of aliens being “found” wherever the written records are scanty, or basically discribe legends rather than prosaic reality, and yet impressive monuments exist. It would be hard to argue about the Greeks and Romans being taught by aliens, because their contemporary writings are so extensive. Not, I am sure, that someone hasn’t tried it!
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/4 "2015-07-23T17:51:01Z")
> [@Malthus](#):
>
> I dunno, those ancient aliens dudes are all over Stonehenge being alien-fodder.
>
> I think it is more a case of aliens being “found” wherever the written records are scanty, or basically discribe legends rather than prosaic reality, and yet impressive monuments exist. It would be hard to argue about the Greeks and Romans being taught by aliens, because their contemporary writings are so extensive. Not, I am sure, that someone hasn’t tried it!
So why is it that, instead of using what they know about human history and applying it to the Aztecs and Egyptians, they assume that those peoples just weren’t smart enough to figure things out? Although hearing that Stonehenge got the alien treatment does make me feel, um, better?-- about it.
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### Author:  [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/5 "2015-07-23T17:58:27Z")
My sister is a believer in ancient aliens. I told her she was being racist. She ignored me.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/6 "2015-07-23T18:01:04Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> So why is it that, instead of using what they know about human history and applying it to the Aztecs and Egyptians, they assume that those peoples just weren’t smart enough to figure things out? Although hearing that Stonehenge got the alien treatment does make me feel, um, better?-- about it.
Heh, I think the ancient aliens thing is the dumbest fad ever. 😃 Obviously, anyone seriously looking at human history would dismiss it out of hand.
I just don’t think it is really fueled by racism in particular, because its advocates are equally keen to apply their silly reasoning to White folks when they can - that is, when detailed writings concerning the time period are lacking, but where there are impressive monuments.
Hence, the ancient aliens types are “into” Stonehenge, Egyptian pyramids, and the Maya - all have impressive monuments but relatively scanty or absent writing. However, ancient aliens types aren’t as interested in the Greeks, Romans or Chinese - even though they have impressive monuments - because the relatively voluminous writing tradition in those civilizations makes arguing that “aliens diddit” look even more absurd that it would otherwise.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/7 "2015-07-23T18:18:40Z")
But they do have Egyptian writings that detail how the pyramids where built. They have more records on how the pyramids were built than they do the Minoan, but, hey, the Minoans were Greek so that pictogram is a shovel and not a spaceship digging a hole.
And Stonehenge is one of the very, very, _very_ few ancient Western sites I’ve heard of being built by aliens. I did see a special about how Atlantis was a fabulous city built in the Aegean Sea that was sunk by aliens, proving that whites are smart enough to build a fantastical city during ancient times but not smart enough to defeat the aliens.
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### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/8 "2015-07-23T18:22:22Z")
So with a sample size of basically 3 (egyptian, aztec and celt). why assume racism when stupid fits the bill so well? Is there a lot of nazi-ancient aliens population overlap?
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/9 "2015-07-23T18:34:21Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> But they do have Egyptian writings that detail how the pyramids where built. They have more records on how the pyramids were built than they do the Minoan, but, hey, the Minoans were Greek so that pictogram is a shovel and not a spaceship digging a hole.
>
> And Stonehenge is one of the very, very, _very_ few ancient Western sites I’ve heard of being built by aliens. I did see a special about how Atlantis was a fabulous city built in the Aegean Sea that was sunk by aliens, proving that whites are smart enough to build a fantastical city during ancient times but not smart enough to defeat the aliens.
Naw, Minoans don’t escape the ancient aliens treatment.
> [@](#):
>
> We can see that this great civilization was once ruled by a demigod—the son of Zeus, the god who helped and supported the king by giving him a ‘metallic giant being’ to protect his kingdom— and was home to other legendary figures like Daedalus, who helped create impressive structures and flying machines. All of these stories would still be considered myths if not for Evans’s discovery of Knossos in Crete; yet some are still considered mythology while others are accepted as history. Is it not possible that indeed ‘gods’ and ‘demigods’ were the first rulers and supporters of the Minoan civilization until they were abandoned and/or destroyed? And if so, who or what were these gods? And what were their origins?
This quote is a nice example of how this sort of thinking goes - the site never once actually mentions “aliens”, but who else builds “flying machines” and “metalic giant beings”, who could be considered “gods”? And what, oh what, were their “origins”? 😉
> **[The Minoan Civilization of Crete: A Great Aegean Culture](https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-folklore/minoan-civilization-00183)**
>
> The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that was based on the island of Crete, in the Aegean Sea. This civilization flourished from around 3000 BC to around 1100 BC.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/10 "2015-07-23T18:34:54Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> So with a sample size of basically 3 (egyptian, aztec and celt).
The Celts didn’t build Stonehenge - they didn’t arrive on the scene until more than a thousand years after it was completed.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/11 "2015-07-23T18:40:18Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> The Celts didn’t build Stonehenge - they didn’t arrive on the scene until more than a thousand years after it was completed.
Of course they didn’t - it was aliens! 😃
[Sorry 😉 - actually, more than one group built it, as it was built over a very long period of time. The group responsible for most of the construction was, I think, called “the beaker people” after their pottery, if I recall correctly]
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/12 "2015-07-23T18:45:26Z")
Those are only the examples I gave. There are the Sumerians, the Sanskrit, Easter Island, Saksaywaman, The Nazca lines. . . . off the top of my head, these are the places that ancient aliens supposedly built things.
Now, ancient aliens have visited the western world but mostly to wreak havoc. The Plague? Aliens. Mysterious spot in England where dogs have been inexplicably leaping to their deaths from a bridge for centuries? Aliens. But I never heard that Monte d’Accoddi was built by aliens.
ETA: Another specific I just thought of. Pre-historic cave paintings in the United States? The aliens showing the local idiots how to write. Pre-historic cave paintings in Europe? Man earning his extra ‘sapiens’.
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/13 "2015-07-23T18:49:31Z")
> [@Malthus](#):
>
> Of course they didn’t - it was aliens! 😃
>
> [Sorry 😉 - actually, more than one group built it, as it was built over a very long period of time. The group responsible for most of the construction was, I think, called “the beaker people” after their pottery, if I recall correctly]
Them, or the Windmill Hill\* people are the two most likely groups involved in its early construction. But nobody knows for certain - the groups existed in the area around the time Stonehenge was first being constructed. But pretty much all we know about the groups is that the first made pottery, and the second lived near a hill. They may have had nothing to do with it at all, and it was built by some third, forgotten people.
Or aliens.
\*Named because they were first found at a place called Windmill Hill, not because they were building neolithic windmills.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/14 "2015-07-23T18:53:51Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Those are only the examples I gave. There are the Sumerians, the Sanskrit, Easter Island, Saksaywaman, The Nazca lines. . . . off the top of my head, these are the places that ancient aliens supposedly built things.
>
> Now, ancient aliens have visited the western world but mostly to wreak havoc. The Plague? Aliens. Mysterious spot in England where dogs have been inexplicably leaping to their deaths from a bridge for centuries? Aliens. But I never heard that Monte d’Accoddi was built by aliens.
> ETA: Another specific I just thought of. Pre-historic cave paintings in the United States? The aliens showing the local idiots how to write. Pre-historic cave paintings in Europe? Man earning his extra ‘sapiens’.
Not the Monte d’Accoddi site in particular, but ancient European megatlithic structures in general, are frequent ancient-aliens fodder.
> [@](#):
>
> It was this culture, the civilization of the primordial giants that ultimately built the great monuments of antiquity and were the progenitors of the lost civilization of human prehistory. What then do we have left of this great civilization?
>
> The Medieval Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus insisted that giants must have once existed, because only they with their awesome strength and superhuman capabilities could have built the dolmens, menhirs, massive walls and other structures strewn across Western Europe. Many of the ancient forts and ruined walls, it would later be revealed, were actually built by the Romans from about the 1st century BCE – 5th Century CE.
>
> Among the obviously more ancient structures, found in England, Scotland and Wales, many were attributed to the ancient Britons and possibly the Atlanteans. Indeed, Britain was once named after one of the Titan Kings of Atlantis, Albion.
>
> The idea of a vast megalithic culture that once dominated much of Europe in the remote past, is one taken up by the author Paul Dunbavin in his book Atlantis of the West. Dunbavin believes that Atlantis lies beneath the Irish Sea and was submerged in 3100 BCE when a comet struck earth, causing the earth’s crust to shift and thus shrinking some of the existing landmasses, including those in and around ancient Europe.
>
> For Dunbavin, the megalithic structures of Europe are not just primitive creations built by a Stone Age culture, but were the sophisticated handiwork of an advanced and ancient race, possibly the Atlanteans. The idea of giants as monstrous figments of the human imagination with no basis in reality is a common belief, but one, which I think, demands revision.
[http://grahamhancock.com/chouinardp1/](http://grahamhancock.com/chouinardp1/)
I just think the theory that this sort of silliness is inspired by “racism” doesn’t hold water.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/15 "2015-07-23T19:05:21Z")
> [@Malthus](#):
>
> Not the Monte d’Accoddi site in particular, but ancient European megatlithic structures in general, are frequent ancient-aliens fodder.
>
> [http://grahamhancock.com/chouinardp1/](http://grahamhancock.com/chouinardp1/)
>
> I just think the theory that this sort of silliness is inspired by “racism” doesn’t hold water.
Where does this mention aliens? I’m confused!
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### Author:  [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/16 "2015-07-23T19:17:31Z")
As I answered in a previous thread, I think it’s entirely to do with the amount and clarity of written records.
Romans recorded their work in so much detail that ascribing it to aliens makes no sense. Pyramids, on the other hand, were done in a time of heiroglyphics and they didn’t spend much time talking about the specific construction techniques.
Stonehenge is a perfect example of how a European construction project is attributed to aliens. Nobody wrote down how it was done. If it looks difficult and if the people weren’t writing things down, it must have been aliens.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/17 "2015-07-23T19:19:11Z")
> [@Biggirl](#):
>
> Where does this mention aliens? I’m confused!
That’s _exactly_ the intention.
Many of these “ancient aliens” types don’t start out by mentioning aliens at all. Rather, they talk about mythology, leading to talk about how what was once thought mythologocal is now known to be real, transition into discussion about how ancient advanced “ancient races” may be the inspiration for myths, and only gradually work their way to the big reveal - that these ancient, advanced races were … aliens.
The idea is that people interested in history, mytholgy and the like will be sucked into reading this stuff, and gradually get acustomed to the notion that all mysteries can be explained by aliens, without being scared off by too much alien goodness up front.
This guy is a good example (as is the previous one). He’s clearly an ancient aliens writer - he publishes an online mag entitled “Gods and Aliens” and quotes that “Chariot of the Gods” guy all the time, which are pretty good clues as to where he’s comming from.
This stuff is like a cult in its approach. Aliens as the ‘god(s) of the gaps’ for the modern age.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/18 "2015-07-23T19:41:49Z")
I was speaking strictly about the TV shows. I have not read any literature on this subject because why? It’s bad enough I don’t change the channel when Ancient Aliens, In Search of Aliens, Unsealed Alien Files-- shows like that come on.
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### Author:  [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/19 "2015-07-23T19:54:09Z")
> [@Malthus](#):
>
> I dunno, those ancient aliens dudes are all over Stonehenge being alien-fodder.
>
> I think it is more a case of aliens being “found” wherever the written records are scanty, or basically discribe legends rather than prosaic reality, and yet impressive monuments exist. It would be hard to argue about the Greeks and Romans being taught by aliens, because their contemporary writings are so extensive. Not, I am sure, that someone hasn’t tried it!
Exactly this.
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### Author:  [@Dingbang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dingbang)
#### Post date: [July 23, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-is-there-just-the-tiniest-bit-of-racism-in-all-those-ancient-alien-shows/725972/20 "2015-07-23T21:02:09Z")
I don’t think I’d call it racism, but there certainly is an assumption of stupidity, along with a lack of skills and resources. There are so many of those “mysteries of the whatever” shows on TV that start with something impressive like a big stone monument in the jungle or something, and immediately jump to the conclusion that there was no possible way for the ancient people to get it there just because modern people would need huge machines. So it must have been ancient aliens.
Bullshit. Give me 1,000 people, a local ruler with enough power to order them around, and all the time in the world, and I’ll move that statue anywhere you want it.
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