In the late 70s, the authorities of the United Kingdom did not dare to debunk the ufology, writes The Times, citing recently declassified documents. According to the publication, the government feared that an overly unequivocal position on foreign civilizations could scare away voters.
The British government did not dare to criticize people "turned" on UFOs, because it was afraid in this way to antagonize the voters. Information about this became known thanks to recently declassified documents, reports The Times.
The idea that flying saucers could actually exist gained immense popularity in the late 1970s. Things got to the point that this issue was discussed at a UN meeting, the newspaper notes.
As it turned out, this extravagant assumption caused serious discontent among British government officials. Correspondence from the civil service in 1979 indicates that ministers were called upon to launch a public attack on "flying saucers nonsense." But there were fears that such an outspoken position could offend voters who believe in alien civilizations.
“There is a temptation to get away from a clear answer about UFOs because of the thought that we may one day come into contact with the inhabitants of distant stars. Nevertheless, nothing indicates that ufology is nothing more than an absurd idea, and there is no evidence of the existence of an alien spacecraft, - said in one of the memo from 1979.
“Considering that 1979 was proclaimed the“year of the UFO”, Her Majesty's government seems to be quite appropriate to bring great common sense into this matter and unconditionally attack ufology,” the authors of the document called. They linked the popularity of the aliens to the success of Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning film Close Encounters of the Third Degree.
According to officials, the topic of UFOs could be confusing or even disturbing to "less intelligent" people. Therefore, they called on the current government to take a more clear and uncompromising position on this issue.
Nevertheless, Air Secretary James Wellbeloved believed that public condemnation of UFOs would split society. He called for any public statement to be toned down to "not overly humiliate believers in aliens."
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