The Chonkerton

How Alien Conspiracy Theory Got Respectable — and Helped Bring America Back to Magical Thinking

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According to Variety columnist Owen Gleiberman, the term 'disclosure' has become shorthand for a singular demand: that the U.S. government finally reveal what it knows about aliens. What's striking isn't the conspiracy theory itself, but how mainstream it's become — signaling what Gleiberman calls a broader cultural shift toward 'magical thinking.' The alien-disclosure movement, once fringe, has achieved a kind of respectability in American discourse.

Source: https://variety.com/2026/film/columns/how-alien-conspirac...

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