VNN - The Vulcan News Network - Comes To Earth

[Shai-Hulud]

The Vulcans from Star Trek are real. Gene Rodenberry based them upon a real alien encounter he had.

"Your species is not yet ready for public contact," they told him. "We shall choose the logical time."

The time is now.

Vulcans, from orbit, use their advanced technology to filter through all manner of data and collect the truth (or most probable truth, if ultimately uncertain). Of everything they can, including but not limited to:

• History and current events.
  
  
• What the actual science is on various given topics.
  
  
• They beam up samples of Earth products and give "safety and efficiency" reports upon them.
  
  
• If politicians lie, they get exposed. Where each gets his money from becomes public knowledge.
  
  
• If oligarchs commit crimes, the crimes are reported on, not concealed, including the doings of any super-secret clubs or cults Earth's oligarchs may have.
  
  
• The shady manipulations of global corporations and international banks, and the double-dealings of intelligence agencies with all their covert crimes, are brought to light.
  
  
• Mafias and criminal networks all across the globe are tracked and exposed, their doings and members laid bare, including any "legitimate" partners they do business with.
  
  
• And so forth, in the interests of truth and logic.

All you have to do is tune into VNN, the Vulcan News Network, the logical signal that can't be stopped.

VNN, twenty-four/seven.

So....

How does the world change?

[Nik Hasta]

So, the thrust of this scenario is what having a supposedly neutral source of absolute journalistic authority would do a country, yeah?

Ultimately, not that much that quickly to be honest. Like, look at my country with our current Prime Minister, it's a matter of public record that his government has been extremely shifty with Covid contracts, given billions of pounds to their mates, lost billions to fraud that they simply aren't pursuing. Additionally; he's a known womaniser with numerous illegitimate children, he's an accessory to violent crime from when he conspired to have a rival journalist beaten up, he's known to have lied his arse off from his earliest jobs to present day and he continues to lie an awful lot both in the House and to the people directly.

Like, people broadly know he is a liar and pretty crooked but some of them don't care because, either they don't believe it, or he is politically expedient to their larger goals.

Ultimately, people will choose to believe what they want to believe and I imagine they are highly unlikely to believe a version of events put forward by literal aliens.

[Nik Hasta]

Also, define "commits crimes," in terms of an oligarch.

Like, I hate hyper-rich people and think their mere existence is a crime but there is an awful lot of a grey area about what "doing a crime" means when you have the wealth and resources of someone like Jeff Bezos.

[Sharpandpointies]

So, the thrust of this scenario is what having a supposedly neutral source of absolute journalistic authority would do a country, yeah?

Ultimately, not that much that quickly to be honest. Like, look at my country with our current Prime Minister, it's a matter of public record that his government has been extremely shifty with Covid contracts, given billions of pounds to their mates, lost billions to fraud that they simply aren't pursuing. Additionally; he's a known womaniser with numerous illegitimate children, he's an accessory to violent crime from when he conspired to have a rival journalist beaten up, he's known to have lied his arse off from his earliest jobs to present day and he continues to lie an awful lot both in the House and to the people directly.

Like, people broadly know he is a liar and pretty crooked but some of them don't care because, either they don't believe it, or he is politically expedient to their larger goals.

Ultimately, people will choose to believe what they want to believe and I imagine they are highly unlikely to believe a version of events put forward by literal aliens.

It is a sad thing that I must agree with Nik (not...that I'm agreeing with him, I'm sad regarding the thing about which we are agreeing).

[Nik Hasta]

It is a sad thing that I must agree with Nik (not...that I'm agreeing with him, I'm sad regarding the thing about which we are agreeing).

Yeah, while truth is important, it's not the sole motivating factor in politics, business or history.

[Sharpandpointies]

Yeah, while truth is important, it's not the sole motivating factor in politics, business or history.

Based on my more careful observations of the last ten years - especially the last two or three - I 100% agree.

[Nik Hasta]

Based on my more careful observations of the last ten years - especially the last two or three - I 100% agree.

I mean, remember the Panama Papers?

Largest single data link of the financial interests and practices of ruling class in decades, showed immense scale or corruption and hoarding and all kinds of links and conflicts of interest.

And did the world change at all?

Nope.

EDIT: To be clear, the concept of the VNN would like, help...? A bit? But it's not going to solve the problem.

[Sharpandpointies]

I mean, remember the Panama Papers?

Largest single data link of the financial interests and practices of ruling class in decades, showed immense scale or corruption and hoarding and all kinds of links and conflicts of interest.

And did the world change at all?

Nope.

And the journalist was killed by a car bomb.

Did anything change after THAT?

Nope.

EDIT: To be clear, the concept of the VNN would like, help...? A bit? But it's not going to solve the problem.

Once again, sadly agree. With all of the above.

[Shellhead]

One of the two major political parties in the U.S. has practically made xenophobia a core value, so their voters are likely to deride VNN as fake news and will likely have some unkind things to say about aliens.

[Powerboy]

The Vulcans from Star Trek are real. Gene Rodenberry based them upon a real alien encounter he had.

"Your species is not yet ready for public contact," they told him. "We shall choose the logical time."

The time is now.

Vulcans, from orbit, use their advanced technology to filter through all manner of data and collect the truth (or most probable truth, if ultimately uncertain). Of everything they can, including but not limited to:

• History and current events.
  
  
• What the actual science is on various given topics.
  
  
• They beam up samples of Earth products and give "safety and efficiency" reports upon them.
  
  
• If politicians lie, they get exposed. Where each gets his money from becomes public knowledge.
  
  
• If oligarchs commit crimes, the crimes are reported on, not concealed, including the doings of any super-secret clubs or cults Earth's oligarchs may have.
  
  
• The shady manipulations of global corporations and international banks, and the double-dealings of intelligence agencies with all their covert crimes, are brought to light.
  
  
• Mafias and criminal networks all across the globe are tracked and exposed, their doings and members laid bare, including any "legitimate" partners they do business with.
  
  
• And so forth, in the interests of truth and logic.

All you have to do is tune into VNN, the Vulcan News Network, the logical signal that can't be stopped.

VNN, twenty-four/seven.

So....

How does the world change?

At the risk of this turning into a political thread, which is almost inevitable, Conservatives simply say, "Ain't true" every time they encounter a fact that doesn't fit what they want to believe. Trump says the sky is purple and the grass is yellow, must be true. Those so-called experts, even the ones who voted for him, are lying or deluded if they disagree with him.

Science? Evolution? Why, I read on "Answers in Genesis" that evolution is made up and a dying theory. The Creation Research Foundation says...

And what's wrong with a riot to stop all the election fraud that happened? Stop the steal!

And, besides, who are these Vulcans? I'll tell you. They are ALIENS which means they are here to rape our women, illegally vote and get on welfare.

Not that Liberals don't also have stupid stuff buuut...

Unless the Vulcans have a cure for Cognitive Dissonance, nothing will change except to get even more divided. And, if Mind Melds can cure Cognitive Dissonance (or anything else), don't submit! Mind Melds are just a way to lock on and track everything we say and do.

In the very long run, Vulcans may make a positive difference, bringing in those on the fence and the swing voters. But in the short term, they picked the wrong planet that ain't remotely ready for logic.