The tedium of UFOs (and a cultural counterpart)

Copyright 2020, InterAmerica, Inc.

Sitting through Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique as I type this goes to the heart of what we’re dealing with in the UFO phenomenon.

The long-awaited denouement of the UFO enigma is rather like Berlioz’ sym- phony.

Berlioz who instructed others about musical composition and was a noted critic of the classical genre knew (or thought he did) what would create emotion in listeners.

All artists of cultural artifacts that are less abstract than painting or sculpture have gone to great lengths to hold the attention of their partners in the effort: writers write, composers create music, readers read, musical aficionados listen.

Berlioz prolongs the agony of his musical construct with a very long stretch of boring musical interludes – even some members of the orchestra not playing during those interludes were seen to be without interest, glancing off into a distant somewhere or looking balefully at one another.

Then Berlioz stops the musical meandering and brings his work to a rousing conclusion with a “March to the Scaffold” movement and as a finale, the “Witches Sabbath” movement, both musically raucous.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonie_fantastique

We listeners are glad when it’s over, Berlioz causing us much tiresome anguish. We are supposed to be happy it’s over, and we are, thankfully, and not pleased with the piece although we think we are: conned by Berlioz’ brilliance at composition, yet not fooled when we really think about it, which we often don’t.

This is how it is with the UFO phenomenon: A long period of exciting and mournful episodes, yet without a Berlioz-like ending.

We are waiting still for an ending, a raucous finale to a protracted, often boring litany of sightings and reports, yet to be concluded, without hope that an ending is about to ensue that will let us leave the mystery happy that we’ve stuck with it, for such a long time, many of us glancing aloft toward nothingness or leaving altogether, made so blasé during the interregnum that we couldn’t care less about what UFOs are anymore.

Berlioz’ music warned us, but who was really paying attention?

RR