UFO: An Oversued Rhetorical Fallacy

'''I saw something in the sky. It is a UFO. If it's a UFO aliens must be real'''

 

Unidentified flying objects(aka UFO) have been spotted in the skies for years. It is a subject that has fascinated human beings for thousands of years. Are we alone in the universe? Humans are always seeking answers. People tend to look toward the sky for answers. Looking for anything suspicious. Anytime we see something in the sky we do not understand or recognize we instantly think aliens. This however is a rhetorical fallacy. A hasty generalization that an UFO is always starship or space cruiser piloted by an alien. A UFO is term that was created to stop a hasty generalization. It could be a bird, a plan, or even Superman it is something you just do not reconize. UFO’s do not always mean aliens. It is overused and in fact has become the opposite of what it means, trying to describe something that is indescribable.

 Aliens are most likely real. I find it very hard to believe that in the infinity of the universe Earth is the only planet with inhabitants. I’m sure that we have been in contact with some over worldly species for some time now. Perhaps that one of the many sightings  of UFO’s has been in fact an alien space cruiser and in fact I would like that to be the case. UFO is used interchangeably with alien. The two words are related and closely connected but do not mean the same thing. If someone stated “ I saw UFO and it is alien” they are saying that what they saw is describable and it is alien. Using the term UFO is redundant then because you are putting a label on the thing you just saw in the sky and making it Identified.

The argument is not whether aliens are real or not. It is about using the term UFO  correctly. Using it incorrectly is a combination of rhetorical fallacies. Its first and foremost a hasty generalization. People have used UFO interchangeably with aliens so much they almost mean the same thing. This is where appealing to the ignorant comes in. Typically, when someone is talking about a UFO (whether they know or not) they think the audience knows they are talking about aline’s. When you do not have any proof that you did in fact see an alien and you are using UFO in place of alien you and the audience are hastily drawing the conclusion that the UFO was alien. Which in fact you do not know what it was and used the term UFO incorrectly.