Is the masquerade necessary?

[fhdz]

This thread is really stupid.

[Tamas]

look at the War On Terror, War on Drugs, Jooos Did It, Morgan Stanley Did It, The Russians Did It, etc.

Easiest way to keep people in line is fear of an easily identifiable common enemy. Aliens would be utilized as such if they existed, and not kept secret.

[Martinus]

What the fuck am I reading?

[Eddie Teach]

Somebody explain the thread to Marty.

[jimmy olsen]

This thread is really stupid.

It's a common enough phenomena in popular culture, why can't we discuss it?

[Gups]

A world with monsters lurking in the shadows is more relatable than one with them in the open.

Most works of fiction set in the present don't have a handful of monsters lurking on the fringes of civilization.  They have full blown international conspiracies covering up suspicious deaths all over the place.

If you don't like it, try reading half-decent books.

[Caliga]

then I decided to vote for the Gor option (Tim gets run over by MB in a Humvee).

CABOT!

[grumbler]

What a bizarre thread! 

The answer is simple:  if the book's plot requires that an alien presence be kept secret, then the author should present a plot in which it is kept secret.  If the book's plot requires that an alien presence be made known, then the author should present a plot in which it is made known.

Authors of fiction have a great deal of freedom in deciding how the fictional people in their fictional works would react to the fictional information that fictional aliens were present on a fictional earth.  Why anyone would think this concept thread-worthy is beyond me.

[Eddie Teach]

What a bizarre thread! 

The answer is simple:  if the book's plot requires that an alien presence be kept secret, then the author should present a plot in which it is kept secret.  If the book's plot requires that an alien presence be made known, then the author should present a plot in which it is made known.

Authors of fiction have a great deal of freedom in deciding how the fictional people in their fictional works would react to the fictional information that fictional aliens were present on a fictional earth.  Why anyone would think this concept thread-worthy is beyond me.

Hey, if it's worth writing a whole book... /shrug

[Ed Anger]

I was torn between the Turtledove option (Tim is smashed under a falling Byzantine Empire) and the Stirling option (Tim is killed by a gratuitous lesbian), then I decided to vote for the Gor option (Tim gets run over by MB in a Humvee).

YEEEEEEHAWWW!  Then I would plant an American flag on his corpse while wildly firing a gun into the air.

[Valmy]

It is only necessary for creating the illusion that this is the real world they are talking about.  In reality a secret like that wouldn't stay kept for long anyway.

[Viking]

You need the masquerade to help with suspension of disbelief. If you are going to set a vampire story in modern times you need to explain why the reader doesn't know about them. The secret opens of for easily manufactured suspense and drama (assuming you introduced a sufficiently non-stupid masquerade). I actually prefer the masquerade induced drama to the normal my baby/girlfriend/bff/father/mother is in danger so I'll do something stupid kind of drama.

If you get it right it can help the story.

[The Brain]

Are Jews a secret?

[garbon]

What a bizarre thread! 

The answer is simple:  if the book's plot requires that an alien presence be kept secret, then the author should present a plot in which it is kept secret.  If the book's plot requires that an alien presence be made known, then the author should present a plot in which it is made known.

Authors of fiction have a great deal of freedom in deciding how the fictional people in their fictional works would react to the fictional information that fictional aliens were present on a fictional earth.  Why anyone would think this concept thread-worthy is beyond me.

Hey, if it's worth writing a whole book... /shrug

I guess, g, has different standards for evaluating books.

[Eddie Teach]

Well, we've got 50 pages on tea party tax evasion and nearly 200 on Canadian politics, obviously just about anything is "thread worthy".