Men in black

{{hatnote||Not to be confused with the movie,  {{wpl|Men in Black}}}}
[[File:Otakuthon 2014- Men in Black (14850563279).jpg|thumb|right|165px|A couple of [[NWO]] stooges about to get stared down by [[Alex Jones]].]]{{ufology}}
{{Sources needed}}
{{cquote|We straight don't exist, no names and no fingerprints<br />
Saw somethin' strange, watch your back<br />
Cause you never quite know where the MIBs is at|||Will Smith<ref>[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSRF3slguhI Full song!]</ref>}}
The '''men in black''' (often abbreviated to '''MIB''')<ref>Not to be confused with those also sharply dressed who work for financial institutions as the International Monetary Fund to visit countries that have received 
a hand to the throat
 their help, and check the conditions imposed by them are being fulfilled.</ref> feature in [[ufology|ufological]] [[conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] and were most popular in the 1950s with few appearances since. They are said to be mysterious people, dressed in black, who claim to represent an arm of the [[state]] (in [[United States|America]], typically the [[FBI]], [[CIA]] or the [[United States Armed Forces#Air Force|Air Force]]). They are said to intimidate UFO witnesses into silence, according to witnesses. They have been written about by ufologists ever since Albert Bender's 1953 book ''Flying Saucers and the Three Men'' described such a visit, apparently as he was about to discover "the truth" about UFOs.

==The space junta==
In the works of [[John A Keel]], the MIB ride black Cadillacs, have bizarre personal habits and sometimes an "olive-green" complexion. This is sometimes attributed to the possibility that the MIB are actually mechanical or [[Extraterrestrial|alien]] in nature, rather than [[human]]. Keel has also suggested that the [[paranormal]] phenomenon responsible for the MIB may also be responsible for older accounts of encounters with [[demon]]s or [[witch]]es. Actual explanations for what the MIB encounters actually were are few and far between as the phenomenon hasn't received a great deal of [[skeptic]]al attention, primarily because the reported encounters with MIB are so few. The probable explanation is that it was all a [[hoax]], developed as a joke in the 1960s by UFO magazine publisher {{wpl|Gray Barker}}, author of such works as ''They Knew Too Much About [[Flying saucer|Flying Saucers]]''. The hoax explanation is based on a confession by Barker's collaborator John C. Sherwood in 1998, supposedly prompted by the recent release of the [[Films|film]] ''Men in Black'' the previous year.<ref>[http://www.csicop.org/si/show/gray_barker_my_friend_the_myth-maker/ Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker], ''Skeptical Inquirer''</ref>

The paranormal aspect to the MIB myth is now largely forgotten and limited to pop [[culture]] references where they are portrayed quite differently from the original reports of the 1950s and 1960s — primarily they are portrayed as secretive [[government]] agents. [[Science fiction]] such as ''Men in Black'' and ''[[The Matrix]]'' are the most prominent examples that feature characters based more on the concept of MIB than the actual MIB personas reported, although the MIB in the game ''Deus Ex'' do have unsettling, robotic voices.

The [[British]] band The Stranglers began to associate themselves with men in black phenomenon around 1979–1981, culminating in the concept album ''The Gospel According to The Meninblack''. They reputedly blamed a number of calamitous incidents in their career on the malign influence of the men in black; however a more likely explanation may have been the band's copious [[drug]] use and general antisocial behavior to all in the [[music]] industry around them. For example, they blamed the MIB for the termination of their recording contract by their US label, A&M. Others contend this was actually because, when A&M sent them proposed artwork for a new compilation album, the band telexed back saying "Dear A&M, please get fucked. Love, The Stranglers."

==See also==
*[[Black helicopters]]
*[[Aliensdidit]]
*[[Phantom social workers]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Ufology]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theories]]
[[Category:Paranormal]]

Categories: Ufology, Conspiracy theories, Paranormal