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The term Men in Black (MIB), in popular culture, is used in UFO conspiracy theories to describe men dressed in black suits, sometimes with glowing eyes or other monstrous features, claiming to be government agents who attempt to harass or threaten UFO witnesses into silence. "All MIB are not necessarily garbed in dark suits," writes American writer Jerome Clark. "The term is a generic one, used to refer to any unusual, threatening or strangely behaved individual whose appearance on the scene can be linked in some fashion with a UFO sighting."

The phenomenon was initially and most frequently reported in the 1950s and 1960s; it is contemporaneous with many other conspiracy theories. According to Clark, the archetypal men in black encounter was alleged to have occurred in 1953, when publisher Albert K. Bender asserted that he'd uncovered the secret behind flying saucers, but had been threatened by three men who wore black suits and hats. Initially, Bender clearly implied the men were U.S. Government agents, but his later accounts blended supernatural features with UFO lore.

The term has also been adopted as a tongue-in-cheek term in geek culture for any generic suited government/corporate official. This usage has its roots in both the popularity of shows such as The X-Files and UFO culture, and the "threat" to hackers of Men in Black actually coming for them (in the form of the FBI or other cybercrime institutions).

Behavior

Men in Black always seem to have detailed information on the persons they contact, as if the individual had been under surveillance for a prolonged period of time. They have been described as seeming confused by the nature of everyday items such as pens, eating utensils or food, as well as using outdated slang, though accounts on the behavior of Men in Black vary widely. They may claim to be from an agency collecting information on the unexplained phenomenon their subject has encountered. In some cases they are said to use unidentifiable instruments to wipe the memories of their subjects clean, while in other accounts they seem to be trying to suppress information by, for instance, trying to convince their subject the phenomenon never existed. They have been described as behaving in either an exceedingly furtive manner or a completely outgoing one, with wide grins and disconcerting giggles.

Possible explanations

Folkloric explanations

Although the phenomenon was initially and most frequently reported in the 1950s and 1960s, some researchers — John Keel and others — have suggested similarities between Men in Black reports and earlier demonic accounts. Keel suggests that MiBs are simply a modern-day manifestation of the same phenomenon that was earlier interpreted as the devil. Similarly, folklorist Peter Rojcewicz noted that many Men in Black accounts parallel tales of people encountering the devil: Neither Men in Black nor the devil are quite human, and witnesses often discover this fact midway through an encounter. The meaning of this parallel, however, has been the subject of debate.

Military/CIA explanations

More prosaically, Clark cites Bill Moore, who asserts that "the Men in Black are really government people in disguise ... members of a rather bizarre unit of Air Force Intelligence known currently as the Air Force Special Activities Center (AFSAC) ... As of 1991, the AFSAC, headquartered in Fort Belvoir, Virginia," and "under the operational authority of Air Force Intelligence Command centered at Kelly Air Force Base in Texas." (Clark, 321–22) Curiously, Moore also reports that AFSAC was inspired by the tales of Men in Black from the 1950s, and had nothing to do with those early accounts.

Similarly, Clark notes that Dr Michael D. Swords has speculated that the Barker/Bender Men in Black case (occurring shortly after the CIA-directed Robertson Panel issued its recommendations to spy on civilian UFO groups) might have been a psychological warfare experiment.

Individuals who may be considered a risk to national security, based on loose conversation or publishing information after being 'read-in' to or 'read-out' of a special access program, are sometimes visited by 'men in suits,' according to an unnamed source at AFFTC Det 3. These 'men' are very much human but can bring a tremendous amount of pressure to conform to the terms of the signed disclosure restriction statement due to the authority they have from an undisclosed federal agency. Australian musician Vinny Pop recounts when he was working for the Government in 1995 his fiance called terrified saying 2 men in black suits attempted to gain entry into the home, fleeing when they heard her, into a large white limo. This took place the week Vinny Pop published his close encounter story in the then named Daily Mirror. This related to a 1988 sighting on the 26th January on a dark road which ran alongside a quarry which then became the Sydney 2000 Olympics site.

On a more practical note, most government law enforcement and intelligence agencies such as the FBI have strict dress codes that ordinarily require their members to wear suits in dark, non-obtrusive colors.

Hoax explanation

In his article, "Gray Barker: My Friend, the Myth-Maker," John C. Sherwood reveals that at age eighteen, he collaborated with Gray Barker to create a hoax about what Barker called "blackmen," three mysterious UFO inhabitants who silenced Sherwood's pseudonymous identity, "Dr. Richard H. Pratt."

MIB references in popular culture

Film and television

There are many references to the Men in Black in film and television, some oblique and some straightforward.

Music

British rock band The Stranglers, by their own admission, became obsessed with the Men in Black theory around 1979–81, culminating in the release of their concept album The Gospel According to the Meninblack. They attributed the many calamities they suffered around the time to the influence of the Men in Black.

Pixies front man Frank Black wrote about alien sightings and Area 51 in his later work with the Pixies, and continued with the topics into his solo career.

The Blue Öyster Cult song "E.T.I. (Extra Terrestrial Intelligence)" concerns "three men in black" looking to suppress the discovery of flying saucers. One of them is referred to as "Balthazar", suggesting that the "three men" could really be the Biblical Magi.

Will Smith also made a song called The MIB (Men in Black) for the movie Men in Black in 1997.

The Underground Alternative Rock band 9 Second Eternity references Men in Black and the New World Order on several of their lyrics.

Roger Waters' 1987 Wembley performances of the Radio K.A.O.S. tour featured a film sequence dramatising Dr Herbert Hopkins' 1976 MIB encounter with the words: "neither you nor any other… humanoid… will see this coin again".

Books and comics

The Men in Black have been portrayed several times in comics, most notably in Lowell Cunningham's 1990 Aircel comic The Men in Black, later adapted into the two films mentioned above. British comic 2000AD ran a series called "Vector 13" about them.

Horror author Kim Newman also featured featuring MIB-like characters, known as the Undertakers in smoked spectacles, in several of his Diogenes Club stories. The Undertaking is an organisation with connections to the British government, but is often in conflict with the similarly-connected Diogenes agents.

Irregular Webcomic! also features a Man in Black as a recurring character in the Martians theme. A running gag is the fact that he appears immediately after anyone mentions aliens to convince them that aliens do not exist, sometimes even to the Martians themselves.

Italian comic Martin Mystère features The Men in Black as a secret and ancient society of men aiming to hide knowledge and technology from humanity, waiting for the right moment in the future to unveil them.

The Minutemen of 100 Bullets are styled after the standard black-suit-and-tie of MIB lore.

Games

Role-playing and computer games also use the men in black, particularly, West End Games' Men in Black RPG, Delta Green, Destroy All Humans!, Mage: The Ascension, Teenagers from Outer Space, Deus Ex, DIB (Duke In Black),Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Conspiracy X, and GURPS Black Ops. Sim City Societies also features men in black who act as corporate enforcers.

Many characters in video games are also similar to descriptions of Men in Black, one of the most notable being the G-Man from the Half-Life series.

In the game AdventureQuest, the MIB are referenced as N.O.V.A., or the Network of Vesparian Agents.

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