Worst case scenario it's both; they fake an alien presence and there really is one on top of that. Imagine the space UN, with dozens of races bound by treaty, with the alien equivalent of north korea, africa... Up there. Not necessarily malevolent or benevolent, just looking for their own interests, and they are more or less bound by space treaties just like nations on earth, with rogue elements in the middle. And the general rule is that you don't get in touch with inferior species, just like we are supposed to do since a while with primitive tribes. And yeah, on top of that mess you have the pentagon/global MIC faking shits up so they can justify to get more tax payer money to fund their cost ineffective megalomaniac projects Humans are doomed, they don't even need an hostile alien takeover to fuck their shits up, they'll just do it on their own But now that I think about it, a common mortal enemy from outer space is probably the only way to sort human affairs the right way. And I mean a real "common mortal enemy from outer space", not yet another scam