Monday, April 04, 2005

The Cosmic Watergate vs. The Conspiracy of Silence

Stan Friedman and Kevin Randle, two of my favourite ufologists, and the two chief pro-Roswell writer / researchers of the last fifteen years, have a very competitive, sometimes "difficult," relationship with each other.

Each has posited a different scenario for the supposed crash of an alien spacecraft at Roswell.

Each accepted a now discredited "star" witness (for Stan it was Gerald Anderson, for Kevin it was Frank Kaufmann), while at the same time they attacked the other one's "star" witness.

Each has become adept at pointing out the other person's mistakes, or false claims, or evasions of questions, or whatever...

Stan has MJ-12; Kevin, not to be outdone, has the Unholy Thirteen.

All of this is serious stuff. However, one area where they've chosen to compete is just downright silly - finding and promoting a term to describe what they see as a government cover-up of the truth about the UFO phenomenon.

Stan got out of the gate first, with the "Cosmic Watergate." He's written papers and given lectures with that title.

Kevin followed with the "Conspiracy of Silence." He has a book with that name.

Both terms, while amusing, and nowhere near as bad / ufologically obscure as "Pelicanist" or "Klasskurtzian", should be retired to the Ufological Hall of Fame (or Shame, depending upon who you ask).

Newsflash to Stan - if you want to reach the younger set (you know, anyone under 35), Watergate is about as relevant as Vietnam, or the Beatles... or Julius Caesar, for that matter ("beware, the ufological Ides of March"). Time to freshen up the material (the "Cosmic Da Vinci Code?" No - forget I said that!). Further, is Watergate even applicable? If the whole point is that the cover-up has been kept hush-hush for almost six decades, and is ignored by the media and politicians, Watergate, which broke (relatively) quickly, and was embraced as a story by everyone and his dog, would seem to be a less than perfect analogy.

As for Kevin, a conspiracy is, by its most commonly used definition, an illegal act. In the case of the UFO cover-up, if it exists, almost everyone seems to agree that it was authorised at the highest levels, probably under presidential authority. It might not be right, but it isn't illegal, anymore than the keeping of any number of national security secrets is illegal. Besides, with all the "whistleblowers" of Steven Greer, Michael Salla et al running around, "silence" seems to be in short supply. Alas.

My suggestion?

If Stan and Kevin think there's been a cover-up, then just say...

"It's a cover-up."

I think everyone will get it.

Paul Kimball

6 comments:

RRRGroup said...

Paul:

There's a cover-up?

And I'm just now finding out?

Oh my...

Rich Reynolds

Paul Kimball said...

Rich:

So I hear.

Paul

KRandle said...

Paul :

I take no responsibility for the term Conspiracy of Silence. That was stuck on the book at the insistence of the publisher... who came up with the concept as well. I certainly would have suggested something less... dramatic.

Paul Kimball said...

Kevin:

Thanks - that answers that (well, half of "that").

Now, Stan, how about the "Cosmic Watergate?"

:-)

Paul

RRRGroup said...

Kevin and Paul:

I rather like Conspiracy of Silence.

That's what sells books and, besides, it provides a Machiavellian spin to what the Air Force and other government agencies engage in.

Rich Reynolds

Joe said...

Hey Paul, I think you jumped off the deep end by stating "Because if anyone in Canada would have known about the Cosmic Watergate, and UFO secrets, and alien bases, etc. etc., it would have been the Minister of National Defence in the mid 1960s." - If you really are into this UFO stuff, you of all people should know how far the american military and government was going to keep the UFO ordeal secret and to themselves, even on a global scale. I don't think anyone but America had any clear idea of UFO's and their origins back in the 50's or 60's. America still isn't willing to share any information on the subject. Nothing against you personally, I just think that statement was highly inappropriate, especially coming from you. Anyways, keep up the good work and keep trying to expose the truth!