To which I can only ask - who gives a flying rat's ass? Really. Who cares??
Of course, it seems the whole thing was probably staged, but the question of manipulating the media will have to wait for another day.
I can see how this kind of stuff can be depressing (uh oh - I'm starting to sound like Mac Tonnies here, but bear with me for a bit), and how it can make one despair, at least a little, about the future of humanity.
I don't think so.
I honestly believe that people want to be challenged. They need to be challenged. Intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, sexually... everything. Not everyone realizes this, of course - they've been beaten down for so long by the mundane (much of it foisted on them by people who have less faith in humanity than I do) that they've lost their sense of wonder about it all. But inside, somewhere, I think we all have that spark.
UFOs challenge people. I'm not talking here about those who just sit back and believe whatever is fed to them (where's the challenge in that). I'm talking about the people who understand that it's a mystery.
But it isn't just UFOs - it's all aspects of the paranormal, and science. It's exciting stuff. Why? Because in a world where, more and more, we're told what to do, and what to think - believe me, it isn't as overt as you might imagine it to be - there are still things we don't know. Things we might never know.
For me, the real thrill of life has always been, and always will be, thinking. Questioning. Exploring. Wondering.
I've been asked a lot over the past year or so why I got involved in the UFO phenomenon, and the paranormal - why I'm interested in it. I don't think I've ever really given a satisfactory answer, at least not a pithy one, but here it is:
It's a challenge.
It's an unknown.
It's exciting!
Is it the only thing that excites me or challenges me? Of course not - all sorts of things do. But it's definitely one of them.
Which is why I've sunk a bunch of time and money into the New Frontiers Symposium. I hope people come, but at the end of the day I've done it because the various subjects that we'll be talking about interest and challenge me. Is there really any other reason why we as human beings should be doing something?
Nope.
Carpe diem, folks. Carpe diem.
Paul Kimball
7 comments:
Dear Paul,
I read your blogs, Mr. Kinball, and what you seem to lack is a sense of humility. You are not unique, but a part of a growing trend that makes me wonder. You have no real sense of UFO history. I think we have some good researchers out there that have done a great job with the money they were allotted. Yes, there is much to be done in the UFO field. Yes, we have to move in differnt directions. But a great deal of work has been done. I read much of criticism of Stanton Friedman, a man I have spoken to and admire. The original Majestic Documents is a prime example of his success. No, he did not prove they were real. But he did prove that if they are fake the person who did it must have taken a great deal of time and effort to produce them. This fact is minimized in the debates. Some group(s) has been going to great lengths, both in the 1950s and recently, to muddy the waters. This is usually what causes the debates. Contactees, channelers, people who need to believe in a new religion, could some of these be "plants"?
I remember speaking to Richard Dolan. He memtioned speaking to someone who was a reseacher in the early fifties. The researcher related, off the cuff, how some of the contactees looked out of place; they looked like military types. Of course some of "crazies" are just plain people. Are someof these people plants for disinformation? John Lear comes to mind. All of this suggests, to me, some group, or maybe something, wants this to stay exactly were it is. Whatever the tactic, it works. Of course, I could be wrong but the facts do not fit an uninvolved government or even the possible occupants of the UFOs.
"Conspiracies do not happen in Amercia because: Conspiracies do not happen in Amercia" (Gore Vidal)
Joe
Brooklyn
Well said! I can only hope that you're right in that it's really inside of everyone. Watching most people go through their daily rituals is simply depressing. I wish everyone found something that really got them going.
Yes Paul, sense of wonder is that what's missing in a lot of people today. I grew up in the late eighties when man had already landed on moon, the space shuttle flew and computer technology had entered the living rooms. So i was used to that kind of "wonders" just like my friends back in school. But unlike them, i still sit there in front of my computer and read about the soviet and american astronauts daringness to build the international space station. Look at the pictures beamed down from there. How huge the station already has grown - those pictures were sci-fi some years ago. Now it's real. But nobody cares. And look at the new ideas that surface in the realm of the internet - overunity energy devices, antigravity research, planetary seti research - things that could change our world more fundamental than space travel has. But the world rather switches to "American Idol" or "Popstar" as it's called here in germany. But nothing seems lost because i still have as much confidence in mankind as you do.
Bye, Steffen
I can see how this kind of stuff can be depressing (uh oh - I'm starting to sound like Mac Tonnies here, but bear with me for a bit)
Well, I *am* the Morrissey of the UFO world... ;-)
Very good post!
Paul --
I agree with your sentiments wholeheartedly. The entire UFO picture is entertaining, baffling, and evocative. On one hand at times it's a bad science fiction story that threatens to be true, and on the other hand it can be a Zen koan that threatens to tear us to bits if we don't make the intuitive leap it demands of us.
Our dear Socrates pointed out the unexamined life is not worth living, and this phenomena forces us to examine our lives.
Daniel
rifraft,
I really wish you'd come back to BoT instead of being a hit and run poster on Paul's interview there and discuss your thoughts with us.
Of course there's a group, or whomever, that wants things to stay as is. Where there's disinfo there's usually info that's interesting behind it. All you have to do is read the paper and you'll find how FOIA requests are denied and run around in circles here and in the UK, etc. The key for each and every person is figuring out what's real and what's not. I'd be surprised if anyone really argued the point that there's SOMETHING in the phenomenon that someone out there doesn't want in the public's knowledge. The question is what, exactly, is it? I think everyone is trying to get at the same answers, just in their own ways, and until everyone knows exactly what they're looking for, I think every attempt to get at the truth is a valid one. Suggesting that Paul doesn't understand the history of the phenomenon is pretty far off base, in my opinion.
NS:
I agree - the phenomenon is an objective reality. The question, however, remains - what is it? One must accept that we don't know the answer yet, which is why it's so interesting to me. An objective researcher / observer must also accept that it's possible that all of the aspects of the phenomenon can be explained by way of non-paranormal answers. Conversely, the objective researcher must also accept the validity of theories like the ETH and the EDH.
The truth is that we just don't know.
Paul
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