Saturday, October 27, 2007

Truth Embargo? Good!

You often hear pro-ETH UFO researchers in the West state something along the lines of, "It's time to end the cover-up of the ET presence on Earth - it might have made sense 60 years ago, but we're a more mature society now, and we could handle the news". Stan Friedman has said words to that general effect at almost every lecture I've ever heard him give, for example.

I think that they're wrong. I think if we were really faced with certain proof of the existence of ET (like a flying saucer landing on the White House lawn), things would pretty much go to hell in short order. The view that things would be just fine (a few hiccups, perhaps, but we would adjust quickly) is informed by an educated, middle to upper class, very Western way of looking at the world - in other words, guys like Stan. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the planet's population is not educated to the degree someone like Stan is, and they're not members of the middle or upper classes, and they don't live in the relative comfort (both physical and ideological) of postmodernist and largely secular Western society.

The view of people like Stan that we're ready for the knowledge of ET's existence (should ET exist and be here) is also at odds with human history, where every time an advanced society came into contact with a less advanced society, there was chaos, with the end result that the less advanced society suffered greatly as a result of that contact.

I think Stuart Miller, in a recent post at his blog Alien Worlds Magazine, hits upon the more likely outcome. Here is an excerpt:

My opinion is that there would be substantial elements of world wide hysteria which couldn’t be ignored, for it would inevitably impinge on the calmer elements. The most un-endearing quality within the psyche of the human spirit is arrogance. Our world is full of strutting little despots, be it militarily, politically, administratively, the religious realm, or even in our personal lives. People full of their own self importance and power, without humility or empathy, who would seize the opportunity to terrify and manipulate. Martial law in some quarters would be a real possibility. After all, this would be an event of a life time. [Full article here]
Bingo - and as Stuart notes later in the column, this is what would probably happen if we just got a signal from SETI. It would be far worse if ET was actually here, and even worse again if ET was hostile.

Guys like Steven Bassett talk about a "paradigm shift" should the "truth embargo" ever be lifted. They're absolutely right, but for the wrong reasons. They see a sunnier future for humanity - a leap into a brave new world, where we would happily walk hand in hand with our space brothers and sisters, and all would suddenly be fine on Planet Earth.

Like Stuart, I see a different result, because I've spent years studying the world and its people, not as we might like them to be, but as they actually are. If the "government" is really covering up the "truth" about an ET presence here on Earth, I say "good - keep it up". Because as I look around, the truth is that we're not ready for it. We're not even close. And to reveal it now would be as disastrous as it would have been sixty years ago - perhaps more so.

We don't need alien "gods" to come down and solve all of our problems - we need to solve them ourselves. Only then, when all people are capable of seeing the world like Stan Friedman sees it will we be ready for First Contact, with any ET species, either here or "out there".

If ET really does exist, and is smart enough to get here from there, and is as benevolent as some people think, then I'm pretty sure they see things the same way I do, and that's why they choose not to reveal themselves. And if they aren't that benevolent, and resemble more an ET version of Cortez, then eventually we're all screwed, aren't we?

Does this mean that people should stop investigating UFO cases? No. Does it mean people should stop writing and talking about UFOs? Of course not. Because at the moment, the idea of ET UFOs are like the idea of God - maybe they exist, maybe they don't, who can say? You can believe if you want, or not. You can believe in one type of alien, or another, or none at all. You can explore other theories if you want. You can ignore the whole subject, as the vast majority of people do. You can even pretend that you're practising "citizen diplomacy" with aliens if you want. To each their own.

You can even pester the "government" for the "truth", but you'll find that it's a pretty futile slog, because they either don't know the "truth" (which is the far more likely answer, in my opinion), or, if they do and the truth is "ET is here", they aren't going to reveal it, for the reasons outlined above.

Good reasons.

Paul Kimball

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The downside to that strategy is that if they are here, and they are hostile, then what to do about it rests with a very few number of people and not necessarily the best minds our planet has to work on the problem. But when disbelief and skepticism rule, we are sleeping when we should be acting and losing time. If we are all screwed anyway, then what is there to lose by at least widening the circle of disclosure and getting some great minds to work on defense? We may be REALLY screwed by secrecy and losing valuable time. www.keyhoereport.com/

Regan Lee said...

Overall, I agree with you. The idea that the government -- any government -- will reveal the truth about ETs/UFOs is naive.

And a very good point about the Western view vs. the rest of the world. One which, I admit, I haven't considred myself much myself. But the reality that arrogant maniacal leaders would use the presence of ETs for their own ends is a realisitc one.

Paul Kimball said...

Regan:

Yes, they might. But it's also possible - just possible - that these leaders, if there really is a massive cover-up, are doing it for the right reasons. Further, if there is this massive cover-up*, and there have been crashed flying saucers, and reverse-engineered technology, then it is also likely that this material has been introduced into society over the past few decades, slowly. This would be the proper approach, in my view.

Paul

* Of course, I don't accept this as a proven fact by any means, but...

Paul Kimball said...

Anon:

I'm sure that if they are hostile, the best minds were engaged to work on the problem, whether they knew it or not. SDI could well have been a part of it, for example - developed for one supposed reason, but in reality with another application. But that's all speculation.

My point is that if they were hostile, and that information was confirmed publicly, along with the confirmation that there wasn't much we could do about it, we would almost certainly have faced a massive breakdown in the social order in the West... in the Third World, things would have been even worse.

Again, however, from my point of view this is all speculation.

Paul

Anonymous said...

Hmm. People might start calling you a 'stagnist' Paul.

Paul Kimball said...

Anon:

They can call me whatever they want if it makes them feel better about being wrong. :-)

Paul

Anonymous said...

Considering the level of technology required to traverse interstellar space, I think that if ET was here, and hostile, we would _not_ be here ....

Ergo they are either not here, or not hostile.

Personally, I don't think the world as a whole could ever effectively deal with the presence of ET on Earth. We have yet to overcome those base superstitions that plague the majority of the Earth's human population - often called religion.

Can you imagine a right-to-lifer or a suicide bomber dealing with ET?

Cheers,

Gordon

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry Paul, but to wait until even the majority of the population is as educated as Stan Freedman will simply never happen: especially not at this moment when governments and media are making sure people are getting less educated and thinking a lot less for themselves. If ET is here, he'll have his own agenda and won't (and shouldn't) really care what we think about it anyway.

I think governments should come clean one way or another: yes it will be a shock, you're right: it will be a big one (if they do know something). But better to get over it now than when ET decides to do it...

Cheers! Gret blog!
A-J

Anonymous said...

Paul, I responded to this entry on my own blog which is UFO/Paranormal UN-related, but it's the only blog I have, and the response was too long to enter here. I was unable to agree with you, and the entry you will find there explains why.

I would have posted it sooner, but time has been hard to find recently.

The site is:

www.theferalphilosopher.com

David

Anonymous said...

If you keep on doing what you’ve always done you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.
I welcome the insanity for the brief period that it will exist after disclosure. The alternative to just keep doing what we are doing is the real “insanity”!
Most of the people you refer to have so limited data available to them or understanding of it that their vision of the future is just more of the same. So for them not much will change with disclosure, EOS!
If “we” enlightened ones, that have access to the data and can comprehend it’s meaning and fail to demand disclosure are committing our grand children the worst holocaust the modern world has ever seen. It’s the ugliest MAD MAX sci-fi movie scenario. Your attitude is to pass on the “bad stuff” to later generations instead of paying it forward by demanding disclosure now.