If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, |
I understand.
My dad was in the Air Force.
Why would I want to think that the nice Air Force,
(or any other branch of our government or other societal systems
or organizations that are here to protect and serve us),
would mess around with us?
Naww, couldn't happen...right?
Uh huh.
Over the years, I've been forced to change my mind on that point.
There's bits and pieces of disinformation, manipulation,
just flat out lies, and other crap all around us, all the time.
(sigh)
You may think the following example is minor,
but it's just one of many small nudges to our minds.
Nudges telling us to believe something without good reason.
Without question.
Here's a copy of a really nice book.
It was circulating in the Houston Public Library System at one time.
Looks pretty interesting doesn't it?
It has that word Almanac in the title and everything.
This edition was published in 1992
not that long ago,
by what looks to be a fancy publisher.
Hmmmmm...Second Edition,
which means somebody thought it was good enough to do again, right?
746 pages, wow, that's a lot of pages.
Yep, this space book looks,
by the cover anyway,
like it would have dependable, factual information inside.
Look, they even brag about it....
Yep, this looks legit, wouldn't you say?
Well then,
let's say I had a school project to do.
About ..ummm...
space. :-D
So, I beg my exhausted, over-worked, under-appreciated mom
to play cabdriver, again!, and haul my butt down
to the library.
I see this great book!
"Cool!! " ;-)
"This will have all the facts and figures for my report!"
"I wonder what it says about UFO's!!!! "
This is the listing for UFOs?
"UFO. Unidentified Flying Object;
a hypothetical spacecraft from another Solar System.
See also: Flying Saucer."
????????
Now wait a minute here....
Since when does unidentified mean the same thing that hypothetical means?
Not in MY Miriam W it doesn't!
And does flying object really translate into spacecraft?
Well, except when we're talking about comets
(right, Chuck?)
that just doesn't sit real well with me.
Annnnd, if it states Unidentified
how did they know they're from another Solar System?
Heeeellllooooo!!!
"See also: Flying Saucers"
Ready?
See also: UFO
(Tha-thud!!)
(Sorry, that was my head banging against the wall again.)
I hope you see my point.
Oh dear God, I hope you see my point.
746 pages and those are THE ONLY TWO references to UFOs.
Nothing to substantiate how those "definitions" came about.
No facts and figures from "Earth to the Edge of the Universe" to back those statements up.
NOTHING WAS EVER DONE ABOUT IT!
(Sorry, ya'll, but protocol my tired, frustrated ass!)
Give me a break here! We're not as stupid as we look!
Well most of us aren't anyway.
At the risk of again being called a pitiful, UFO activist,
doing a great service to UFOlogy
or something somewhere in between the Earth and the Edge of the universe....
The POINT is,
I think somebodys short-sheeting the space books, and our news, and other things.
But I could be wrong,
and I wouldn't be too shy to say so if I was. :-)
Oh...don't go scrolling back and look at what they wrote about Ether...either.