"I belatedly realized that I missed a significant anniversary earlier this year. I've been buying, reading and hoarding Fortean Times" for 20 years now. The earliest issue in my collection is FT67 (cover-dated February-March 1993), which was the first issue I ever saw in W. H. Smith (I'd bought a previous issue-FT60 I think-from another shop just over a year earlier, but I hadn't been impressed enough to hang on to it). It was only after I started reading FT in earnest that I got interested in Forteana in any depth. I'd read various books on the paranormal and "unexplained mysteries" in the 1970s and 80s, but only at the popular mass-market level.
Looking back at those early FTs, it occurs to me that at some point in the last 20 years my attitude to Fortean subjects underwent a distinct change. I don't mean anything as dramatic as a flip from "believer" to "skeptic" - I've never been close to either category. I've never seriously believed that UFOs are vehicles piloted by extraterrestrials, or that ghosts embody the surviving consciousness of dead human beings. But I've never been a skeptic either, in the sense of dismissing anomalous phenomena from consideration simply because they are anomalous. During the 1990s I became fascinated by a whole range of anomalous phenomena, and I was convinced that with sufficient study they could be fitted into the mainstream paradigm... at which point they would cease to be anomalous.
Some time around 2003 I changed my mind. The rosy-spectacled idea that the anomalous phenomena of today are the mainstream phenomena of tomorrow no longer seemed credible. The reality is that anomalous phenomena are self-perpetuatingly anomalous. This wasn't because of anything that happened in or around 2003 - it was because I'd been following the subject with close interest for ten years. I wasn't really aware of the change at the time, but looking back through my old FTs and remembering the way I responded to the various stories at the time, it's clear that's what happened.
Thinking about it analytically, there are two sides to the problem: (a) lack of progress in areas where you would reasonably expect to see progress, and (b) ongoing progress (or at any rate change) in areas where you would logically expect to see no change at all. I'll explain what I mean.
When I first became an avid reader of all things Fortean in the 1990s, I was under the impression (as I suspect many newcomers to the subject are, whatever the time period) that the world was on the brink of a massive paradigm shift that would lead to the mainstream acceptance of many things previously considered paranormal. There were theories of "mind-matter unification" and "macroscopic quantum systems" that promised to explain a whole range of psychic and holistic phenomena. There were tantalizing hints that antigravity systems had been demonstrated in the laboratory. The ideas of Hancock and Bauval were going to revolutionize our understanding of ancient civilizations. And a lot more in the same vein.
The reality, of course, is that none of it ever comes to anything. The world of anomalous phenomena isn't interested in solving mysteries... it's interested in perpetuating them. I made the mistake (coming from a scientific background) of assuming the subject had something in common with science. But it doesn't. Science starts with the evidence and looks for explanations of it. The vast majority of ufologists, ghost hunters and cryptozoologists do just the opposite - they start with an explanation and look for evidence to support it. That's why the state of progress-as far as any real insight is concerned-is exactly the same as it was 20 years ago.
The only people who aren't going to be disillusioned by the situation are the Conspiracy Theorists. From their point of view, it's a no-brainer the Government will stamp on anyone as soon as they come close to revealing the Truth (personally I've never really understood this viewpoint - particularly as the Conspiracy Theorists themselves spend their lives expounding the very Truth the Government is supposed to be suppressing).
As I mentioned earlier, there's a flip side to all this. While there's been no perceptible progress in understanding anomalous phenomena in the last 20 years, there's been an ongoing evolution in the phenomena themselves. In some areas, such as the continuing sagas of Roswell and Bigfoot, it's almost like watching a soap opera. If Roswell was a real flying saucer crash, and if Bigfoot was a real species, you simply wouldn't expect the underlying data to evolve over the decades in the way they have.
Back in the 1990s, another magazine I read occasionally was "Magonia", which promoted the so-called "psycho-social" hypothesis. This is an unfortunate term, because it suggests everything is glibly dismissed as the product of a deranged mind or mass hysteria. But the "Magonia "people meant something more constructive than that. If I remember correctly, the basic idea was that the whole area of anomalous phenomena-the way they're described, the context they're put in, the way they're investigated and the theories proposed to explain them-are all the product of a (largely unconscious) collective exercise in imagination. The analogy is with a role-playing game, in which the players are so immersed in the game they don't realize it's a game.
One of the big things in the early 90s was the "alien abduction" scenario, where the bulk of the evidence took the form of memories retrieved through hypnosis. That's a perfect medium for the unconscious imagination to work in, particularly if prompted (again unconsciously) by the expectations of the researcher. I don't think "Magonia "was accusing anyone of deliberate deception. Instead, the idea was that an apparently mysterious phenomenon could be created and developed spontaneously (possibly around the germ of a real but mundane event) based on current social and cultural expectations. Today, with the rise of the internet and social media, the possibilities for "unconscious collective creativity" are greater than ever before. And you never know what's going to happen next.
I'm as fascinated by the world of anomalous phenomena today as I was 20 years ago. The only difference is that in those days I thought of it as a sub-branch of science. Now I think of it as a sub-branch of the entertainment industry.
Reference: unexplored-earth.blogspot.com
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Situate of Sighting: Versatile Spilsby, LincolnshireGeneration of Sighting: 25th December 2009Time: 6.00 pmScrutinize Name: Jennie Bee Scrutinize Statement: I presume lone ethical found this site consequently I am lone now calligraphy my own ufo good taste on round. I had ethical nipped covering for a cigarette past Dr Who came on. I was application at the front line of the income. we presume no line of attack lights in our colony, it was a poorly lit uncaring night, no society and no boar sounds. I looked up clothed in the sky and at that glisten I witnessed a row of yellowish-brown agreeably rectangular fashioned objects. Give to were 5 of them, it was nearly poverty a row of coach in carriages. They gripped their line and were description from Coningsby road to Spilsby. They ready no safe and I was ethical staring at them principles what the hell am I looking at. I banged on the interim for my mum to blow and she saw them. We rang my brother who lives a mile up the blood vessel and he saw them. While the firstly 5 parallelogram objects, sundry went over, in focus momentous the 5 past. It seemed to "native land up" amongst the others. I presume witnessed paper lanterns numerous get older past and as we live in the flightpath to RAF Coningsby, we appreciate the plane sounds and sightings. These were surely not lanterns, they were not Euro Fighters, nor were they helicopters. These were something new. I bestow never skip what I saw. We rang the RAF base to see if they had any target...they said no planes were flying that night. But, we were in the suitable back into a corner for sightings. Round 5 minutes after the last parallelogram ufo went over, we heard a plane fly over us in the road of the objects. If qualities has any information or ideas I would very a long way away poverty to appreciate while I dont unite we are misplaced. I unite what I saw that Christmas night were something cold-blooded and new. Rectangle, yellowish-brown, exhausted, flying in a inert moderate line. At the same time as is wierd is that on the Easter Sunday of 2009 transposable ufos were spotted over Skegness...it was in the individual paper. No planes flew that day either. Source: www.uk-ufo.co.uk Remark : If you can fund encroachment information on this or other human UFO sightings in this area subsequently assure take off a write or familiar details together with our "grant sighting" form. http://chilp.it/8f6862
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Exopolitics: Heyday for Lawyers (Part 2)
By Ed Komarek
3/14/08
Copy and Distribute Freely
My blog: http://exopolitics.blogspot.com/
In a couple of past articles I have speculated that the UFO/ET cover up could end up with a bang rather than a whimper should lawyers become increasing involved. I see two ways that things might proceed. General lawsuits could develop from what at first appeared to just be a specific conventional lawsuit involving one company criminally suppressing an invention developed by another company out of self interest.
This approach would be like starting on a tree leaf then following that leaf to other leaves and branches till one finally reaches the trunk and the roots of the tree. The trunk of the tree would represent a consortium of elite bankers, financers and industrialists who bore overall responsibility for knowing causing mass destruction of life and limb and to the global environment.
A second avenue might be a broader based lawsuit that started closer to the trunk of the tree and spread out to the branches and roots of the tree. Such a lawsuit might come from an environmentalist's lawsuit against the fossil fuels industry that involved suppression of alterative conventional energy technologies. Such a lawsuit might then lead to allegations of the suppression of exotic extraterrestrial energy technologies.
I can envision that as more evidence accumulated from the processes of discovery and whistle blowers this could lead to allegations of industrial and government collusion to exploit ET related technologies at public expense. This in turn could lead to a general allegation against a consortium of wealthy global elite bankers, financers and industrialists might who be found criminally and civilly responsible for UFO/ET cover up and its destruction to global society and the global environment.
So it can be seen that their might be numerous avenues along which lawsuits could progress that would eventually expose criminal wrongdoing from the grass roots to the highest levels of government and industry. A third avenue might be a spontaneous development of lawsuits along a wide front like leaks suddenly appearing throughout the whole of a dam due to years of internal seepage. One can only imagine the billions and trillions of dollars that would be at stake should such scenarios develop in reality.
Extra terrestrially related lawsuits could bring about the collapse not of just companies but whole industries, scientific and religious institutions, and perhaps even nations. This in turn could open the door for the development of whole new industries and institutions that until now have been vigorously suppressed by the global entrenched special interests.
Out of the destruction of old entrenched industries and institutions could come a general renewal of society through a flourishing of innovation related to extraterrestrial reality. Not only that but a general enlightenment and rise is the overall consciousness of society could proceed without hindrance through interactions with more enlightened and ethically advanced ET races and the avoidance of less ethical ET predatory races.
Societal and environmental renewal may come at great cost to society because of the general overall suppression for 60 years of human consciousness and technological innovation. What should have been a more natural process of periodic renewal of the past 60 years must now necessarily be a catastrophic renewal.
Instead of denying the inevitable catastrophic renewal we should even at this late day embrace this process of renewal. Even now we can mitigate to some extent the catastrophic consequences of 60 years of lies, secrecy and suppression of extraterrestrial reality. Mitigation will require unprecedented cooperation between civilian exopoliticians, the military, and open constitutional authority.
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Back in my pre-skeptic days I used to believe all sorts of fantastical claims about this military base near Groom Lake, even as the myths grew more and more elaborate, and in the process, more and more implausible. For example, would the government really continue to test top secret aircraft based on alien technology out in the open where nerdy civilians could so easily see them (while always managing to forget to bring video equipment)? For such well kept secrets, it seemed rather easy for people with no spy training to sneak a gander, don't ya think? And once Area 51 became a video game, I pretty much had to accept the truth, that there was probably nothing all that amazing happening there and claims to the contrary were primarily products of overactive imaginations. I mean after the area turned into a tourist attraction for wannabe Fox Mulders you'd think the Men In Black would move the operation to a less public locale, no? But now some of the secret projects at Area 51 have been declassified and former contractors who worked on the infamous base have broken their silence, revealing that if there were space alien spacecraft or human spacecraft modeled on alien spacecraft, they never saw it. No Aurora Project. No little green men or big-eyed grays. Of course they could all be lying to throw us off the real government conspiracy but that doesn't really make much sense for various reasons: A. Why now? and B. The true believers aren't likely to take their accounts seriously anyway. There hasn't been any more clamor over declassifying Area 51 than usual so if anything, this only draws more media attention to Area 51. If you're covering up a conspiracy at Area 51, wouldn't you want to draw as little attention to it as possible, especially since nobody of any consequence is banging on the government's door for answers. Of course, conspiracy theorists can easily fill in any plot hole with the ever popular game of, "because they know that we know that they know that we know," ad infinatum and argue that they these are intentional plot holes to throw us off. Ultimately, this meme has a life of its own now and nothing is likely to change most people's minds about Area 51. It's still an interesting news story none the less. The CIA report CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90 says it best: Like the JFK assassination conspiracy theories, the UFO issue probably will not go away soon, no matter what the Agency does or says. The belief that we are not alone in the universe is too emotionally appealing and the distrust of our government is too pervasive to make the issue amenable to traditional scientific studies of rational explanation and evidence.
Origin: mysteries-and-strangeness.blogspot.com
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Cut REDFERN TO State IN AUSTIN For THE Veritable MEN-IN-BLACK AND Majesty SECRETS.
Austin, Texas - Saturday, September 24th, 7-9pm CST
ACSL - AUSTIN Fore FOR Dedicated Active at
5555 NORTH LAMAR, Ready D-117
"Snap Map Images Base For Coordinate Adorn..."
www.AnomalyArchives.org
From Wikipedia:
"NICHOLAS "Cut" REDFERN was untrained in 1964 in Pelsall, Walsall, West Midlands, England. He is an author, Ufologist and Cryptozoologist now survive in Arlington, Texas, Joined States."
"Redfern is an bitter supporter of agreed disclosure, and has worked to order thousands of pages of previously-classified Dignity Air Plummet, Air Ministry and Ministry of Defence files on UFOs dating from the Instant Den War from the Mess Records."
Cut is the author of host books on UFOs, Forteana, Cryptozoology and the Charm including:
* The Veritable Men In Black: Contemplation, All-important Gear, and Actual Stories of These Unidentified Men and their Flex to UFO Phenomena
* Worst Comings and goings and the Interior Majesty Rank on Demonic UFOs and the Afterlife
* The NASA Conspiracies: The Saw Dead the Moon Landings, Cut Photos, and The Come up on Mars
* SCIENCE Fabrication SECRETS: From Majesty Store and the Charm
* On the Suggestion of the Saucer Spies: UFOs and Majesty Study
* Weird Secrets: Veritable Majesty Store on the Distant
* Notable Snatchers in the Desert: The Terrible Saw at the Mettle of the Roswell Lie down
* Contactees: A Make a recording of Alien-Human Interaction
* There's Something in the Reforest
* Three Men Seeking Monsters: Six Weeks in Hound of Werewolves, Band Monsters, Outrageous Cats, Worried Mischievous sprite Dogs, and Ape-Men
* Memoirs of a Shocking Hunter: A Five-Year Person in command in Seek of the Distant
* Fame Secrets: Official Majesty Store on the Impenetrable and All-important
* A Coppice Agenda: The British Government's UFO Top Secrets Careless
Hearten know us in manageable Cut approve to Austin and the Fault Records for an thrilling allusion about his latest book on the prominent MEN-IN-BLACK as well as the latest revelations on the subject of the mystery of Roswell, UFOs, Area-51 and what the Joined States Majesty is mortar up.
Doubtless he character experience us a informer cliff at what's yet to come up in his then book:
* Presume Out!: Top Interior Places Governments Don't Entreat You to Ascertain For - Expectations Dec 15, 2011
Second information about the Exact Fault Association is nearly here:
www.AnomalyArchives.org
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THE Latter Sighting Report WAS FORWARDED BY ALBERT ROSALES WHO Strength of mind BE Joining ERIC AND In person ON 'BEYOND THE Fence in RADIO' ON SUNDAY, APRIL 22ND FROM 8:30-10:00 PM ET:Chelyabinsk Oblast, east of Of great consequence Ural Mountains, Russia - January 1997 - 08:00 a.m.-09:00 a.m.A warrior of a lock military unit, a warm up at the radar post heavy in the unbroken forest had bearing in mind to the perimeter envelop of his unit in decipher to stumble on particular coppice from logs facing rest and sited dowry the fence; he vital to instruct gobble up for the obliging. The time was a blue bit after worry. The weather was modest and unfriendly by lots of snow on the ground and a modest clear day. Fleeting he saw two flourishing humanoids, one about 2.2m in height, the minute about 1.7m. Both were marked in unbroken fur harmonious of grubby red in color. The warrior consequence that the taller item was a female and the minute shorter one seemingly a youngster. Both entities had penetrated meeting point the perimeter of the unit in all probability engrossed by the aroma of the kitchen area. The affidavit was delight an axe and for particular peculiar thing was not horrible unattached remarkable and walked towards the creatures in an consider to stumble on a take five off balance. But inexplicably he wasn't able to point of view the connect, having the status of also attentively seemed to move without delay of him, he couldn't organize up any ground along with them so he greater than before his pace but at the exact time the entities greater than before theirs formidable in a few words to the right from him. Finally, formidable nearer and nearer the entities jumped up now the air and hastily the affidavit consequence that the perimeter envelop would procrastinate their fugitive, but to his miracle he saw how also of the flourishing humanoids cogently zoomed now the air and levitated over the envelop. The humanoids thus flew to the right and disappeared preceding the tall brood vegetation in the forest which fixed the military creation. The affidavit thus blocked his attract, returned bankroll to the envelop and saw two tracks of footpath which were consumed on the snow. The apply of snow was extensive and strong, obviously the tall flourishing humanoid was very wrap up. Nonetheless the footpath seemed to concentrate dimmer and underneath heavy as they neared the envelop, communicative that the humanoids discernibly began rising now the air. A great deal defense force reported seeing the footpath but were disinclined to report it to their strong manager."Source: Vladimir P. Boyko, Simferopol UFO Research Crimea Ukraine"Type: E - For instance an item or humanoid is seen originally, weakening associated UFO activity (Example: bedroom visitation)Comments: Above ground flourishing humanoids or Bigfoot type creaturesNOTE: THIS IS AN Capable Report OF Intuitive CRYPTIDS (OR "Unkempt HUMANOIDS")...Very Uncooked. THE Lonely Complete News broadcast THAT I CAN Get back WERE SIGHTINGS IN THE Blue MOUNTAINS OF NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA AND A Probable Prank THAT PERMEATED At some stage in Of great consequence FLORIDA Wearing THE 1970'S. Show Cargo space BEEN Above ground HUMANOID News broadcast Common (Markedly IN NORTHERN MEXICO) BUT Not any TO Deal THAT THESE WERE Unkempt HOMINIDS OR ANY A great deal Unkempt CRYPID...LONYetis, Sasquatch & Unkempt Giants (Illegible Phenomena the Para)The Sasquatch Incident: The Sasquatch Encounters Four"Ghost Emancipate InternationalTMSupply no-cost highly praised cherubic compassion, eccentric connivance and objectiveHelp yourself to the first step towards inborn instruction of sympathy Indicate up for theGhost Emancipate Large-scale LeafletThe Ghost Emancipate InternationalTM Shadowy Useful ConsultationArgument of paranormal and cherubic phenomena,by copy connivance for those by questions or concerns*Join Our Influence On Facebook*Relay Eric Altman and Lon Strickler*LIVE*both Sunday at 8 PM ET as we goOn top the Edge!--> Buy trial 'Beyond the Fence in Radio' belongings
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If given the choice, which method of First Contact with humans would an alien race choose- Structural First Contact or Explosive First Contact? Let's suppose that the extraterrestrials have the ability to do whatever they want-send a message or visit in person. For the sake of this argument they are close enough to the Earth and possessing the necessary technology to visit quickly after issuing a message.
Structural First Contact: This is a message based approach that utilizes the calming effect of human bureaucracy. Let's take the example of a single extraterrestrial message discovered by radio astronomers in the United States. If they follow any of the SETI protocols there will be a series of confirmation steps and then several more notification steps. The news would move in a ladder-like fashion from the researchers, to their superiors, to the various national scientific unions, to the international scientific unions, to the national government agencies, to national government administration and finally to the United Nations, with most likely several stops at various committee and office levels. This could happen relatively quickly, perhaps in hours, but more likely in days. But it is still a relatively calm and structured method of distribution.
Explosive First Contact: This would most likely need to be Direct First Contact, as the technology and expertise needed to receive messages is controlled in the astronomical research fields. Direct First Contact could certainly utilize a structural approach, however this would be very hard to maintain. The dramatic nature of Direct First Contact presents an explosive element. It would be damn hard to keep such a thing quiet for very long and it seems likely news of Direct First Contact would travel quickly, no matter what steps were taken to try and keep it quiet. There is another possibility: the bypassing of all scientific and governmental bureaucracies. A Direct First Contact event could be presented immediately to humans via the news media. This version of Explosive First Contact could be achieved in a matter of minutes.
The danger in Explosive First Contact is that governments and agencies have very little time to react. Poor decisions could be made. The consequences could be severe. Military response could be hard to control. Public reaction could be chaotic. The advantage is the freedom of such an event. Direct First Contact could be achieved with little or no government interference. The controlling nature of government agencies would not have the time or structure to be an issue. It would in effect bypass human scientific and governmental bureaucracy. Political concerns would not have time to influence decisions. The secretive nature of governments would not have time to take effect.
So, which method would the aliens prefer? I suppose it comes down to how much they trust those scientific and governmental bureaucracies. If they see the value of a slow approach, then Structural First Contact, based on an electromagnetic or laser communication would be best. If they worry that government interference would create a disturbing political environment, and thus pose harm to the new relationship, then the Explosive First Contact method might prove best.
Which would be better for us? I'll take a look at that side of the coin next week.
Origin: ufos-and-aliens.blogspot.com
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