reply to post by Serdgiam
It's one of those things that is unfortunately subject to a lot of what of what can be called "unintentional disinformation." It's not an
orchestrated attempt by TPTB to confuse the issue; it's just regular guys (mostly) who can't resist the siren song of telling (what Navy guys refer
to as) "sea stories." It's like drawing youngsters around the campfire to tell ghost stories. Same idea. You get an old salt who has a few sleeve
stripes and starts thinking he's been around the block a few times and the embellishments start to flow with the beer. It's exciting for the E-3's
to listen to and exciting to tell, and what was first an unidentified light in the sky becomes one in color, then it flew at right angles, then it
beamed back a message, a "feature" added with every re-telling. People eat it up--civilians, too.
The thing is, it's natural for all of us to want to be "in the know" in some aspect of our lives, some area where we can be just a little bit
special, a little bit more knowledgeable than the next guy. And when it comes to secrets like these, the standards of proof are suspended because,
after all, this must be disguised a bit or people will get into trouble. In extreme cases, the MIB may visit you. Danger is part of the program, part
of the suspense, part of the story.
And sometimes these stories take on a life of their own and come back around. The CVN that travels at 70 knots is an example. And before you know it
we have colonies on Mars and bases on the back side of the moon. Andrew Basiago, who sees Sasquatchs on Mars, is a practicing attorney. Philip Corso,
who saw alien bodies, was a decorated career officer. Phil Imbrognio was a veteran school teacher. And Steven Greer is a real M.D. You can't judge
these people by looking at their life accomplishments.
And it's all well and good they we expose and criticize these people who have conned us. They need to be exposed, but I'm not really talking about
the famous ones, but the not famous ones. What do you do when a guy you've known for 20 years, know where he's been and know for a fact he was
involved in secret stuff because, in part, you have, too, someone you've worked side-by-side with and watched him perform, sometimes under duress,
where you know his family and have shared dinners with, someone you respect, and he sits down one day and says,
"Sky, I've seen some strange s*** and I can't blame you if you don't believe me, but I gotta tell ya, it was seriously weird..." *
And he unloads, and he tells you some, as Zaphod would say, "Holy crap!" stuff. Do you believe him? Do you dismiss his stories as a drug-crazed
flashbacks? Do you just keep it to yourself? Because there's really no good way to verify this stuff, but usually, you can verify SOME of it, but
does that make the rest real? I mean, we all know (do we not?) that really GOOD disinformation contains an element of truth for this very reason, to
make it "verifiable" (kind of) and believable. So is this just some ego-driven B.S. because some guy that you happen to know, is compelled to B.S.
you with, or is he a real friend trying to make sense of what he saw and is relying on you to tell him he's not crazy?
It's an easy thing to deal with at an impersonal level. Corso was an egotistical maniac. Greer is delusional. Basiago has a screw loose somewhere.
But it's a lot harder to do at a personal level where you have to tread lightly. There's a friendship at stake, and maybe a very frightened person
telling the story, and dismissing it outright might not be the smartest thing you could do.
I wish I knew the truth just like everyone else wishes. In my angrier moments I believe it's my RIGHT to know the truth, but somehow this isn't
getting me any closer, and to me that's a shame.
* Those who serve in the military usually wind up with a nickname conferred upon you by others, usually based on your last name, as I have related
here.