Why does the general public consider us believers crackheads?

Seeing is believing. Until I saw my first ufo to be honest I was not interested in the slightest in ufos and thought it was hilarious. The more one gets involved in the ufo scene the more you realise how much evidence and eyewitness accounts is out there. The media portrays ufo sightings with humour, the BBC does and they always cover up for the PTB, people are nind controlled by the media and follow with a indoctrinated mindset.

I would suggest you stop listening to negative opinions of yourself.

I don't believe in UFOs and the like (not to say I'm not open to the idea though) and have never considered anyone who believes in them to be a 'crackhead'. I find it's a very shallow view of someone to disregard them just because of one opinion.

I think perhaps you're just surrounded by the wrong people. The only people I have ever met that would judge someone for an opinion has been online - my teachers (when I was still at school), my friends, my family and people I've met since wouldn't be quite so close-minded no matter what their own opinion.

Don't generalise and don't lose hope

It really does depend on the culture. If you're in a city where people are very similar and anyone with different beliefs are outcasted, then obviously UFO enthusiasts will be treated differently, considering you don't live in a UFO oriented community. So as to say that someone living in Roswell won't be AS ridiculed if they believe in aliens than if they lived in Beverly Hills.

I don't believe the general population does think people who say they have seen UFO's and believe in ET are nuts at all, your listening to what the TV tells you people are thinking.

Have you never just mentioned it in passing and then a conversation strikes up about it, and then they have something they want to say about it? truth is, because people think we are crackers because the TV said so along with many others, they are scared of being classed the same, most in fact believe themselves, you only have to look at opinion polls on the matter.

It's like many people only put down the likes of well known Ufologists, because they see others ripping them and their websites, radio shows, publications, they never actually go and find out for themselves, the follow what they think is the popular path or consensus, why? because they are afraid of the ridicule they are told it brings, but in reality it doesn't, if it did, why do a lot of skeptics and debunkers whine because they seem to make money off the subject?

Because both sides make money off it, if the UFO subject is proven, the Ufologists lose out (those who make a living off books and lecture tours) and if the Ufologists stop writing and touring, the debunkers and skeptics are out of a job also, they keep each other going, and because the media make fun of it, it makes it a bit of a taboo subject in some places, and when something is taboo, more people want to know, it's the way the World works.

Some people would rather believe a smarmy self centred vain news reader making fun, than a 30 year career Air Force officer, who was fine flying a 20 million $ Fighter, but is off his loaf when he tells people what he saw.

The amount of hero's who all of a sudden are classed as nuts is huge, yet they all cant be wrong, because if they are, who is defending our countries? a bunch of fruit cakes? I think not.

BTW it's really not important to convert people, nobody has too, let them have an opinion, when they start with the nuts comments, they hate it when you turn smile and walk away, because you wont play their game, and they hate that more than calling them blind, they really do, no matter what anyone believes and that means all of us, it changes nothing, it is as it is, simple as that, and one day no matter how long, 1 year, 50 years, 100 years, it will come out, the truth that is.

thanks for bringing this up.
ive sort of taken a vacation from ATS. was getting that overloaded feeling ya know..

now that im back i guess this thread has the luster that applys to me too.

So many great posts on here have resonated with my own thoughts and feelings on the subject. Personally OP i feel that you are also attempting to ground yourself in normalcy apart from the the "non-believers" by reading our responses in order to feel comforted by our similar view points. and i think thats a good thing

Ive said it before and ill say it again....that the only way for the accusing party to stop calling us "crackheads" is to truely spend the alone time with all of the hundreds of cases that are available to us. PLUS...to allow themselves to listen to the TESTEMONY of the witnesses like NEVER before..

i used to listen to the tv shows and at the same time, i would be critisizing and rationalizing and debunking as the show went on. But one night i just LISTENED, and the power of the testemony really arrived..

Best thing to do is just remain light hearted when things (conversations) get heated.

reply to post by azzllin


your making some really good points here.
the power of testemony has to become the forefront.. physical evidence will come after..

Originally posted by justsomeboreddude
Personally, I dont have a problem believing in life on other planets. Statistically that is a no brainer. I do however have a hard time thinking that a bunch of beings from the otherside of the universe:
1. Actually can get here
2. Actually found us
3. Actually come to people and tell them a bunch of stuff that makes no sense.
4. Actually can get here on some craft that exceeds the limits of known physics and then when they get here crash more than all the airlines combined.

Thats just got to suck. You drive all the way accross the freaking universe and then when you get here your spaceship craps out on you.

Or in Billy Meier's case they come all that way and then start hugging trees.

Statistically there has got to be life out there. Whether they are coming here is another matter. But a lot of the evidence is clouded and ruined by all the wackos who are out to make a quick buck.

Originally posted by King neptune117
Im really getting fed up with being called "crazy" and being a "dreamer" for believing in aliens and UFO's.....

Part of being human is having people who believe different things from you thinking you are crazy, weird, damaged, and/or just plain wrong. Its something we all have to deal with, all 6-point-whatever billion of us on this planet, every day of our lives.

Like many aspects of being human, this is painful and uncomfortable. So what human beings do is to "herd" together with others of their kind so they can cushion and insulate themselves against the outsides who raise uncomfortable questions. Again, this is true for you, true for me, and true for everyone else, at least to some extent. As people jostle to get closer to the center of whatever herd they belong to (and thus more maximally protected from the outside), they move. Others move in response to this movement, then the first person moves again, and so on. With all this perpetual movement, the herd as a whole tends to move, changing and mutating.

Sometimes these herds head in "safe" directions, and sometimes (rather often, in fact), they head into extremely dangerous territory. This can be thought of as the whole herd going off a cliff like lemmings, for example. Because those in the middle are "protected" by the jostling individuals around them, they don't see the cliff until its too late. This happens all the time...in fact, most of history can be thought of as the study of catyclismic cliff-diving by massive herds of various types and sizes.

Some people in a given herd might realize they are headed off a cliff, and thus they break away from the herd to form a smaller, seperate herd or (in extremely rare cases) to stand more or less alone. In either case, the seperation from the larger herd makes them more vulnerable and closer to the "edges" of the newer, smaller herd. So they feel the attacks more acutely, and feel the pain and coldness of the disdainfrom the outside alluded to above. This is the price they have to pay for separating from the main herd and (hopefully) not going off a cliff. Even then it doesn't always work out well. The new, smaller herd might head off an entirely differnt cliff, or just wander aimlessly and starve to death, or break up and join other herds, etc.

So you as a "believer" (as you call yourself) are a member of a smaller herd and what you are articulating is the anxiety that is natural in this condition for the reasons described above. Again, this is simply the price you pay from breaking off from the main herd. Only you can decide if its a fair price to pay or not.

That's just how it goes, again, for each and every one of us. We do this stuff for awhile, and then we die. And that's really all there is to say about it.

Cheers,

Originally posted by King neptune117
Im really getting fed up with being called "crazy" and being a "dreamer" for believing in aliens and UFO's. People think they know it all these days. Maybe if they actually went on the web and did minimal research they would find substantial evidence that these things are real...

The other my friend told my other friend "Robert tells me you are an alter boy" and apparently he told him "WHAT?! You are going to listen to Robert...he believes in aliens!!!"

What is so hard to believe here. One galaxy contains about 150 BILLION stars, for all we know they may all have solar systems. And there are HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF GALAXYS OUT THERE.

Honestly, to say there is no life elsewhere is just absurd. I mean thats trillions of planets right there. Weve already found an earthlike planet so that means that there must be more out there.

You would think, by the way people treat us, we practice witchcraft or something. We are just studying man-kinds single greatest discovery.

I believe soon they will all be proven wrong. The announcement will hit them all and they will never even see it coming.

I am just your everyday teenager. I love hanging out with friends, Im an avid gamer, and am VERY tech-savvy. Right when people hear about my ET interest, right away "LOL WUT U R CRAZY LULZ"

Just thought id see if anyone else agrees with me.

I feel your pain, man. Honestly, I tell my friends about my belief in UFOs and they treat me like i'm freaking crazy. I'm your everyday teenager as well. I hate hanging with my friends because most of them are stupid. I'm an avid gamer (join my GOOD set of friends and I at www.wethegamers.net) and of course, like every other teenager, VERY tech-savvy. I'm personally sick of people calling me crazy. Like, wtf. I mean, it's not like we're saying something that's impossible. It's actually statistically probable! Well, enough of my babbling.

Hey i don't remember calling you guys crackheads unless the links and sources provided lead me to some anime cartoon rather than solid evidence(and that happened only once,*society of the light* cmon) it's just nowadays you gotta up the stakes,if you claim aliens exist,back it up with evidence that can be analysed and scrutinized.

There might be some truth in your claims,but it's hard to convince people without solid evidence.Either ways keep it coming,we skeptics are hypocrites cause we're always reading.

Originally posted by iwant2believe1992
I mean, it's not like we're saying something that's impossible. It's actually statistically probable! Well, enough of my babbling.

And statistics is what's working against you too.

Face facts: the track record of alien UFO videos and photos is horrible. It doesnt matter if 1 out of 100 videos/photos is genuinly interesting, showing something that cannot be identified no matter how far you stretch it. You're gonna be scorned for believing in the other 99 poor quality videos/photos consisting of shutter artifacts, jpg compression, blatantly obvious CGI, nothing that's even remotly close to the initial claim, your average martian rock, something so blurry you cant even tell if its a UFO or a pink flying unicorn, etc etc.

I've never considered a believer a "crackhead", but it does bother me that some people are willing to believe in anything that's thrown in front of them without asking themselves some critical questions of its validity.

Do not despair, stay calm, we have been guiding humans and Earth for over 4000 years. We believe in your trust.

Thorus - Goastwriter

I think that henry kissinger believes in aliens, so whats your point, lol.

I know what you mean, but look at this swine thing, and you will see how much the people knows about nothing.

"Why does the general public consider us believers crackheads?"

Pretty much, threads like this one. As someone else already pointed out, 'crackpots' is probably a better word. Also: 'whiners'.

OK, OK, sorry for adding insult to insult. Mind you, I did see earlier in the thread someone using the already hackneyed neologism 'sheeple' (blissfully unaware of the irony), so I'm not all that apologetic.

Let's roleplay. The following is an imaginary conversation with an imaginary true believer, rather than with any specific individual. You might think the charicature is unfair, but it seems (to me) to represent most of what I read here:

"Did you know space aliens exist and live among us?"
"No. Cool."
"What, you don't want to see the evidence?"
"Not yet."
"So we should do something."
"Like what?"
"Freeze our bits off on a hillside in the middle of nowhere" or "March on the White House" or ... etc
"OK, well if you want me to lever my arse out of my armchair I'll be needing that evidence you mentioned. And, because you're not just claiming that Barry next door is a secret dog-botherer, it needs to be a bit impressive."
"Look at this video"
"Loading. Where is it from?"
"Youtube."
"No I mean where was it taken?"
"Doesn't say. Canada?"
"Can you be less specific?"
"The uploader's name is wazzock666"
"His mother must be so proud. I suppose it also doesn't say when it was taken, what direction the camera was pointing in, or what sort of camera it was taken with? Does it mention any other witnesses?"
"Er, he was with his girlfriend."
"Called?"
"ruby1992."
"Champion. OK, it's loaded. Bloody hell, this is made of blur, compression artefacts and flare. Is there a link to the original AVI?"
"No."
"Next..."

but already you're losing me. You've accepted and promoted as evidence this lossy piece of video with no idea and apparently no curiosity about its provenance or the circumstances in which it was recorded. Doing that you've sown doubt in my mind about your ability and willingness to discriminate good evidence.

This lack of curiosity, by the way, is pretty much how religions get started.

"Why does the...?"
"God."
"How did...?"
"God. Now stop bothering me."

"What's that..."
"Space aliens."
"Who does..."
"Space aliens."

What do I mean by good evidence? I mean stuff that will support further analysis. Can I plot it on a map? On a timeline? Can I go looking for corroboration? Can I analyse the aggregate in a way that lets me make predictions? Will it tell me where to set up my grey trap? In this regard, personal written accounts are almost always better than photos and videos, even though something you can 'see' is more viscerally appealing.

OK, that's enough from me.

Originally posted by heiliger
"Why does the...?"
"God."
"How did...?"
"God. Now stop bothering me."

LOL.
You owe me a new monitor and keyboard; coffee everyewhere.

Nope nope, we've already found MULTIPLE earth-like planets, called Super Earths, and even then LIFE DOESN'T EVEN NEED TO EVOLVE LIKE US TO EXIST. There could be carbon based life or any other type of life

Also, if anyone EVER called me crazy to my face for believing in anything, I would be bound to lay their ass out right there. What are you, a #ing bigot? This isn't the dark ages anymore, you don't #ing call someone else crazy for their beliefs, show some god damn respect

OP:

They don't. The majority of the planet including many scientists believe life elsewhere is not only possible but probable.

However, being associated with people who think RFID is the mark of the beast... not getting a vaccine will get you thrown into a fema camp and that the gov't/nwo is to blame for every possible ill that has ever occured to society when our number one health problem is OBESITY...

well you get the idea...

reply to post by King neptune117


We supposedly live in an enlightened age, but how enlightened is it when someone, because he or she has a televised forum can call someone else crazy for reporting an unidentified object in the night sky? Maybe it is time that we limit the pundits and their ilk to staying inside the bounds where they do have some sort of expertise and realize that they simply don’t have all the answers though they seem to believe they do. Of course, if we limited them to that, then the news channels would have about twenty-three hours a day to fill with real news.

And maybe it’s time to realize that not everyone reacts the same way to things and what I might do in a specific circumstance is not what you would do.
But thats all crazy talk, who am I kidding! Who would ever beleive me!

I wish people would move on from this public stigma business.

The UFO community is looked at the same as Islam.

90% of the believers are level headed, well meaning people looking for answers.

The 10% that are nutjobs and dangerous to themselves and other is all that the public sees, thus they become the stereotype for the entire community.

ATS is no different.

For every well researched, solid case that pops up there is 50 other topics based on nothing but immature conjecture and fantastical theories.

What do you expect people to think when the community is actually full of 'crackheads'.