Science. Big Science. Infrastructure, institutions, the status quo. Methods. Scientific methods. Methodology. Scientific methodology. All this, so many within the UFO realm, insist is necessary if one wants to be a 'serious" UFO researcher/investigator/pundit.
Oh bosh and bother and says who.
Of course I know that right off, many will gasp, affronted, and sputter on about the need for rigid scientific inquiry. Tests. Data systems.
Just don't include tales of hybrid babies, reptilians, astral journeys inside spaceships, dreams-as-vivid-memories-were-they-really-just-dreams? and good looking tall human types sharing nectar while discussing philosophy on the way to Venus. And please don't even breathe a hint of Bigfoot and UFOs.
Those are so embarrassing. Silly and stupid and lame and immature. Sophomoric. The neurotic interpretations by a pop culture saturated society. The mangled and abused grasping for spiritual meaning within the corruption of religious paradigms. Sexual frustrations and suppressions grown out of the juxtaposition of SEX SEX SEX and woeful ignorance of human sexuality.
No harm in bringing in "science" and using its tools to gather soil samples and such, compare weather forecasts, measurements, apply knowledge of astronomy and propulsion capabilities. . . we need that. But don't stop there. And do not place this use of nuts and bolts, these literalist approaches, on a higher plane than other ways. Certainly stop expecting that it is the only way -- the only respectable and legitimate way.
(My ice filled glass just popped and cracked as I was writing this -- a Trickster like message, an alien sent omen?)
(How much of this is tongue in cheek?)
UFOs are real, duh. That's not the question, as I've said so many times through the years. The answer, now, that's what is needed. Not are they, but what are they? Another "duh."
But how can we possibly get close to an answer if we continue to exclude the bits some find crazy and embarrassing, or more to the point, low class? For classism is a huge elephant in the room here that is rarely addressed. Class isn't just relegated to the obvious cliche images of hooch swilling rural folk or high strung, attention seeking urbanites. We make assumptions on others based on a hundred things: education, profession, gender, politics, religion, tastes. Whether or not a woman has children. Marriage status and history. Sexual history. Political views.
All this: science, an individuals background, is not without some use of course. But here's the thing, when it comes to UFOs -- as well as the long list of the unexplained, weird, anomalous and esoteric -- this stuff has been with us forever.
Encounters with "the other" have been a part of humanity for many thousands of years. When did we forget that?
In all this time, we've attempted to put that fact into categories. Religion, for example: it's God, or the Devil. Or, psychological structures: you're insane, mentally ill. Some have tried -- are still trying, mightily -- to impose the Big Science Explanation of It All onto these experiences. But we haven't reached any conclusions.
We certainly aren't going to get anywhere if we continue to exclude half, if not most, of the elements within UFO encounters. (Same goes for Bigfoot research.)
Mistakes are made. Enthusiasm, trust in fellow saucer heads, the personal quest to find out what happened -- to us, to others, in history, -- sometimes gives us a serious lack of discernment. So what? Really, so what?! We're human. We're looking for answers to strange and overwhelming questions. It's amazing we haven't completely lost our minds in the process. (And no, recounting one's encounter with a reptilian does not mean someone has lost their mind.)
It should be obvious by now that whatever "this" is, all this UFO high strangeness stuff, has not only been around forever, but manages on a consistent basis to really mess with our heads. We have to go beyond the literal, the nuts and bolts, the somber lights-in-the-sky reports, and stretch out.
Until we do that, the UFO police and gatekeepers and the protectors of the scientific method and all else be damned zealots will never find answers.
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