… in UFOlogy are often are not being open minded, they are behaving like petty tyrants and zealots….
I was thinking about something that one of my Internet friends said. Well, not so much what he said but his overall attitude. You see, he and a couple of others in the UFOlogy circus have been trying to brand the Odd Emperor as something of a closed-minded skeptic. Someone with a pathological need to scoff at truly opened minded people (like themselves).
A freak!
Well, of course there is a kernel of truth here-from their point of view anyway. The Odd Empire is designed (more or less incidentally) for scoffing at people who proclaim one or more strange beliefs. It’s true that the Odd Emperor delights in skewering the itinerant wackjobs, those people with a passion that goes beyond the humdrum boredom of their otherwise unremarkable lives. A passion that takes them into the realms fantastic. A place where large malodorous hominids roam, where aliens from a plethora of planets, dimensions and even huge underground lairs burst forth to abduct people for strange and terrifying experiments. Where sinister government conspiracies are in every click in their telephone, every click on the Internet. Yes the world is a strange place.
It’s a colorful world, full of mystery and romance. Here, humans have fleeting and half understood super-powers. People can see great distances using only their minds! They can see in to the past, relive distant lives or see into the future.
There are strange beasts here, Sasquach,, The Mothman, Spring-Heeled Jack, The terrifying thunderbird, Nessie, Chessie and Chupacabera. Aliens wiz around in strangely subjective-looking aircraft. People can walk about on the Moon and breath the smog-free air. They meet the denizens of Mars or Venus. They can speak to God Saint Jerome or Jesus. They can meet their alien progeny, destined to live their lives in an almost unknowable reality. They can travel to distant star systems, meet the strangely familiar people and nod appreciatively when they tell how Humanity is a member of a much larger and unknown Galactic Union.
All of these things and so many more are available to people who are “opened minded.” All you need is a little belief and a lot of conviction. You too can trip the light-fantastic. You can cleave the heavens and a new reality will be yours for the talking.
It’s funny; most religions promise the same thing. Follow me and all your pesky questions will be answered. Just follow, don’t think! Believe! Never question! Obey! Listen! Don’t speak! Just shut-up and get out of my way! I am about to tell you (sell you) the truth! A truth that only I know.
Or as Matt Groaning once said. “All one needs is a little blind faith, is that too much to ask?“
Open minded people in live in a significantly different reality than their fellows. They can be gullible, they grab on to some belief, it doesn’t really matter what and hang on for dear life–not caring where it takes them.
It’s clouded their powers of skepticism. They no longer question who they are, what’¢s going on around them and what their future going to be like. They don’t need to question because, they already know. Why search for the truth when the pre-eminent truths are already known?
But that’s not open-minded is it? To already know? Is it better to give-up, give in, give away to one or more belief or is it better to say’.
“I really don’t know.”
That’ a very easy question, at least for most people. I really don’t know and I don’t claim to.
For those supposedly open minded people this can also be an easy question. Frequently they say in so many words ‘“I believe this or that is a FACT. You are an idiot if you don’t believe along with me.
Is that really open minded?
To know the truth so completely that you become offended when someone disagrees?
Shockingly; no it’s not.
Not even a little bit.
But is believing wrong?
Well, no it’s not wrong to believe. It is OK to believe in strange stuff. People have a right to believe in whatever they like. What’s not OK is expecting other people to just blindly follow along, to reflexively validate your strange ideas. It’s even OK to want that, it’s not OK to demand it. That’s a right you’“opened minded” people don’t have. If you think you do? You’re not open minded, you are being tyrants, bigots, closed minded zealots. People who are every bit as bad as the governments you decree. That’s why people like me fuss at you. Because in your hypocrisy you’e become the very thing you hate. I see that so clearly, why can’t you
This seems very apropro, I lifted it off of Old Gary’ blog (thank you very much sir.)
“ARTICLE II: (of an alternate US Constitution.) You do not have the right to never be offended. This country is Based on freedom, and that means freedom for everyone — not just you! You may leave the room, turn the channel, express a different opinion, etc.; But the world is full of idiots, and probably always will be. “
These are the original photos taken by Mark Mann on August 20, 2006. Some guys have all the luck. Mark seems to be a magnet for UFOs. Anyway, he sent me the photos below which were 2576 (width) x 1932 (height) pixels. I have reduced them to fit the webpage.
