|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Dec 1, 2010 5:47:31 GMT -6
The Edge of Reality"I walk along a thin line, darling Dark shadows follow me Here's where life's dreams lie disillusioned The edge of reality" I came up with the idea for the name of this blog while listening to an old Elvis song called "The Edge of Reality." It seemed like a pretty fitting description for much of what we discuss here on the forum, as well as where I feel like I am most of the time. Those who are interested in unsolved mysteries are walking a thin line, a line between what is real and what is imaginary, the proven and the unproven. When most of society refuses to acknowledge that what we investigate even exists it pushes us even closer to the edge, and sometimes beyond, yet often that is where we must go in order to find the answers that we seek. The truth does not always lie in plain sight or within easy reach. There is not always an open book that we can conveniently use to look up the answers, nor a paved walkway leading us in the right direction. In these cases we must forge our own path. Great explorers put no limitations on their journeys. They search the unsearched, explore the unexplored...they "boldly go where no man has gone before." This is what makes them great explorers. People who follow the path of least resistance will end up with the rest of the herd, wallowing in laziness and igannance, while the leaders are out searching for fresh pastures and new horizons. Great discoveries are often made in places nobody else had ever even considered looking, or dared to go...out beyond the edge of knowledge, the edge of imagination...even the edge of sanity. "I can hear strange voices echo Laughing with mockery The borderline of doom I'm facing The edge of reality" I first became interested in UFOs and unsolved mysteries because of experiences that I have had in my lifetime. One night about two decades ago I awoke to find a bright light shining down from the darkness and lifting me up out of my bed. It was a shock, to say the least, especially for someone as grounded in scientific reality as I was. Suddenly my world was shattered and I found myself being dragged kicking and screaming into an alternative universe of aliens and UFOs, nightmares and premonitions, Men in Black and paranoid-based conspiracies. Many of these things have defied explanation and made a mockery of conventional wisdom. They have left me overwhelmed with unanswerable questions. In my search to find the truth about what happened I have often been mocked and impugned by those who do not share my quest, yet I refuse to give up. I know the truth is out there somewhere...I just have to keep searching until it is found. It may not be quick, it may not be easy...sometimes it might not even make any sense...but that is no reason to call it off. Improbability is not the same as impossibility. During my walk along the edge I have discovered that there is a very thin line between normal and abnormal, reality and fantasy. The delineation of that line often depends on the people who are defining it. It sometimes blurs and shifts from one place to another...it can be crossed very easily. Fortunately there is information to be found on either side. Many people come back from the brink, bringing with them a small part of the unknown, a tiny piece of a huge puzzle. By itself it may be meaningless, but added together with all of the other pieces an image starts to form...to take shape and solidify. Like a candle burning in the darkness it lights the way to new discoveries, and with each bit of information the picture becomes clearer, the light burns brighter until it is shining like a beacon leading the way to enlightenment. I think of each bit of knowledge as a piece of that puzzle. The more we learn the clearer the picture will be. "She drove me to the point of madness The brink of misery If she's not real then I'm condemned to The edge of reality" Those who have had paranormal experiences are changed in many ways as a result. They have looked over the edge into the abyss and seen something staring back. They have been touched by the unknown and it leaves a hole inside of them that only knowledge can fill...knowledge of that which we can not possibly know. It can be maddeningly frustrating, I know. I have walked the line, fallen over the edge, been swallowed by the darkness...and crawled back out again. Still, I continue my search. Why do I do it? Why do any of us? To learn, to grow, to become whole again. Our contact with the unknown has taken something from us...or serenity...our soul. In order to get it back we must find...something. But what? How can we find what we don't even know we are looking for? Still, we continue to search, groping blindly in the darkness, hoping to stumble over the candle of truth. If we fall we will pick ourselves up and continue onward. At times it is almost like an obsession. I know I may never find the answers that I seek. I know I may be wasting my time searching, but it is my life and I am the one who has to live it...and I want to know. I need to know what happened to me so long ago. If I never gain enlightenment I will not despair because even after all of these years I still have what it takes to keep going. If there is only one thing that I have gained from all of this, it is hope...the hope that tomorrow will bring a better future. The hope that someday I may find the key to unlock the past...that one final piece of the puzzle that will fall into place and reveal the secrets of this strange universe I find myself in. Until then, I will keep pushing the boundaries of knowledge. I will continue my quest, forever reaching for the stars while planting my feet firmly on the ground...Here at the edge of reality.
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Dec 1, 2010 5:49:59 GMT -6
MUFON Shuts down Forum
On July 16, 2010, the Mutual UFO network suddenly shut down its' Internet forum leaving hundreds of members of the UFO community without a virtual home.
"I can't believe they would do something like that," said one former member, who goes by the name of Skywalker. "The least they could have done was give us some warning."
Another member named Gort stated, "Waking up this morning and then not being able to get on the board was too much for me. Then investigating what has happened and finding out it was pulled, sent me into a depressive state that caused me to have a really bad day. All of that data lost."
Other members expressed a different point of view.
"It really bites the big one," said Starshipdisaster. "This whole thing has just been a nightmare."
"I will hate MUFON forever because of what they did," complained Starkiller. "I can't believe they would just throw us all away like that!"
The anger and frustration felt by those outed paint a poignant picture of the internal struggles that have long effected the organization.
MUFON was originally formed in 1969 as the Midwest UFO Network by a group of civilian scientists and researchers who wanted to continue investigating UFOs after the Air Force cancelled its' official investigation into the phenomenon, Project Blue Book. Later changing their name to the Mutual UFO Network they quickly spread around the globe and eventually became a multi-million dollar organization with thousands of members.
At first, only serious scientists and researchers were allowed to join, but after recognizing a need for trained investigators at the local levels, they reluctantly began to open their doors to the general public. Being a non-profit organization, and as such, having to rely on donations, member dues, and proceeds from the sale of its' monthly journal for income, finances have always been tight. By allowing ordinary citizens in, they also brought in a much needed source of additional revenue. Unfortunately that extra money came at a price.
The new members, while not actively participating in the investigations, still wanted something in return for their investment. They wanted access to the data and to the results of the investigations. This, unfortunately, was something that they were repeatedly denied. People also wanted to know how their money was being spent, but once again MUFON refused to provide full accounts of their expenditures. This led to allegations of fraud and corruption, as well as to a general sense of unrest and distrust among its' members and supporters.
"The problem with MUFON is that they have a total disconnect with ordinary people," said Morgan Sierra, an independent ufologist in Texas. "The organization was originally made up of serious scientists and research specialists, people with PhDs and a strong background in technical training. They have a tendency to look down on everybody else as being unqualified."
As the organization grew in size and influence, other problems began to surface. A man from Louisiana, who prefers to remain anonymous, claims he called in to report a UFO and was cussed out by the field investigator over the telephone. Another witness filed a report and did not hear from an investigator until almost a year later."I filed the report in January and they didn't even bother to contact me until November, after I had already forgotten half the information," he complained, "What kind of an investigation is that?"
In 2006 James Carrion was promoted to the position of International director, and hoping to lift MUFON's flagging image he began making an effort to be more open with the general public. He created an electronic database of past cases and made them available to researchers all over the world. He began releasing some of MUFON's old journals to the public, and in 2007 he created the MUFON Message Board, an Internet forum in which both members and non-members alike could get together and talk about their favorite subject--UFOs.
Over the years thousands of people logged on to talk about a wide range of topics, from Roswell to Kecksburg, Area 51 to MJ-12, close encounters to alien abductions, flying saucers to black triangles to sailing cigars to levitating lights...anything was fair game. In addition, other unsolved mysteries were also discussed such as Big Foot, Nessie, the Marfa Lights...as well as a host of more mainstream scientific and academic subjects.
Some people were curious and just wanted to ask questions, others were serious researchers conducting their own private investigations. Many people looked forward to the daily conversations with other people from all walks of life who all shared a common interest.
"We had a real sense of community," said Skywalker, "We looked out for each other and cared about each other. We shared the trials and tribulations of our daily lives...I really looked forward to logging on each day just to see what was going on with the others."
All of that came to an end on the morning of July 16.
"I tried to sign on and the computer said the files could not be accessed. I had no idea what was going on. I thought maybe my computer was broken or something."
The MUFON Board of Directors, led by new International Director Cliiford Clift, who took the helm after Carrion was forced to resign, had decided to pull the plug. In an Email reply later that day Clift stated "I did shut down the forum this morning because it seemed to be getting out of control. When we start our new web site, we will have a place for the forum. It will be members only and will be moderated very closely."
This sparked a cry of outrage among the forum members, many of whom, not being members of MUFON, were suddenly without an Internet home.
"I can't believe they would do something like that," Exclaimed Starkiller. "They invite us in and then slam the door shut in our faces!"
Members of other UFO forums and blogs expressed similar outrage and frustration, and most people quickly joined sides against the BoD and Clift, who tried to defend their decision. "We feel the content of the forum did not serve the best interests of MUFON," he stated. "There is much information about UFOs but there seemed to be very little discussion of them there."
Some of the forum members and moderators tried to appeal the decision but their arguments fell on deaf ears. MUFON's decision appears to be permanent, and with no other avenue of recourse available to them the former forum members are left to try to pick up the pieces of their shattered community.
"Four years of conversations...four years of ideas and insights...four years of friends gone, just like that," lamented Starkiller. "How do we get it all back?"
His sentiments were echoed by Pigswillfly, who stated "I was most upset by the thought of never again communicating with all of those people I've exchanged thoughts with over the years. It was like becoming a refugee without family, friends or country."
Many others are still struggling to make sense of it all, like Stiver who wrote, "I still have a feeling like all this, shutting the MUFON board down, is only a terrible nightmare. I just cannot believe that they were able to do such a cruel thing. Even if they did it temporarily, people would never trust them anymore. Thousands of great conversations, wonderful people, believers, skeptics, everyone with opinions, everyone with great ideas, thoughts, stories, arguments...all this gone? No, I still cannot believe it. Memories of funny nicknames and fascinating conversations constantly scroll through my mind. Every ten minutes I click on the MUFON board link hoping that it was only a bug in the system, just a mistake, a server failure. I feel like someone very dear to me has died."
As the forum members try to rebuild their virtual world rumors run rampant as to what exactly it was that caused the meltdown. Some suggest that it may have been a controversial thread, of which, in the previous few weeks, there had been several that had sparked heated debate. One hot topic about Roswell had even involved former MUFON director James Carrion. Though he had scarcely paid much attention to the forum since creating it, he had recently taken a greater interest in some of the discussions, such as Roswell, and was using the forum to promote his new project, CUT, the Center for UFO Truth. It no doubt incensed Clift and the BoD to see their former director making appearances on "their" forum, especially since it has come to light that he departed under less than amicable circumstances.
Another thread that had drawn attention was about the Stephenville Lights and Texas MUFON State Director Ken Cherry, who was accused of mishandling the investigation and the media hype that accompanied it. Though the charges were initially leveled by a member of a different forum, the heated and sometimes caustic debate unfolded in the web-pages of the MUFON message board, which resulted in much negative publicity and caused the BoD to ask for Cherry's resignation. Though initially reluctant to acquiesce, after being pressured by Clift, Cherry finally stepped down in May, 2010.
The two previous incidents are indicative of the power struggle that has taken place in the MUFON hierarchy as Clift has sought to cement his control over the organization.
Another battle that took place was about the overall content of the message board and involved a number of different people who posted there. While MUFON has always prided itself on being a serious, scientifically-oriented investigative agency, the topic of UFOs has always attracted its share of the unorthodox. Kooks, trolls, flamers, extremists...whatever derisive names they were called, many of them routinely took part in what was ostensibly meant to be serious forum discussions. These disruptions sometimes created a circus-like atmosphere on the board and created friction among many of the other forum members. Some argued in favor of silencing those with unconventional opinions, while others pointed out the virtues of freedom of speech, and the potential information that might be gained by having an uncensored discussion. Many MUFON members, especially those at the top, must have been irked that what they considered to be a serious topic was being diluted by less than scientific points of view.
Some people pointed fingers of blame at the forum moderators for not taking more control over the content of the board, but the moderators' general response was that the forum had been put there as a public service and it was not their directive to put restrictions on the debate. Some of the moderators were more serious-minded, and thus very heavy-handed, when dealing with people who had less than mainstream points of view. Others were much more lenient and actually took part in some of the frivolous conversations themselves. Overall, the forum moderators were basically representative of the wide variety of people and opinions involved. As such, they could hardly be held accountable for the problems that the forum faced, especially since they had little oversight from above. They had always done their jobs on a voluntary basis with little or no formal training or compensation for their time.
So, which of these is the reason for why the forum was shut down? Nobody can know for certain since the BoD has not offered an official explanation, but it was more than likely a combination of some, if not all, of them.
Maybe Clift, as the new ID, just wanted to leave his mark on the organization by making a few changes to it. Maybe he saw it as a good business decision, an opportunity to silence some of the organization's critics while possibly gaining new revenue by forcing those desiring to take part in the forum to become paying members.
Of course, there are still other possibilities...
No controversy involving UFOs would be complete without a conspiracy theory, and this case is no exception.
In early 2009, billionaire entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, founder of Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, or BAASS, approached the MUFON BoD with an offer they could not refuse. The multimillion dollar deal would create a number of rapid response teams that could theoretically be at the scene of any new UFO sighting within twenty-four hours. Their goal was to interview eye-witnesses and gather evidence while it was still fresh. Naturally MUFON jumped at the opportunity.
Critics and UFO enthusiasts immediately sounded the alarm citing Bigelow's many government connections as reason for concern. In addition to BAASS holding contracts with several federal agencies, including the CIA, Bigelow had also worked out a secret agreement with the FAA to have airline pilots file any UFO reports directly to his own team of investigators. This type of exclusive sweetheart deal hinted at a very close relationship with the government and lead conspiracy theorists to believe the feds were trying to buy control over the private UFO organization. MUFON, however, chose to ignore the warnings.
On March 1, the Star Impact Project was set up and ready for a trial run. MUFON would supply the investigators and Bigelow would supply the financing and support. In addition, BAASS had a team of fifty scientists standing by to aid in the research and analysis of any evidence that was recovered by the SIP investigators. Any information that was gained would be shared between both groups.
For a while things proceeded smoothly but by the end of the year problems had begun to appear. Bigelow complained of "accounting irregularities" and grumbled over an apparent lack of progress. MUFON, led by then International Director James Carrion, accused BAASS of illegally altering their contract and withholding funds. Bigelow responded by suggesting that maybe he had made a mistake and that the partnership should be dissolved. This sent the MUFON BoD into a panic.
In January of 2010 the SIP was temporarily suspended pending an investigation of the disagreements, and the BoD scrambled to salvage the situation. In the resulting shakeup that followed, Carrion was ousted and replaced by Clift, who worked tirelessly to appease Bigelow, and make the many loose branches of MUFON more accountable to the BoD. He also sought to repair MUFON's tarnished reputation by silencing any internal criticism and taking tighter control over the release of information. This culminated in the forced resignation of Texas State Director Ken Cherry in May, and finally in the cancellation of the Message Board in July.
These latest moves seemed to confirm many of the suspicions that had fired the conspiracy theorist's imaginations.
"I think MUFON has been going downhill ever since they took that bribe money from Bigelow," said Starkiller. "They allowed the government to take control of them and now they are nothing but a disinformation agency for Big Brother. The forum was the last good thing they had going for them."
"I agree," said Skywalker. "That is what I think the money from Bigelow was...a way for the government to buy control of MUFON so they can control the flow of information."
"Perhaps we got too close to the truth somewhere recently and the Feds talked to MUFON," mused another forum member named Randy. "Someone had to have gotten to them with muscle."
These allegations of government involvement brought forth a firestorm of criticism from MUFON's leaders who accused the conspiracy theorists of being igannant and irresponsible. The critics quickly fired back and the Internet feud has been raging ever since. Forums and blogs were soon boiling over with heated speculation as MUFON supporters, led by quotes from Clift and the BoD, let loose a vicious diatribe of attacks and innuendos against the former forum members who tried passionately to defend themselves.
"We are the ones who were screwed here," said Fredm. "Let's not forget that."
"I'm so angry!" complained Pigswillfly."The forum doesn't belong to them, it's our intellectual property. Some people's experiences were literally sweat, blood and tears and now someone else 'owns' the record of that experience. Not fair!"
"That forum and the people on it meant a lot to me," said Starkiller. "It was helping me, and many other people, understand things that we never would have understood otherwise, and now it's all gone. Those were our messages, our discussions, our ideas...They can't just take it all away from us like that!"
Unfortunately, they did.
"I think an explanation would have been nice," said Aaronfarquhar, a forum member from Australia. "I lost all respect for Clift and the organization now."
Newyorklilly, a former forum moderator, seems to agree. "No one saw this coming, not even Starchild (the forum administrator). One would have thought that, if they were going to close down the board, they would have given some notice. They didn't even do that."
That pretty much sums up the general feeling. The biggest complaint that most people seem to have is not so much that they shut the forum down, but rather the way they did it. There was no warning, no notice, no explanation...no regard whatsoever for the thought and feelings of the people involved. That apparent lack of compassion is what has generated the most bitterness.
"I think, in the end, that MUFON just doesn't give a damn about its' witnesses, its' investigators, its' volunteers, or its' supporters, and certainly not its' forum members," complained Niki. "I really believe it's just that simple."
Morgan Sierra agrees. "When MUFON first started they were working with the people to achieve a common goal...to educate the public about the truth of UFOs and the existence of extraterrestrial life. Somewhere along the way they lost sight of that objective. Now they see the people as a necessary evil...a rusty tool they must use to get the job done, then when they are finished with it they throw it away. They seem to have forgotten that without the people there would be no sightings...without the eye-witnesses they would have no evidence.
"When people file a UFO report they are not doing it for the benefit of MUFON, or to advance the study of ufology...they do it because they are curious about what they saw. They have questions and they are looking for answers."
Unfortunately, MUFON is not giving any...and they have not been for more than forty years.
So what does the future hold? For the MUFON forum refugees they will try to pick up the pieces of their shattered community and put it back together again.
"It's very hard for all of us," said Stiver, "But we will get through this somehow. Message boards appear and disappear, UFO organizations have their ups and downs...but the UFOs keep flying, and while they fly people will talk about them."
"We can't get back what we lost," added Skywalker, "but we can rebuild it, we can make it better. As long as we look to the future there is always hope."
And what lies in store for the world's largest civilian UFO organization? Not a very bright outlook it would appear. If recent events are any indication of things to come MUFON may soon find itself alienated from the very people it depends upon for information and donations...even for its' very existence. If the management does not do something to mend the rift that they have created they may discover that, just like many of the UFOs that they investigate, their members and supporters will have vanished without a trace.
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Dec 6, 2010 20:49:18 GMT -6
The Enemy Within
We, the people here in the UFO community, all have a common enemy. We are under assault by it every day. It is relentless in its quest to destroy us.
I came to that conclusion after witnessing certain events which have taken place over the past couple of months, starting with the closing of the MUFON forum in July. At first I thought MUFON was to blame. It was a natural conclusion to come to since they make such an easy target of themselves with their anti-social behavior and their policies of exclusive secrecy. Their attempt to silence criticism and control the flow of information by cancelling the old message board made it seem like they were the ones attacking us. But the enemy is not MUFON.
My next guess would have been the government. Once again this would be an obvious choice. The government, and the corrupt politicians who control it, are easily to blame for most of the problems that exist in this country today. They are constantly raising taxes, expanding their power, increasing the national debt, trying to take control of every aspect of society, and then running it all into the ground due to their irresponsible behavior and abusive policies. Anybody who stands in their way is swiftly crushed and destroyed. Any dissenting voice is quickly silenced.
The government's efforts to wage war on the UFO community have become legendary. From the CIAs infiltration of major UFO organizations, to black-ops surveillance and disinformation campaigns, to the outright hostile takeover and elimination of NICAP, the Feds have left a long trail of bloody fingerprints at many ufological crime scenes. Due to the plentiful supply of documented evidence proving their malicious intentions against the people who study UFOs it would be natural to assume that the Feds would also be behind this latest round of assaults...but this time the government is not the enemy.
Our assailant lies very near to us, and when it attacks it hits much closer to home. It is insidious in its ability to disguise itself. It may reside in the house next door, your own back yard, or even in the adjacent room...it might be sitting at your computer right now. It could even be you, or me.
The enemy that we are facing this time, the one that is wreaking so much damage...is ourselves.
I must admit, it took me a while to figure it out.
When the MUFON forum was first closed down and the former members suddenly found themselves without an Internet home, many people immediately went into action to rectify the situation. Within days a new forum was up and running and quickly gaining momentum. Ufomania, in the very beginning, was an exemplary model of a cooperative group effort. Everybody pitched in to help. While some wrote the guidelines, others worked on the banner or tried to add content by way of threads or posts to the board. Still others searched tirelessly to round up as many of our former members as they could. As problems arose they were quickly overcome, and the board benefited from an air of mutual respect and cooperation.
It may have helped at the time that we all perceived a threat from a common enemy. MUFON always waited, omnipresent and evil, seemingly ready to pounce at the slightest sign of weakness. This helped us to band together and weather those first tumultuous few weeks. We stood back to back, shoulder to shoulder, always glad to help each other out. Over time as MUFON's ineptness turned to impotence and the threat from outside subsided, we gradually let our guard down and became complacent in our happy new home. That's when the real monster reared its ugly head.
At first it was hardly noticeable, a small disagreement here, a few sarcastic words there, but nothing to get alarmed about. Every now and then a forum member would leave for some reason or another, but there was a steady influx of new members to take their place, and our ranks continued to grow. Unfortunately the chinks in our armor had been exposed.
The first major conflict erupted over the most natural of reasons...MUFON. The many loyal members of our former parent organization grew tired of the incessant wail of criticism directed against them and their management, and with the opening of the new MUFON message board looming in the near future they grew more brazen in their defense. The anti-MUFON crowd, lead mainly by several members who had defected from Ufomania early on and started their own forum, retaliated with the same level of intensity. The Ufomania forum was their battleground and many innocent forum members got caught in the crossfire. While people tried in vain to talk about UFOs and aliens they were constantly distracted by the ceaseless bickering between the two camps. Anybody who tried to mediate the dispute was instantly criticised as well, by people on both sides.
After the skirmish the two groups fled the scene for the sanctuary of their own forums leaving accusations and innuendos in their wake. The MUFON supporters complained that Ufomania was too anti-MUFON, while the other side whined that the forum was totally under MUFON control. Neither side was correct but the accusations stung nevertheless. With the combatants gone the forum members once again returned to building their community but the seeds of conflict had been sown.
UFO enthusiasts have a tendency to share certain characteristics that set them apart from the average person in society. They are very inquisitive and open-minded, very outspoken in their beliefs, and by their very nature are also distrustful and slightly paranoid. This last trait could be caused by the fact that they are always being criticized by non-believers. There is an army of skeptics who are constantly mounting attacks, not only on the subject of UFOs, but against the people who study them.
The critics seem to think that in order to disprove the evidence they only need to discredit the people presenting it, and they have an entire arsenal of techniques at their disposal to do so. Lies, hoaxes, government-sponsored disinformation campaigns...all of these have been used throughout the years with varying degrees of success. In response, UFO buffs cry foul and hint at conspiracy theories, to which the skeptics retaliate with rolled eyes, insults, and crude jokes about "little green men." As a result of this never-ending barrage of negativity the study of ufology has been parlayed into a joke, and the people who take part in it are considered by many to be fringe lunatics.
These incessant personal criticisms have caused many ufologists to fall prey to monsters of their own making. Suspicion, envy, resentment...these are normal human emotions, and when confronted by an enemy they can be useful in that they invoke caution, and can prevent people from being hurt. But when left to their own devices...when encouraged by feelings of paranoia...they can take on a life of their own. This is what happened in the aftermath of the MUFON conflict. Fueled by the residual negativity that was left behind, envy turned to jealousy, resentment turned to anger, and suspicion escalated into full blown accusations. Over the span of several weeks the pressure continued to build until it finally exploded in a calamity that threatened to split Ufomania in two.
At the end of August a brief but bitter feud erupted between the two creators of the forum. The details of exactly what it was about are irrelevant, but it seemed to be based on feelings of distrust. Innocent comments were taken out of context, minor disagreements blown way out of proportion. As a result one of the moderators resigned her position and quit the forum, then joined up with the little band of outspoken misfits who had split from Ufomania earlier on. A war of words immediately erupted between the two forums with members on each side engaging in heated rhetoric. Insults flew like arrows, accusations filled the air, and F-bombs thundered all around. Once again, innocent people were caught amidst the crossfire.
A dispute like this would have been bad enough if only ordinary members had been involved, but when the primary combatants are the co-creators of Ufomania, the forum moderators, the trusted leaders who everybody else looks to for reason and stability, the results could have been devastating. If the rest of the members had not pulled together in a show of support it might very well have ended up with the total destruction of the community, an end result that no doubt would have pleased some of our critics heartily.
I would imagine that the the skeptics of the world, especially those in the government disinformation agencies, as well as many people in the MUFON hierarchy, were probably laughing themselves silly over the latest round of fireworks...And why shouldn't they? Isn't that what authoritarian regimes always do? Don't dictators always get their thrill from watching the suffering of others? The ancient Romans used to stage gladiator fights where trained warriors would mutilate and murder each other while the noblemen sat up high waiting to decide a man's life with nothing more than the turn of a thumb. Sometimes they would even throw helpless victims to the lions in order to sate their desire for blood lust. To the audience it was nothing more than amusement. To the victim it was something else altogether.
And now here we are, the hapless members of the UFO community, ready to provide the entertainment for the skeptical elites. In our case, they do not even need to throw us to the lions because we gladly jump into the arena ourselves and start pummeling each other willingly. In the process of beating each other to a pulp we also destroy everything we have tried so hard to achieve. We punch truth in the stomach, gouge the eyes of justice, and kick compassion in the groin. Maybe someday as we flail wildly about we may accidentally knock some sense into ourselves, but by then the damage will already have been done.
Organizations, whether they be small Internet communities like this one, or large conglomerations like MUFON, are made up of individual people. These individuals each have their own ideas and opinions, as well as their own personal agendas. They may be working together toward a common goal, but they each have their reason for doing so. Sometimes their personal agendas run at odds with the stated goal of the rest of the community. This possibility can create a lot of friction, especially if people start jumping to conclusions without knowing all of the facts. When suspicion and paranoia add fuel to the fire people start seeing imaginary demons everywhere and they turn on one another, without realizing that it is they who are causing the problem.
We, as individuals, need to understand that our actions have consequences. What may seem like a trivial meaningless thing to one person could have a huge impact on somebody else. In a group like ours this especially applies to the phrases we speak and the sentences we write. Words have meanings, and not just the definitions found in the dictionary. They also carry the extra weight of implied purpose. In other words, what the person meant by what they said.
When dealing with each other on the Internet we are limited by what we can read. We cannot see facial expressions or body language, we cannot hear the speaker's tone of voice. We do not always know if a phrase was uttered in anger or innocence, or whether it carried some underlying intent, or ulterior motive. This is why it is important for us to refrain from jumping to conclusions or taking things out of context. To do so we must control our emotions. Envy, resentment and suspicion must be restrained by logic and reason. The enemy within must be kept in its place, otherwise we risk damaging our cause, our community and ourselves.
Towards the end of the war of 1812, U.S. Navy Captain Oliver Perry sent a dispatch announcing his victory over the British fleet in the battle of Lake Erie. In it he wrote the immortal words, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." Not only did this victory secure the Great Lakes region and end the threat of invasion from the north, but his jubilant proclamation lifted the morale of the entire country and helped to win the war.
If the UFO community does not do something to pull itself out of the hole it has dug we could easily be dooming ourselves to a fate similar to what happened to NICAP. Our constant bickering and mudslinging is burying us deeper and deeper in the muck and mire of deception and defeat. The hole we now find ourselves in may very well end up as our grave. We need inspiration, not insults. We need to stop fighting against each other and work together to put an end to this senseless conflict. Otherwise the outcome will be inevitable.
In this war there will be no rallying cry, no victory celebration...for this is a war that we can not win. When all is said and done, our final proclamation may be nothing but a fitting epitaph on ufology's tombstone...We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us.
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Dec 15, 2010 0:09:49 GMT -6
Intellectual Superiority?
Humans have never before had to make contact with another lifeform on an equal basis. We consider ourselves a unique species, at the top of the evolutionary ladder, so highly developed that we dare to deny that we are even related to the animals. We have proclaimed ourselves to be almost godlike in nature, created by a supreme deity to rule over the lesser lifeforms on Earth...given divine will to decide the fate of those "beneath" us. There have been times when we have communicated with some of those semi-cognizant species on the planet, but it has always been as a master/servant relationship.
We can teach a dog to fetch, sit-up, roll-over, and do a variety of other activities for our amusement or benefit, but the dog is not our equal, it is our servant. Canines are intelligent enough to serve as the eyes of a blind person, but it is still the underling. When is the last time anybody saw a seeing-eye person leading a blind dog? Never. The dog is always the slave. We may call them "man's best friend" but that only applies as long as the dogs know their place.
Nor is our relationship any different with other intelligent animals. Take dolphins for instance, a species which many scientists consider to be one of the most intelligent on the planet. In fact, some may argue that dolphins are even more intelligent than humans. Do we therefor treat these fascinating marine creatures as equals? No. Instead, we train them to do flips and somersaults like some circus sideshow act, once again for our amusement. Dolphins have demonstrated their intellectual skill and resourcefulness in a number of areas, such as communication, object detection, message delivery and search and rescue missions. The navy uses dolphins and other marine cetaceans to patrol harbors, detect mines, and locate lost equipment and divers, thus making our country and our planet safer, but do we treat them with respect as a result of their efforts. No. We capture them, lock them in pens, and force them to do our bidding. In some parts of the world dolphins are commercially slaughtered and used as food, or medicine, or stuffed into cans of cat chow. That is not exactly the way one would expect a fellow sentient being to be treated.
To determine intellectual superiority consider a simple fact: Dolphins and dogs are intelligent enough to learn and understand our language...but we have never been able to understand theirs. Is our inability to learn an animal's language due to human stupidity, laziness, or just our supreme confidence in our divinely granted superiority?
Throughout our evolutionary history mankind has never had to make contact with another species on an equal basis. This is no longer the case. With the arrival of an extraterrestrial lifeform, one that is intellectually advanced enough to be able to travel through the stars, we now find ourselves in a precarious position. Our divinely appointed dominance is being contested and now we are the inferior species. Perhaps this is why some people so vehemently deny the existence of extraterrestrials. We just can not accept the fact that we are no longer at the top of the evolutionary ladder.
It's like being confronted by a cockroach that suddenly starts extrapolating on the latent properties of quantum physics. How would we react to that? Probably by denying that it happened. Possibly by denying the cockroach's very existence, or at least the existence of it's brainpower, thereby placing it once again as an inferior species...in our inferior minds anyway.
We, as human beings, just cannot seem to grasp the possibility that something could be smarter than us. What does that say about our own intellectual capacity?
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Dec 16, 2010 9:04:31 GMT -6
Religion, Politics and UFOsThere is an old saying that the two things you should never discuss with people are religion and politics. I think everybody knows what my views are regarding politics, but you may not know my views on religion, probably because I have never talked about them. I normally spend all of my time griping about politics. Today, I am going to change my tune for a while and talk about religion. Some of you are probably wondering what this has to do with UFOs or aliens...Well, the fact is this essay does not have anything to do with UFOs...but I'm going to write it anyway because it is almost Christmas, and I feel like writing it. Besides, it does sort of involve an unsolved mystery...It's about Jesus. The Son of God, the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior of the world...he has been called all of these things and many more. Some of them have not been so complimentary. It seems that when it comes to religious views people are either for or against, with not much willingness to compromise. That's not really surprising. How can a person compromise their faith? It goes against the very nature of the word. Faith means you believe in something without question, and even if you have questions, you still believe. That is just the way faith is. People in the UFO community seem to have a lot of faith also. (Ah-ha! I knew I could work UFOs in here somehow. ) They either believe, or they don't believe. If they believe, they do so without question...UFOs are real, aliens are real, abductions are real...if anybody dares to say otherwise, they are liable to end up in a shouting match. On the other side are the hard-core skeptics, the people who refuse to believe no matter what. For any unexplained sighting that comes along the skeptics have a wide range of ready made explanatory weapons in their arsenal, from swamp gas to weather balloons to temperature inversion layers refracting the light of Venus...and they are not afraid to use them. If anybody dares to disagree with them, once again they will have a fight on their hands. In this regard, ufology and religion have a lot in common...the big difference is that when people in the UFO community butt heads, they don't end up going to war and murdering millions of people. That seems to be a minor drawback of some religions. The true believers are totally intolerant of any idea other than their own, and they sometimes are willing to wipe out any opposition in order to promote their own views. Over the past two thousand years Christianity has quite possibly been responsible for causing the wrongful death of more innocent people than anything other than politics. Beginning in the 11th century, a series of "holy wars" were fought that included nine different European crusades to conquer the Holy lands in the middle east. This was followed by the European conquest of the American continents that virtually wiped out the indigenous population...all done for the glory of the Son of God. Noble, kind-hearted, well intentioned people have routinely gone to war and ruthlessly robbed, raped, tortured, maimed and murdered innocent men, women and children. They have committed the most barbaric acts of savagery that could possibly be imagined, and then justified it by saying that they were acting in Jesus' name...but when did Jesus say that it was okay to kill? I don't recall seeing that written anywhere in the Bible. From what I remember reading, Jesus taught people to "turn the other cheek...love thine enemy as well as thy neighbor...do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Those are messages of peace, love and tolerance, not violence and murder. So why are people using a man who stood for peace as an excuse to commit war? The reason is because over time the religions have become corrupted. Many people who should be serving God are instead serving themselves and their own selfish agendas. For example, when the Spaniards conquered the Americas they did it in the name of God, gold and glory, but their association with God was just another way for them to obtain gold and glory. They established the churches to exact tribute and gifts from the local population, while ruling over them with the power of their self-proclaimed divine right. That is basically what organized religions have become nowadays...just the selfish pursuit of money and power. Other religions have fared no better than the Christians. Islam, for instance, has become so radical and militant that it is hardly recognizable as the peaceful religion that it was originally intended to be. Some Muslim extremist commit suicide attacks in the name of their holy jihad, even though the Koran strictly forbids suicide. Others have become so misguided they actually strap bombs onto their own children and send them onto crowded school buses to blow up other kids. The slaughter of innocents, all done in the name of their God. In a way, the UFO community is facing similar problems. Ufology can almost be considered a religion...you have your true believers on one side, and the die-hard skeptics on the other. And just like the other organized religions, it has allowed itself to become corrupted. Many ufologists now seek UFOs, not for the sake of truth or knowledge, but rather for the power and influence it may bring them. The catchwords God, gold and glory have been replaced with UFOs, money and fame. Book deals and speaking engagements are the prizes, and the opposing sides battle fiercely over them. Internet forums and websites are the battlefields...innocent UFO enthusiasts are the victims. People in the UFO community may not actually be dying, but they are being hurt just the same, and all for the sake of what? Something that can't even be proven to exist? When will this madness ever end? It must end with us. Each one of us has the power to make a difference, simply by controlling our own actions and emotions. We must think about what we say before we say it, and try to understand what we feel and why we feel it. We should listen to the opinions of others, and show some consideration for their feelings before we respond. We must not allow ourselves to become so corrupted by the desire for personal fame and wealth that we are willing to sacrifice our ufological brethren in the name of the UFO gods. We are all seeking the same answers...some of us are just looking in different directions. I admit I am not the most religious person in the world. My feelings about God and Jesus are similar to my feelings about UFOs. I am open-minded to the possibilities while maintaining a healthy level of skepticism. I certainly am not going to go around telling other people what to say or believe. Who is to say that I am right and they are wrong? Maybe it is the other way around. Or maybe we are all right and wrong to a certain extent. Maybe faith is unique to each person...perhaps it is our individual beliefs that cause them to be true for each one of us. If a person believes in God, then for them God is real. If a person believes in UFOs, then for them UFOs are real. They each see the signs and acknowledge the evidence. On the opposing side, the skeptics have no faith, therefor they refuse to accept any evidence that can not be conclusively proven. But just because it can't be proven, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It is up to each individual person to decide for themselves how much they are willing to accept, and whether or not they are willing to believe. Just because the two groups disagree on ideas that does not mean they have to be at war with one another. Believe it or not, there is a middle ground, where tolerance and open-minds prevail. It is an area where everybody is welcome, and each person is free to choose their own beliefs. I was raised in such an environment. My family was about as divided as it could get when it came to religion. My father was basically an atheist, while my mother came from a family of Christian missionaries. Some of the relatives on my mom's side actually live in Borneo and Papua New Guinea trying to convert the native population. My dad would just as soon be one of the natives. I was stuck in the middle. I was raised as a Christian from early childhood, probably because my father loved my mother enough to make that concession. I heard all of the stories of the miracle of Christmas, about how Jesus was the Son of God, given birth by a virgin. I heard about the Star of Bethlehem and the three wise men and shepherds and lost sheep. I was regaled with fantastic tales of all of the miracles that Jesus performed later on...healing the sick, raising the dead, walking on water... I also heard the skeptical point of view...that none of those things happened because there was no proof. They were just stories that primitive people invented, superstitious tall-tales that had been blown way out of proportion...the religious equivalent of swamp gas. I admit that I did question my faith...anybody with the capacity for independent thought would. For a while I waffled back and forth between the two sides...belief, disbelief, belief, disbelief...before finally settling down somewhere in the middle. I believe that there is a supreme force in the universe that creates life and energy, and binds it all together into physical matter. I believe there is a good side to it, which most people would call God, and there is a dark side, which some people might call the Devil. I pretty much leave it at that. I don't try too give it a name, or a face, or a place where it lives. I don't try to create any fanciful histories or traditions, or any complicated rituals that must be replicated. I just recognize that it is there and I will never understand it, but I accept it. Mine is the simplest form of faith. As to the question of whether Jesus is the Son of God, I really do not know. Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. I was not there when he committed all of those miracles, so how should I know if they are true? It certainly is not worth killing anybody over. We are all children of God in a way, since we were all created by Him, and I have no desire to murder any of my brothers and sisters, no matter whose name it would be committed in. What I do know is that Jesus was an amazing man, and the message he preached should live within each of us. It still does to a certain extent. Even two thousand years after his death, people are still spreading his word of love and compassion. A person doesn't have to have faith to listen...they just need a good heart and an open mind. Since I don't necessarily consider myself to be a true Christian, some people have asked me why I would celebrate Christmas? Doesn't it make me feel like a hypocrite to celebrate something I don't really even believe in? No, it doesn't. Although I may have strayed from the lessons of my childhood, I still have a Christian upbringing, and I still believe in Christian values. Christmas is the time when those values really flourish, when people put aside their differences and actually attempt to get along for a change. It is the most wonderful time of the year, the one time when people actually do unto others as they would have others do...it is a time when people actually remember the things that Jesus stood for. Christmas is a time of peace, hope and goodwill towards all men. In my opinion, any day that commemorates those things is a day that needs to be celebrated. Merry Christmas everybody.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2010 21:04:44 GMT -6
Denial is a terrible thing Morgan.
Isn't it odd that we all think we are higher up than all of the other life-forms on this planet... and yet every single civilization throughout our history had to make up and believe in "Higher Beings" such as Gods, Angels, Valkeries etc. Such a contradiction, wouldn't you agree?
If we are so arrogant, why do we look up to the sky and pray for guidance? Why do we sacrifice virgins to appease the volcano gods?
The human psyche is insanely complicated, and it quite frequently does contradict itself...
So we instinctively want to believe in a higher being... we just don't want to see it I suppose. Interesting...
Also skywalker, humans do not only subjugate animals, we subjugate ourselves too. Some men (they do exist, I have dated a couple) believe that they are superior to women. Some women believe that they are superior to men. Some whites fell they are superior to blacks, and some blacks feel they are superior to whites. We do this to ourselves as well.
And, I don't know about you, but if I were walking alone in the woods with a gun and were to come across a snarling pack of wolves... I would definitely not think of myself as the superior being in this situation. If I were to come across a Grizzly, I would not feel superior either. It all depends on what is going on.
A dog is domesticated, subjugated. Wolves are an entirely different thing...
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Apr 18, 2011 8:58:22 GMT -6
Swamp Gas, Weather Balloons and...Tire Tracks?
It seems the debunkers have a new weapon in their arsenal. In addition to the usual sure-fire tactics they normally employ to beat UFO believers into submission...like swamp gas, weather balloons, sleep paralysis, etc...they now have another skeptical bomb at their disposal...tire tracks. That's right, tire tracks. This was the "brilliant" explanation used to discredit a recent crop circle sighting in Goldthwaite, Texas.
Of course, the term crop circle is a little misleading in this case since in order to have a crop circle you first have to have a crop...you know, stuff that grows up out of the ground and gets harvested by farmers? These circles happened to appear in the middle of a cow pasture and the only vegetables growing out there are the kind that have horns and say "Moo." Nevertheless, people still referred to them as crop circles simply because there were circles...two of them...embedded in the dirt.
The circles were first discovered on March 4, 2011. It is unknown when they were actually created since the land they appeared on is not frequently used, but when the property-owner finally went to check on her ranch, there they were...two strange circles imprinted on the ground.
Each circle consisted of a strip of churned up earth approximately 15 inches wide and perfectly round. The inner circle was approximately twenty feet in diameter, the outer close to twenty-seven feet. There were no tracks leading too or away from them, nor were their any identifying markings of any kind. No tread marks, foot prints, shovel indentations...nothing. It was like they just appeared there out of thin air.
Several photos were taken by the initial witness and a report was filed with NUFORC. MUFON's elite STAR team investigators were called in to investigate while the photos were quickly disseminated throughout various internet sites and forums. Nobody who saw the photos was able to come up with a convincing explanation for how the circles were formed.
I, personally, do not have a clue how they were formed. I have seen circles similar to these in the past and I never could figure out how the darned things were created. I have several theories about them but nothing convincing. There simply is not any readily available explanation for them. The new ones are just as mysterious, with no obvious identifying marks of any kind. Faced with an absence of conclusive evidence I was ready to chalk this recent case up as another unexplained mystery, so you can imagine my surprise when I happened to read a NUFORC update which claimed that the case had been solved!
It said: "The marks on the ground at a farm site in Goldthwaite, Texas, have been investigated by Teresa Turner, MUFON “Star Team” Investigator, and Deputy Director for Documentation. Following her investigation of the incident, she has concluded that the marks in the ground, first reported by the property owner, were caused by men driving trucks on the farm. Ms. Turner’s follow-up report to NUFORC can be read here."
Driving trucks on the farm? How on God's brown Texas Earth could perfect circles have been formed by "men driving trucks on the farm?" Incredulous with disbelief I then proceeded to read the follow-up report which gave a few more scant details.
"Concerning NUFORC case number S80116- After further investigation by an area investigator, it was determined (through photos and further witness statements) that the crop circles were in all probability the tracks left from the prior weekend when several young men went "muddin" in their big mud trucks. While there was considerable concern that the circles were perfect in shape, witness did not wish to have the case investigated further."
Did I read that right? Did that say that the tracks were in all probability left over from the previous weekend when several young men went "muddin" in their big trucks? Just in case anybody does not know what "muddin" is, allow me to explain.
Muddin, or mudding, is where a bunch of drunken rednecks drink a lot of beer and then get in their vehicles, (usually big pickup trucks) and drive out to some muddy cow pasture or field somewhere. They then stomp on the gas pedal and spin around in circles and slide all over the place through the mud. The faster they go the better they like it. In some cases of extreme drunkenness they might even attach an old car hood to the back of the truck with a rope and then one of the drunken rednecks can ride on the hood as the truck goes churning around at ever-increasing speeds. The revelry usually lasts until the truck flips over or the guy on the car hood goes sailing off into a ditch and ends up with multiple broken bones and lacerations. This is what good ol' boys call fun.
Someone once theorized that if you were to put a bunch of monkeys in a room and had them typing nonstop on type-writers for a certain period of time sooner or later through sheer chance they would accidentally create the entire works of Shakespeare. Whether or not that is true I don't know, but I do know that if you put a hundred drunken rednecks behind the wheel of a bunch of pickups and have them go sliding around in the mud there is no way they are going to create a perfect circle...I don't care how long they try. It ain't gonna happen.
What all of that means is that there is no way in Hades that those circles were created by "tire tracks." A closer look at the evidence also argues against the "official" explanation.
First of all there are no tread marks of any kind...none, nada, zero. Secondly, there are no ruts of any kind which there surely would be if a tire were spinning through the mud with the weight of a vehicle pressing down on it. These tracks were not depressed into the ground at all. It looked like the Earth was just broken up somehow by something scraping along the top of it. Third, there are no tracks leading to or away from the circles. So what happened? Did some modern-day cowboy drop down out of the sky, make a perfect circle with his "iron horse" then sail off into the sunset? Not unless a Ford Thunderbird really can sprout wings and fly.
Another problem with the "tire-track" theory is the dimensions of the circles. The measurements of the two circles are approximately 20 feet and 27 feet in diameter. That would mean that if they were made by a vehicle then it would have to have a track width from wheel to wheel of close to seven feet wide. A quick check of the dimensions of most modern full-sized pickups shows a track width of about 65 to 68 inches, which means that a "big" truck would be almost a foot and a half too narrow to create the tracks.
There also is the problem of the turning radius. This is the diameter of the smallest circle that a vehicle would be able to turn in if the steering wheel were cranked all the way. The Goldthwaite circles are only twenty feet in diameter for the inside circle yet a full-size pickup would take almost twice that distance to make a complete turn...there is no way a pickup could turn a complete circle in twenty feet. If the rear wheels were sliding and the truck were spinning around with the front bumper chained to a stake it might be possible to turn that sharply but then the rear tire tracks would be almost overlapping one another...they definitely would not maintain a seven foot wide track.
What all of this means is that there is no way those circles were made by tire tracks from a vehicle. So what did make them?
I don't know. Obviously the circles must have been made by something, terrestrial or otherwise, but at this time I do not know what it was and I will be the first to admit it. I just wish the MUFON investigator would have done the same, instead of saying that "in all probability" they were tire tracks. Mrs. Turner herself practically admitted that she had doubts about that explanation when she stated that "there was considerable concern that the circles were perfect in shape..."
So why did she bring the case to a premature conclusion with a faulty explanation that she had suspicions about? The answer lies in the next words that she wrote saying that "the witness did not wish to have the case investigated further." Apparently, since Mrs. turner realized she would not be able to do a more detailed analysis of the evidence she decided to close the investigation by assigning to it the most probable explanation she could come up with--tire tracks--even if she and everybody else who looked at the photos instinctively knows it is not correct.
I wonder how many times this has happened in the past? Do Ufologists routinely assign false explanations to difficult cases simply so they can bring the case to a close? Is the reason why so many UFO sightings end up being classified as swamp gas, Venus or weather balloons, simply because those are the most convenient explanations an investigator can come up with? If so, it is no wonder we still don't know the truth about UFOs after more than six decades of studying them. If investigators are going to assign convenient BS excuses to every difficult case than we never will find out the truth.
I have to say that I am extremely disappointed in the outcome of this case. I would expect this type of haphazard explanation from a rabid skeptic or debunker, but not from MUFON which is supposed to be the largest and most credible UFO investigative organization in the world. And their STAR team is supposed to be the most elite of the investigators. This type of lackadaisical attitude is inexcusable.
I am also disappointed in the fact that NUFORC would blindly accept such a lame explanation without question simply because a MUFON investigator gave it to them. They should have known better than that. A case should not be declared to be "solved" unless there really is an accurate solution. If they are unsure about the explanation or if they just don't know, then they should classify it as "unexplained" or "unsolved" or "Who the heck knows?" They shouldn't just blindly accept the first thing that comes along.
There is no harm in admitting that something is unexplainable. Unidentified Flying Objects by their very nature are hard to identify. Igannance of what they are may not be the truth that we seek but at least it is the truth. I would rather have that than a pile of BS any day...even if it is a convenient pile of BS.
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Jul 20, 2011 22:03:07 GMT -6
MUFON's Dirty Tricks?
July 18, 2011 It would seem that the Mutual UFO Network will stop at nothing when it comes to protecting their image, even if it means destroying that very same image in the process. A recent incident involving the Jerry Pippin Show is a perfect example.
Jerry was scheduled to interview Elaine Douglass, the founder of The Committee to Reform MUFON, on Wednesday, July 13, but something happened right as the interview was supposed to be broadcast. Suddenly and without warning the broadcast was taken off the air due to a "denial of service." What that means is that somebody launched a cyber attack against the Pippin Show's Internet Service Provider and tried to shut it down or make its content unavailable, which they succeeded in doing for the duration of the show.
Elaine was supposedly going to reveal some potentially "bombshell" information that would expose all of the corrupt practices that MUFON had been engaged in and blow the lid off of the UFO organization's mild-mannered cover once and for all. It would therefor be understandable why Clifford Clift, MUFON's International Director, and the rest of the Board of Directors would want to stop it. However, by if they really did so they may have exposed themselves for who and what they really are.
Not just any John Doe off the street can hack into a computer system and deny service to a radio broadcast. It would take somebody with some serious computer hacking skills to pull it off. Perhaps even somebody with high-level government connections. We all know there are several members of the Board of Directors who would fit that description.
John Schuessler has a national security clearance that he obtained via help from Bigelow Aerospace, Tom Deuley used to work for the NSA, Clift and several other board members have backgrounds in Military Intel, and let's not forget Deputy Director of Investigations Chuck Modlin, who according to former MUFON STAR Team manager Chase Kloetzke once boasted that he had shaken hands with every US president except Bill Clinton. When it comes to connections, there aren't many higher levels of government than that.
Of course just because several of MUFON's board members have federal ties that does not necessarily mean that they used their influence to interrupt a radio broadcast. It could have just been a random occurrence...couldn't it?
If it had happened only once that would be a distinct possibility, but a few days later the underhanded trickery continued. On Sunday, July 17, Jerry Pippin planned to pod-cast a prerecorded interview that he had done with Elaine Douglass the day before. The pod cast was set to be unveiled at 10:00 PM Eastern time. Almost immediately after it was announced somebody once again tried to hack into the system and put a stop to it.
This time Jerry was ready for the cyber assault but even so the pod-cast was once again delayed, first for 30 minutes, then another 15. Finally the interview was divided in two and worked on i two different places. Part one eventually was released at 10:45 the night of the 17th, while part two was released the next day.
I just got finished listening to both parts and I must say that I was not at all shocked by what I heard. The accusations that Ms. Douglass made about MUFON were basically the same things that many people have been suspecting all along; that they have been taken over by the government, that they are working behind the scenes with billionaire businessman Robert Bigelow to further his own personal agenda, that they have been tampering with their own Case Management System in order to hide the best cases from the public while releasing nothing but worthless disinformation...even that they themselves have become part of the shadow government that is covering up the truth about UFOs. The accusation has even been made that MUFON is nothing more than a disinformation agency for Big Brother.
None of this has been conclusively proven of course, but this latest incident has gone a long way towards convincing people that it is true. Why else would somebody tamper with a radio broadcast and try to censor negative information about MUFON? Of course, this isn't exactly the first time they have tried to control the flow of information either.
In July of 2010 MUFON actually canceled their own Internet forum because they did not like some of the discussions that were taking place. A handful of people were critical of MUFON and the BoD so hundreds of people had their forum taken away, without even as much as an explanation for why it happened. It just suddenly vanished without a trace. This forum was easy for MUFON to cancel because they actually owned the rights to it. All they had to do was push the "delete" button. There were other forums that were not so easy to deal with.
After the MUFON forum was shut down some of the former members decided to create their own forums. Three of them eventually came into being, all made up of very disgruntled MUFON forum refugees. One forum in particular was very critical of MUFON's International Director Clifford Clift and the rest of the board members and it wasn't long before that forum paid the price for their outspoken attitude.
Just a short time after the forum was created somebody hacked into the forum provider's main server and deleted the entire UFO section of the forum. Once again, this is not something that any computer-user on the web could have perpetrated. It took somebody with some serious cyber-hacking skills, possibly even government connections, to pull it off...and it was almost certainly MUFON that did it. The hackers were not even trying to be subtle about it. Just like the latest incident with the Jerry Pippin Show...it is seemingly obvious to everybody who the culprit is.
The only question left is, if MUFON is responsible for perpetrating these dirty tricks why are they being so obvious about doing it? Are they so desperate to protect their image that they are willing to tarnish it in the process? By doing so they are only convincing people that the suspicions they have about the once highly-regarded UFO organization are correct, and that MUFON really has been corrupted by outside influences.
Of course it is possible that they just don't care about their image anymore. Maybe their unholy alliance with Bigelow and the Intelligence community has made them so big and so powerful that they no longer have to care what anybody thinks about them. Maybe they are finally revealing the truth about who they really are...and that might just be the dirtiest trick of them all.
|
|
|
Post by breakarm87 on Jul 26, 2011 17:33:05 GMT -6
Interesting Read on the last post. What was the forums that got hacked?
|
|
|
Post by skywalker on Jul 26, 2011 18:16:16 GMT -6
One was the Paraufo forum that starshipdisaster created, the other was the Internet provider for the Jerry Pippin Show. Somebody actually hacked in and took him off the air, then tried to do it again a few days later to stop him from podcasting it. Pippin was not at all happy about it.
|
|
|
Post by breakarm87 on Jul 26, 2011 19:03:30 GMT -6
That is really crazy. I used to have a good friend that could hack stuff really good. She actually taught me how to hack private messages on the old chat rooms on bellsouth back in 2003ish. Haven't talked to her in a long time. Last i checked the little trick didn't work anymore lol. It was funny cause when you would steal the message it would just post it so everyone could see what someone was saying privately lol. I know shame shame
|
|
|
Post by skywalker on Jul 27, 2011 20:37:55 GMT -6
There is a way that some people could do that legally without hacking. I found an article about a company that makes a software code that would allow the owners of a forum to actually read other people's PMs. Supposedly there is a big scandel brewing over on the Open Minds Forum because somebody found out that they had it installed there. Of course OMF quickly denied using it and removed it when people started raising an uproar about it. www.realityuncovered.net/blog/2011/07/big-brother-is-watching-you/
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 28, 2011 9:59:56 GMT -6
A good rule of thumb on the internet is to assume nothing is private. There are eyes where you least expect them..
|
|
|
Post by orionpath on Jul 28, 2011 13:02:13 GMT -6
Jo, You have that one right on the top truths for the day.
|
|
|
Post by breakarm87 on Jul 28, 2011 13:07:00 GMT -6
true true
|
|
|
Post by skywalker on Jul 28, 2011 15:00:02 GMT -6
It seems there is quite a little controversey brewing over this software that allows forum owners to spy on PMs. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what is going on but I noticed that Proboards recently disabled their Access Analytics admin function because of it. That makes me wonder just who it was that was using it (Big Brother? Spooks? Feds? ) I am doing research for an article about this forum privacy issue. Will post it here in a couple of days when it's finished. This should be a refreshing change of pace because this controversey has absolutely nothing to do with MUFON. (At least not that I'm aware of yet... :
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Aug 1, 2011 20:04:02 GMT -6
To Report or not to Report?
I have seen two UFOs in the past two weeks. They were not really anything to get excited about since one was only a bright white light in the sky that blinked on for one second then disappeared, and the other just looked like a big, giant, silent exploding firework. They are both still unidentified so I call them UFOs. Since the two sightings occurred I have been struggling with a question; should I report them or not?
The first answer that might come to mind is that of course they should be reported. We are never going to solve the mystery of the UFO phenomenon if it is not thoroughly investigated and each sighting helps increase our knowledge a little bit more. Looking at it from that perspective, no matter how insignificant it may seem, a report definitely should be made.
There is another side to the argument however. Actually, there are several arguments in opposition, the first being, who would I report the sightings to?
MUFON, the largest and most established of all the civilian UFO investigative organizations, is in the middle of an implosion and the resulting civil war between the members has left them far from competent. In recent times they have gotten so unorganized that they have not even kept up with the sighting reports on their website which is languishing several days behind. MUFON still has a lot of good people, and there are still some excellent investigators there but they are being shackled by poor decisions and bad leadership from the upper management. This has caused a lot of people, including myself, to lose faith in them.
EPIC, the Extraordinary Phenomena Investigations Council, is still a fairly new organization and is still struggling to establish itself. Made up largely of disenfranchised MUFON investigators it has much of the training and enthusiasm that MUFON used to have but without the established infrastructure or a fully functional data collecting system. In a few years EPIC may be one of the best paranormal investigative organizations in the world but right now they are still learning the ropes.
The same can also be said of ARIRA, the Aerospace Research Investigation Reporting Agency. They are even smaller and less established than EPIC is with even fewer investigators and less infrastructure. ARIRA is a very young agency that once again has a lot of potential but it will take a while to develop it. Besides, it would probably be a waste of time to have them investigating a simple light in the sky report. I am sure they have much bigger and better cases to invest their time in.
That doesn't leave many options for having my two little UFO sightings investigated, and there is not really much investigating that could be done anyway. Like I said, they were just a couple of anomalous lights that mysteriously appeared in the sky. There is not much that anybody could learn from them.
Being an investigator myself, albeit an amateur one, there are a few things that I could deduce from my sightings on my own, and since I am the one who saw them I am probably the best person to conduct the investigation. At least I won't have to worry about whether or not I am a credible witness or if I am telling the truth.
I know the first sighting was not a meteor because it did not move and it had no tail. I know it was not an airplane because the sky was clear and I could have seen a plane if there had been one. Also the fact that the light was much brighter than a plane and only blinked once pretty much eliminates a terrestrial aircraft as an explanation.
The light was not a satellite because like I said before it did not move. We can also rule out weather balloons, swamp gas and Chinese lanterns because none of those fit the description of what I saw. I think we can also eliminate Venus, the Moon, or other planets or stars as potential explanations because those do not blink on and off.
So what does that leave us with? Not much really. The truth is, I don't know what the thing was, but I doubt anybody else would know either. There just is not a lot of evidence to go on in this particular case.
The second sighting is pretty much the same as the first as far as potential explanations. The thing it most closely resembled was a giant sparkling firework display, except that there was no noise nor any other fireworks being shot off at that time. The sparkles did not actually sparkle either, but kind of slithered like lighted snakes or a school of minnows flashing in the sunlight. I'm still not sure what it was.
So the question still remains, should I file a report or not? Well, after much deliberation and weighing the pros and cons over the past few days I finally decided that they should be reported. If for no other reason than to have them on file, they should be reported. That way if other people happened to witness them and file reports also than they could be cross-checked against each other. Maybe there really is a simple explanation for them that I am just overlooking. Or maybe not. We will never know if I keep the info to myself.
So which investigative agency did I decide to file the reports with? Believe it or not, none of them. Instead I am going to report them to NUFORC, the National UFO Reporting Center. That way they will be on file but they won't cause any serious investigators to waste their time pursuing them. That sounds like a win-win situation all around. Now I can go back to staring at the sky with a clear conscious, knowing that I did my duty as a UFO witness. Maybe I'll see something more than lights in the sky next time...and if I do I won't have to ask whether or not It should be reported.
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Sept 15, 2011 16:39:22 GMT -6
Driving The ET Highway
I have always wanted to drive the ET Highway. Ever since I found out there was such a thing as an Extraterrestrial Highway I have wanted to drive down it, just to see what is there. I figured that they must have given it such a name for a reason and whatever that reason was it is bound to make a good story.
The fact is that the lonely stretch of two-lane road running between the tiny towns of Warm Springs and Ash Springs in Nevada has had more UFO sightings than any other stretch of highway in the country. So many in fact, that in 1996 the state legislature decided to name the highway after the many alien visitors that it seemed to be attracting...thus the Extraterrestrial moniker. It seems to be a fitting name.
I have been to Nevada many times in the past but always managed to bypass the ET highway in favor of other, more well-traveled and populated paths...those typically traversed by most tourists either on their way to the mountains further west or the bright lights of Vegas to the east. Since I recently became a UFO investigator however, and since I am now taking a greater interest in the study of ufology, my priorities have changed. I was not about to let the ET highway pass me by again. This is how I recently found myself driving through the tiny town of Ash Springs and turning west onto highway 375...the Extraterrestrial Highway.
As soon as I made the turn I glanced at my watch. It said 3:33 Pm. Repeating numbers...that was an ominous sign. Or maybe not. I still haven't figured out what the number thing is supposed to mean. Which ones are good and which ones are bad...I still don't have a clue. Not even after it had been explained to me by several different people. It didn't really matter. Even if it meant that death, destruction and an entire armada of aliens waited for me I still would have driven down that highway. I was determined to do it, regardless of what the numbers meant.
Before I was able to think about it further I quickly found myself slamming on the brakes and making a U-turn. In my haste to start my journey I had accidentally driven right past the ET Highway sign. I had to go back to take a picture of it. I was not about to undertake such an interesting endeavor without documenting my adventure. Of course, there wasn't really much to document. The sign was plastered over with dozens of bumper stickers and spray-painted graffiti. It seemed as if everybody from Terlingua to Tahiti had left their mark there. I looked closely to see if any of them said Andromeda or Plaeides but could not find anything unearthly. I guess since their civilization is so advanced the ETs must have gotten past the primitive and juvenile stage of marking their territory...either that or they just haven't invented the bumper sticker yet. I don't even know if UFOs have bumpers.
I started driving again and just as quickly came to another screeching halt as a giant gray alien zoomed past me on the right. Actually I was the one doing the zooming, the gray alien was standing still. It was probably because he was made out of metal. So was the building he was standing next to. I quickly made another U-turn and pulled into the parking lot.
The building was a big rounded metal thing kind of like an old World War ll airplane hanger. A sign on it said "Alien Research Center." The alien must have been standing guard over it, possibly doing research into what kind of people would stop at a place called "The Alien Research Center." He peered down at me with his lifeless alien eyes, watching my every move. I moved towards the front door and pulled the handle. It was locked.
A sign on the door said it was open on Saturday and Sundays. It was Sunday afternoon but there was nobody there except me and the thirty-foot metallic ET. Through the glass I could see alien themed T-shirts, coffee mugs and more of those infernal bumper stickers. At one time it must have been some kind of a tourist attraction but there was not a tourist in sight. Hmm...Maybe they all got abducted.
A few minutes later I was driving westward again and a few minutes after that I was once again pulling to a stop. This time it was just to admire the scenery. The little two-lane road threaded itself through vast expanses of open desert that stretched out for miles and miles on each side of the highway. Mountains arose off on the horizon. A few Joshua Trees and Saguaro cactuses put their arms in the air and waved at me as we went by. Other than that not a living thing could be seen in any direction.
If anybody wanted to hide something, like an invading alien base or a Top-Secret military installation, the middle of Nevada would definitely be the place to do it. The land is inhospitable and arid, with temperatures routinely topping 100 degrees in the summer. Any traveler who found themselves wandering down the winding stretch of road in the middle of nowhere would certainly not be there by accident. It kind of reminded me of what the old-timers used to say about West Texas, "it's a thousand miles from civilization and two feet from *heck*." That describes central Nevada pretty well.
It is also unbelievably beautiful. The day I was there puffy, white cumulus clouds were casting shadows all over the land, turning the desert into their playground. The colors and patterns were amazing. A blue azure sky hung over purple mountains that flowed red and orange into the valley. Dark green cacti and golden scrub grass changed colors as the shadows passed over head. I couldn't help pulling to the side of the road every few miles to take pictures. At the rate I was moving it probably would have taken an entire day to get from one end of the 98 mile-long highway to the other, but I didn't care. I was enjoying my trip immensely.
So engrossed was I in marveling at the desert's beauty that I almost didn't even see the "black" mailbox that was supposed to be on the left side of the highway. This is the infamous landmark that marks the intersection of Mailbox Road, the mysterious dirt path that leads to Groom Lake Road and the entrance of the legendary Area 51. Of course it did not help that somebody had stolen the street sign at the intersection. More confusion was caused by the fact that the "black" mailbox isn't actually black, although it used to be.
The mailbox is owned by a guy named Steve Medlin, who owns a ranch in the area. Since there is no home mail delivery he has to make a six mile drive to and from the mailbox every day to get his mail. There were a few times he was surprised to find strange people going through his personal letters looking for Top Secret correspondence that may have been headed to the nearby military base. On more than one occasion he even found bullet holes in the box and his monthly bills. Finally he decided to replace the original black mailbox with a bulletproof white one made out of steel plates. The original was reportedly sold on Ebay.
The mailbox has become sort of a legend in conspiracy theorist circles. Every night UFO watchers gather at the box to look for unidentified flying lights. A few times each week they claim to see them...weird glowing, pulsating things that rise up from the mountains to the west then dance around the skies like oversized fireflies. I didn't see any strange lights while I was there but I did see the box. It was locked with a padlock and plastered with the obligatory bumper stickers. I took a few photos then headed down the road to another famous ET highway landmark.
The Little A'le'inn (pronounced "alien") is the local watering hole for ranchers and alien hunters alike. Located about midway down the highway in the small town of Rachel, The A'le'inn is the only restaurant in the area and despite its remote location has become world famous. Of course its fame doesn't come from being in the middle of nowhere but rather from its close proximity to Area 51, the mysterious military base where government-built UFOs are rumored to be hidden. It was actually the military base that put Rachel on the map...and gave the ET highway its name.
Back in the 1980s Rachel was just an old mining town that had seen better days. The mines had long since closed and most of the residents had moved away. The few hardy souls that remained struggled to eak out an existence. That all changed in 1989. That was the year that a fellow by the name of Bob Lazar started telling stories of a Top Secret military base where the government hid reverse engineered alien space craft. No sooner had the stories made news headlines than eager UFO hunters started flooding the area.
At first, the local people tried to ignore the new arrivals and their crazy tall tales but they soon discovered that no matter how far-fetched their stories seemed to be, the ufotourists were good for business. The little restaurant that had been on the verge of closing was suddenly beginning to make a profit, and the isolated little town was quickly becoming famous. People from all over the world were choosing Rachel as a vacation destination. Even the stars in Hollywood began to take notice.
In the early 1990s a movie called Independence Day was created using the officially nonexistent Area 51 as part of its plot. Naturally, the military tried to discourage the use of the name Area 51 anyplace in the movie but the film makers refused to give in. In fact, some of the filming for the movie actually took place just on the outskirts of the base near the town of Rachel. A few of the locals took part in the filming and can often be heard swapping stories about their brief moments in front of the cameras.
The film was released in 1996 and quickly became very successful, especially among UFO and alien buffs. Its popularity attracted the attention of state lawmakers who decided to capitalize on the fame of the film by renaming the highway in honor of the movie. That same year the little bar also changed its name to the Little A'le'Inn.
Although at first dismissing the UFO craze and conspiracy theories as a bunch of nonsense some of the people living in the area soon learned to embrace it themselves. The restaurant owners and many of the people who hang out at the little bar have become experts on the Top Secret base, and they even sell maps showing visitors how to get there. There is even a guide service that will take people on a tour of the area's UFO related attractions for a fee. A stop at the Little A'le'Inn is always included on the tour.
The Inn itself is not all that spectacular...just a small white building that serves as a bar with a few mobile trailers parked out back for guests to stay in. It must be the atmosphere that attracts people to the place. What else would you expect from a town that lists its official population as "Humans...yes, Aliens...??" I pulled into the gravel parking lot, past the the sign that says "Earthlings welcome," past the tow truck hauling the fabricated flying saucer, and parked next to a sinister black pickup with government plates.
Inside, about a dozen sun-roasted ranchers, tanned tourists, and wild-eyed UFO enthusiasts were scattered randomly amongst the tables. A couple of kids were laughing and pointing at a green-skinned, inflatable alien that stared down at them from the shelf. A group of tourists poked and prodded at the alien-themed T-shirts and souvenirs. At the bar a Man in Black was engaging a local rancher in conversation. Naturally, the MiB was pretending to be igannant of the whole UFO phenomenon but I know a Man in Black when I see one, so Ha!
I wandered around for a few minutes checking out the dozens of UFO photos that adorned the wall. Many of them I recognized as already proven hoaxes or obvious IFOs but that didn't stop the owners of the bar from putting them on display. They were good attractions for the tourists who often forked over their hard-earned cash in exchange for a copied photo. I wasn't interested in any cheap souvenirs so I moseyed on over to the bar and took a seat next to the MiB.
He seemed to be grilling the rancher on everything he knew about Area 51...where it was, how to get there, whether or not there was any secret ways in...as if he didn't already know. The rancher then told a story about a friend of his who went rabbit hunting one day and accidentally wandered across the military boundary. He quickly found himself handcuffed and in jail where he was interrogated for five hours and then forced to pay a $600.00 fine before they would let him go free. The MiB's eyes lit up when he heard that story. I later heard that the rancher got off easy.
I ordered up an "alien burger" (that turned out to be the size of a chicken mcnugget) then washed it down with a couple of cold brews. Afterwards, the bartender sold me a map with directions on how to get to the front and rear gates of Area 51. I then headed back outside, watching the Man in Black give me the evil eye as I walked to the door. I imagine that all of the other MiBs in the area already had me under surveillance. They must have been reading my mind.
The Little A'le'inn may not have been much to look at but my short stay there had thoroughly aroused my sense of adventure. The most secretive military base in the country was just a few miles away and there was no way on God's brown Nevada Earth I was going to miss an opportunity to see it...even if it did mean risking jail time and a huge fine. It was a forbidden land calling my name. How could any red-blooded conspiracy theorist ignore a siren song like that? I had to go see it.
I put my truck in gear and pulled out of the parking lot leaving the A'le'inn, the ranchers and the mysterious MiB behind. The ET highway...and Area 51...lie ahead.
|
|
|
Post by skywalker on Sept 15, 2011 16:41:35 GMT -6
That last post is the same one I made in the "Other UFO Topics" section but without the photos.
|
|
|
Post by Morgan Sierra on Dec 23, 2011 17:38:12 GMT -6
The Death of UfomaniaIt was almost exactly one year ago today that our old forum, Ufomania, began the slow process of self destruction. What had once been one of the hottest new UFO forums on the internet had reached a turning point and I and many of the other former members had finally decided that we were no longer happy with the direction it was headed in. That is when we decided to leave and start a new forum that became The Edge of Reality. At the time I predicted that Ufomania would not survive for much longer if it continued heading in what I believed was the wrong direction, and it seems that I was right. I just read an announcement that was made this morning by the Ufomania admin. It says: To all members and guests of UFOmania forum,
After a thorough discussion and assessing the current situation of this forum and in ufology at large, I and JJFlash concluded that we are not willing to spend more time and energy on maintaining another place on the internet for UFO related discussions. Although we both share mutual desire for intelligent and open but level minded discussions on the paranormal, we realize that the best way for now to resist the irrational pressure of absurd claims, lies and blatant igannance, pouring through all cracks of the UFO forums on the net today, is to close this place and to move forward with our personal research and interests.
We especially appreciate the support of our most regular members and their contributions to the forum. We hope that you found here some interesting discussions and information. I and JJ have the intention to continue our research and presence on the internet and we hope to meet you again.
The forum will not be deleted but only closed for reading and posting. The reason to close it for reading is that the majority of its past and some of the present content is still of a quality that only perpetuates the spreading of untruthful information and ill beliefs. I am the initiator and fully responsible for this decision. I consider it an act of responsibility mainly to the young generations to discontinue the access to this place as a source of disinformation.
I want to express my immense appreciation to JJFlash for his full support of this decision and for his time and efforts as a moderator and active contributor to the forum. JJ, you are the best!
You still will be able to read JJFlash articles and exchange thoughts with him on his personal blog, The UFO Trail, at: ufotrail.blogspot.com
The forum will be closed on 16 January, 2012. After this date, everyone who would like to receive copies of particular posts and information from the forum can contact me by e-mail at stiverinmypocket at gmail dot com. The authors of the posts will be able to receive full copy of their original writings. Requests for posts, containing writing of other members or quotations from third parties will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The forum can exist closed for quite a long time. However, there is no guarantee that Proboards will not delete it due to inactivity after a few months or a year. For this, if you want to save any particular posts for your archives, I suggest you to do this yet in the next two weeks, while the forum is still open.
Best wishes to all!
stiver It seems the inevitable has finally happened. Over the past year I have kept a watchful eye on what was happening over there. I didn't have any particular reason for doing so since I was banned from the forum and could no longer take part in it...but I was still interested nonetheless. What I saw was JJflash take control over the forum and its content and lead it down the road of skepticism, and toward its eventual final destination and ruin. He tried to turn the forum into some kind of a scientific discussion group where only serious people could have serious discussions about serious topics. I tried to warn him before that by catering only to the skeptical elites he was going to be shutting out the vast majority of the people in the UFO community, but my warnings fell on deaf ears. Jj was determined to have his way, and Stiver, because of her friendship and admiration for him, seemed equally determined to give it to him. While I could to a certain extent understand their desire to bring respectability to the forum by limiting frivolous conversations and wild speculations I also realized that by imposing their own version of censorship on the people they were eliminating the one thing that makes a forum so special...freedom of speech. Without the freedom to share ideas and opinions without restrictions there can not be a forum. If everybody has to conform to one person's ideals then it may as well be a personal blog or an isolated podium. For the administrators of a forum to be deciding what can and cannot be posted it is no different than if the government of a country were to tell the news media what can and cannot be reported. The free exchange of ideas just can't exist under those limitations. I have said countless times in the past that a forum is not just about the content, it is about the people. An internet forum is a community of people who all share a common interest. UFOs may be the subject that brings us all together but it is the people and the friendships that they form that keeps us all here...and it is the conversations that we have and the variety of ideas and opinions that makes it all interesting. Each person brings something unique to the forum and those differing ideas are what allows us to learn and grow. Way back when we first started Ufomania I was hoping it would be a place where everybody in the UFO community would be welcome, where skeptics and believers alike could take part in the discussions without name-calling or derision. I wanted us all to be able to peacefully coexist with one another...agreeing to politely disagree at times...but treating each other with respect and dignity in the process. I suppose it was a little bit naive for me to think that we could make it happen. The UFO community at times seems to be its own worst enemy, where constant bickering breaks out between the believers and non-believers, and people who were once friends are ready to turn on one another at the slightest provocation. I have seen it happen over and over again, and I admit that I may have been guilty of it myself on occasion. It is a shame that it has to be that way but it is. I suppose it is not surprising that people who are constantly surrounded by conspiracies might sometimes give in to paranoia. Everybody makes mistakes...it's what we learn from them that makes the difference. What I have learned is that the past cannot be recreated. Once it is gone it is gone. By initially trying to replicate the MUFON forum we were effectively dooming ourselves to disaster because Ufomania was not the old MUFON forum. And by that same measure, The Edge of Reality is not Ufomania...nor do I have any desire for it to be. In order for us to survive we have got to continuously move forward. We must look to the future while consciously making an effort to not forget the lessons of the past. There was a time when Ufomania was a very special place, when we all worked together as a team to achieve success and to try to recover the internet community which had been so abruptly stolen from us. For a brief period of time we almost succeeded...we almost managed to obtain the unobtainable...but then it all came tumbling down. Now, it is gone forever. I can't say that am surprised to see it go. Nor am I particularly sorry that it is ending. I am no longer a part of that forum so it no longer has any relevance for me. I admit I may be just a little bit sad. I have always kind of regretted what happened over there, and especially the way it happened. It was all totally avoidable but because of a few minor misunderstandings that got blown way out of proportion I ended up alienating several people who at one time were my good friends. I am sorry that had to happen...and I am especially sorry if I hurt anybody...but like I said before, we can't relive the past. All we can do is look to the future, and my future is here at TEOR. A little piece of the UFO community has died today...but the rest of us are still going strong and we will continue to do so for as long as we can. The Edge of Reality will continue to exist for as long as there is anybody interested in exploring the unknown. Our forum will continue to grow and evolve as new members continue to come and go and leave their mark upon it. We have the opportunity to make our future whatever we want it to be. As for the old MUFON forum...and Ufomania...their struggles are finally over. May they both rest in peace.
|
|
|
Post by auntym on Dec 23, 2011 19:01:54 GMT -6
does anybody realllllllly care?
|
|
|
Post by skywalker on Dec 23, 2011 20:09:25 GMT -6
Apparently not or they wouldn't be shutting it down.
|
|
|
Post by Steve on Dec 23, 2011 20:26:07 GMT -6
Hurray! Mr. Roberts - radio broadcast
"...the picture's changed a little bit - here in Times Square....our boys have won this victory today. But the rest is up to you. You, and you alone must recognize our enemies......the forces of ambition, cruelty, arrogance and stupidity! You must recognize them. You must destroy them! You must tear them out as you would a malignant growth......and cast them from the surface of the Earth!"
Mr. Roberts face lights up, inspired, he marches over, salutes...and throws the Captain's palm tree defiantly over board......
JJ did one good thing at least, he alienated others so much to inspire them to come here and start this amazing website. JJ's main issue was sadly he may have been never completely honest with himself.
Stiver is already at that other website with her usual rhetoric. The same best wishes for her at that website too. Two trolls and as they refer to evryone else...SPE's (Self proclaimed Experts).
Steve
|
|
|
Post by paulette on Dec 23, 2011 20:45:48 GMT -6
Ah...I wish Stiver the best on her own path. She is a talented artist and (by her report) an experiencer. JJflash was holding a line of his own drawing. But I wish him well too. Perhaps I wish him to have an unexplanable experience and see how the skeptics treat him. (I'm an imperfect human being after all).
|
|
|
Post by skywalker on Dec 23, 2011 21:12:02 GMT -6
Supposedly Jj has had unexplained experiences...or so he said on the old MUFON forum. Unfortunately his biggest skeptic is himself.
I wish both of them well also. I would like to say that I have no hard feelings about what happened...but I can't say that because I do. I'm still going to wish them the best though. That's my good deed for the day.
|
|
|
Post by spotless38 on Dec 23, 2011 23:18:50 GMT -6
As a X moderator on ufomania . I wish Stiver the best of luck on her next adventure ( what it may be ) As for JJ i wish him luck I feel for stiver because she tried her best to make her forum work . But it didn't work out for her. There was to many complications that brought the forum down . I saw many of the people that are on the "edge" go back and check out her forum . Again Stiver . Good Luck in your next adventure . Ron
|
|
|
Post by starshipdisaster on Dec 24, 2011 14:03:21 GMT -6
|
|
|
Post by skywalker on Dec 24, 2011 16:55:24 GMT -6
I agree that Stiver and Jj did try their best and their efforts should be applauded. They just made too many bad decisions. Most of the people here never would have left if they had done things differently. They just took the forum in a direction that the people did not want to go. They put people in a position where they had to choose one or the other.
I have just spent the entire day going through Ufomania to see if I have any posts over there that I wanted to save before it gets deleted and after giving it a lot of thought I think that both of our forums suffered because of what happened. When we split apart the skeptics stayed over there and the experiencers came over here but that made us both a little bit lopsided. They lost all of the creativity, comraderie and vitality that a forum needs to survive and we lost all of the serious research and discussions that Stiver and JJ used to engage in. They both did a lot of good work.
It's a shame that things turned out the way they did. We all would have been much better off if we could have worked out our diffirences...and I mean from the very beginning when the two Ufomania admins first started arguing. That was where the trouble first began. It all seemed to go downhill from there.
I wonder why people who are such good friends aren't willing to put a little bit of effort into saving their friendship? It seems that when the slightest problem arises people just say to heck with it and trurn their backs on one another. Is it because when we are on the internet we don't actually get to know one another? I mean sure we know each other from reading each other's posts every day, but we don't actually know each other as people. We are all just words on a computer screen. I suppose it is easy for a person to turn their back and walk away from a computer.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2011 13:13:33 GMT -6
I agree sky. The fact that this is an internet forum that does not display our faces and our expressions and the tones of voices makes it less personal and more IMpersonal... I admit, I'm a little sad about it too, but I think the dream I had last night illustrates how I am feeling deep down on the inside. I mean... after all, UFOmania is the first place I shared my experience and others actually responded to it with love and support and understanding and caused me to open up more about all the other weird stuff that's gone on in my lifetime. I dreamed last night that the woods were on fire and I had to make a decision. Do I go get my stuff out of my house, or do I leave it to burn. I decided to leave it to burn... and drove off because I knew it was not worth risking my own personal safety...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2011 13:22:17 GMT -6
Home is where the heart is, and my heart is here on TEOR... My hear is with Sky. My heart is with Jo. My heart is with Paulette. My heart is with Cliff. My heart is with Auntym. My heart is with Spotless. My heart is with Steve. My heart is with Lois. My heart is with Jesus today on his birthday. My heart is also with all the rest of you who I forgot to mention. (Swampy... ~hugz~ ;D) ~hugz and smoochiez to everyone~ Stiver is a sore spot in my heart... a spot that doesn't seem to want to go away... But my former home is on fire... and I don't want to get burned...
|
|