posted on Jun, 13 2006 @ 10:18 AM
I'm here on ATS because, in general, I want the (good) stuff we discuss here to be true. I would love to see that benevolent aliens have been
visiting the Earth. I would love to see that you really are channeling your past life as handmaiden to Cleopatra. I want to believe that you have a
car/truck/airplane/ufo that runs on water vapor. That you really did summon (and bind) a Dimensional Shambler. etcetera.
Part of that though, is that I've gotten old enough that I'm not just jumping after dreams anymore. Because I want these miraculous things to be
shown to be true, I know that we need to provide proof that other people will accept. While "I know that aliens are here because my spirit guide,
the parasitic twin of Edgar Cayce's college roommate, told me so" is perfectly acceptable to me as a statement of your own personal beliefs, I
can't accept it as verifiable proof of your proposition.
I want proof of these things, not just for my own beliefs but to show everyone else that the world is more wonderful than we think it is. That it
still holds surprises and amazement. To do that, though, we need to be able to provide proof that is beyond reproach, and that's a difficult thing
to do in these days when photo manipulations that will pass casual inspection can be done with a $80 program and a few weeks' worth of hard work.
So, here, I'm an optimistic skeptic. I ask hard, probing questions. Not with the hope of shooting the poster down and making myself look cool.
Rather, I ask those questions, I take the skeptic's stance, because I dream of the day that the poster will be able to reply to each one of my
questions, will be able to negate each one of my counterproposals with the kind of evidence that..well, that I woulnd't be embarrassed to show my
coworkers