Why do people NEED to believe?, page 1

I agree that there is a lot of false information posted with regards to aliens & UFOs. The faith shown by those who believe is akin to the faith a religious man has in God, or the faith that a hard line sceptic has that there is a rational, mundane explanation to every "unexplained" thing we have ever heard about.

I've seen some completely ridiculous things posted in my time on ATS. From pictures of seagulls presented as alien spacecraft, to video game screenshots presented as proof of secret underground bases. However, No amount of misplaced beliefs, hoaxes, or lies told by bandwagon jumpers will change the fact that unexplained sightings do occur, and by dismissing them all out of hand based on our own sometimes narrow field of vision, we are in danger of missing some truly remarkable stories.

It brings to mind the story recounted by Robert Anton Wilson, about the dumb cat who sat on the hot stove once and never did it again. Why was the cat dumb? Because it never sat on a cold stove again either.

I thought I might share with you three stories regarding UFOs that I believe are still unexplained to illustrate my point.

Foo Fighters

The term foo fighter was used by Allied aircraft pilots in World War II to describe various UFOs or mysterious aerial phenomena seen in the skies over Europe and the Pacific theatre. Contemporary witnesses often assumed that the foo fighters were secret weapons employed by the enemy, and it was not until after the war that it was discovered neither side had anything to do with them. Despite these fears, foo fighters (whatever they might have been) were apparently never reported to have harmed or tried to harm anyone. To this day the case remains unexplained.

Source.

The Battle of Los Angeles

In early 1942 the United States was still reeling from the Attack on Pearl Harbor. They'd declared war upon the Empire of Japan, but had thus far fought unsuccessfully in every engagement. The West Coast was wary, and prepared for a seemingly inevitable invasion. Cities from Seattle to San Diego had invasion plans including things from air-raid sirens to blackout procedures. Nerves were drawn taut, and there was no shortage of false alarms.

On the night of 24 February 1942 the Air Raid sirens sounded, and the Coast Guard Anti-aircraft guns were ordered to "green alert," putting them in readiness to fire. From the time the battle began until it ended in the early hours of the morning, thousands of people had witnessed the search lights around Los Angeles fix on a target hovering above the city, and anti-aircraft rounds detonate in the sky. Reputable news agencies reported the attack, complete with eye-witness accounts. But the Japanese claim that they never attacked, and there was no wreckage to indicate that anyone actually did. These conflicting accounts cast uncertainty on the nature of the unidentified aircraft that caused the Battle of Los Angeles.

Source.

Belgium's Black Triangles

On March 30, 1990, citizens of the city of Ans, Belgium spotted a large black triangular craft that hovered silently over the city for several minutes. Local police officials arrived on the scene and reported observing the object as it hovered over apartment buildings. One officer reported the object released a red glowing disk of light from the center that flew down to the ground and darted around several buildings before disappearing. The larger craft eventually took off at high speed.

The Belgian Air Force scrambled F-16s to pursue the craft once it was spotted on ground radar systems. Both the fighter pilots and radar operators reported the object would dart ahead at incredible speeds every time they finally had a radar lock on the craft. One pilot reported the object's speed at over 900 knots. After 9 confirmed target locks the object finally vanished off their screens.

Source.

These are, as far as I am aware, all unexplained to this day. It is stories such as these that reinforce my belief that no matter how smart we would like to think we are, we really don't know the whole story when it comes to the reality we inhabit.

When you have open minded people ready to entertain such possibilities, then those who seek a little notoriety have an opportunity to prey upon them. They can make themselves feel oh so clever by being able to deceive many people, laugh at how dumb people can be, and feel superior knowing that they would never be so stupid as to fall for material such as that which they themselves have created. Perhaps they do it just to break the monotony of the daily grind, to find the attention that they lack in their everyday lives. Perhas they do it to be the centre of attention, and have a large number of people know their name. These people doubtless exist. There have been enough hoaxes exposed on this site alone to support the notion.

Just as those who believe in a God see it's work in everything they survey, then those who hold a belief in aliens may look to to whatever they themselves do not understand as proof of their existence. Perhaps it is because the thought of being alone on such a messed up little planet is so disconcerting, what with all the conflict destruction and death, it brings comfort to think that somewhere out there there are races of beings who are not living in such a savage manner. Benevolent beings who roam the stars, unencumbered by such mammalian politics.

My own personal belief is that it is completely ludicrous to believe that in a universe as vast as ours, we are the only safe haven for life. I'm sure that there are other forms out there somewhere. However, I'm not entirely sure that they have been here. Examples such as those posted above however, certainly illustrate the fact that it remains a possibility.

It seems to me, that the trick is to keep an open mind, no matter how much crap you are confronted with.

[edit on 1/8/07 by Implosion]