By Abigail Hyslop
Hello dear reader, the title above is a play on a mathematical equation. In this article I decided to examine the progress made by humanity in its attitudes towards UFO’s and the reporting thereof. It is a widely discussed and often divisory subject, many theories are put forward by many in the know and those that don’t know alike. For over 70 years the debate has raged with misinformation being a major tool in the sheds of government to cover any evidence (if any truly exists) and hide the truth. The theories on why they do this also varies, from the good old “the public wouldn’t be able to handle it” to the “destruction of religions and worldwide chaos” and “the collapse of society as we know it”, all a bit dramatic if you ask me but that’s just my humble opinion.. There is also a level of greed (allegedly) and power, that Governments not only know it’s all real and are in fact in league with these visitors, secret deals and covert real estate, governments or secret societies covering up or turning a blind eye to missing persons and animal mutilations in return for technology so far advanced from what we, the general plebeian public, know nothing about or probably wouldn’t understand if we did. One example would be the head of Lockheed Martin referring to “we have the technology to send ET home”, was he messing with us, the enquiring minds? Was he for once being truthful or semi truthful? Anyway, I digress, back to the topic.
Going back to (and I know what you’re going to think, yeah, yeah rehashing old reports, and yes I am for the purpose of comparison) the Kenneth Arnold flying saucer reports in June 47, closely followed by the Roswell incident, also 1947, witnesses were intimidated, ridiculed, had their livelihoods and reputations threatened. Then there was the UFO’s over Washington, UFO’s over the Whitehouse and followed thereafter by the sightings at the Washington National Airport, not just once but over consecutive weekends. These witnesses were also either ignored completely of ridiculed for their fanciful storytelling, most were not believed or made to feel like they mistaken by Government officials with supposedly “rational” explanations, thereby inferring anyone who stuck to their story as being irrational.
I recently had the pleasure of reading the UFO-Mation newsletters from 1968 (thank you Mr Yarwood) in which it details a case of a nightwatchman going to court for compensation after taking sick shortly after witnessing a UFO. The judge claimed that he was hallucinating and the poor chap couldn’t get any further lawyers interested in taking on his appeal. In an earlier newsletter from 1958 the writer details another case, that of a noted newsreader losing his job for talking about UFO’s too much and another of a man who was held in jail without due process for speaking to a sheriff about a UFO experience. The writer tried to get a civil liberties union lawyer involved but was told and I quote from the newsletter “case scared him so much he wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot barge pole”. Details of pilots losing their licence for reporting sightings, the same thing happens today, pilots reluctant to come forward on the record for fear of losing their jobs. All this was in the 50’s and 60’s.
Jump forward to today, yes the Americans are publicly encouraging sightings to be reported… by military pilots, the same fear remains for commercial pilots though. We at UFOidentified get reports sent to us, some who do report want no further contact or some want only to be known by their initials, why? For fear it might affect their jobs, their relationships, some have even reported friends distancing themselves because they have talked about a sighting that has affected them, sometimes deeply, making them question other things. Ridicule from family members and co-workers also weighs heavy, fear of being labelled a “tin foil hat wearer”.
Time and time again we see “news reports” (I know, I’m playing fast and loose with the term news reports) in the tabloid press that outwardly uses mocking tones in the writing of articles. We on this site have offered the news outlets our services and databases on multiple occasions, usually getting no reply as the serious reporters do not want their name associated with serious writing on the topic. We have had freedom of information act requests denied being told and again I quote “this is a frivolous request and a waste of our time”. I have also been dismissed by university professors when researching as they don’t want their name associated with the topic in articles. We have even turned down spots on breakfast tv programs and, after some serious discussion, refused the entry to our last conference from the Russian news channel as we have seen how they and most tv programs treat guests. We take our roles seriously here, yes we do have fun and our sky watches contain a few laughs but not at each other for what we believe or believe we have seen that we cannot explain. So, it appears until the media catch up we will keep our distance to a certain extent being careful who we interact with, not for our personal reputations but for the credibility of our blossoming organisation.
One would think that after over 70 years of reported sightings of UFO’s from credible witnesses in the military, law enforcement, private citizens in a position of authority, many, many, reputable people that maybe we should have moved on from the outdated attitudes, ridicule and fear? Sadly, it appears not, this has to stop and until we stand up and stand by what we report, chins held high with righteous indignation and out and out defiance making those who mock us feel uncomfortable for doing so, I feel we will not change any attitudes.
Its time to speak out and speak up, who’s with me?
