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possibility, including contradictory possibilities, in your mind at the same time, unresolved, until enough evidence or persuasive argument convinces you that one thing or another is true, or not. The automatic dismissal of an outlandish idea--such as the current one, a former Canadian defense minister saying that there has been a coverup of contact with an alien civilization--as the guy being "off his meds"--is rightwing and also "herd mentality" rightwing, reinforced by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies. This particular outlandish idea is ridiculed by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies and, for the most most part, by their entertainment media. That alone gives it some seriousness, in my view. Whatever the rightwing herd is pushing or marginalizing, it is reasonable to take the opposite point of view, and at least give it a look.
1. Yes, he could be "off his meds." 2. But he is a former defense minister. 3. The main evidence of alien contact has been people--quite a lot of them--who have seen something, or experienced something. Very little concrete evidence. 3. Quite a lot of the people evidence has been from airplane pilots and other good observers--difficult to dismiss. 4. The US government has most certainly engaged in secrecy and coverup behavior whenever strange things, that could be alien contact, occur. Their behavior could be coverup of secret and/or nefarious military projects, or just bureaucratic stubbornness/stupidity. But their behavior has not been fully explained. 5. Personal observation: I know someone of great intelligence and integrity, former AF jet fighter pilot, who chased a UFO and, when he got on the ground, was told, "This didn't happen." He was not allowed to speak of it, and all records were destroyed. 6. This is an AFP report, rather than AP, so the chances of the report being published for the purpose of discrediting a member of a former liberal government are less. (AFP, French news service, are not the lying scumbags that AP is.)
Can this report be easily dismissed as the quoted person being "off his meds"? Not really. It's a strange report, to be sure. But I would want to know more about this former defense minister before I could make such a judgment. My main reason for withholding judgment is the "herd" mentality of the war profiteering corporate news monopolies on election fraud, on 9/11, on the Plame outings, and on a number of other instances of their marginalizing critics and whistleblowers on stories where there is strong evidence of government crime and coverup. Their behavior opens my mind, and makes me even more liberal than I was before, as to giving the "outlandish" the benefit of the doubt, on the one hand, and, on the other, seriously questioning every word that I read from sources that have chronically lied to and tried to deceive us on massive government crime and thievery.
Does that mean that I am "tinfoil" hat? No. It means that I am just an average, rational human being, who doesn't like being lied to. And when I AM lied to, I become skeptical of those sources. And if THEY think that reports of alien contact are bizarre and laughable, well then, fuck them. I will give such reports credence until they are proven bogus--because I know how hard it is to get anything that violates the "herd" belief system into the public venue where it can be democratically and reasonably examined.
It's a wonder to me how many DU posters are sensitive to the rightwing corporate media ridiculing "us"--liberals? leftists?--as being "wacko." We should welcome, or at least show some tolerance of, "wacko" ideas. At one time, the roundness of the earth was a "wacko" idea. The possibility of life on other planets was a "wacko" idea, just a decade ago. Women voting was a "wacko" idea. Indians and blacks and the Irish having equal standing as human beings were "wacko" ideas, back when it was "common knowledge" that such people were deficient in reason and in northern European uprightness. "Tinfoil hatters" on alien contact are an easy group to ridicule, if you don't think too hard about it. Scapegoating is a rightwing mode, not a liberal one.
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