Spring Break
When UFOs And The Bible Belt Collide
Alex Schaefer
Issue date: 2/8/08 Section: Commentary
In mid-January, news crews flocked to the Bible Belt town of Stephenville, Texas as reports of local UFO sightings filtered through the airwaves. ABC News reported that more than 30 residents reported seeing a flying object "described as a mile-wide, silent object with bright lights, flying low and fast." City Councilman Mark Murphy said "A lot of folks aren't used to this kind of thing." I guess this is a good thing, because then Stephenville might have been known as the first case of an entire town being admitted for mental evaluation.
Reporting a UFO sighting just seems like an exercise in lunacy, which is why a solitary sighting never makes the papers - those instances are usually filed away as irrational cases. The newsworthy cases are when there is a cluster of sightings. Most likely, one person initially reports their vision and then others corroborate the story. It's akin to being at a social gathering where someone says they think they just heard a train and then another person concurs with them - and then another. Soon everyone starts nodding their head in agreement and saying they too heard some sort of noise and that it must have been a train. Then everyone realizes that there isn't a train station within 20 miles. They laugh a lot and then go back to playing guitar hero. That's what it's like to be a part of a UFO sighting. Except stoned friends don't start calling news crews and reporting lost trains.
The other great aspect of a spaceship encounter is that the so called "UFO Experts" come rushing onto the scene. It's amazing that there are people who maintain they are experts in a field that has no actual evidence verifying its existence. It's like claiming to be an authority on ghosts or in using "the force." Now, some of these individuals only study the general possibility of extra-terrestrial life. This is at least a reasonable field of study. The crazies I'm talking about are the ones who stand firm in their belief that there is life in outer space that is continually trying to make contact with us. They are rabid conspiracy theorists. Many of them have spent years studying to be historians or scientists only to suddenly and fervently begin to preach the existence of aliens. It is essentially a conversion to insanity - equivalent to being a science fiction writer for many years and then suddenly deciding to base an actual and allegedly legitimized religion around your fantastical writings.
Reporting a UFO sighting just seems like an exercise in lunacy, which is why a solitary sighting never makes the papers - those instances are usually filed away as irrational cases. The newsworthy cases are when there is a cluster of sightings. Most likely, one person initially reports their vision and then others corroborate the story. It's akin to being at a social gathering where someone says they think they just heard a train and then another person concurs with them - and then another. Soon everyone starts nodding their head in agreement and saying they too heard some sort of noise and that it must have been a train. Then everyone realizes that there isn't a train station within 20 miles. They laugh a lot and then go back to playing guitar hero. That's what it's like to be a part of a UFO sighting. Except stoned friends don't start calling news crews and reporting lost trains.
The other great aspect of a spaceship encounter is that the so called "UFO Experts" come rushing onto the scene. It's amazing that there are people who maintain they are experts in a field that has no actual evidence verifying its existence. It's like claiming to be an authority on ghosts or in using "the force." Now, some of these individuals only study the general possibility of extra-terrestrial life. This is at least a reasonable field of study. The crazies I'm talking about are the ones who stand firm in their belief that there is life in outer space that is continually trying to make contact with us. They are rabid conspiracy theorists. Many of them have spent years studying to be historians or scientists only to suddenly and fervently begin to preach the existence of aliens. It is essentially a conversion to insanity - equivalent to being a science fiction writer for many years and then suddenly deciding to base an actual and allegedly legitimized religion around your fantastical writings.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 9
Sam
posted 2/08/08 @ 4:30 AM EST
Although I agree that the field of UFOs is rich with conspiracy theorists and nut-jobs, there is another far more complex and perplexing side of this issue. (Continued…)
Steve
posted 2/08/08 @ 9:47 AM EST
Maybe you only like to hear opinions from people who share your opinions. That's what most people are doing anyway: listening to their own opinions. I was no different!
If it is your choice to live in an illusive world where all the people are thinking and doing more or less the same, then please do so. (Continued…)
Dennis Clark
posted 2/08/08 @ 12:30 PM EST
Alex and people of like mind are just going to have to accept reality for what it is. UFOs, ETs, ghosts and other things that are so strange to us are now becomming more and more commonplace do to reasons that are much to involved to explain in this little comment box. (Continued…)
no hard feelings
posted 2/08/08 @ 1:47 PM EST
altho i dont understand what the point of the article was and found it poorly written, i would like to say i agree with you that ufo's are a load of sh**. (Continued…)
Darron
posted 2/08/08 @ 2:20 PM EST
I was a skeptic myself in the past. After studying many official documents such as Sam listed and witnessing some things with my own eyes I'm much more open-minded now and know that you can't just blindly accept conventional wisdom if you want the truth. (Continued…)
clay
posted 2/09/08 @ 11:17 PM EST
Being a skeptic is the 1st logical stance on UFO's. I took that position myself for many years. I still have yet to see a UFO, but I personally put the chances of it happening at some point in our history are around 99. (Continued…)
donmaor
posted 2/11/08 @ 7:46 PM EST
The truth is that Columbus did not think that the Earth was flat. Actually, he believed just the oposite.
John Chitty
posted 10/23/08 @ 10:17 AM EST
brokenbible.com
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