10 reasons you shouldn't believe in UFOs
By Paul McNamara on Tue, 11/13/07 - 10:30am.
Former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington and his band of others are out beating the drums so loudly about UFOs that they might be heard on another planet. I just watched this Larry King interview ... and the stories these men tell are remarkable; just not remarkable enough to convert me from a lifelong skeptic into a believer.
Here are 10 of my reasons why, which you should consider yourself free to adopt:
No alien monkey wrench. This is not an original thought, but I've always found it a compelling one. Earthlings have littered the solar system with tons of space junk and yet no one has come forward with anything that we can all agree had to have been left behind by one of these multitudes of visitors from other planets.
There are no secrets. You say the space junk exists but it's being kept hidden by governments including our own? Phooey. First of all, our leaders would never do such a thing (don't make use an emoticon). Moreover and much more seriously, people who cling to this belief simply do not understand how lousy governments are at keeping secrets. Those who think the media is involved in the cover-up - like my own brother, for crying out loud - have no idea how many journalists would trade one of their own children for a scoop of this magnitude. And remember, the cover-up needs to have been ongoing flawlessly for generations now to support the theory.
No indisputable visual evidence. That kind of proof is necessary to overturn a ref's call in a football game, so it's necessary if we're going to believe in alien visitors. Ah, but what about all the fuzzy pictures and grainy footage, you say? Well, the fact that we're going to argue about whether any of it is indisputable means those pictures and home movies do not amount to what's needed here. Geraldo Rivera posing with a foot up on a spacecraft bumper: That I'll believe.
This is indisputable: Dreams, hallucinations, pranksters and optical illusions are unquestionably real.
Alien beings are too quiet. They can get here, but do not communicate, especially with world leaders or journalists? I know, I know, they're afraid of spooking us. Guess what? We're already spooked and they should be plenty smart enough to understand that fact. (By the way, I'm available for an interview, should any alien be reading this blog. I will not, however, give up one of my children.)
My pet South Park theory: The episode of South Park where Cartman gets - well, I have to worry about spam filters here - wouldn't be anywhere near as funny if UFOs were real spacecraft carrying real alien visitors. That's not supportive of my position, I'm just saying.
Tick-tock, people: This debate has been going on for eons and the pro-UFO crowd hasn't been able to make a case that the anti-UFO crowd will buy. Speaking for the latter, it's not that we don't want to believe or cannot be persuaded, it's that the evidence - which as Carl Sagan famously said needs to be extraordinary - remains extraordinarily weak.
We can't find them. Not for a lack of trying, mind you. SETI, to cite only one example, has been around since 1960 and SETI@home has been crowdsourcing this baby like nobody's business since 1999. Nada. I understand that our means of searching are primitive compared to what it would take to transport an alien being from a distant planet to Earth, but we're a lot smarter than we used to be and still unable to find anyone out there. By the way: Not believing that aliens have visited here isn't the same thing as not believing in them period. I'm willing to take it on faith that there's something life-like out there somewhere.
It's not my job; it's not your job. We have real lives to live, and besides, you can't prove a negative. The onus here is on the true believers. I'm not saying that every last skeptic needs to be converted - after all, some believe the Earth is flat and that O.J. was innocent. We'll settle for the reasonable-man-or-woman standard. I'm reasonable: Start with convincing me.
I've never seen a Star Trek movie. Again, I'm not saying this constitutes evidence of anything, just that it might help explain why I don't believe.
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You sadly confused 'UFO' with 'ET'
UFO stands for Unidentifed Flying Object - a flying object that cannot be identified after investigation, and nothing more. Thousands are reported every year and are normally explained as birds, planes, balloons or other natural phenonema.
Anything that can't be explained is a UFO, so of course they exist.
UFO does not mean the same as Alien Space Ship!
No real evidence of UFOs
I agree with "10 reasons you shouldn't believe in UFOs". With the millions of cameras in the world, video or still, you would think there would be at least one decent video or picture of a UFO.
I think it is entirely posssible that UFOs exist but as far as I'm concerned, there is just no crdible evidence of them so far.
It's about time!!
You ever see the guy speeding through the school zone, and you say, "Oh, where's the cop now? He's never around to pull those people over!" Well, I think the cops have arrived!!! Rolfe, I commend you on such an eloquent "BURN". I am so glad to see someone with some integrity speak up against someone who just blindly makes remarks. The part I really do not understand is this. Some people, as the author of this 10 reasons not to believe article, so freely dismiss people, and a lot of times ridicule them for saying they "seen something". They treat them as as conspiracy theorists, or just plain loony. But, I think that they should keep this in consideration also. Among the list of these "Loony Crazies" are Presidents, Congressmen, State Officials, Law Enforcement, and I save the Best for Last, our Highly Trained Military Troops. As a matter of fact, I watched a video posted on Jan. 3, 08' of a military sighting in progress on Youtube. So, if all of these people are just loons, as some wish to believe, then we are not in a good situation. I think it is better to stop asking "if" they are here, but "why" they are here. Because I believe that if you cannot see the evidence that they are here, you don't want to, end of story. I think the "I have never watched a star trek or star wars comment was just a stab at the "Loons" who have had a sighting. Don't believe, that's ok, it doesn't change anything for anyone, it just means you chose to stand in the dark out of the fear of maybe finding out what is really among us. That's all.
A point I forgot to make...
I was just reminded by a friend of something else I wish people would keep in mind when they post stuff like this...
When I tell you I've seen a UFO, you can write me off in your mind as mistaken or crazy or a liar. That's fine.
I don't believe I'm doing any harm to you in expressing that opinion. Correct me if I'm wrong.
When you post that I'm mistaken or crazy or a liar, you're being hurtful. Please remember that when you're posting. While I may have been happy to hear your opposing viewpoint and debate you, many people are just going to be offended when you imply their experiences are dreams, hallucinations, pranks or optical illusions. You probably owe those people an apology.
And just to make it clear - I'm visiting this website because Paul McNamara came to my blog and posted a link there in my comments. I mention that because I'm sure people's gut reaction is going to be "If you don't like his opinion, don't read his site." He initiated this contact.
Within minutes of my having posted on my shared blog with friends about UFOs this morning, this totally random stranger (Mr. McNamara) had posted on my blog...
" netbuzz said...
I don't doubt that you believe you saw what you believe you saw. But here are "10 reasons why you shouldn't believe in UFOs."
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/21854"
Being "hurt" doesn't make you right.
It doesn't hurt to try to be understanding when someone is wrong, but not pointing out that they're wrong because it will hurt their feelings does more harm in the long run.
10 reasons not to believe this article....
Sorry we can't hand this to you in a simple three sentence paragraph so I'll refine it to a simple statement.... you don't know what you are talking about. You have made zero attempts to understand the issue and are simply demonstrating your ignorance. Why don't you take some time to see if you can find ten reasons why what you believe about UFOs is wrong.
Which is why "believers" have an uphill battle.
These are pretty straight forward facts that the author listed and far from an exhaustive list. They are indisputable fact. These are major holes in every UFO believers argument. I'm speaking in terms here where a UFO is considered an alien spacecraft. There are certainly UFOs in the technical terms that anything flying in the sky (such as an enemy airplane) that is not identified is certainly a UFO.
For those of us who are technically inclined (I work in a highly technical field and my understanding of physics is well above average) it is extremely easy to poke holes. Every good scientist/engineer I know looks at all theories with a skeptical eye, only take into account objective measurements, and only make theories on observations that are repeatable and verifiable. Until a UFO believer presents such repeatable and verifiable evidence (there is absolutely none), then it is a question of faith and not science.
I have no problems with you trying to falsify my claims, that's what science is all about. So me the money and I will quickly and easily accept the existence of UFOs. It's ironic that you are so hypocritical about you being dismissed when you have nothing of real significance to offer to this debate (all UFO believers I've met are common in this trait). Getting so emotionally involved in evidence that is extremely sketchy at best (when so many other plausible explanations are far from sketchy and much less complicated) points that your thoughts on the matter are of dogma, not science.
The case of UFOs is certainly not helped with the mountain of hoaxes, optical illusions, poor video/photography in which are inconclusive at best but still held up by believers as "evidence", "evidence" that has been proven to be other physical phenomenon, and "believer's" complete dismissal of earthly explanations that are rooted firmly in human psychology.
BTW - I've seen a lot of UFO evidence, and I have yet to find one shred of evidence that UFOs exist.
You
Just wondering if you have ever seen something that you couldn't imagine was possible and then some (jerk) decides to tell you your wrong with out even investigating it. Proof is out their in fact I have even seen one while off the clock. I hold a top secret clearance and I work with some of the most respected intelligent people/engineers. What the funny part is I work with people who work for nasa and space programs within the corporation that I work for and their is alot of research and investigating going on. The fact of the matter is why isn't the government looking in to this? I would guess you must be a very educated man since you have worked on military aircraft and held a top secret clearance and seen what our government has to offer and then by chance one day your sitting outside and you see something that their is no possible answer to because of people like you who say oohhh your crazy and the proof says no.... These people who come forward and tell their storys are military personell and other respectable people. What have you accomplished in your life other than writing this article. Have you proved your valor to this country and then tried telling the people their is more to the story than the naked dumb ass eye can see???? Thats the question you should really answer instead of are their UFOS...
Their...
Just a small FYI:
"Are their UFOs" should be "Are there UFOs"
He also misspelled "you're
He also misspelled "you're wrong".