Some topics are subject to ridicule. The poster child for this is UFOs. What’s so remarkable about Leslie Kean’s book is that she began as a skeptic. She points out that before a sea change takes place intense ridicule against the new idea is normal. Then Kean did an extraordinary thing—she actually looked at the evidence. UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record is a remarkable book. It’s filled with stories of the power of conversion. Many UFO experts were skeptics at first, completely dismissive of the phenomenon, until they took a close look. Official government files, even those available to the public, demonstrate the reality of UFOs. Interestingly, as Kean highlights, the average person now no longer really requires convincing. The elites (government officials, scientists, and mainstream media) are slow to accept the fact that UFOs/AUPs exist, even if we can’t say for sure what they are. And they still like to poke fun.
Skepticism is necessary for science. We can’t simply accept anyone’s word for something. Kean’s book, which contains pieces written by an international group of high-ranking witnesses, points out that strong evidence does exist. And it is possible that some group (not “the government”) does have more information than they’re sharing. I also found it interesting that a number of countries—many, in fact—treat UFO reports from pilots seriously. In the UK they are required to report them, for example. In the United States, they are instructed to keep their mouths shut. They doesn’t stop them from seeing what they do, however. Still the ridicule taboo remains.
Ridicule of what we don’t understand must be a deeply ingrained defense mechanism. As Kean notes, it took centuries before a heliocentric model was accepted. People laughed. And as recently as the nineteenth century it was considered impossible for rocks to fall from the sky. Paradigms had to shift. Meanwhile, people laughed. We seem to have an aversion to anything in the sky other than God and angels. Even in current models that assure us that the universe above us stretches on to infinity. The only one “up there” is divine. So we laugh at anyone who’s mastered the skies. Until we catch up. Heavier than air flight was impossible in my grandparents’ lifetimes. People laughed at the idea. It took me over a decade to find the courage to read this book—it made a little splash when it came out, but it didn’t change much. Until the U.S. Navy fessed up. Other countries had already done so. Maybe we should see a psychologist about that laughing reflex, though.