Quote: Perry Nium @ July 24 2008, 2:42 PM BSTSorry for my brutal poo-poos.
I think there's a clear distinction between extreme indifference and media hushing-up. If this story were to make News At Ten instead of page 3 of The Sun, I personally doubt the public reaction would be indifference.
I've got a lower opinion of the public than you.
Quote: Perry Nium @ July 24 2008, 2:02 PM BSTSo the only explanation is that he's either lying or he's mad.
And why should that require a BBC news special?
Wikipedia gives us a glimpse of what a kook this guy is. I'm surprised he made it through the selection process.
Mitchell's interests include consciousness and paranormal phenomena. During the Apollo 14 flight he conducted private ESP experiments with his friends on Earth. [3] In early 1973, he founded the nonprofit Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) to conduct and sponsor research into areas that mainstream science has ignored, including consciousness research and psychic events.
Mitchell says that a teenage remote healer who lives in Vancouver and uses the pseudonym Adam Dreamhealer, helped heal him of kidney cancer at a distance. Mitchell said that while he never had a biopsy (the definitive test for cancer), "I had a sonogram and MRI that was consistent with renal carcinoma." Adam worked (distantly) on Mitchell from December of 2003 until June of 2004, when the "irregularity was gone and we haven't seen it since."[4]
Mitchell has publicly expressed his opinions that he is "90 per cent sure that many of the thousands of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, recorded since the 1940s, belong to visitors from other planets"[5] and that UFOs have been the "subject of disinformation in order to deflect attention and to create confusion so the truth doesn't come out."[6] In 2004 he told the St. Petersburg Times that a "cabal of insiders" inside the US Government were studying recovered alien bodies, and that this group had stopped briefing US Presidents after John F. Kennedy.[7] He has said, that "We all know that UFOs are real, now the question is, where they come from." [8]
On July 23, 2008 Edgar Mitchell was interviewed on Kerrang Radio. Mitchell claimed the Roswell crash was real and that Aliens have contacted humans several times but that governments have hidden the truth for 60 years stating "'I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real". In reply, a spokesman for NASA stated "NASA does not track UFOs. NASA is not involved in any sort of cover up about alien life on this planet or anywhere in the universe. Dr Mitchell is a great American, but we do not share his opinions on this issue."[9]
Quote: DaButt @ July 24 2008, 2:47 PM BSTWikipedia gives us a glimpse of what a kook this guy is. I'm surprised he made it through the selection process.
But he did make it through the selection process. This guy has been to the moon. The fact that he has an interest in paranormal phenomena doesn't necessarily make him a kook. The question is, is he lying? If the man is speaking even a grain of truth, then it's still big news, surely.
But if he's lying, and all the evidence suggests he is, then it's a non-story.
Although off topic, anybody seen The Right Stuff? A cracking book and equally cracking film about the selection process the astronauts went through.
Quote: Perry Nium @ July 24 2008, 2:42 PM BSTIf this story were to make News At Ten instead of page 3 of The Sun, I personally doubt the public reaction would be indifference.
It would be gross stupidity for news at anytime to give weight to the opinions of one person for which there is no proof. Especially someone who went to the moon and came back believing in all sorts of nonsense. This guy has is into ESP, spiritual healing, he thinks his prostate cancer was curing by people chanting, he had his liver fixed remotely by a witch doctor......When the news have David Icke on then we can look at giving this bloke a slot.
Also - you mention he's a scientist...is he? I thought early spacemen where test pilots which meant a college degree and big balls....beyond that he seems to have a load of "honorary" doctorates and runs a few organizations that are "observed" by groups like Quackwatch!
Quote: Pete @ July 24 2008, 3:55 PM BSTAlso - you mention he's a scientist...is he? I thought early spacemen where test pilots which meant a college degree and big balls....beyond that he seems to have a load of "honorary" doctorates and runs a few organizations that are "observed" by groups like Quackwatch!
Okay, so - a hypothetical question. If the British government released a statement today, saying that aliens had been visiting this planet for a number of years, would you believe it then?
Thats's a hard one. It's like saying "what if the government said Santa was real".....but ultimately....yes, i'd have to alter my position on the subject from a to b.
a) There may well be other life "out there" but it isn't here and anyone who thinks otherwise is nuts.
b) Staggering but true, it is here....although i'd like to see some proof.
It's a bit of a daft question because i don't believe the UK government would lie about saying there where aliens....as such, your question to me feels like "what if you found out aliens were real"...well, obviously i'd have to alter my opinion in the same way you would have to alter your opinion on flying humans if i showed you i could fly.
Quote: Pete @ July 24 2008, 5:21 PM BSTThats's a hard one. It's like saying "what if the government said Santa was real".....but ultimately....yes, i'd have to alter my position on the subject from a to b.
a) There may well be other life "out there" but it isn't here and anyone who thinks otherwise is nuts.
b) Staggering but true, it is here....although i'd like to see some proof.
It's a bit of a daft question because i don't believe the UK government would lie about saying there where aliens....as such, your question to me feels like "what if you found out aliens were real"...well, obviously i'd have to alter my opinion in the same way you would have to alter your opinion on flying humans if i showed you i could fly.
I was just trying to ascertain what it would take to sway you. The Santa analogy is an interesting one though. Presumably if the government did release a statement confirming the existence of Santa, you'd have to believe that too. Or would you think you'd gone mad?
I just wonder if the 'impossibility' of alien contact is so deeply stitched into many people's beings, that even full government disclosure and a family of Martians moving in next door wouldn't convince them.
I'm open to ANYTHING if i see proof (and official government confirmation is something i'd rate as a significant step in that direction...on an issue of this nature)
As it stands i see NO proof of aliens and some old pilot that, known for his beliefs in the unproven, isn't going to sway me.
This isn't an opinion of mine like "i like the colour blue" where i can be persuade to like red! I live my life based on what i decided to be real according to the information i am given by sources i trust. I have nothing against there being aliens, ghosts, fairies....i just dont believe because there is no reason for to believe.
I would do an Alien.
Quote: Charley @ July 24 2008, 8:42 PM BSTI would do an Alien.
I thought you were one.
Quote: Perry Nium @ July 24 2008, 3:17 PM BSTBut he did make it through the selection process. This guy has been to the moon.
Does that make him a looney?
A guy that already believed in aliens states that he believes in aliens. It's not really that newsworthy. When offered the chance to provide proof Edgar just seemed to offer opinion after opinion. Does going to the moon really make his opinion more valid that others who haven't been there? If his doctorate is indeed honorary, does it count more than a real one? I don't know.
As to public fear and pandemonium re: an announcement about contact. The much-touted H.G.Wells example is not typical of a government announcement scenario. It was a broadcast portraying the sudden and impending annihilation of the human race. Even Americans can be forgiven for getting a little jumpy at that prospect. Heck, if I turned on the TV / radio and saw / heard alien ships blowing up London, I'd be reaching for the car keys. As would anyone else. But in a situation where the government calmly says "There are aliens and we're in contact with them," I think Chipolata sums up the zeitgeist of the age. The first question the public is going to ask is "What did Posh wear at the Oscars?"
The aliens had better come wielding ray guns and spitting death if they know what's good for them, because if they haven't got celebrities onboard the spaceship, no-one will give a monkeys.
You live in Blackwood mate. There's no way aliens will ever invade that neck of the woods so leave your car keys where they are. On the other hand Cwmcarn is pretty much the world centre of culture so I'll be heading your way.