-=> Quoting Paul Andinach to John Warner <=-
 >>> Part 1 of 2...
 
 -=> Quoting John Warner to Paul Andinach <=-
 
 PA> Your argument:
 PA> There are billions of stars.
 PA> Therefore, there are billions of planets.
 PA> The universe is over hundreds of thousands of years old.
 PA> Therefore, alien races have been into space for hundreds of
 PA> thousands of years.
 PA> Therefore, at least one alien race is visiting this planet.
 PA> There's so many holes in that argument that I'm not even going to
 PA> try to answer it.
    There is no argument there Paul, because you cannot argue an unknown.
You do  not know,  nor does  anyone on  this planet  know for  certain what 
exists and what doesn't in the universe.  What you are actually arguing  is 
the circumstantial evidence that people  present, as  to alien  life coming 
here.  
 PA> Either abduction reports are true, or all abductees are crackpots.
 PA> Abductees can not all be crackpots.
 PA> Therefore, abduction reports are true.
 PA> My response:
 PA> The fault in that argument is that this is not an either/or
 PA> situation. Some of the stories could be true, and the rest false. Of
 PA> those that are false, some people could be crazy, some could be lying
 PA> outright, and some could just have been honestly mistaken.
 
   This is a difficult area to prove or disprove.  As the onus  is on  hard 
evidence, currently it is reasonable to assume, that  most of  these people 
have somehow manifested a dream of abduction that is hard to separate  from 
reality.   The  problem  seems  to be  of a  social nature.   Influences by 
science fiction of course have been put forth as the cause.
    Yet may  I point  out, that  this phenomena  is not  restricted to  the 
United States or the western world.   The Soviet  Union has  had its  share 
also.  And the Soviet Union prior to 1990,  did not  speak about  UFO's,nor 
did it open its door to Western influences.  So we have an oddity here.
Are we going to suggest that  the Hill  case trickled  over to  Moscow, and 
influenced some of the population.  Nor was Close Encounters likely to have 
been shown in 1978 in Moscow.  The regime there did not offer the same form
of  entertainment,  nor  were  they going  to give  the down  trodden, grim 
workers, western entertainment.   The escapism there was Vodka. Or suicide.
    People there had no time for UFO nonsense,  yet surprisingly  the stories 
exist,yes even abduction.  Bored yuppies of the west, looking for  glory,or 
dismayed at their lack of recognition in the world, or  feeling the  weight 
of society and evils of it, finding solace in alien intervention,yes, I can 
see that.  California cults, maybe a few burnt cells from LSD days, in some 
cases sure, there is a truth to that.  Yet there are people who do  not fit 
into that mold, certainly people from the Soviet Union do not fit into that 
mold,  so  where  is  this  coming  from.  Is  everyone so  psychologically 
battered,which creates around the globe, these claims.  You  know I  do not 
have an answer to that, and Paul neither do you.
    There is a common misperception about this phenomena.  This is  that it 
is catching.  Like a virus.  Betty Hill said she was abducted, so naturally
everyone had vivid dreams of abduction according to the realistic  chain of 
thought.  The problem here is, have you ever tried to  make yourself  dream 
about something. You can't.  You do not control dreams,they control you.
Since we are all  so exposed  to this  subject therefore  it is  logical to 
assume by now Paul, you must have dreamed of Grey aliens.  Well have you?
I haven't. And I have been reading sci-fi etc, for a long time. Yet  I have 
not had this form of experience.
    So where does this leave us.  You know Paul, I  honestly can  say about 
these claims, I just do not know.  But it has been demonstrated  many times 
in life, that old phrase, truth is stranger than fiction....
Happy Trails,
Fred.
--- Blue Wave/DOS v2.30
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