-=> Quoting Ivy Iverson to Paul Andinach <=-
 DB> That doesn't mean whatever evidence might be brought forth is
 DB> automatically deemed as fake.
 II> To many, at least in the field of UFOlogy, it sure seems like it!
 PA> Another subtle difference people have trouble with:
 PA> "It might be fake, so it is fake."
 PA> "It might be fake, so it's safer to assume it is fake until
 PA> something turns up independently to support it."
 
 II> Or, "If it CAN be faked, and _I_ don't think it's likely/possible,
 II> then it's gotta be faked... so prove otherwise!"
   Yes, that's the problem. Some "skeptics" are like that, and some
people assume that *every* skeptic is like that.
   Both, we could do without.
 
 PA> How many plane crashes have there been since 1945? How many of
 PA> them have made it onto the news?
 PA> Repeat, substituting "flying saucer" for "plane".
 II> "The media" knows all about airplanes and talks freely about them, and
 II> when one crashes, it's usually a tragedy for many families.  When a
 II> UFO crashes, it's buried by Uncle Sam... and don't think for a
 II> picosecond that the Govt can't kill any story they want kept quiet!  (I
 II> was in broadcasting, and I KNOW that when someone from the Govt - from
 II> the local cop-shop to the military - calls on the phone and says, "Not
 II> a word about such-and-such," NOTHING goes out on the subject, on the
 II> air, in print or on the electronic wires... IT'S DEAD!
 
   Which makes it different from the UFO phenomenon, because if it's
DEAD, people don't go on to write bestselling books about it.
 PA> So you admit that the evidence on which you base your belief is
 PA> not actually sufficient?
 II> If I were taking odds, my money would be on it being factual.
 
   What are your reasons for making that decision?
 PA> You've just stated that you accept that your belief in alien
 PA> visitors is mostly based on evidence that may be false, or at least
 PA> largely inaccurate.
 II> ANYTHING is possible.  Some things are just more likely than others.
 
 PA> What's going on here?
 II> That's what we are trying to figure out... isn't it?
   I was referring to the way you apparently managed to agree with a
full-scale attack on your position without seeing the need to change
your position at all.
 
Paul
... Freedom is just chaos with better lighting.
--- Blue Wave/Max v2.30 [NR]
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