[Long and possibly boring post follows... if you are not interested
in the personal philosophy of one skeptic on the ET hypothesis, you may
want to hit the "next" key....RT]
I cut and pasted the following from my Microsoft BOOKS CD:
    skepticism also scepticism; noun:
    1.      A doubting or questioning attitude or state of mind;
            dubiety. See Synonyms at uncertainty.
    2.      Philosophy. The doctrine that absolute knowledge is
            impossible and that inquiry must be a process of doubting
            in order to acquire approximate or relative certainty.
    The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language,
    Third Edition
If the above defines skepticism then a skeptic is one who possesses
or holds to a skeptical attitude.
It seems to me that this definition is not the commonly accepted one in
UFOlogy.  Rather, it seems that the skeptic, to UFO believers, is one
who believes that aliens do not exist and that "believers" and
"skeptics" are diametrically opposed.  True believers, it seems, feel
that skeptics are calling them liars, frauds, or idiots.
Please do not impose that definition upon me.  I am not a UFO believer..
yet I do not believe that aliens do not exist. Simply, I neither
believe nor disbelieve.  From my experience, the majority of us who are
deemed "skeptics" indeed fit that philosophy, not the one described in
the preceding paragraph.
To paraphrase The American Heritage.... we are uncertain and we hold
to the philosophy that inquiry must be a process of doubting in order to
acquire certainty.
Believers tell us that we refuse to accept the evidence, even when faced
with it... that for some reason, we are denying the "truth".  To the
best of my recollection, the only residual physical evidence reputed to
be associated with a UFO event is the alleged wreckage from the Roswell
incident.  While there are several witnesses who report having seen
various pieces of this array, and some of them attest to the most
unusual properties of the material and the unusual disappearance of it,
there is still nothing I (figuratively speaking) can touch, smell,
taste, observe, or listen to except their personal accounts.  The
"evidence" has vanished. Actually, it wasn't even considered important
until some 40 years after the event. No wonder its not still around.
To further dilute the veracity of the accounts, most of them are third
party... as written by authors who have one common denominator...
profit.  That alone should be a red flag to anyone sincerely looking for
the truth. I'm sorry, to me this level of "evidence" is little more
than interesting reading. The same is true for the tabloids and
sensationalistic television hype.
The question has been posed, "What evidence would you accept?".  One
person, Jack Sargeant I think (forgive me if my memory fails, Jack),
questioned my rationale in not believing sane, rational people who
claimed to have witnessed alien events.  He queried, "Would you
disbelieve your own mother?".
No Jack, I would not disbelieve my mom.  If she told me that she saw
something very strange over in our cornfield, I'd believe her
unequivocally.  However, if she said to me, "I saw an alien last night",
I would most certainly question her conclusion and inquire further...
much further, as to why she believed what she did... yes, I'd seriously
doubt her until she provided substantial _tangible_ evidence of her
reasoning. Without convincing proof, I'd feel obligated to try and show
her why I felt that she had been deluded.
The above would also apply to my late dad who is to a great extent, my
life's role model and the most rational man I've ever known even
though he only finished the sixth grade. And to my three brothers, one
who holds several college degrees including a PhD, and the other two who
are electrical engineers working in the communications field. I'd
require substantiation from them.
What would I accept?  Since my only expertise is (from a very long time
ago) a policeman, and then for the last 27 years, a computer software
analyst, I wouldn't know "alien" from Tobasco sauce.   If you presented
me with the proverbial alien ashtray, I'd still doubt because within my
own powers to perceive, I couldn't determine its origin.  I cannot
speculate on what physical evidence I would personally accept as proof
positive.
I _would_ accept as fact, and believe in aliens if an announcement came
forth, proclaiming the existence of extraterrestrials, from any U.S.
Governmental agency, the U.S. military, or any body of creditable
scientist, or university.  I'd believe as truth, said proclamation,
when broadcast as any major television or radio network news item,
newspaper, or any other public access medium. They wouldn't necessarily
have to show clips of the UFO on the White House lawn... just tell me
its true.
When it concerns the basic tenets of events of such magnitude, I believe
the media. I believe the Hindenburg crashed.  I believe that the United
States was involved in two major world conflicts in this century.  I
believe that Americans walked on the moon.  I believe that President
Kennedy was shot and killed.  I believe that Jimmy Hoffa is missing. I
believe that Elvis Presley is dead.  I believe that flight 800 crashed.
Most or all of the above have left questions unanswered in the minds of
many people, but they believe they happened. Most people believe that
there are circumstances surrounding some of these events that have been
kept secret from the public.  But, most people believe the basic truths
of these events as reported by the mass media.
The one phenomena that stands out as unique is UFOlogy and the ET
hypothesis. No announcement has been made.  No official body has ever
recognized it publicly.  No creditable panel has ever endorsed it as the
truth.  I believe that if it were the truth, as astounding as it is,
and if our governments, scientists, and universities knew it, there
would be no power great enough to withhold it from us.  I cannot
personally imagine why they would want to.
Until such an announcement is made, I'll still doubt, but I'll still
look up... And, if you can't tell me WHY you believe in WHAT you
believe beyond you own emotions,  I'll remain skeptical. If your only
logic is a conclusion by default, I'll consider your opinion
untrustworthy to form my conclusion.
I wouldn't deprive you of your right to an opinion, even if I consider
it a false belief.  I will however, continue to ask you why you believe
it because I want to know also.  I don't intend to insult you or to
try and make you believe that I'm "one up" on you.  I want to know
what you've got and if you can't provide substantiation, I can only
conclude that you are misguided and that neither of us yet knows the
truth.
Regards,
Ron
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