175 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
175 lines
9.3 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: EXCERPTS FROM PASSPORT TO MAGONIA FILE: UFO2545
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ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
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Excerpts from _Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel
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Worlds_ by Jacques Vallee. (c) 1969, 1993 by Jacques Vallee. First
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published by H. Regnery Co., 1969. Published by Contempory Books, Inc.,
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1993. ISBN 0-8092-3796-2.
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-!!!!!!!!-
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In short, by suggesting that modern UFO sightings might be the
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result of experiments - of a 'scientific' or even 'super-scientific'
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nature - conducted by a race of space-travelers, we may be the victims
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of our ignorance, an ignorance that finds its cause in the fact that
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idiots and pedants alike, through a common reaction that psychologists
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could perhaps explain if they were not its first victims, have covered
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the fairy-faith with the same ridicule as other idiots and pedants cover
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the UFO phenomenon. The realization that rumors of the real meaning of
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the UFO phenomenon set in motion the deepest and most powerful mental
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mechanisms makes acceptance of such facts very difficult, especially
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since the facts ignore frontiers, creeds, and races, defy rational
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statement, and turn around the most logical predictions as if they were
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mere toys. [pg. 56]
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-!!!!!!!!-
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It was hoped that the recent scientific investigations of the
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UFO phenomenon would have treated this problem with the attention it
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deserved. Unfortunately, they have not done so. This leads me to
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offer, in the present chapter, all the information I can provide on this
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matter, with the hope that sociologists will tackle the problem with
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more than passing amusement. Of course, some details relevant to this
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aspect of the UFO phenomenon _cannot_ be published. This does not mean,
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however, that they should remain the exclusive property of a few
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bureaucrats concerned only with the preservation of their peace of mind
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and the stability of their administrations. To let UFO speculation grow
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unchecked would only make the public an easy and defenseless prey to
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charlatans of all kind. It would mean that any organized group bent
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upon the destruction of our society could undermine it by skillful use
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of the saucer mythology; _they could take us to Magonia with the
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blessing of all the 'rationalists'_. [pg. 132, emphasis Vallee.]
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-!!!!!!!!-
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There is a tendency among the believers to gather into large,
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very formal organizations, where they waste all their energy and,
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sometimes, a good deal of money, with practically no visible result. It
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is clear that such organizations answer a psychological need rather than
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a genuine desire to discover the answer to an interesting intellectual
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problem. Maintaining such a group implies a tremendous overhead -
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mailing lists, bookkeeping, etc. - and experience shows that research is
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always the last activity it can afford. Instead, these groups generate
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so much internal bitterness and so many interorganizational feuds that
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they prove to be serious obstacles to independent researchers who are
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simply trying to get firsthand data and do not care to support one
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particular personality or theory against another. There are so many
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such groups now that their publications no longer reach the scientists,
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who can hardly be expected to read fifteen or twenty specialized
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magazines every month.
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If people really wanted to get at the root of the UFO
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phenomenon, they should simply constitute a large number of small,
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informal circles, the only objective of which would be the gathering of
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firsthand reports. It should be obvious that professional scientists
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are not in a position to do this. They know the problem only through
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the daily press, which does not give information on reports made outside
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a small area. When it does, the witness account is so biased that the
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information becomes worthless. And even if the article is accurate,
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there is no way to measure the reliability of the witnesses or to learn
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their standing in the community. _Only local residents can evaluate
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such an odd occurrence as a UFO sighting at its true weight._
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The creation of a network of active but informal groups would
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also help solve the problem of documentation and publication. When the
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main organized groups do conduct investigations, they bury them in their
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files or publish only biased, heavily edited summaries, thus screwing
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down the lid on the observational material they precisely set out to
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reveal. [pg. 158, emphasis Vallee.]
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-!!!!!!!!-
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If we decide to avoid extreme speculation, but to make certain
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basic observations from the existing data, five principal facts stand
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out rather clearly:
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Fact 1. There has been among the public, in all countries,
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since the middle of 1946, an extremely active generation of colorful
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rumors. They center on a considerable number of observations of unknown
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machines close to the ground in rural areas, the physical traces left by
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these machines, and their various effects on humans and animals.
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Fact 2. When the underlying archetypes are extracted from these
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rumors, the saucer myth is seen to coincide to a remarkable degree with
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the fairy-faith of Celtic countries, the observations of the scholars of
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past ages, and the widespread belief among all peoples concerning
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entities whose physical and psychological descriptions place them in the
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same category as the present-day ufonauts.
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Fact 3. The entities human witnesses report to have seen,
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heard, and touched fall into various biological types. Among them are
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beings of giant stature, men indistinguishable from us, winged
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creatures, and various types of monsters. Most of the so-called pilots,
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however, are dwarfs and form two main groups: (1) dark, hairy beings -
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identical to the gnomes of medieval theory - with small, bright eyes and
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deep, rugged, 'old' voices; and (2) beings - who answer the description
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of the sylphs of the Middle Ages or the elves of the fairy-faith - with
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human complexions, oversized heads, and silvery voices. All the beings
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have been described with and without breathing apparatus. Beings of
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various categories have been reported together.
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Fact 4. The entities reported behavior is as consistently
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absurd as the appearance of their craft is ludicrous. In numerous
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instances of verbal communication with them, their assertions have been
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systematically misleading. This is true for all cases on record, from
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encounters with the Gentry in the British Isles to conversations with
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airship engineers during the 1897 Midwest flap and discussions with the
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alleged Martians in Europe, North and South America, and elsewhere. This
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absurd behavior has had the effect of keeping professional scientists
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away from the area where that activity is taking place. It has also
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served to give the saucer myth its religious and mystical overtones.
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Fact 5. The mechanism of the apparitions, in legendary,
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historical, and modern times, is standard and follows the model of
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religious miracles. Several cases, which bear the official stamp of the
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Catholic Church (Fatima, Guadalupe, etc.), are in fact - if one applies
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the definitions strictly - nothing more than UFO phenomena where the
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entity has delivered a message having to do with religious beliefs
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rather than with fertilizers or engineering.
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Given the above facts I believe the following three propositions
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to be true:
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Proposition 1. The behavior of nonhuman visitors to our planet,
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or the behavior of a superior race coexisting with us on this planet,
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would not necessarily appear purposeful to a human observer. Scientists
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who brush aside UFO reports because 'obviously intelligent visitors
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would not behave like that' simply have not given serious thought to the
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problem of nonhuman intelligence.
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Observation and deduction agree, in fact, that the organized
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action of a superior race must appear absurd to the inferior one. That
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this does not preclude contact and even cohabitation is an obvious fact
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of daily life on our planet, where humans, animals, and insects have
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interwoven activities in spite of their different levels of nervous
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system organization.
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Proposition 2. If we recognize that the structure and nature of
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time is as much of a puzzle to modern physicists as it was to Reverend
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Kirk, then it follows that any theory of the universe that does not take
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our ignorance in this respect into account is bound to remain an
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academic exercise. In particular, such a theory could never be invoked
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seriously in a discussion of the constraints placed on possible visitors
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to our planet.
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Proposition 3. The entire mystery we are discussing contains
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all the elements of a myth that could be utilized to serve political or
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sociological purposes, a fact illustrated by the curious link between
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the contents of the reports themselves and the progress of human
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technology, from aerial ships to dirigibles to ghost rockets to flying
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saucers - a link that has never received a satisfactory interpretation
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in a sociological framework.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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