Sometimes It's Just a Giant Sumerian Phallus

It's July 19th, and while I'm unhappy that we're officially in the Summer-zone, I'm glad May and June are over. Not that May was a bad month. In fact, it was one of the better months I've had in many years.

A lot of change has happened (and still continues to happen), that really began to show form in early May and carried on through until the end of last month. As anyone who has gone through significant life changes can attest to, it can be positively exhausting! I've not written much anywhere in the last few weeks -- been too busy fighting through the cloudiness and disorientation that often travels with discovering new perspectives... but I hope to be coming out of that haze sooner rather than later.

I've been thinking a lot about my voice (however small it is) in UFOlogy, and it's been occurring to me that I pick on so many topics, that some of you might think I don't believe in anything. I even began to wonder if I was looking like a debunker more than someone actually interested in sorting out the un-sortable mysteries of the world.

Well, I am not a debunker, nor am I a disinformation agent in disguise. I throw that out there because it's pretty popular to label someone who doesn't agree with your beliefs in ufology as a disinformation agent. Some people are so set in their own beliefs that they will shout out anything they can think of to point an accusing finger toward who or whatever they perceive as a threat to their ideology.

So, there isn't a lot of welcome room for skeptical-minded folk in the paranormal. There should be, but there isn't. And while many have clarified their anti-skeptic position by saying that its really debunkers they hate, many still use the term 'skeptic' to denote that, which further distorts the meaning. To me, skepticism is probably the best possible way of thinking for anyone (in my humble opinion, Guv'na). A skeptic is someone who looks before she jumps. It doesn't mean that she won't jump, only that she wants to gather more credible information before taking that leap.

I know that everyone and their dog has written about skepticism -- especially this past year, but I felt like throwing my opinion in anyway.

If you're not a skeptic, you probably in one of two other categories. You either don't believe in anything, or you believe in everything -- neither of which are very appealing, and certainly not sexy (because when you think 'UFOlogy', you think 'sexy', right?).

Of course, as skeptical as I think I am, more hardcore skeptics would not see it quite that way. Especially if they were privy to some of my beliefs. I think some of those beliefs might even surprise those of you who know me, or at least know of my writing.

In the last month or so, I began to feel as if all I was doing was bitching about what probably isn't real, and not really giving exposure to things I do believe in or support. I had meant to address this a little earlier than now, but got sidetracked with the whole Pickering joke. I was reminded again during a phone call with my friend Elaine.

Elaine is an editor of JAR Magazine, along with myself and two others, and we were talking about the diversity of all of the JAR editors and contributors in regards to beliefs. At one point Elaine jokingly exclaimed "And then there's Deirdre the Skeptic - you can't get her to believe anything!" It was pretty funny, and perhaps comparatively true in a way, but it made me further realize that while y'all know I can't hang with the Alien in the Windows of the world, you don't know about some of my not-so-widely-accepted interests.

For instance, there is a theory I am very critical of (I have written about it previously on a few occasions, and have two half-written articles picking on this topic -- or rather picking on some of the more colorful theories floating around out there), yet also very intrigued by. Can you guess what it might be? That's right: Ancient Aliens. It's a silly term, but it was either that or Ancient Astronauts, and the latter just makes me think of Buzz Aldrin.

Really, it shouldn't be that surprising. If I'm willing to accept the possibility that Earth has had non-local visitors, I should be willing to accept that they could have been visiting for thousands of years. But since I've thrown a lot of rotten tomatoes at the AA camp, it occurred to me people might assume I think the entire idea is bullshit -- which is untrue. Do I believe some other civilisation had a hand in developing the human race? I suppose it's possible. I think that had they been here, they would have at least influenced it somehow, even by simply being visible.

My problems with Ancient Aliens (besides the fact the term denotes extra terrestrial intervention(s), when it could be something more crypto or perhaps even dimensional *cringe* in nature) is more with the researchers than the general concept. There are certainly some interesting and plausible theories running around out there, and even I watch all of those kooky specials too (just like all of you do), because sprinkled within those documentaries are usually some very intriguing bits and pieces. You just have to do your best to ignore all of the complete crap with it's glaring lack of anything resembling evidence, and do your own external research.

I think that Von Daniken and Sitchin both caught on to a great idea, but I also think they lost some much needed objectivity over the many years (or maybe even before they started out the gate). Sometimes a model of a bird is just a model of a bird. Sometimes people draw peculiar strange shapes just because they can, and sometimes translations are incorrect (after all, they are only translations, darlings). It's easy to want to insert our own interpretations and imagination into the unknown, but it often becomes misunderstood as fact by others, which leads to a whole mess of people citing evidence that doesn't actually exist. This, of course, happens in most paranormal areas of study.

And just to be clear: An etching of something that looks like a "rocket" is not evidence of a rocket. it's only evidence that someone created an image that resembles a rocket -- or a giant cock (you know, to represent fertility and stuff).

I have other interests that would maybe raise an eyebrow or two, and I'll get 'round to them eventually. I'm pretty far down the road from having all of the answers, and just wanted to make sure it was understood that I do not disbelieve everything.

Just almost everything.