A presumed competence, a projected avoidance of flights of fancy, and a strict adherence to observed fact attaches to both active and ex military and police witnesses, buttressing their credibility. Their testimony often flops debates and influences conclusions. Yet, they’re humans. They’re as apt to confabulate as anyone else, or to misinterpret, or misremember, or misreport, or misstate, or otherwise get it wrong. They’re as prone to lying as anyone else. So why are they granted such strong credibility?
The Military, Police, and other official groups are known for accepting no nonsense. They punish lying.
By contrast, other groups or organizations are known for the opposite. Corporations, advertisers, politicians, mobsters, criminals of all stripe, con men, connivers, conspirators, religionists, debunkers — all these and more are known for lying, dissembling, and playing loose with fact and truth.
Military, Police, and so on are thus revealed as apart from general society and held, ostensibly, to a higher standard. This does not mean a colonel or detective automatically avoids the craziness and stupidity that afflict all people. It means the organizations in which they operate assess their words and actions according to factual analysis. There are important positions held by lunatics, and there are ignored parts in momentous events played by nobodies who prove utterly reliable.
So, while there is a reason to trust a pilot if he says he saw a UFO, for example, we must remember individuals aren’t the aggregate, and statistical reliability may not apply to a single person’s lone testimony. When other testimony supports an assertion, all the better. When the claim is backed up by physical evidence, we reach solid grounds for further investigation. Checking statements in the field, where the incident or observation occurred, is the only way to begin sifting data into information.
It is precisely field investigations that are neglected most often, usually with references to finances, manpower, or time constraints. In other words, decisions whether to look into it further are made based on intensity of interest and perceived, projected importance. It matters more to respond to a crime scene than chase down possible corroboration of a ghost or UFO.
We can concur with such triage. It’s sensible and responsible.
Hence private groups, MUFON prime among them, dedicated themselves to a confirm-or-deny assessment of filed reports. It remains a Groucho game of Who Do You Trust?
Say the magic word and win big, hm?
Mulder wants to believe. I want to know, and that requires fact-gathering, assessment of facts gathered, and rational, logical conclusions rooted in physics. Tall order.
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