“A history of Ufology is a history of human consciousness.” ~ Richard Dolan

I believe that UFOs are real and we have a right to know whatever they are. When I say UFOs I’m referring to those rare, authentic, and well-documented sightings that cannot be explained away as “weather balloon,”  ”the planet venus,” or “swamp gas.” Now that I have your attention, I will now take you to the other side of the chasm -- the side where up is no longer up, down is no longer down; where ratonality and critical thinking are no longer sufficient but still necessary to maintain our sanity and our sense of reality.

Whenever I bring up the topic of UFOs, people's reactions are quite predictable. Aside from the usual eye-rolling and spontaneous giggles, the most common responses I get from people are:

"What's the big deal with UFOs? Don't you know what the 'U' stands for? It's unidentified!" 

"The government is very poor at hiding secrets so how can they hide this, if it is indeed real?"

"Where is the evidence that we are being visited by extra-terrestrials?" 

"Why is this topic important? How is this relevant to our personal lives and society at large?"

"Sorry, but whether UFOs are real or not, I'm just not interested."

To which my response is utter bewilderment and a resounding, "Really?!!!"

But let me backtrack for a moment before I attempt to break down and deal with the above responses. The field of Ufology has a long history. It is beyond the scope of this article to do justice to its contentious and controversial beginnings. So instead I'll just point the readers to watch this documentary: 

Ok, now that I got that out of the way, let's return to the typical responses I get from people whenever I bring up the topic of UFOs. 

"What's the big deal with UFOs? Don't you know what the "U" stands for? It's unidentified!"

I usually hear this response from intelligent people who think that they are displaying the hallmarks of skepticism. For example, Neil deGrasse Tyson uses this standard skeptical argument on his infamous takedown of UFO sightings. Of course, Tyson is partially right. There are a lot of people out there who take every story and news of UFO sightings seriously and immediately draw conclusions that they must be from another planet. So it is imperative that we always remember what the "U" in UFO stands for.

However, I would argue that the kind of skepticism displayed by Tyson is the easy kind of skepticism -- the kind of skepticism that could dismiss the easy cases of UFO sightings. In fact, in my opinion, those easy cases don't even deserve to be taken seriously because the likelihood of a plausible explanation makes them virtually identified. But what about the hard cases? -- Those few authentic UFO sightings that defy rational and known scientific explanations; cases with multiple witnesses, testimonies from high-ranking officials with impeccable credentials, radar data, physical traces, documents from governments and from public archives? Are we suppose to just throw up our hands in the air and say, "Gee, those UFOs are just unidentified," even when these unknown objects regularly violate our airspace with impunity, and in many cases near nuclear weapon facilities? Are we suppose to believe that the most powerful military force on Earth -- the U.S. military -- will just give up easily instead of doing everything in its power to investigate the phenomenon, especially when those flying objects display impossible aerial maneuvers that mock our current state-of-the-art technology?

I don't know about you, but I think that a true skeptic will take the time to inform himself on this topic, look at all possible angles, and analyze the hard cases, before proclaiming that UFOs have no objective reality or that they don't need to be taken seriously. Whenever I think of UFOs I always think of the hard cases that defy conventional explanations, not the anecdotal stories and multitudes of videos posted by some random person on Youtube.

In Leslie Kean's book,UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On the Record, she cites a statistic that about 5% of the UFO sightings are truly unidentified. It's worth noting that almost half of Kean's book was written by the people (generals, pilots, government officials) who have witnessed those unexplained phenomena -- a fact that is missed by "skeptical" book reviewers. So it's quite refreshing to see Skeptic.com's eSkeptic giving the book an even-handed review. In addition, the book generated a lot of press and media attention and was openly endorsed by mainstream scientists like theoretical physicist Michio Kaku and astronomer Derrick Pitts.

Now, I'm not sure how accurate that 5% statistic is since there's no official scientific or government department that keeps track of all UFO reports. In any case, even if it's only 1% or 0.5%, the argument still holds: There is such a thing as UFOs. They've been witnessed and documented to violate sovereign airspace, and in some cases, military airspace. Therefore, UFOs are National Security issues, which make them a very big deal! If we consider this fact for a moment, then it would be logical to ask these questions:

• Why does the "War on Terror" get more headlines on mainstream media instead of UFOs?
• How come the scientific establishment isn't paying attention to this?
• How come Congress is not grilling the military to demand some answers?

For long-time researchers in Ufology these questions are rhetorical. They are rhetorical because once you dig into the phenomenon of UFOs it is inevitable that you will get sucked into the world of black budgets, clandestine intelligence agencies, classified military projects, disinformation propaganda, the occult and the paranormal. In short, you'll get sucked into the world of conspiracy theories and government secrecy. Maybe that's why most people avoid going deeply into this subject because they instinctively know that exploring it will not only jeopardize their careers, but put their critical thinking to its ultimate test, and compromise their own precious view of reality.

"The government is very poor at hiding secrets so how can they hide this, if it is indeed real?"

It doesn’t take a paranoid conspiracy theorist to know that the U.S. government lies to its citizens and the world. Anyone who says that people in the government can’t keep a secret has a very short-term memory, or just plain naive. The U.S. government has power over its people and it controls the mightiest military in the world. We can only wonder what the Military Industrial Complexis up to with its unlimited black budget. In the eyes of its informed citizens, the U.S. government has lost its credibility long ago, without even bringing up the subject of UFOs.

"Where is the evidence that we are being visited by extra-terrestials?" 

There's no smoking gun that points to the extra-terrestrial origin of UFOs. However, in the absence of a smoking gun, the next best thing is the amount of collective evidence. When it comes to UFOs, the collective evidence is literally a truck-load. There's strong evidence in the form of historic documents, scientific reports, radar data, physical traces, and corroborated testimonies by credible witnesses which have been gathered by impeccable researchers and journalists in the field of Ufology. When all the available evidence are taken collectively, it conclusively point to these facts:

• UFOs exist.
• Their energy source, flight and maneuvering capabilities are beyond our known technology.
• We don't know what they are and where they come from.

And as the famous UFO researcher turned Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Jacques Vallee, has eloquently put it, "the UFO phenomenon is [an] indication that our universe is a subset of something else." No wonder the various hypotheses put forward by researchers are only limited by the current state of cutting-edge science, as well as the human imagination.

For Nuclear Physicist and Ufologist Stanton Friedman (aka the grandfather of Roswell), there is no doubt that some UFOs are extra-terrestrial in origin. Unlike other Ufologists, he prefers to use the term "Flying Saucers." Friedman is a solid researcher and a fierce debater. He can stand his ground and mop the floor with "skeptics", debunkers, and even S.E.T.I. He's one of the strongest proponents of the E.T. hypothesis. (See: Flying Saucers are real.)

"Why is this topic important? How is this relevant to our personal lives and society at large?"

After educating myself well enough on the UFO literature and the massive evidence that are available out there, a shift in perspective occurred. Suddenly, the origin of UFOs and whatever is behind the phenomenon became secondary. The primary question then became: "Why the blatant and rampant secrecy?"

In the world of conspiracy theory, the UFO cover up is the mother of all cover ups. It's the Elephant in the Kosmic Room. Based on the opinion polls on UFOs and ETs, the majority of people already believe. It’s also interesting to note that the more educated and intelligent the person is, the more likely he/she is to believe that UFOs are from another planet. Of course, polls don’t necessarily prove anything. But what it does is show is that majority of the people are more than ready for a Disclosure -- disclose the facts about UFOs, their origin, and their technology.

However, Disclosure is one thing, the real impact of a Disclosure is another. Maybe the majority of people can handle the psychological shock of Disclosure that UFOs are real and that we are being visited by extraterrestrials or whatever they are, but are we ready as a society to face global disruptions of epic proportions?

I can almost sympathize with the shadow governments around the world for keeping this a secret. An official Disclosure would cause unimaginable disruptions to our global economy (think the end of petroleum and the collapse of the stock market), geopolitics, religion, academia and scientific establishments. In the book After Disclosure, authors Richard Dolan and Bryce Zabel intelligently speculate and deal with all the likely possible scenarios when Disclosure finally occurs. It’s a must-read to prepare ourselves psychologically, emotionally, politically, financially, and even spiritually should Disclosure happen within our lifetime.

As Richard Dolan said, “Disclosure is impossible, but inevitable.” I believe that he's right. There's no incentive for the secret-keepers to spill the secret. But secrecy has a tendency to be blown wide open. Disclosure, whether voluntary or forced, is a logical conclusion because our technology is accelerating exponentially and we are on the verge of leap-frogging our own evolution as a species. As communication becomes instantaneous and global, and smart phones with cameras become ubiquitous, it’s only a matter of time before the secret-keepers concede that they can no longer hide the secret from the masses.

But here’s the rub. Maybe we can accept the reality of UFOs and ETs (thanks partly to Hollywood), but can we handle the revelation of a Breakaway Civilization?

(Watch Richard Dolan’s presentation in the video below for more context. Dolan carefully laid out the history and some of the evidence for UFOs and his thesis for a Breakaway Civilization. Highly recommended viewing for those who are still on the sidelines regarding the reality of UFOs.)

"Sorry, but whether UFOs are real or not, I'm just not interested."

Of all the responses, I think this is the most valid and honest response. There's no point in pushing people if they are not interested. They are entitled to their own rude awakening.

Epilogue

Navigating the world of Ufology is not for the gullible and faint-hearted. Once you go deep into this rabbit hole you'll soon realize that UFOs are just the tip of the Kosmic Iceberg. The question whether extra-terrestrials are behind the UFO phenomenon become secondary. It's the secrecy, the erosion of civil liberties, and National Security State that eventually take center stage. But without a certain skill at discernment and critical thinking it would be so easy to get lost in the labyrinthine world of conspiracy theories, nasty negativist skeptics, hoaxes, and disinformation. That’s why it’s important to quickly identify the people with integrity who have a healthy, balanced, reasonable, logical, objective, and scientific dispositions on this subject-matter. I’m glad I’ve found my top three kick-ass Ufologists early on. Now go and find yours.

Edited by: TJ Dawe, Chela Davison, Trevor Malkinson, Scott Payne