What is a Real UFO?

R. Lee
September 11, 2007

 

I came across the comment recently in an article somewhere; the writer remarked that a reported UFO wasn’t really a “real” UFO. Whatever that means. Did it turn out to be an IFO? (Identified Flying Object.) If so, it was still a UFO; until such time it was correctly identified. Nothing real, or unreal, about it.

I don’t know why I persist in my lonely campaign of trying to get the parsing, semantics and gestalt of UFOs straight, but we’re all human, and we all have our little perversities. One of mine is complaining about the loose understanding and use of the term UFO.

UFO is an acronym for Unidentified Flying Object. It should seem simple enough, but as we know, it’s far from simple. Something so simple has been so corroded by assumptions that we need to make sure we’re all on the same page before entering a discussion about UFOs. When I say “UFO” I mean just that: unidentified somethings. When some of you say UFO you may mean: aliens from outer space, lunatics, crazy people who see things that aren’t there, military-industrial objects, natural phenomena, wishful thinking, people who drink too much and see things, people who take drugs and see things, liars, or hoaxes.

If you start off a discussion on UFOs with any of those assumptions firmly placed in your mind -- in other words, a very strong opinion teetering on fact -- we’re not going to get anywhere.

I’ll acknowledge, quite cheerfully, that when I use the term UFO it contains within it the possibility of aliens from outer space. So what?

That doesn’t mean it is, it doesn’t mean they all are, it doesn’t mean a thing other than what it is. It certainly doesn’t mean I’m crazy or drug addled or a drunk, nor does it mean I lack critical thinking skills or that I’m uneducated. It doesn’t mean a damn thing, except that, based on a combination of factors, I willingly entertain the idea aliens are out there as well as among us.

Yet, inherent in the term UFO we don’t know that for any kind of fact, and have only our own opinion as to all that. For me, the willingness to integrate that possibility of aliens(whether from outer space or some other kind of entity) is based on a life long relationship with the weird, research, and experiences. That, and I’m sorry, but I won’t allow anyone to call me names. Baby, I stick up for myself, and I’m not a drunk, drug addict, or mentally ill individual who sees things;I’m not a liar, either.

Anyway. A UFO may or may not be something from outer space, or our military-industrial complex, or space junk, or weather related phenomeana, stars, a seagull, a balloon, a remote controlled airplane some good old boys are playing with in the field down the road. Whatever. Until we know, it’s a UFO.

Really very simple, isn’t it?