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Lesley

Grey Matter

8.7.7

Money in the Sky (Part 2) : The Pointless Point

Yeah, I know I have written about this before, but there is nothing wrong with making money, even if it has something to do with UFOs.

A certain comment left somewhere, about a certain person who may or may not be making money, Jeremy Vaeni, to be exact, really irritated me. No reason was given as to why Jeremy's story could not be true, just the fact that he may be making money somehow made it untrue to this person. Oh yeah, also the fact that Jeremy likes to try to be entertaining by cracking jokes. God forbid that someone in Ufology is entertaining! Mind you, it was obvious that this person was probably already angry at Jeremy, who had called him an assclown, but to me it just brought to memory that favorite skeptic/debunker line of "he is just in it for the money."

Could Jeremy Vaeni be in it for the money? Well, yeah, I suppose he could. However, being involved in the UFO field for quite a while now, I just don't see that much money flying towards those who write books, or sell DVDs. As I have said in the past, if certain people are scam artists, there are zillions of better places to practice that trade than Ufology. Jeremy wouldn't be a very wise scam artist because I know most of the articles and interviews he does are totally for free and he doesn't make a cent off them. To me, anyone who would make such a statement about people being in it for the money must be entirely new to the UFO field, or a bitter individual who can't come up with a real excuse of why you shouldn't believe what someone else is saying.

I would like to say that it is just skeptics who do this, but Ufologists do it all the time. Funny how it is always someone they don't agree with that is in it for the money. If they are more traditional ufologists, people like Stanton Friedman selling books or products is perfectly fine, but someone like David Icke? He is in it for the money. No consideration that even though they don't agree with him that he may totally believe in every word he is saying or that possibly, at least some of what he is saying could be true.

It is also true that 99% of the time, people who use that line never give any evidence as to why the other person is lying, other than they may be making money. Making money has become a convenient excuse as to why a certain statements, ideas, books and magazines are not true, at least with the small minded.

What is Ufology? The Priesthood? You must give up all your worldly good and take a vow of poverty? Maybe you also need to promise to only bath once a year and crawl around your house through broken glass? Ridiculous!

Obviously I am not in Ufology for the money. If I were into something for the money, it absolutely would not be Ufology.

I would like someone to show me anyone in Ufology who has made their fortune by selling books and videos. A very few people may actually make a living from it, but I seriously doubt anyone is rich.

Also, if someone takes the time to write a book or develop some other product, why should they not be paid for their time by being able to sell it? Why does the fact that they took the time to put something together to sell make them a liar?

Then these same people have the nerve to wonder why scientists and other professionals don't get into Ufology? Maybe it is because they can put their time and energy into other subjects where they can make money, as well as not being accused of lying merely because they are making money?

It is an endless cycle of stupidity and childishness.

Then there is Nancy Birnes, she puts endless amounts of time into getting UFO Magazine out every month. Is that an easy job? Since I haven't done it myself, I can't say for sure, but I sincerely doubt it. Should she be handing it out for free on street corners for fear of making money? I think not. Should she have to suffer insults from assclowns? I think not. Besides which, it isn't Nancy or Bill that write what goes into UFO Magazine, it is people like me, Alfred Lehmberg, Regan Lee, Farah Yurdozu, Stanton Friedman, Nick Redfern and many others, so when people say UFO Magazine is full of lies, I take it as a personal insult and I would imagine that many others do as well. Even if you just say UFO Magazine is in it for the money that implies that somehow the articles found within there are insincere.

Whether you believe anything in UFO Magazine is beyond the point though, you have a choice of whether to buy it or not. You have a choice whether to buy Jeremy's book or video and anything else relating to UFOs. Those who would like to be the Ufology Police think you are too dumb to make up your own mind about what you read and watch. They are so egotistical that they think you need their superior guidance because you can't possibly be as smart as they are.

I hate to sound all anarchist, but why should we be so concerned about whether something is true? If we find the story thought provoking, does it really matter if it is true? There are certain fiction books that have influenced my entire life, not because they were true, but because the values I learned from them are true and because they caused me to think about things that are beyond my ordinary daily life. I am not really terribly concerned about what Jeremy or anyone else says being completely true or accurate, I am more concerned about whether it is interesting and whether I can learn anything from it. Since I look at almost all Ufology as being subjective, none of it is really true. If dozens of people had the same esoteric experience, the chances that most would interpret it differently is highly likely. Even if they all agree that they saw the same thing, many will take different meanings from what they saw. This is not only true of esoteric events, ask any policeman about robbery witnesses. One person will swear it was a blue shirt the guy was wearing, while another insists that is was green. Both of these people will be completely sure they are right and the other is wrong. Human minds interpret things differently, that is just how it is.

So how can someone say another is lying because they see things differently?

How can they say that because someone is trying to make a few dollars that they don't believe in what they are doing? I know people who write books for money, it doesn't mean they don't believe in what they are writing, only that they don't have the time and energy to waste on something that wouldn't make them money, no matter how much they believe in it.

I think the Ufology Police should start putting time, energy and money into their own books, videos and magazines. It might open their eyes to find out how little money is in such endeavors for the amount of work involved. Besides which, if they are so sure that they know the truth, then they should spread it, instead of spending their time sitting at their keyboard constantly griping about what others are doing.

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