A Need to Know

POSTED BY: ANTHONYT
UPDATED: Thursday, July 19, 2012 02:16
VIEWED: 3176
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ANTHONYT

Thursday, July 19, 2012 12:42 AM

Hello,

This post is somewhat out of character for me, and might be something better expected from Piratenews. This is because this is a post that touches on conspiracy theory and secret programs, which is generally considered his ballywick. (sp?)

In fact, I am a great fan of conspiracy theories. It's just that many conspiracy theories don't make sense to me as offered. I do not like it when people are married to their theories, and seem prepared to accept wild tales which are full of holes without acknowledging the tales' wildness or incompleteness, or how they sometimes make very little sense.

I tend to approach my conspiracy theories the way I approach my belief in God. I believe in God, and acknowledge that I can't prove him. I acknowledge that I can only guess at his nature or desires. I acknowledge that my brand of belief, Christianity, has very little to recommend it factually, over any other belief. I acknowledge that the Blueprint of Christianity is an unreliable narration and a tampered document. In short, I am prepared to admit that I can't prove anything and that my beliefs about God exist merely because they placate my ideas about how things should be. I am not adamant, I am not resistant to alternative theories, and I do not claim to have special knowledge. Holes in my understanding do exist, occasionally trouble me, and I am always willing to fill them with new data... even while I treat all new data with skepticism.

That having been said, I wanted to share an interesting book with everyone here. Let me set the stage.

This is what some critical notables have had to say about the book, as reported by wikipedia:

Quote:
Space historian Dwayne Day called Area 51 a "poorly-sourced, error-filled book" in which the author makes an argument that "defies common sense" and is reliant on one anonymous source.[8] Jeffrey T. Richelson and Robert S. Norris, critiquing Jacobsen's factual errors on the blog Washington Decoded, stated that "[t]here are so many mistakes that it is hard to know where to begin... Area 51 is a case study of how not to research and write about top-secret activities."[9] Historian Richard Rhodes, writing in The Washington Post, also criticized the book's sensationalistic reporting of "old news" and its "error-ridden" prose.[10] The book was sharply criticized for extensive errors in an essay by a senior fellow at the Federation of American Scientists and a senior fellow at the National Security Archive.[11]

The book is written by Annie Jacobsen. It is called "Area 51 - An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base."

Let me begin by telling you what I like about the book. The book goes over a lot of interesting history that, while publicly available, may not be publicly known because it is not often assembled in one place for easy review. Most people are not historians, professional researchers, or serious scholars. It's nice to have so much stuff assembled for perusal about a topic which has generally preferred not to be understood.

This book is one of several that delivers some insight into the workings of this country's intelligence agencies. I also recommend Legacy of Ashes. There is another book I'd like to recommend about the Cold War, but sadly my unreliable memory can't summon the name of it right now. I will update later when I think of it.

For 90% of the book, there is a great deal of focus on verifiable and fascinating events throughout the history of Area 51. It is worth reading, in my opinion, for this reason alone.

For conspiracy buffs, the book offers something else. It approaches the mystery of the Roswell crash from a different angle than it is usually approached. It assumes that there was no outer-space vehicle and no aliens. However, it embraces the idea that a flying disc did in fact crash at Roswell and was recovered. The combination of these factors: 1) Embracing the idea

YINYANG

Thursday, July 19, 2012 1:46 AM

I don't have much of a head for conspiracy theories - there tends to be too much information for me to keep straight - but, since you recommended something, I'll recommend you something in kind. A blogging friend of mine is also very interested in conspiracy theories, and he's done a lot of research into different areas like the JFK assassination, religious cults, and ufology (among others). When I have the time and energy to really sit down and read his posts, they're very interesting, and I really like how even-handed and reasonable he is in investigating multiple angles of a conspiracy and acknowledging the ifs, ands or buts.

If you're interested, his site is here: http://xdell.blogspot.com.

ANTHONYT

Thursday, July 19, 2012 2:16 AM

Hello,

Thank you for sharing, YinYang. :-)

--Anthony

Note to Self:
Raptor - woman testifying about birth control is a slut (the term fits.)
Six - Wow, isn't Niki quite the CUNT? And, yes, I spell that in all caps....
Wulf - Niki is a stupid fucking bitch who should hurry up and die.

“The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” -Thomas Szasz