Big Media hit the chuckle switch and its members lovingly obliged.
The British government just released its latest historical collection of UFO-related documents, and of immediate interest to the international press was an alleged incident near the end of World War II, when an RAF flight was reportedly pursued by a metallic arrow-shaped object. OF COURSE, time has passed and the photo(s) reportedly taken are nowhere to be found. The selling point here was a report that Winston Churchill and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower had a meeting regarding the mystery, and Churchill supposedly ordered that the event be kept under wraps for at least 50 years because a public revelation would cause panic and interfere with societal faith in religion.
I performed a quick review of various TV, newspaper and news service reports -- and there were many -- mentioning the RAF incident, and while it was great to see so much publicity about this little chunk of history, knowing what would come next required no psychic abilities whatsoever.
As if by ancient instinctive guidance, one news report after another made certain to throw in the "X-Files" TV show, "little green men," a separate report by a witness who told of "Stargate aliens" and -- of particular abundance -- the anecdotal information about a gambler who placed bets on the probability of extraterrestrial life. Big Media sorts it out, you see. And, obviously, the usual battery of debunkers emerged one by one from underneath the rocks which shelter them between media reports, well rested and ready to babble on about how UFOs ring meaningless because they simply can't exist in the debunking universe. Big Media sorts it out, you see. A hundred explanations and a baker's dozen of dolts effortlessly wait in the wings, as if on call, to obfuscate science's true calling. Big Media sorts it out, you see. If the British account is accurate, Churchill may have been barking up the wrong tree of knowledge. Members of The Church may have handled the RAF report far better than the debunkers whose self-assurance sabers have traditionally cut truth off at its knees, both publicly and within governments. But Big Media will sort all of this out, you know.
I guess I'll just sit back and wait for the next saucer joke for the media to report and shower with winks of not-quite-derision-but. In the meantime, I suggest the Obama Administration apologize (they're globally expert at this) to the Brits and beg them to return that gift bust of Sir Winston that White House minions couldn't wait to pack up and return to England, perhaps because some war heroes are sooooo yesterday. At least for a while, old man Churchill is gonna enjoy renewed fame, but the Lighter Side of news reporting will make sure things don't get too serious. Who would have thought?
