4 ms·

I watched the interview in the entirety. It basically him explaining why 99.99% of all the sightings can’t be trusted. He explains how some real but weird sight

I watched the interview in the entirety. It basically him explaining why 99.99% of all the sightings can’t be trusted. He explains how some real but weird sighting can be explained with narrow expertise. He is not just experienced, he was one of the top fighter pilots at that time. One thing is to fuck with campers and ufo “enthusiasts”, another is to go on record and testify before congress.

mcpackieh 3y ago
He wasn't describing only what other pilots have done, but what he has done. He flatly admits that he has a sick sense of humor which manifests as pranking people into believing they've seen UFOs. The number of people ever convicted of perjury for lying to Congress is tiny, and in this case particularly it would be very easy for him to fall back on 'I believe I saw what I saw!' Saying it under oath to Congress confers zero credibility to me. It's no more meaningful than saying it to Joe Rogan.
- haswell 3y ago
  What I don’t agree with is the implication that a willingness to play pranks automatically equates to a willingness to lie to congress/the American people. As a thought experiment, imagine for a moment that these UAPs are real phenomena and of non-human origin. Given the pop culture behaviors about UFOs - specifically those of skepticism and rolling one’s eyes at true believers - it’s not hard to imagine that this would be considered funny, and ultimately harmless (even if ill advised). Now he’s flying a mission and see presumably the real thing. “Shiiiit, nobody’s going to believe me now after those pranks”. Could he be fabricating all of this? Or at least intentionally sharing misleading information? Possibly. But it’s also not hard to imagine a completely earnest version of this playing out. I just don’t see the direct connection between the prior behavior and this public testimony.
  - mcpackieh 3y ago
    I'm one of the top forest rangers in America. I am a trained and experienced forest observer, so when I tell you that I've seen bigfoot, you know I have a lot of credibility. Now, I know what you're thinking, lots of people have hoaxed bigfoot sightings before. That is true, in fact I myself once rented a gorilla suit and pranced around in the woods pranking campers. With my suit on I turned off my flashlight and ran up to their campfire OOKing and EEKing, then ran back off into the trees. Instant bigfoot sighting. I have a sick sense of humor like that. Anyway, I tell you this so that you know I understand most bigfoot sightings aren't real, but I'm telling you now that I did see bigfoot for real! I swear it on my mum's life. Why, I'll even swear it to a room fool of politicians.
    - postalrat 3y ago
      Are you willing to reveal your identity to hackernews to prove you are who you say you are?
      - mcpackieh 3y ago
        Suppose I did prove that I am such a forest ranger. Would my story about putting on a gorilla suit make you more or less confident about my claim to have seen bigfoot?
        haswell 3y ago
        That would highly depend on how many other expert forest rangers corroborate your account, and how much sensor data accompanies your claim. I also think the focus should be on witnessing something. Saying it’s definitely Bigfoot is an interpretation of what you saw. Maybe you saw the same phenomena other people saw and believed to be Bigfoot. Maybe what you saw has explanations that aren’t currently accessible.

mcpackieh 3y ago

He wasn't describing only what other pilots have done, but what he has done. He flatly admits that he has a sick sense of humor which manifests as pranking people into believing they've seen UFOs. The number of people ever convicted of perjury for lying to Congress is tiny, and in this case particularly it would be very easy for him to fall back on 'I believe I saw what I saw!' Saying it under oath to Congress confers zero credibility to me. It's no more meaningful than saying it to Joe Rogan.

haswell 3y ago
What I don’t agree with is the implication that a willingness to play pranks automatically equates to a willingness to lie to congress/the American people. As a thought experiment, imagine for a moment that these UAPs are real phenomena and of non-human origin. Given the pop culture behaviors about UFOs - specifically those of skepticism and rolling one’s eyes at true believers - it’s not hard to imagine that this would be considered funny, and ultimately harmless (even if ill advised). Now he’s flying a mission and see presumably the real thing. “Shiiiit, nobody’s going to believe me now after those pranks”. Could he be fabricating all of this? Or at least intentionally sharing misleading information? Possibly. But it’s also not hard to imagine a completely earnest version of this playing out. I just don’t see the direct connection between the prior behavior and this public testimony.
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  I'm one of the top forest rangers in America. I am a trained and experienced forest observer, so when I tell you that I've seen bigfoot, you know I have a lot of credibility. Now, I know what you're thinking, lots of people have hoaxed bigfoot sightings before. That is true, in fact I myself once rented a gorilla suit and pranced around in the woods pranking campers. With my suit on I turned off my flashlight and ran up to their campfire OOKing and EEKing, then ran back off into the trees. Instant bigfoot sighting. I have a sick sense of humor like that. Anyway, I tell you this so that you know I understand most bigfoot sightings aren't real, but I'm telling you now that I did see bigfoot for real! I swear it on my mum's life. Why, I'll even swear it to a room fool of politicians.
  - postalrat 3y ago
    Are you willing to reveal your identity to hackernews to prove you are who you say you are?
    - mcpackieh 3y ago
      Suppose I did prove that I am such a forest ranger. Would my story about putting on a gorilla suit make you more or less confident about my claim to have seen bigfoot?
      - haswell 3y ago
        That would highly depend on how many other expert forest rangers corroborate your account, and how much sensor data accompanies your claim. I also think the focus should be on witnessing something. Saying it’s definitely Bigfoot is an interpretation of what you saw. Maybe you saw the same phenomena other people saw and believed to be Bigfoot. Maybe what you saw has explanations that aren’t currently accessible.