• Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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    9 months ago

    Another one nobody really talks about is the whole “UFO coverup conspiracy” which isn’t a conspiracy to cover up UFOs, but to hide military operations:

    The classic case, well-known to conspiracy aficionados, is Paul Bennewitz, a successful electronics entrepreneur in New Mexico. In 1979, Bennewitz started seeing strange lights in the sky, and picking up weird transmissions on his amateur equipment. The fact that he lived just across the road from Kirtland air force base should have set alarm bells ringing, but Bennewitz was convinced these phenomena were of extraterrestrial origin. Being a good patriot, he contacted the Air Force, who realised that, far from eavesdropping on ET, Bennewitz was inadvertently eavesdropping on them.
    Instead of making him stop, though, Doty and other officers told Bennewitz they were interested in his findings. That encouraged Bennewitz to dig deeper. Within a few years, he was interpreting alien languages, spotting crashed alien craft in the hills from his plane (he was an amateur pilot), and sounding the alert for a full-scale invasion. All the time, the investigators were surveilling him surveilling them. They gave Bennewitz computer software that “interpreted” the signals, and even dumped fake props for him to discover. The mania took over Bennewitz’s life. In 1988, his family checked him into a psychiatric facility.

    Paul Bennewitz died in that facility, still paranoid. Our government broke that man, a veteran, with a conspiracy.

    It makes it hard for me to enjoy the X Files knowing all the suffering caused by its origin.

    • skillissuer@discuss.tchncs.de
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      9 months ago

      in defense of air force, this was pretty funny

      (and also rather simple and self-sustaining way of diverting attention away from then top-secret projects that resulted in wonders of engineering like B-2 or F-117)

    • xor@infosec.pub
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      9 months ago

      damn, they gas lighted him…

      im still with David Grusch and believe there’s been real ufo encounters…
      but it doesn’t surprise me they’d use the public interest in that another way…

      • They definitely gaslit the dude, for the greater good of America, I suppose; I’m sure one could make the case that the success and therefore the secrecy of America’s stealth and space programs were essential to bringing about the present world order, in which America is the lone superpower, for better or worse.

        I think there are real cases in which various visual, optical, radio, or computer phenomena, have been misinterpreted by observers in good faith, who have reconciled what they could not explain with fantasies.

        Or do you mean that, despite official statements to the contrary and lack of available evidence, in fact actual extraterrestrials have traveled to the earth and their presence verified and knowledge held in secret from the general public?

        • xor@infosec.pub
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          9 months ago

          in which America is the lone superpower, for better or worse.

          for worse… but i’d argue that China and the EU are superpowers…

          Or do you mean that, despite official statements to the contrary and lack of available evidence, in fact actual extraterrestrials have traveled to the earth and their presence verified and knowledge held in secret from the general public

          although your premises are incorrect, yes to the conclusion.
          i’d argue that Grusch’s claims constitute an official statement, and evidence… given his clearances and official position in the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO)
          … as well as the navy releasing video of the tictac ufo…

          i mean, there’s a longer list i could come up with. one important thing in the old untrustworthy first hand evidence, is consistency… certain shapes of craft and descriptions of things keep repeating themselves throughout history.

          it’s hard to approach the topic with an open mind, given the absolute fuck-ton of bullshit, flim-flam, scams, and crazy people surrounding it. i’m very lucky in that i was a first hand witness to the “1994 michigan ufo event”, so i always knew there was something alien visiting us… just never what the fuck else that meant.
          there’s a really good episode of Unsolved Mysteries on it: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/unsolved-mysteries-something-in-the-sky
          And that was very widely witnessed, as well as tracked by radar…

          • “I don’t believe for a minute that it was any kind of alien structure; I think there is a fairly strong earthly explanation for what occurred,” says Leo Grenier, director of the National Weather Service in Muskegon. …

            Grenier of the National Weather Service believes the Federal Aviation Administration knows what happened that night but isn’t saying.

            “If any aircraft are within a given area, then the FAA has to know what’s going on in that area. But most of the time, they won’t acknowledge anything, not even to us,” he says.

            “I think I know what it was, but I’m not going to tell you. Once I retire from the National Weather Service, I might tell somebody.”

            Any more about what this guy thinks it was in Michigan?

            First time I saw the tic tac video, it looked to me like glare that I’ve seen before on a PTZ camera inside a clear dome aka a speed dome camera, and I found credible the many who say that’s exactly what it is just from reflected infrared light. The voices, which I later learned are fake, are what made me think “nah, it couldn’t be an artifact, the pilots would recognize it.”

            • xor@infosec.pub
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              9 months ago

              no idea on Leo Grenier, but the actual radar operator went on to track crafts over the lake for hours… after he retired he talked a lot more about it (and that it’s definitely aliens)

              as to the tic tac video, glad you set me up for this: Yeah the pilot of the plane that filmed that, was one of three people who gave testimony to congress (along with David Grusch). The whole congressional hearing is tedious to watch, but well worth it.
              That pilot goes into great detail about how he had multiple instruments tracking the tictac, other planes were flying with him, how extensively he’s educated on that equipment, and how exactly he’s sure that it’s not some camera glitch.

              but you should definitely watch the entire, unedited congressional hearing on UAPs… i watched a lot of coverage about it, but it all misses a lot of important things. Still the members of congress talk too much about themselves, etc… but you should see the whole thing.
              And as much as i dislike Joe Rogan lately, his interview with Grusch is pretty good; he lets Grusch talk for most of the time.

              • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Found one more quote from Grenier:

                “Leo Grenier, director of Muskegon’s National Weather Service office, says he knows what happened – but he won’t tell. “There wasn’t any UFO,” Grenier said. “There’s an earthly explanation but I’m not going to talk about it.” The reason, Grenier said, is national security. “I was in the Navy for 20 years. I know a lot of Navy operations and a good bit (about) Navy equipment. I checked with some retired electronic technicians I know, and they confirmed what I thought.”

                • xor@infosec.pub
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                  9 months ago

                  lol… no, one guy who wasn’t there saying some vague coverup language (i know what it is, but won’t tell you, but it’s totally not ufo)
                  no that doesn’t discount hundreds of eye witnesses across hundreds of miles, and the actual guy operating the radar:
                  https://wwmt.com/news/local/retired-meteorologist-shares-his-account-of-1994-west-michigan-ufo-sightings

                  it makes zero sense to keep quoting a guy who wasn’t there, and who says “i know but wont tell you till i retire”

                  and btw, no current comments from Grenier…

                  also, i was there… and i know what i saw!

                  • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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                    9 months ago

                    I’m not doubting what you saw. I’m just wondering what that Grenier guy thinks you saw. He seems to say he has a good idea of what it is. He could be a total nutter but I’d still like to know what he thinks. Hasn’t some podcaster tracked him down?

                    And are there any photos? I couldn’t seem to find any.