pigfarmer
tall, thin, irritable
Lot of ingredients went into my mental crock pot for this one and have been simmering a while. This isn't about veterans of military service, just illustrating a point.
I took a class about Vietnam once and in that was told that the people who claim combat service in that conflict grossly outnumber the total number of people involved in any way, combat or not. This grew to sufficient magnitude that laws have been passed to address it: H.R.258 - 113th Congress (2013-2014): Stolen Valor Act of 2013
Ask yourself why people do this and it seems pretty obvious. Human nature. Wanting to belong to a community, to be considered different and due respect. Basically it's attention seeking behavior and the things that get you attention, the various medals, devices, uniforms are plainly visible representations that are attractive and accessible to many people. I worked with a man who told all sorts of stories about his service with the Marines, watched him cry over past deeds and lost friends, looked at the souvenirs he brought home. Never once said a word to him about it but if I did it would be 'know your audience' . I read history constantly and have done so for years. I can do the math and always knew for a fact he's full of ****. Turns out much later under other circumstances it all came out - and contributed to his divorce. Can't change your actual birth date and that's what tripped him up. Never could figure out why either, he otherwise had so much going for him. A normal, decent guy except for that one major crack in his head. If he saw a UFO he has a nice list of Impressive Stuff to add to his credibility but knowing his true nature could you ever believe what he said? I can say it was attention seeking behavior and that's true but I just can't fathom how anyone could do that and still live with themselves, or sleep at night for fear of being outed.
A comment very recently made to me about a another attention seeking behavior situation, this time in an elderly woman literally steeped in a broth of silly pills. She got caught flat out with fakery like Baby Finster smoking a cigar and shaving when he thought Bugs wasn't looking. "How long could someone possibly keep that up? This is real !!" The answer is: years and years. As long as they want it to no matter what the circumstances - and as long as there's a receptive audience. The BS is plain to any non-family member but those that fail to see it for what it is totally swallow it hook, line and sinker.
So I have been thinking about various talking heads that we all know, various cases that revolve entirely around the validity of eyewitness testimony and see them as a porch light for those with attention seeking behaviors. Feel free to throw in whatever name you'd like here - Ray Stanford maybe? Bob Lazar, Richard Doty? Probably no argument with that list. Throw in Betty Hill and Travis Walton and the characters from the Rendlesham case and you might get some push back. I see Lue Elizondo as another of this type and suspect the shit will come out in the wash as time goes on.
It's a mistake to prejudge a case or not listen to a witness, best to give a person the benefit of the doubt. In non-esoteric everyday matters people will often just tell you the literal truth. Many times on service calls I made work for myself for no reason other than I failed to listen to what the person reporting the trouble actually said to me the minute I walked in the door. Wasted time on what I decided it was enroute without actually looking at anything. People aren't looking for attention in that instance, just want their crap fixed and have no need to prevaricate. To me this is why the police recording after Pascagoula is so interesting. Lonnie Zamora also. Didn't seem like much attention seeking behavior going on at the time although Hickson could probably be accused of some of that later on.
I took a class about Vietnam once and in that was told that the people who claim combat service in that conflict grossly outnumber the total number of people involved in any way, combat or not. This grew to sufficient magnitude that laws have been passed to address it: H.R.258 - 113th Congress (2013-2014): Stolen Valor Act of 2013
Ask yourself why people do this and it seems pretty obvious. Human nature. Wanting to belong to a community, to be considered different and due respect. Basically it's attention seeking behavior and the things that get you attention, the various medals, devices, uniforms are plainly visible representations that are attractive and accessible to many people. I worked with a man who told all sorts of stories about his service with the Marines, watched him cry over past deeds and lost friends, looked at the souvenirs he brought home. Never once said a word to him about it but if I did it would be 'know your audience' . I read history constantly and have done so for years. I can do the math and always knew for a fact he's full of ****. Turns out much later under other circumstances it all came out - and contributed to his divorce. Can't change your actual birth date and that's what tripped him up. Never could figure out why either, he otherwise had so much going for him. A normal, decent guy except for that one major crack in his head. If he saw a UFO he has a nice list of Impressive Stuff to add to his credibility but knowing his true nature could you ever believe what he said? I can say it was attention seeking behavior and that's true but I just can't fathom how anyone could do that and still live with themselves, or sleep at night for fear of being outed.
A comment very recently made to me about a another attention seeking behavior situation, this time in an elderly woman literally steeped in a broth of silly pills. She got caught flat out with fakery like Baby Finster smoking a cigar and shaving when he thought Bugs wasn't looking. "How long could someone possibly keep that up? This is real !!" The answer is: years and years. As long as they want it to no matter what the circumstances - and as long as there's a receptive audience. The BS is plain to any non-family member but those that fail to see it for what it is totally swallow it hook, line and sinker.
So I have been thinking about various talking heads that we all know, various cases that revolve entirely around the validity of eyewitness testimony and see them as a porch light for those with attention seeking behaviors. Feel free to throw in whatever name you'd like here - Ray Stanford maybe? Bob Lazar, Richard Doty? Probably no argument with that list. Throw in Betty Hill and Travis Walton and the characters from the Rendlesham case and you might get some push back. I see Lue Elizondo as another of this type and suspect the shit will come out in the wash as time goes on.
It's a mistake to prejudge a case or not listen to a witness, best to give a person the benefit of the doubt. In non-esoteric everyday matters people will often just tell you the literal truth. Many times on service calls I made work for myself for no reason other than I failed to listen to what the person reporting the trouble actually said to me the minute I walked in the door. Wasted time on what I decided it was enroute without actually looking at anything. People aren't looking for attention in that instance, just want their crap fixed and have no need to prevaricate. To me this is why the police recording after Pascagoula is so interesting. Lonnie Zamora also. Didn't seem like much attention seeking behavior going on at the time although Hickson could probably be accused of some of that later on.