Dissonance and UFOs
Copyright 2018, InterAmerica, Inc.
The other day while listening to a batch of symphony
movements I was startled to hear a cacophonous mixture of discordant sounds,
not necessarily dissonant sounds, just a disorienting batch of sounds.
I think it was a movement from Mahler’s Sixth Symphony,
which was oddly out of character for that composer it seemed to me.
That moment got me to thinking that, in life and its moments, when something pleasant, straight-forward,
logical, and sensible is taking place, there appears a dissonant episode that intrudes.
Let me mention a few:
A person is living a common life when abruptly he or she is
struck by an intruding illness (or death, before its natural time).
Persons traveling to a vacation spot are, suddenly, hit, by
another vehicle containing other travelers, ending up in a situation that isn’t
part of their destination.
Let me move to, not so serious, cultural moments that often
contain a dissonant moment:
In music there are many pieces totally dissonant:
Mozart ended a Divertimento [K. 522] on a wildly
dissonant chord:
And in art (painting) there are a plethora of dissonant
additions or elements that add to the aesthetic ideal but are in fact
dissonant:
In literature one finds story lines rife with dissonant
elements which, in fact, give the literature its fascination:
In the Mesopotamian epic of Gilgamesh there is this:
“After Enkidu dies of a disease sent as punishment from the gods, Gilgamesh
becomes afraid of his own death.” [Wikipedia]
In Herman Melville’s story of Good and Evil – Billy Budd,
Foretopman – you will find this: “Billy, a foundling from Bristol, has an
innocence, good looks and a natural charisma that make him popular with the
crew. His only physical defect is a stutter which grows worse when under
intense emotion. He arouses the antagonism of the ship's master-at-arms, John
Claggart. Claggart, while not unattractive, seems somehow "defective or
abnormal in the constitution", possessing a "natural depravity."
Envy is Claggart's explicitly stated emotion toward Budd, foremost because of
his "significant personal beauty," and also for his innocence and
general popularity. (Melville further opines that envy is "universally
felt to be more shameful than even felonious crime.") This leads Claggart
to falsely charge Billy with conspiracy to mutiny. When the captain, Edward
Fairfax "Starry" Vere, is presented with Claggart's charges, he
summons Claggart and Billy to his cabin for a private meeting. Claggart makes
his case and Billy, astounded, is unable to respond, due to his stutter. In his
extreme frustration he strikes out at Claggart, killing him instantly.”
[Wikipedia]
N.B. Billy Budd is hung for his “crime.”
(There is a superb 1962 movie of the tale with Peter
Ustinov, the Captain; Robert Ryan, Claggart, and Terence Stamp, as Billy Budd)
There are countless other stories that reek of dissonance: Wuthering
Heights by Emily Bronte, Dostoevsky’s The Idiot and countless
others, that you’ve read, surely.
And in science there are the dissonant aftermaths of such
personages as Tesla and Turing.
And we all know what happened to Jesus of Nazareth.
Here’s my point, finally….
In every UFO tale or report there is always a dissonant
element -- That which is in a context where it does not belong.
Roswell has had a flurry of discordant, dissonant,
insertions from the beginning: Roswell is said to have captured a flying saucer
(disc) that eventually turns into a crashed flying disc containing humanoid
entities:
The dissonance mounts and proliferates by persons inept at
investigating the story, writing about it, and the wannabes who confabulated
ingredients that have mucked up the incident beyond any authentic redemption.
The 1948 Chiles-Whitted encounter with a cigarshaped craft
during their commercial flight is marred by differing sketches of what they
supposedly saw:
The Betty/Barney Hill “abduction” first had big-nosed aliens
that morphed into creatures similar to those in a contemporary TV show, without
big noses.
There are the twists in the 1964 Socorro story: two
insigniae have been produced that the witness, Police Office Lonnie Zamora,
allegedly drew from his observation of a symbol on the egg-shaped craft he saw
in the desert, and which departed just as he dropped his glasses in his runaway
from that departure.
Then there are the emendations and prevarications of those
who supposedly encountered an alien craft, twice, in Rendlesham Forest in 1980.
You grasp my point, yes? That dissonance intrudes in every
human endeavor, every one.
And trying to come to an explanation of life, culture, or
UFOs means we have to eliminate dissonance….but that is impossible as
dissonance, it seems, is endemic to life as we know it, something intrinsic to
our reality.
So, UFO buffs (skeptics and believers alike), live with it.
RR
posted by RRRGroup at
Saturday, September 15, 2018
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