Definitions of Skepticism
The definition of a skeptic and the actuality of most skeptics is quite different. In truth there are two camps, those who adhere messianically to their disbelief, and those who are simply level headed when dealing with novel situations. There's something about the former which seems to cry "show me". I think there's a real desire to believe, a passion for the unusual, the most rabid skeptics have probably the most deeply held hopes. They want something to happen that's so undeniable, that they have to believe it. Its a need thing. If I was to try to define my own skepticism, its that if I have all the facts and I can explain it, its not paranormal. If someone else can explain it, its still not paranormal. If we're in the possession of all the facts, and no one can explain it, that's cool too. Its preternatural, something which can't explained yet, but probably will be. Its just time to re-evaluate your opinions.
What are UFOs ( in the Physical, Psychological, and Symbolic sense )
Its difficult for me to move away from leaving them as Unidentified Flying Objects. I mean their very nature suggests we have little evidence about the event. I think its an issue of how pragmatic you are. I think weather balloon is a better explanation than aliens, and I'd lean towards NATO spyplane before I was thinking 'Close Encounters'.
There's work on the psychological aspects. Many people think there's a psychological explanation for UFOs, and that's possible. Some people have studied the environment, and surroundings that seem to correlate with sightings, others have looked at biographic data about those who report the events. I mean there are strong parallels with the ghost riders in the sky legends, and translation miracles. Its possible that people just express their visions in the most socially acceptable form. Alien abductions and time loss are just the faerie hill myths of two or three centuries ago, right down to the spindly grey goblins with big dome eyes.
I can hear the comeback now though. Surely that's a historical proof that aliens are and have always been amongst us . There's no way to argue with that sort of logic, so I don't think I'll bother. Collecting the similarities just bolsters the prejudices on either side of the debate.
In a symbolic sense I think they express an increasingly industrial and souless society's desire for mysticism and magick. We need our mysteries, or we'd never be able to express wonder. Some people find it in religion, some in philosophy, some in aliens. There's nothing wrong with it, its just an expression of human nature.
Do I think there's anything peculiar to Northern Ireland
I think Northern Ireland is a strange place regarding sightings, perhaps because of the the mix between rural and urban. We have more lake monster legends than almost anywhere else of equivalent size in the world, every lake in Ireland seems to have one, its probably a competitive thing. We have a fine tradition of folklore and for a long time most 'events' were supernatural rather than paranormal. We didn't use to have that many alien sightings, but like everywhere else the tallies have been creeping up. Is that evidence more are happening, more people are reporting them now, or more people are using UFOs as a handy explanation. No one knows, we are back to the two camps thing again. I think that there are probably more UFOs but the reasons I'd choose are (a) More people are looking for them (b) there is more 'stuff' in the airspace than there's ever been in human history, whether its caused by the Harbour Airport increasing flights to London, or the decaying orbits of Chinese Satellites.
There's a phenomenon aspect. Crop circles. ufo sightings, abductions, they needed the media to become popular. In the 1890s spiritualism was all the rage and pulling ectoplasm out of your mouth was the paranormal vogue - now its aliens. The fringe is fashionable at the moment and in turn the fringe has fashions.
Next decade it'll be computers which have developed artificial intelligence have taken over the banking system, or something equally bizarre. Its impossible to predict what we'll want to believe in next.
In the Northern Irish context I think we're like most large social groupings, we report what we think we are expected to see.
What can I say about people who claim they have been abducted and or perceive conspiracy theories
Well its not really my place to arbitrarily judge a class of people who may have nothing in common expect those factors. Who knows what variations there between the people involved? Until I've seen some research, I'll reserve judgment. As for conspiracy theorists, there's something more subtle involved there. Its not necessarily that there are or aren't causal links through the events which occur throughout the world, its whether or not they are sinister. Yes, big corporations have done horrific things in the past, the Silkwood case for instance, or the Seven Sisters scandal in the US, where the big oil companies rigged their prices. There's discernment required, and you have to keep a level head about these things, look at any good journalist. They come across evidence of interrelation of events in every story they probably write, but they have to keep perspective. The degree of separation between ourselves and everyone else in the world isn't all that big, forgetting that fact and easily feed a paranoia. So I'd hedge my bets on that one, I believe that there are conspiracies, and that there nearly always have been, but I wouldn't fixate on it. The people who do might be right though, and that would teach me for being reasonable.
Do I believe in Aliens
Ah, the inevitable. I'd love to believe in Aliens. I'd love to believe in Magick, so maybe I fall into the "Show Me" class I mentioned earlier. My answer would be I believe that they are things which we have yet to explain fully, and I have my doubts as to whether there are interstellar cultures reaching out to contact us. With me its a trade off between doubts, hopes and beliefs. At the moment my answer would be no, but its the half hearted no of a skeptic who would love to be wrong.