You’ve got to give the U.S. government an A-plus for consistency. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, they wanted two waves of UFOs kept out of the news, and they succeeded. Today, they want all negative news regarding Ebola to be swept under the rug for the holiday season. Their method to achieve these feats of news manipulation? Nearly identical all three times. Here’s how it’s done:
The Wytheville, Virginia UFO Wave
Over 1,500 UFO sightings were reported in the small town of Wytheville, Virginia, in 1987 and 1988. It became the subject of an Unsolved Mysteries TV episode, complete with ominous threats and an alleged government cover-up. How do you keep that many witnesses out of the news? You choose one person to be the face of the UFO wave, and catapult that person to the front of the news — in this case it was reporter Danny Gordon.
Then you send Men-in-Black to frighten the UFO reporter into silence, which has a domino effect of sweeping all the rest of the witnesses so far into the background as to make them virtually disappear. It worked. Few people today have ever even heard of Wytheville, Virginia, or the wave of UFOs that swept over the town.
The Gulf Breeze, Florida, Wave of UFOs
It wasn’t as dramatic as 1,500 sightings in two years, but the time span gives credibility to both stories. Over 200 UFO sightings were reported from 1987 through 1992 in Gulf Breeze, Florida, signifying a wave of UFOs, and this time people took photos. How did the government quell the story? With a single person: Edward Walters.
The Gulf Breeze UFO wave became centered on one witness, who was discredited, loudly and publicly, effectively canceling out the other sightings by declaring it to be nothing more than a UFO hoax. To this day, it hasn’t been proven definitively that the photographs were faked, nor does it nullify the other witnesses and their photos, but it did cloud the story with enough doubt to effectively make it go away.
Ebola in the United States
When Ebola was limited to Africa, it was worthy of front page news in the United States. Once it set foot on American soil and citizens started looking over their shoulders in fear, The Man decided that it was time to take control of the Ebola news. How was it done? You guessed it. Focus the news on a single person, or in this case three, and let the rest of the news slip quietly away into oblivion.
The methodology was a work of art. First, a humorous news story emerged from satire columnist Andy Borowitz, stating that Fox News was terminating its coverage of the Ebola virus immediately. Sean Hannity ended with the comment, “Our work is done… This story is officially over.” Of course, presenting it as news satire turned it into a media joke.
Little did anyone realize that in the days to follow, the Ebola news truly would seemingly come to an end. If you look for news today, you’ll find three names in the news, repeated over and over, with a single message behind all of the stories: Ebola is no danger to U.S. citizens, and we do not need a mandatory, 21-day quarantine.
Amber Vinson’s battle to survive being infected with Ebola, and the subsequent destruction of her engagement ring, was the first story. She caught Ebola while treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient in the United States, and then she flew to Ohio to take care of wedding plans. There were conflicting reports on when Amber Vinson became symptomatic for Ebola, and the news spread fear across America.
Craig Spencer was the second story, and his activities probably spawned the news hush that followed. His antics in gallivanting around New York City just before testing positive for the Ebola virus threw the country into a panic. He went bowling, ate at a meatball shop, visited a coffee shop, took a taxi, and rode three different subway lines, potentially exposing thousands of people if he were contagious, which of course they assure us that he was not. Today, the news on Craig Spencer is that after a lengthy battle to survive, he has finally been declared free of the Ebola virus, as has Amber Vinson.
The third story is Kaci Hickox, the nurse who was detained in a quarantine tent upon her return from treating Ebola patients in Africa, even though she wasn’t sick. It was simply a precaution, triggered by the fear that Craig Spencer had set off, and Kaci’s outrage led to legal action, political action, and a country-wide debate on the necessity of quarantines for returning health care workers.
They’ve already given up several weeks to risk their lives combating Ebola on the front lines in Africa. If health care workers were prevented from returning to their jobs in the U.S. because of a mandatory, 21-day Ebola quarantine, it would prevent medical personnel from going to Africa in the first place, which would hinder efforts to eradicate the Ebola outbreak at the source. Ebola doctors want the freedom to return to work immediately upon their return.
Craig and Amber survived the Ebola virus, and are free and clear of Ebola today. Like the many who risk their lives traveling halfway around the world to help a stranger fight this deadly virus, they are indeed heroes. So are the many others who also risk their lives, such as news crews, photographers, missionaries, military personnel, and all of the others whose names are never heard.
Today’s headline news is that the United States is now officially free of active Ebola cases, so there’s no need to worry moving into the holiday season. What you don’t hear much about is the devastation that followed Craig and Amber over the failure to quarantine. Two lives would have been impacted for 21 days, and all they had to do was agree to stay in the comfort of their own home, and not go out — anywhere — for any reason. What follows is the result of two people who didn’t quarantine, and then tested positive for Ebola.
- 132 people were on the plane that flew Amber from Ohio to Texas — that’s 132 people who needed to be monitored for 21 days, and 132 potential new Ebola carriers if they’d been infected.
- The airline put 6 crewmen on paid leave for 21 days, the airplane was removed from service for an unspecified period of time, carpeting was removed, seat covers were removed, and the plane was cleaned four different times out of an abundance of caution once it became evident that Amber was symptomatic while on the plane.
- A bridal shop went out of business after thirty years of service, because they could not rebound from the devastation of Amber’s visit.
- A school was shut down for decontamination as well, just as a precautionary measure, being the school of the son of the bridal shop owner.
- A bowling alley was shut down to decontaminate, out of an abundance of caution.
- Anyone who’d been exposed to the Ebola-infected just before they tested positive would be obligated to notify their employers, who might encourage them to stay out of work for 21 days, and trigger a host of job-related issues such as sick day allotment, and other employees refusing to come to work if you don’t self-quarantine.
- An estimate for the cost to New York businesses for Craig Spencer’s visits during his failure to self-quarantine: a conservative $70,000. And who foots the bill? Nobody knows. Taxpayers may be on the hook for some of it.
This doesn’t take into account the additional people that were put on Ebola-watch, the expenses that weren’t reported, and the many other people whose lives were disrupted because two people did not self-quarantine.
These are the types of stories that would be front page news during the holidays, if the Powers That Be hadn’t taken control of the news, whether overtly or covertly. Today the news is all sunshine and rainbows, because headlines pronounce that America is officially Ebola-free, at least as far as we know. The CDC isn’t ready to make such a bold declaration, but you can look at the headline news for assurance that you don’t need to worry your pretty little head through the holidays.
For a deeper look at what science really has to say about the transmission of Ebola, contrary to what we’re usually told, this article looks at the uncertainties, such as, “Can Ebola be transmitted when a person isn’t showing symptoms?” The answer is: The experts do not know. They don’t believe so, but they are not 100% certain. They can’t even promise us that rats in the sewers won’t become infectious, but at least we won’t worry about it again until after the holidays, if the news media has its way.
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In the meantime, if you’re curious as to why I personally believe that the UFOs reported in Wytheville, Virginia, and Gulf Breeze, Florida, were genuine, you can read my personal UFO story. It touches on several known UFO sightings, UFO waves, and draws a map to demonstrate why the two controversial UFO waves were probably genuine.
