Look to the skies, Jimmy says (Dec.19, 1999)

December 19, 1999

An old horror movie ends with a warning to people to look to the skies, part of its message when beings from outer space intend to invade us in the future.

According to Jimmy, not only have we already been invaded, but the government knows about it and may well be part of a vast conspiracy to undermine humankind.

This is nothing new. Jimmy has postulated some version of this since the early 1970s, part of an outgrowth of the Pentagon Papers era when we all began to suspect that someone – especially government – is lying to us about something, even if we’re not sure exactly what or why they are lying.

But over the years, Jimmy has compiled more and more “data” so that with each visit we are exposed to yet another aspect of this great conspiracy.

Yesterday’s visit introduced us to the concept of “chem trails” in which high-flying jets eject chemicals into the atmosphere. From the ground these look like vapor trail that are supposedly the biproduct of air flight.

Jimmy, however, points to the crisscross pattern which were very evident above the shopping mall yesterday and he tells us they are no accident.

Jimmy has the gift of gab the way his father, Basil did, and sometimes as with Basil, it is difficult to tell whether he is stating fact or simply spinning a tale to entertain us.

But he can be convincing and sometimes, I am conflicted over whether or not to take at face value many of his more outrageous concepts.

Paranoids – and I’m not claiming Jimmy is one – can be very convincing because they believe the illusion so thoroughly and for that reason pull you in.

They – and this does include Jimmy – spend a lot of time gathering “evidence” making it extremely difficult to argue against them since most people do not have the time or energy to research every one of their “facts.”

In the case of chem trails it would take a full government disclosure to prove or disprove his claim.

But even then, Jimmy might suggest the government is holding back or flat out lying.

So, you can’t win.

“You find the truth in odd places,” he told us over coffee at the mall. “What better way to hide the truth than to include it in something that can be proven as a lie.”

“What?”

“It makes sense. If they want to cover something up, they package it so that when you dismiss the lie, you also dismiss the truth,” Jimmy said.

This had my head spinning.

Jimmy said clues regarding space aliens are everywhere.

“You only need to know where to look,” he said.

And Jimmy has looked for years, learning to read the sacred texts of people like Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Graves, tracing the conspiracies of thee past until he knew them all as will as the original conspirators.

While the seeds of Jimmy’s theories were planted in his brain years ago, many began to bloom when he discovered the internet (he was on the net before webpages even existed) where he found kindred spirits.

Jimmy said there are three possible reasons why the United states Government would want to spray the skies above its own population.

First the government may be testing some kind of chemical delivery system.

Secondly, the government is already delivering some chemical agent designed to affect us.

Thirdly, the government is beefing up the depleted ozone to keep up from being fried by ultraviolent rays from space.

“Of the three, I think the last is most likely,” Jimmy said, again pointing up at the crisscrossed pattern in the sky above the mall. “But I wouldn’t discount the first two theories.”

The government, he said, could be testing a delivery system that would provide an antidote to a chemical attack by terrorists – or mood-altering substances in case of a riot or a revolution.

Or the government could already to acting to counter some attack that has already occurred.

“Haven’t you noticed how many people are suffering colds that last eight to ten weeks?” Jimmy asked.

Of course, the government itself might be attacking us or experimenting on us.

The more Jimmy talked, the more believable his tale began. We started looking around, at the sky, at other people in the mall.

Were we being watched?

On the ride home after leaving Jimmy at the front door of the library (he didn’t want us to see where he lived), we decided we didn’t really want to know the truth.

If the world is controlled by alien beings, if the government is conducting experiments on us, we would not be able to stop it, and it was pointless to keep looking to the skies, or over our shoulders.

A mutual friend later told me that many intelligent people fall for ideas like Jimmy’s – people capable of building mountains of conspiracies out of mole hills of circumstances.

“They live dull lives,” this practical friend said. “they need these things to make their lives seem exciting.”

Out of curiosity, I went onto the internet to look up “chem trails” and came upon thousands of pages of documentation, personal testimony, photographs of airplane, even satellite images of the patterns.

I downloaded some until at one point my computer jammed.

On any other day I would have thought nothing of the matter, except to get angry about how old and inadequate my personal computer was in the age of complicated internet imagery.

But this time, the first thought that struck me was: “They found out I’m looking into this.”

They? Who?

With a sigh, I turned off my computer and went bed.