Towards paranormalization

“I used to give a briefing to some folks...because this goes back to the whole "stigma/taboo" issue. I used to have a slideshow...I would discuss the word...the Latin prefix "para, P-A-R-A", and it means "above" or "beside". And so what I would do is say the word "parachute" and I'd ask people, "what do you think of when you hear the word parachute" and people would describe "something that deploys over your head, and hopefully [you] hit the ground with a with a thump and not a thud. But something that's normal, [something] we use everyday.”

And then I say "what about the word paramedic?" And then people would look at it and say "well I think of a first responder, someone good, some sort of medical life-saver that's going to be there for your benefit.”

And then I say the word "paranormal, what do you think?"

And people will stop for a second, maybe they give you a little sly smile, and they say "what do you mean?" And I’d say, "I mean that - paranormal - the only reason why you're reacting the way you are [is] because you've been conditioned".

The word "paranormal" is "kooky stuff" when, in reality, in science, by definition: everything is paranormal until it becomes normal. The cell phone that I use every day, 50 years ago [was] absolutely paranormal!

So I would go through this exercise of things that were once considered paranormal. For example, when the Inca first saw the Spaniards coming to conquer, they saw them on the shores of the beach, and they saw these humans in armor riding on a horse. And they assumed - because they've never seen a horse before - they assumed it was a single entity. It was a single monster and that, for them, was paranormal. They didn't understand it was actually a human riding on a horse. Same thing with acupuncture. I remember a time, when I was growing up as a kid, people thought Eastern medicine [and] acupuncture was nonsense. Well, now at the Veterans Administration, for some of my guys in combat, they actually prescribe acupuncture as therapy. It's not paranormal.

And so there's all these examples in history where we think something is kooky and weird when in reality it's not. It's just [that] we don't understand it yet, and we have done such a good job of stigmatizing this conversation that the moment you even say the word paranormal, or you say the word UFO, or anything like that - people are conditioned, without even thinking about [it]. It's reflexive to react a certain way.

And we have to deprogram ourselves first, a little bit, before we can start moving forward.”

Joe Rogan Experience #2194 - Luis Elizondo
Aug 23, 2024