Every week there’s a new monster (MOTW) where all the evidence for outsiders disappears, or there’s the mythology where the government is covering it up.
I’m a huge skeptic in almost everything, but if I saw what she saw, I would clearly believe. That’s plenty of evidence for me, and I’m an actual scientist (well PhD engineer. I definitely did real science in school though)
The shit’s clearly real in their universe.
(Sorry, just been watching the first season of the x-files for the past few weeks)
There’s something to be said about the whole “wanting to believe” thing for Mulder. While Scully may be rational and skeptical, there may also be a part of her that “doesn’t want to believe” something outlandish.
If so, both Mulder’s and Scully’s gut instincts are technically irrational (because it doesn’t make sense to “want to” believe something or not), but hers has a lifetime of reinforcement that is hard to break, even for an otherwise rational person.
I like the want to believe vs not want to believe interpretation. Extremely good point.
This is a way more interesting answer than I expected. Respect.