- Knowledge is power. Just how much power does the UFO
research community wield? Not an ounce. And the reasons are surprising.
-
- Politics is one good reason. Selfishness another. Culpable
stupidity yet a third reason for the lack of power of the UFO research
community. Let's discuss these before going further.
-
- Politics: Caveat emptor. Each researcher in the UFO and
research community is interested in a particular segment of the phenomena.
Stan Friedman is interested in government cover-up. Dr. John Mack, in the
more spiritual element which may comprise the phenomena. Dr. David Jacobs,
the evil nature of the alien agenda. Kevin Randle is interested in rational,
scientific raison d'être for the phenomena. Bruce Maccabee is focused
on the photographic evidence produced by the camera. I could go on. And
on. Now this is not to say that these men do not perform a very credible
job. It means, however, that these men have very little in common with
each other. And it means as well, that there is little sharing. Politics
demands secrecy. Just look at our government. Some things are just not
for sharing. There are books, radio and TV venues, and a little money (very
little) in this game of UFO and abduction research and everyone wants their
piece of the pie. Unfortunately, there is very little pie to go around.
Cogito, ergo ... political perambulations abound.
-
- The only middle of the road, open minded researcher is
Budd Hopkins. And of course, all of this is the opinion of this writer.
-
- Selfishness: Where there is politics, there is selfishness.
For the reasons above. And more. With so little money, fame and venues
in which to strut, there is even less reason to cooperate one with the
other.
-
- Culpable stupidity: Perhaps this is a little strong.
Perhaps the word 'ignorance' should be substituted for 'stupidity.' When
one is culpable in his or her ignorance, it is usually because there is
something to hide. The truth maybe? And maybe there are other reasons for
this culpability. Blind sided by one's own interests and having little
in common with other researchers whose focus is not shared, it stands to
reason that this level of culpability exists in spades. Why shine one's
light on another man's work? There is little enough of that to go around
as well. Light, that is.
-
- Then there is the issue of most researchers having a
day job. And their day jobs are not related, generally, to the research.
Except in the case of Mack, a psychiatrist, and a few others, the vocation
(which earns the living) has little in common with the avocation, which
earns next to nothing. In fact, some are so dedicated to their avocation,
so caring and so determined, that their means of making a living suffers.
I know at least one of those. You would be surprised. At how little is
made publishing and selling books on the subject. Trust me. What with all
this posturing and politicking going around, there is little surprise in
just how much has not been learned by this research community.
-
- To the Manor, Born: Most researchers think very highly
of themselves. So highly that they spend a great deal of time and effort,
time and effort better spent elsewhere, on chewing the rag on UFO lists,
each one trying to outdo the other. Save Mr. Hopkins, who subscribes to
no lists.
-
- It's a dead end, dear and gentle readers. There may as
well be no research community at all. As this is the case 'with' one. And
the damage done is to knowledge and the abductee. In the end, the greatest
trust broken is the bond which should exist between the research community
and the abduction community. There is no doubt about it readers. When it
comes to abduction research, nothing is revealed.
-
- And this is a crime on a gargantuan level. The abduction
experiencer is the person hiding in a closet somewhere, with no place to
go for help. At least, not the average experiencer. Most have to live and
work just like the rest of us. They subscribe to UFO lists all over the
Internet, and one in particular, the premier list, and all they get for
their trouble is debate over material which has been debated ad nauseum.
-
- Certainly there is an occasional pearl, an occasional
gem of wisdom out there in the void, but it is almost not worth the silly,
giggle factors that one must abide by joining.
-
- Consider the most malicious and vile element in these
phenomenon; in-fighting, not only among the research community, but among
those who profess to be hard working advocates for the abductees. Vain,
malicious, ranting, personalizing and insulting, there are times when one
cannot believe one's eyes. What happens on these lists is unconscionable.
Irreconcilable. Incredulous. And very unfortunate.
-
- Sum it all up: The state of the UFO union is disarray.
It's a mess. And to repeat what Mr. Robert Zimmerman once wrote, "Nothing
is revealed." In deed, everything is reviled. Everything.
-
- This writer perceives that he is an abductee, an experiencer.
This writer has been a member of a number of lists on the subject. Even
the premier lists. But not one is worth the price of admission if one seeks
knowledge, answers or at least, an investigation of the questions which
abound.
-
- Please do not think even for a moment that this writer
has no one in whom he places his respect. There are several. More than
a few. These man and women do their best to find answers and many devote
their entire life to finding answers. I admire and love these folks because
they are trying hard to help.
-
- I once saw a sign on a store which had closed, presumably
due to poor business. It read, "Thank you, those of you who wished
us well. All the rest can go to hell."
-
- And may God bless the America that once was.
-
- Jim Mortellaro, Ph. D.
-
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Ed & Kris Sherwood
millennium9@earthlink.net
Millennium Research
6-16-2
-
- Dear Jeff,
-
- Change the names and a few details and this is just what
is going on with the Crop Circle research community as well! The information
is sacrificed for the sake of egos and merchandising. The same lack of
cooperation among Crop Circle researchers (apart from a small, devisive
self promoting group), has made our jobs much more difficult in our attempts
to make our information more widely available. It's a real shame the the
human factor, and lack of cooperation can so successfully undermine and
discredit the very phenomenon they claim to support (or supports them).
-
- Thanks for your, as always, insightfully chosen articles
and courageous news coverage.
-
- Best Regards,
-
- Ed & Kris
http://www.CropCircleAnswers.com
-
-
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Richard
rb@foundersamerica.com
6-16-2
-
- Dear Jim Mortellaro,
-
- It has always been so, and ALWAYS SHALL BE SO!
-
- You've expertly explained the reality. But where you
may see disarray, I see FOCUS and SPECIALIZATION--benefits.
-
- Do we consumers of UFO books and lectures really want
co- operation in the UFO commun- ity if the result is loss of expertise
in the various as- pects of UFO research?
-
- The phenomenon is two compli- cated to warrant the kind
- or the degree - of cooperation for which you plead.
-
- Look at it from a consumer's point of view: I have a
shelf full of books about UFO phenomena, and each one presents a unique
approach --not just BECAUSE THE UFO COM- MUNITY IS IN DISARRAY, which has
always been the case, but because the phenomena DEMANDS specialization
and focus.
-
- Where there is specialization, there will be competition
and divisiveness.
-
- Name any field of study in which there is not back-biting
compe- tition.
-
- Everything is as it should be, if nature will out.
-
- Of course, from an abductee's point of view, such competition
may be injurious--may appear to hinder the search for the much-needed answers
((solutions)) to why he/she suffers from the phenomenon. For that, all
re- searchers in the UFO community are truly sorry.
-
- Best,
-
- -Richard
-
-
-
- Comment
-
- By Alfred Lehmberg
www.alienview.net
6-17-2
-
- Jerry Cohen - Exposing The Pretender's Pawl
-
- A "pawl" is a notched wheel that is designed
to allow movement in only one direction. CSICOP's "pawl" operates
in reverse, of course. It's a catch in our cultural wheel that by definition
would otherwise ratchet 'forward' and not allow for the backsliding slip
to a previous position...
-
- CSICOP (The Center for the Silly and Insentient Commitment
of Obdurate Persons) is seeing its eventual recognition and righteous identification
as a hindrance to total human advancement, a barrier to efficacious progression,
and as an organization toxic to creatively efficacious intelligence and
even a general quality of life. CSICOP is a ratchet in reverse, an attempted
slide to a previously held position and then locked there awaiting another
opportunity for a regressive slip... CSICOP's days are numbered, even if
it is still, very unfortunately, a big number. The reader can take heart
in that.
-
- Like a Rush Limbaugh of the counter-paranormal, CSICOP
ignores the facts, creatively spins the evidence, and discounts the proof
embraced by institutions, individuals, or ideas contrary to its own. It
lacks the consistency it would otherwise demand in others and it prosecutes
its very canted agenda in a decidedly one sided manner.
-
- For example, it embraces intellectual, "think cloak"
fallacies like "extraordinary claims requiring extraordinary evidence,"
which is only a clever dodge to ensure a CSICOP controlled level of evidence
that is constantly raising its own bar. Additionally, it employs "Occam's
razor," (a cant to the simplest explanation possible) which is used
to justify 'BALLOONS' for hovering objects not shot down in a hail of antiaircraft
fire over Los Angeles in 1942, and 'VENUS' for a huge triangular craft
witnessed by hundreds (and five counties of police officers) over south
Illinois in 1991...
-
- If the reader has the slightest doubt regarding the preceding
they only have to take an enjoyably informative gander at Jerry Cohen's
very excellent website at http://www.cohenufo.org and compare it with the
all-proclamation-and-churlish-pronouncements, whiningly pontificated at
the CSICOP site found at http://www.csicop.org.
-
- Cohen deconstructs CSICOP at every turn he takes, rationally
negates many of CSICOPs ufological presumptions (blighting the rest), and
invalidates, magnificently (with some humor and a dash of appropriate sarcasm),
the presumed charter and even mandate of CSICOP's core organization. Don't
take my word for it. Go see for yourself. The dragon, if not dead, lies
dying with Cohen's lance in its chest!
-
- Mr. Cohen is old guard (...been around and diligently
researching for years), but he is descriptive of a new breed of ufologist
that uses the opposition's own arguments as evidence of opposition fallaciousness.
Mr. Cohen refreshingly goes, unlike CSICOP, where the data leads. Rare
bird, THAT.
-
- He clearly provides citation along with his rational
progressive thinking in a hyper-textual manner that balances both sides
of the contentious argument (the complete antithesis of CSICOP). Finally,
he makes it transparently obvious that our cultural deck is sullenly stacked
by an officious mainstream devoid of the same veracity that it demands
of its hapless adherents and makes it measurably clear that not only are
we not in "Kansas" anymore, good reader, maybe we were never
in "Kansas", at all!
-
- Read on.
-
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
-
- Cohen wants the "Real Deal", perceived between
the stars... to live that new reality... proposed above the present bar,
and though perhaps contentious or too quick on the offensive, he is doing
what he's doing to confront what's been pretended.
-
- And what are we pretending but the lie that we're alone,
that there is not clear history, well writ in ink and solid stone, that
there is much beneath a shroud our culture would impose, ironic from an
'Emperor' bereft of any clothes!
-
- What are we pretending with our mainstream in its yoke,
contrived for corporate interests, so a lapdog -- an embarrassed joke...
denying what the masses are reporting without fail, though they suffer
for their trouble: slings and arrows -- even jail.
-
- What are we pretending as the 'robbers' run amuck, or
perform manipulations to ensure them means to keep "good luck."
Business has a power that is near to absolute, and corrupted absolutely
is that power -- that's the truth!
-
- What are we pretending as the Earth begins to warm, or
consider dying oceans as the start of what we'd blithely harm. We could
take the steps right now to "cleanly" move to space, but psychopaths
destroy us all in self-absorbed disgrace.
-
- What are we pretending as our children starve to death,
and those who live are crippled by a hatred breathed with every breath?
Too true, we make our enemies... more often than is not, and that would
come from greed we show to those who haven't "got"!
-
- What are we pretending with egregious tyrannies that
discount the individual who would rise from callused, beat-up, knees? Invention's
disrespected, if disturbing status quos... that would have their way regardless,
and become its greatest foe.
-
- What are we pretending as we practice a denial that's
an insult to intelligence held against us at some, future, trial? Humanity
is judged, or not, by who's been said is there, not God or all his angels
but an ET, he would dare!
-
- What are we pretending while ignoring, in the sky, the
lights that move so weirdly as they weave or bob, but clearly fly? We've
enough reports from folks who claim they interact... with an alternate
intelligence, abducting them in fact?
-
- What are we pretending as we hide and stretch the truth,
or make up pretty histories our kids reject in fact! What use?! A lie's
a lie and smells as sweet so transfers all too well... contributing to
an ignorance that sends us ALL to hell.
-
- So he would stop pretending that we validate "best
practice" in ways that only signify, at best, "convenient practice."
There is much, too much, at stake, much more than we could know, and shall
we find the denouement to reap what we would sow?
-
- We're best served the real deal without the mad pretence,
a truth in our reality, sincere forthcoming-ness! A place where stealthy
psychopaths are checked by 'rule of law' and where there is fidelity, beyond
the CSICOP's pawl!
-
- Lehmberg@snowhill.com
-
- ~~Ö~~ EXPLORE "Alfred Lehmberg's Alien View"
at his VSN URL. http://www.alienview.net
-
- "I cleave the heavens, and soar to the infinite.
What others see from afar, I leave far behind me." - Giordano Bruno,
scourged by the scabrously specious scurrilous.
-
-
-
- Comment
-
- From Michael Carlin
migca14@telocity.com
6-18-2
-
- Dr. Mortellaro,
-
- I've read a few of your articles on the Jeff Rense site,
and come across one or two others in various places. I also caught most
of your appearance with Budd Hopkins on Jeff's radio program. Your name
catches my eye now, mostly because I too spent some golden summer days
on the shores of Lake George. I truly hope you are able heal the wounds
this experience has left on you.
-
- So I looked forward to reading your missive on the current
state of UFO research. Can't argue with most all of it. Is there any other
"community" under the broad umbrella of the paranormal that has
managed to discredit its field in the eyes of so many, while opening itself
to such ridicule, AND, in the process, attract the most extraordinary array
of con men, nutjobs, felons, fakirs, and fruitloops outside of Washington,
DC? If I was only slightly more paranoid, I'd be certain this field of
research was trashed on purpose. On the surface, the hack-job done on
the UFO field appears too thorough to be natural. But to convince myself,
I'd have to give either the saucermen or the spooks a LOT more credit than
they deserve. Any time UFO research flirted with respectability, its chances
were frittered away by LACK of community, by self-interest, smug chest-thumping,
and outright deceit.
-
- I've encountered enough strangeness in my years that
it would be disingenuous to dismiss out of hand another persons experience
with this "other" that appears to share our space/time. I'm
not close to having it all figured out yet, so I'm willing listen. However,
my bullshit detector is polished and calibrated. Said instrument is field-worn
but serviceable and coupled with my olfactory sense, I believe that given
a bit of data I can separate most of the outright LOONS from the people
who have something to contribute. Budd Hopkins has always seemed like
one of the latter.
-
- Given that, it is still apparent that the man is human
and has stepped into the same smelly stuff as his peers. Mr. Hopkins has
come to a conclusion based on incomplete data. Just like damn near everyone
else involved with UFOs. Exacerbating the situation is the tendency for
people who are exposed to part of this enigma to specialize, and skew the
data set accordingly. It appears that Bud Hopkins is more open-minded
than many (not to mention intelligent and rational), but please don't expect
me to believe that he has some special relationship with objectivity.
The man is a successful artist... in NEW YORK CITY!! If he didn't have
a very healthy ego and lots of considered opinions, he would have tucked
his tail between his legs and run away many years ago.
-
- Although I believe he is genuinely trying to help some
people in dire need, that doesn't make him immune from thinking that he
has got his hands firmly on the slippery serpent tail of the UFO, and the
other ones-- the nuts and bolts guy looking for metal samples, or the one
pestering the NSA for files, or the dude in the desert blinking flashlights
at incoming motherships-- they don't quite have it figured out. We all
do this. It's just that when the subject is UFOs people tend to build
fortresses out of their belief system, then bar all the doors so nothing
new or different can breach their personal event horizon, and make ready
to defend their assumptions against all comers.
-
- I've been fascinated by this subject; by this myth of
things seen in the sky, since I picked one of George Adamski's books out
of the personal library of my fourth grade teacher. A few years later,
with my mother, I watched a ghostly glowing disc stalk the frosted treetops
of the New Jersey Pine Barrens in a deep winter silence. It was many years
later that I understood what spooked me so badly that night. It was the
sense that this thing was HUNTING. Not in the modern context, but in the
ancient and feral. I haven't told that to many people, I'm sure I don't
have to explain.
-
- After all I've read, watched, and investigated, I am
quite sure of very little pertaining to this subject. I believe it has
always been with us, morphing its gameface to suit the era, local conditions
and its agenda. Today, I think there is a primary motive force behind
the manifestations truly attributable to the UFO (excluding disinformation,
etc.). Ask me tomorrow and my answer may well be qualified. As you can
attest, there is no doubt to its sinister component. Personally, I don't
know if that equates with evil intent, or strangeness past comprehension.
-
- I don't think Peter Davenport, Budd Hopkins, Stan Freidman,
and/or all the other motivated, savvy researchers are going solve this
mystery. I thought Jacques Vallee might be the one, before he was hounded
from the field for various perceived heresies. He ended up believing that
UFOs are some sort of mass human control mechanism. That's probably part
of the equation but by who or what ...and why? I think it's going to take
a synthesizer along the lines of a Feynman or maybe even an Einstein.
I only pray that person has been born.
-
- Keep writing
-
- Michael Carlin
-
- PS One thing I'm certain of: the internet lists, which
I gave up on years ago, are a haven for pathetic people that get a charge
out of the ability to denigrate other's character and experience without
consequence. People who would NEVER have the balls to say the same things
face-to-face. They are worthless and an enormous drain on energy and emotion.
This is not limited to the UFO list.
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