UFOLOGY - Cult Lifestyle or Scientific Discipline
Steve Bass
July 21, 2008
Ufology is the scientific study of unidentified aerial phenomena and extraterrestrial entities and their technology, sociology, psychology, and purpose for the benefit of Mankind. There are some giants in the field of Ufology who have crafted and molded it, who have brought the scientific method to bear. Men such as Stanton T. Friedman, former nuclear physicist, lecturer, and original Roswell crash investigator. Mr. Friedman obtained his BSc and MSc from the University of Chicago, and has worked on classified nuclear programs for such companies as General Electric, Westinghouse, and McDonnell Douglas. Dr. Bruce Maccabee, PhD works as an optical physicist and is retired from the Naval Surface Warfare Center. Dr. Maccabee worked on optical data processing, generation of underwater sound with lasers and various aspects of the Strategic Defense Initiative and Ballistic Missile Defense using high power lasers. Dr. Maccabee is an accomplished lecturer and writer, and is the Maryland State Director for the Mutual UFO Network. Dennis Balthaser is a retired civil engineer, current Mutual UFO Network field investigator, lecturer, and a member of the Great Pyramid of Giza Research Organization. Richard Dolan holds a BA from Alfred University, a MA from University of Rochester, a Certificate in Political Theory from Oxford University, and was a Rhodes Scholar finalist who studied US Cold War strategy, Soviet history, and international diplomacy. Richard H. Hall worked for numerous trade associations in Washington, D.C., as a writer-editor for consulting firms, and an abstractor-indexer at the Congressional Information Service in Bethesda, Maryland. John F. Schuessler is a retired aerospace engineer with NASA, founding member and former International Director of the Mutual UFO Network, and a talented writer. There are so many more, too many to mention at this time.
There are those who would consider themselves Ufologists, individuals whose actions work to denigrate these giants and their research. These negative influences are attracted to Ufology as a way to find attention, acceptance, or companionship. I term them negative influences not because they are bad people, but because they do not positively further the studies of Ufology, but instead may subscribe to unique but tangential, baseless and unproven belief systems. These belief systems sometimes place these negative influences in some position of fame or notoriety, becoming the focus of the belief system in question, making the belief system appear cult-like. They in turn pollute Ufological studies with their unproven beliefs, thereby giving the illusion of Ufology in toto as a cult-like lifestyle, populated by eccentrics and borderline mental cases.
There are others periphery to Ufology who take weak arguments against a highly substantiated premise and buttress it with personal attacks to cloud the weakness of their case. They may do this for fame and notoriety, for money from book sales, or as a willing (or unwilling) pawn in a campaign of disinformation that extends through the highest levels of government and society, and have earned the name "debunkers". A debunker is a person that takes an ideology, in whole or in part, and subjects it to negative abuse without the benefit of supportive evidence subjected to quality verification processes. Debunkers feel the flimsy quality of their arguments, but are so intent on destroying the focus of their angst that they will in turn add personal attacks upon the researcher(s) who formulated and substantiated the facts they hold in dispute.
As any other scientists and researchers, Ufologists develop theories that have merit and value, uncover definitive proof of these theories through countless hours of unrelenting research, and incorporate these into Ufological understanding. Sometimes some fact or belief deserving of attention comes along that adds to the quality of Ufological understanding, and that fact is integrated, as well. For a long time, it was a LAW that the Earth was flat, for no other reason than that it looked that way, until some intrepid scientist proved otherwise. Let's put ourselves into his shoes. He found a reason to doubt common ideology, and instead of resorting to personal attacks, found substantiation, and eventually this substantiation was accepted as fact. When those in position finally accepted this as fact, they were finally able to build off of it and increase general knowledge, such as finding that the Earth was not the center of the universe, then of the galaxy, then of the solar system, developing a more realistic view of the Earth´s orientation to the rest of the cosmos.
There comes a time when some positions should be accepted as fact based on adequate proof, and the fighting has to stop. This much we know. UFO's are a real phenomenon, reported by a consistent cross-section of society and investigated and substantiated by the brightest minds society has to offer. Some UFO's are intelligently controlled, as noted by their documented behavior and interaction with witnesses. If some UFO's are intelligently controlled, there must be an Intelligence controlling it. We have strong circumstantial evidence that the Intelligences are from beyond our solar system, since studies have shown that there are no habitable planets except Earth currently residing within our system that could currently be spawning life. We have found that it is possible to travel between other stars and Sol (our sun), and to Earth, and that "drive times" could be lessened substantially, by development and utilization of nuclear fusion and fission drives. The subject of wormholes and time travel are even addressed by such "mainstream" scientists as Dr. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist for the City College of New York and New York University. There is abundant proof that the US government is aware of the UFO phenomenon and subscribes to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH). There is adequate substantiation as a result of relentless research by Stanton Friedman and others, to believe that there was at least one crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947. The next logical step for the US government after recovery of this craft and its occupants would be to stand up an organization within the framework of our government to investigate the UFO phenomenon and determine the level of threat posed by an extraterrestrial civilization visiting Earth, most likely answerable only to the President of the United States at that time, very much along the lines of an MJ-12 (more than adequate proof of MJ-12´s existence is derived from research by Stanton Friedman and others).
We do not call someone a psychologist just because they can tell you a little about psychology, took a course in high school, or claim they can interpret your dreams. A psychologist is an individual who not only has completed required training in the fields of psychology and medicine, but actively performs studies of the human brain, the human psyche, or provides highly specialized therapy services within the discipline. Psychologists as a whole hold each other accountable to a specific level of quality and professionalism through such measures as membership in peer organizations and encouraging peer review of member actions. We should encourage others, including the media, to stop labeling anyone with just anything to say about UFO´s as a Ufologist, and reserve the name for individuals with a common ideology, who are engaged in scientific study of the phenomena, who are positively furthering the science of Ufology, and who can at least explain the basics of the field. Ufologists as a whole should also police their field, holding people accountable for their actions and the resultant impact to the field of Ufology, and expecting a certain level of quality from their peers.
There are those who would consider themselves Ufologists, individuals whose actions work to denigrate these giants and their research. These negative influences are attracted to Ufology as a way to find attention, acceptance, or companionship. I term them negative influences not because they are bad people, but because they do not positively further the studies of Ufology, but instead may subscribe to unique but tangential, baseless and unproven belief systems. These belief systems sometimes place these negative influences in some position of fame or notoriety, becoming the focus of the belief system in question, making the belief system appear cult-like. They in turn pollute Ufological studies with their unproven beliefs, thereby giving the illusion of Ufology in toto as a cult-like lifestyle, populated by eccentrics and borderline mental cases.
There are others periphery to Ufology who take weak arguments against a highly substantiated premise and buttress it with personal attacks to cloud the weakness of their case. They may do this for fame and notoriety, for money from book sales, or as a willing (or unwilling) pawn in a campaign of disinformation that extends through the highest levels of government and society, and have earned the name "debunkers". A debunker is a person that takes an ideology, in whole or in part, and subjects it to negative abuse without the benefit of supportive evidence subjected to quality verification processes. Debunkers feel the flimsy quality of their arguments, but are so intent on destroying the focus of their angst that they will in turn add personal attacks upon the researcher(s) who formulated and substantiated the facts they hold in dispute.
As any other scientists and researchers, Ufologists develop theories that have merit and value, uncover definitive proof of these theories through countless hours of unrelenting research, and incorporate these into Ufological understanding. Sometimes some fact or belief deserving of attention comes along that adds to the quality of Ufological understanding, and that fact is integrated, as well. For a long time, it was a LAW that the Earth was flat, for no other reason than that it looked that way, until some intrepid scientist proved otherwise. Let's put ourselves into his shoes. He found a reason to doubt common ideology, and instead of resorting to personal attacks, found substantiation, and eventually this substantiation was accepted as fact. When those in position finally accepted this as fact, they were finally able to build off of it and increase general knowledge, such as finding that the Earth was not the center of the universe, then of the galaxy, then of the solar system, developing a more realistic view of the Earth´s orientation to the rest of the cosmos.
There comes a time when some positions should be accepted as fact based on adequate proof, and the fighting has to stop. This much we know. UFO's are a real phenomenon, reported by a consistent cross-section of society and investigated and substantiated by the brightest minds society has to offer. Some UFO's are intelligently controlled, as noted by their documented behavior and interaction with witnesses. If some UFO's are intelligently controlled, there must be an Intelligence controlling it. We have strong circumstantial evidence that the Intelligences are from beyond our solar system, since studies have shown that there are no habitable planets except Earth currently residing within our system that could currently be spawning life. We have found that it is possible to travel between other stars and Sol (our sun), and to Earth, and that "drive times" could be lessened substantially, by development and utilization of nuclear fusion and fission drives. The subject of wormholes and time travel are even addressed by such "mainstream" scientists as Dr. Michio Kaku, a theoretical physicist for the City College of New York and New York University. There is abundant proof that the US government is aware of the UFO phenomenon and subscribes to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH). There is adequate substantiation as a result of relentless research by Stanton Friedman and others, to believe that there was at least one crash of an extraterrestrial spacecraft near Roswell, New Mexico in the summer of 1947. The next logical step for the US government after recovery of this craft and its occupants would be to stand up an organization within the framework of our government to investigate the UFO phenomenon and determine the level of threat posed by an extraterrestrial civilization visiting Earth, most likely answerable only to the President of the United States at that time, very much along the lines of an MJ-12 (more than adequate proof of MJ-12´s existence is derived from research by Stanton Friedman and others).
We do not call someone a psychologist just because they can tell you a little about psychology, took a course in high school, or claim they can interpret your dreams. A psychologist is an individual who not only has completed required training in the fields of psychology and medicine, but actively performs studies of the human brain, the human psyche, or provides highly specialized therapy services within the discipline. Psychologists as a whole hold each other accountable to a specific level of quality and professionalism through such measures as membership in peer organizations and encouraging peer review of member actions. We should encourage others, including the media, to stop labeling anyone with just anything to say about UFO´s as a Ufologist, and reserve the name for individuals with a common ideology, who are engaged in scientific study of the phenomena, who are positively furthering the science of Ufology, and who can at least explain the basics of the field. Ufologists as a whole should also police their field, holding people accountable for their actions and the resultant impact to the field of Ufology, and expecting a certain level of quality from their peers.
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