I shouldn't have done it, but I just was over at UFO Watchdog checking out the Hall of Shame. Apparently it isn't enough to include people that have never claimed to be Ufologists, but are merely sharing personal experiences and thoughts that are too new agey - now they even include entire conferences! Yes, the International UFO Congress is included. Why? I guess because they have some speakers that are in the Hall of Shame. Hey, I am no fan of Sean David Morton, as everyone knows, but it is a conference. Do they know how much money it takes to put on a conference? Well, I do because I have wanted to have one for years and I can tell you that you would want to have wide variety of speakers to attract the most people possible or you would never even make back the money you put out.
And let me quote this part about the International UFO Congress:
the most ridiculous UFO related events (next to the Roswell UFO Festival)
Yes, that ridiculous Roswell
UFO FESTIVAL. Do they not get it from the word festival, is it not a big enough clue that a lot of that event is mostly just for fun? Oh yes, I suppose I forgot that this is Ufology and people aren't allowed to have fun (according to those with sticks up their asses).
Sorry just needed to vent. Go on about your business.
4 comments:
I liked it a whole lot better when Royce was running it.
Ufoology isn't a branch of science, although some would try to paint it as such. Instead it's a hobby and form of social networking for almost everybody in it. Only a handful of UFO buffs (oops, UFOlogists) can be considered professionals (that is, they're paid for their expertise).
That's UFOlogy's double-edged sword. Some want it to be viewed as serious science, others just "wanna have fun" and meet new friends while exploring an eternal mystery, so there's always going to be this two-way tug.
All of that said, the squabbles and name-calling which now permeate UFOlogy are a microcosm of a much larger cultural problem in the US -- we've lost the ability (or will) to tolerate viewpoints and opinions that don't match our own. Our knee-jerk response to those who see the world differently is to demonize and attack them. We're turning into a nation of fear- and hate-mongers and, sadly, our leaders are the worst offenders and most influential role models.
What a belligerently badgering bunch of bombastic bloviators sans aspect or clue who should pack sand passed pores petulantly prolapsed, eh?
Does the UFO community need it's facile party of fatuous teabaggers. I don't think so.
I could understand it when it exposed frauds such as Morton, but now it is getting tea baggerish. People that there is no evidence of lying or hoaxing are shamed pretty much just for thinking differently. Although, Regan said that much better in her post at ufomystic.
As PurrlGurrl points out - it isn't a science and there is no real Ufology science. The best you can do is weed out some fake photos and hoaxes and researchers can investigate the other cases so much as possible, but nobody is ever going to prove ETs or whatever exist without them landing or crashing at CNN. I don't know why these people don't realize they are as woo-woo and religious about their non-beliefs as the others are about their beliefs.
Also, this opinion that if you have any fun you aren't serious about Ufology really irritates me. Yes, Roswell has parades and concerts, but they also have Stanton Friedman and other good researchers. There is no reason you can't listen to a serious Ufology lecture and then go out and have some silly fun. So what if some people make money selling Ufology related items? They sell related items here in the science museums and it doesn't make anyone take science less seriously.
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