Head of MUFON quits because all UFOlogy is just "humans deceiving humans"

[salvorhardin]

James Carrion, head of MUFON, uncovered a pattern of shoddy investigation and deception after deception within the organization of UFO enthusiasts.

Wait a minute, what about those who don’t take things on faith and actually collect data and conduct investigation? Good question. I decided to examine the data collection and investigative practices in Ufology, and after poring over thousands of historical case files from MUFON, NICAP and APRO investigators in the MUFON archives, what I found, was inconsistent investigation with a total lack of evidentiary standards. I also found a paper trail of disinformation and misinformation that has kept Ufology in check through infighting and red herrings, rabbit holes and elaborate deception operations.

The other thing I found documented in the MUFON archives was the sad history of those UFO investigators who thought they could successfully play the “cover up game” by cultivating their inside sources only to be discredited, manipulated or ego driven to delusion. But it was after conducting six personal investigations that I began to question whether or not ANY of the data sitting in any UFO archive can be relied on.
http://followthemagicthread.blogspot.com/2010/04/goodbye-ufology-hello-truth.html

[The Straight Story]

1. He was bought off by the CIA

:hide:

[dorkulon]

2. Right.

Keep dope alive!

[Robb]

3. Sure, he SAYS he's James Carrion.

(backs away slowly)

[dorkulon]

10. He's a V!

Only rational explanation.

[Quantess]

4. The greys abducted him, brainwashed him to say that,

and repressed his memory of it ever happening.

[The Wielding Truth]

5. MUFON? Muffin?

[SDuderstadt]

16. Excuse me for being off-topic but...

I noticed your screenname and happen to have some welding I need done.

Oh, The WIELDING Truth. Nevermind.

[The Wielding Truth]

30. Good 'cause I 'd have to learn to weld. Phew...

[jberryhill]

28. Have you seen the MUFON man? /nt

[WhiteTara]

6. Oh No! The UFO conference is this weekend!

This will ruin it! Seriesly, there is a conference this weekend, but this prolly isn't hugh enough to keep the attendees at home.

[arcadian]

7. It's too bad

The UFO field of study has become a circus or maybe always has been a circus, with hucksters around every corner. There are some interesting unexplained cases though. I saw Steven Greer "lecture" last summer, he tries to play the CIA/NSA cover up angle. He says, "blah, blah, blah, NRO, blah Blah CIA, the secret docs I obtained are all in my book." It's a shell game. Really sad.

[Robb]

9. You know, it's too bad you and I spend so much time being pricks to one another.

We'd probably find each other good company if we'd never met here.

[arcadian]

12. Probably, it's easy to be a prick to somebody when they are just words on a screen.

It's probably better to find common ground on DU and I think everybody on DU can at least agree that the rightwing nut jobs are more detestable that anybody on DU that you don't agree with over certain policy issues. that's what I've been trying to focus on lately. I've been checking out the wingnutz on Facebook and there is something scary going on that I can't quite put my finger on, they seem to think they have some sort of 60s era social justice movement and they have thousands of websites and FB pages proclaiming this Glenn Beck, Fox News, Hannity, Tea Party BS. This needs to be nipped in the bud, pronto.

[gateley]

17. I know I'm elbowing in on your conversation, here, but I think it's past the

'nipping in the bud' stage. I think the hatred and racism and fear has been whipped into a frenzy that is frightening.

[gateley]

14. Steven Greer actually piqued my interest in UFO's in 1990 at the International

Conference on New Science in Fort Collins. I really had no interest, figured either they did or did not exist, and since I wasn't personally affected, who cares? But he gave a free lecture the first night at 10:00, and since it was the first night, and it was free, I attended. He said "I had to think a long time before I went public with this. I'm an emergency room physician, and people come to me in life and death situations, I was hesitant to come forward and have people think I was a nut job."

He has had some military personnel testify and some other credible folks, but nothing actually proves anything.

So I remain neutral, don't have a dog in either fight. It's interesting to ponder, though... :hi:

[arcadian]

21. That's the way I look at it. It's interesting to ponder.

Greer actually lives just up the road in a really beautiful part of Virginia in the foothills of the Blue Ridge. At the lecture he had a book signing after but not many people knew about it so hardly anybody was there though the lecture was standing room only. I got to talk with him. And he didn't seem to know that much except for what he had memorized and repeated over and over over again. This woman and her husband started talking to him, she asked him if he had heard of something called "Project Corona" Greer had no idea what it was, even though any conspiracy theorist worth his/her mettle could tell you it was the first Air Force recon satellite. And that it was the primary mission for the NRO. Which Greer had just been rattling on and on about. She said that her father had worked on that program for the CIA and that he was a Deputy Dir. in charge of Tech or something, named MacDonald. She said that her brother had half of one of the reentry canisters, a half sphere that he was using as a coffee table. I believe what she told me, she seemed sincere. I told her that I knew about 'Project Corona' and explained it to her. That the rockets would go up and satellite would take pictures of the Soviet Union or whatever and then the film would be ejected in a little metal ball and picked up in mid air by a C-119 Flying Boxcar then the film would be developed. This is when Greer interject into the conversation,"Yes! But the cameras weren't pointing down on Earth! They were pointed out to space!" I wanted to slap him, and say "What? Two second ago you didn't know what it was, now you got this little gem to throw there?"

Another kid started talking about 'Project Stargate' The CIA/DIA remote viewing program. Again Greer had no idea what it was and he answered the kid with, "What you mean the TV show 'Stargate'?" Even though Greer claims to be able to remote view UFOs and get this, the DIA actually trained it's remote viewers not but a few miles from Greer's house in Virginia at the Monroe Institute. They actually still offer class there and the director is one the former DIA remote viewers. Yet Greer hasn't heard of this? Seriously, for a huckster the guy hasn't done his homework at all.

I try to look at the UFO phenomenon as a social phenomenon. The military has files, those actually exist, you can examine UFOs through that lens. Not if they exist or not, but the fact that military studied UFOs is interesting to me. It's also interesting to look at it from the perspective of the media, from the beginning of the modern UFO era, 1947 to the present and examine the publics perception through TV, Movies, books, magazine article etc. I've not seen any real hard evidence that UFOs exist, but there certainly is a phenomenon surrounding the issue.

[gateley]

24. I think Greer's in his own world that way -- what he's doing takes all his

focus. I heard someone say (I think on Coast to Coast, of course :7) that they had tried repeatedly to contact Greer regarding some info but had never heard back.

The story/stories that interest me the most are when the ICBMs were rendered useless (here and in the Soviet Union) when there were craft in the sky over the bases. I've heard military personnel who were involved, and that really causes pause for thought. Also, other military and law enforcement stories, and I love hearing the police communications when they're tracking an object moving from area to area. They begin buy laughing about it, nervously, then as more people call in, more people see it, you can hear the amazement and awe in their voices.

I think the media, at the direction of the government, has made the entire subject a joke, and those who have seen what can't be explained are painted as looneys. The government/military doesn't want to admit there's something they can't control.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. That is not dead which can eternal lie, And with strange aeons even death may die. n/t

[gateley]

11. I heard a MUFON investigator once say that to some who believe, EVERYTHING

is a UFO -- never mind that it's a 737 with United Airlines painted on its tail. :)

On the other hand, those who don't believe wouldn't buy it if a UFO landed on the WH lawn.

Kind of like religion. Believers and non-believers are each convinced they are right and KNOW the truth. Who knows? :shrug:

[dorkulon]

13. False balance FTW!

Aliens buzzing earth is an extraordinary claim, and requires real, solid, indisputable evidence to warrant credibility. We have really never seen that.

But hey, if Kang and Kodos ever do land on the White House lawn, I'll have to revise my opinion.

[gateley]

15. What does FTW mean? And there's no real, solid, indisputable evidence to

prove Jesus performed miracles and rose from the dead. I think that's an extraordinary claim, too (along with some claims other religions make).

[dorkulon]

18. You're damn right it is.

That's another case of false balance. Actually, that one's much worse, really.

FTW = "For the win", a lame internet meme I am now ashamed to have used.

[gateley]

19. Thanks for the explanation.

No need to be ashamed :pals: :hi:

And I agree, religion is actually much worse. It can hurt people.

[arcadian]

22. I WANT TO BELIEVE

It's a warning, also translated as: TRUTH BE DAMNED, but it's also kind of a cry for some solid evidence.

[johnaries]

20. Thank you for your testimony. Just as a formality we'd like to do an eye test.

Just look at this little red light in this pen, and.. FLASH

Morning! you really should lay off the tequilla shots. They can cause memory loss, ya know.

[Historic NY]

23. Well theres always "zombies".

[salvorhardin]

25. From what I understand

Cryptozoology is the pseudoscience du jour. All the cool kids are into Big Foot and Nessie these days.

[csziggy]

26. Now they are looking for the Jersey Devil and the Swamp Ape

Nessie and Big Foot are so yesterday.

I love watching this stuff evolve. I've got the old Charles Fort books ("Lo!" {1941} and "Book of the Damned" {1919}) and not much has changed in the mythology of the paranormal and cryptozoology since they were written. In fact, Fort had a lot of neat, oddball stories that have dropped from the mythology, though I think the X-Files was mining some of Fort's material towards the end of the series.

[salvorhardin]

27. You're right about how stagnant it all seems

Very little seems to change in the mythology over the years. The same thing applies to new agey beliefs. It's all recycled Madame Blavatsky as far as I can tell.

One of these days, if I ever have the money, I'd love to pick up Charles Fort's old books and a lot of other earlier "woo" and skeptical writings.

[csziggy]

29. The Fort books were reprinted in paperback in the 70s

Those are the ones I have. I think I saw that some were reprinted in the 90s or early 2000s. My hometown library had some of the original editions - those are the ones I read first. I used to have a pretty good library on witchcraft, but I sold all of that.

I've kept my old decrepit paperback copies of UFO stuff from the 50s and 60s. The paper is disintegrating and the glue at the spine is long gone, but you jut cannot find those anymore. Little has changed in the years since those were published - and some of the cases claimed to have been kept secret until recently are in those books.