U.F.O. Investigative Organizations.
The Downward Spiral
First of all before I begin criticising these organizations in general I would like to point something out. The organizations themselves are not really the crux of the problem I am seeing at all. Obviously.
The mission statements behind them are in truth pretty admirable, in theory. Their track record in adhering to them is another matter. These groups no doubt have many members who truly do believe in what they do and feel their membership is a move in the right direction.
So as best as possible I will try to make it clear where I cast my aspersions and not include those honest souls who are along for the ride or being taken on one.
Now then, onward....
One telling sign of these organizations motives and veracity is the loyalty to, and concern for, their members and their own policies by the ruling class. In the Gulf breeze incident many strange things occurred.
For instance.
While Mufon endorsed Ed Walters claims and evidence (photos) as genuine a vocal minority of members were astute enough to recognize , and confident enough in what they had found, to point out the signs of obvious fraud in the case. These people were adamant to the point of being forced to leave or resign for forcing these observations to be noted.
Most of these members eventually ended up excomunicated for their assertions that this was a bogus case. Their detailed observations clearly explaining their reasoning were hardly embraced by Mufons leadership who at the time, in writing, had wholeheartedly endorsed it. This endorsing of the case was done well before formal investigation had been concluded. This was one of the complaints aired by these members repeatedly. What kind of scientific organization endorses a claim or hypothesis as true before finishing their work? Hardly a demonstration of scientific caution or objectivity.
Marge Christension, then Director of Public Relations was left with no choice but to resign her position after openly criticising Mufons failure to adhere to its own statements of scientific principal and objectivity. She also was strongly urging caution and restraint in the Gulf Breeze case. After she had done this Walt Andrus informed her of his intention to replace her. Why was this? Simply because she refused to play along? There is no way I would consider this a coincidence or accept an explanation of this being related to other matters. It does nothing to invalidate the truth of her assertions.
If there had been improprieties in regards to Mrs. Christianson which Andrus felt warrented her removal from her position wouldn't it have been prudent to have addressed and resolved her complaints first? From what I have found he simply stated he felt it was a genuine case and that was that. I still do not see where endorsing this case before investigation was concluded is justified.
Dr. Willy Smith was another one of these members who wrote a detailed report exposing the hoax. He was not greeted enthusiastically to say the least. The flak and mudslinging which he wrote he anticipated following the reception of his article indeed took place. This was a very dirty affair which only served to further undermine the credibility of the organization. It appears to me that in Walters attempting to destroy Smiths credibility he and his partners attempts in fact damaged Mufons even further. In portraying Smith as a hoaxer himself it simply added to the questionable ethics of Mufon as a whole. Up until this point he was an active member in good standing. Therefore it only goes to follow that discrediting him also discredited work he had done previously for Mufon. Work that Mufon previously accepted and used without qualm. Regardless, he too was no longer a member after the incident.
These members ended up out of an organization whose mission they obviously worked hard to promote and adhere to. It's no easy task to dissent with the people in charge in such a adamant manner when it comes to the field of ufology. The quick tempers and suspect politics are a well known trait within it. I feel it is clear to me from reading the available information these people only had the organizations best interests in mind.
Namely, its integrity. One would think this would be of paramount concern to those in charge yet it appears as though it was nothing of the sort. Where was the leaderships scientific objectivity or respect for its members opinions at this time? Since when is censorship an accepted part of the scientific process? Indeed. It appears censorship was and is , rampant in this group.
Despite all the mounting evidence of a hoax at the height of this incident highly placed persons such as Walt Andrus, Bruce Macabbe, Don Ware , and Bud Hopkins openly and strongly endorsed the case as genuine. This , when the case was far from validated and in fact had many damaging aspects yet to be explained.
These gentlemen are the individuals who repeatedly come into play regarding these claims of unobjectivity and impropriety. In my opinion , during this case they became almost as suspect as Walters himself. When presented with complaints by Mufons members these gentlemen sought more to explain them away rather than address them directly. A simple cautious approach to the whole debacle would have prevented much of the turmoil this case caused.
Hardly a tightly knit and well disciplined organization interested in conducting scientific study. The infighting and backstabbing going on here is very indicative of an organization in turmoil. One can only imagine to what extent these incidences were occurring as only the more spectacular of them seem to have made it to the public eye.
Another item very worthy of note in this case is the money it did, and had the potential to generate. Greed can cause many to turn a blind eye to the obvious. Even those who claim to be interested only in learning the truth. When it becomes apparent learning the truth is going to be an exspensive or profitable ordeal questionable events begin to
unfold. As the case appears to be in this investigation.
Ed Walters reportedly paid Dr.Bruce Macabbee( a physicist, Mufon member, and pro ufo researcher) 10% of a 200,000 dollar advance for a book that was to be published to write a chapter endorsing the photos as genuine.
Further casting suspicion upon the motives of those handling the investigation is the fact that Walters was allegedly allowed knowledge of investigative information which helped him to learn of the problems with his claims and thereby eliminate them from his continuing claims.
This was noted by various persons in his photos following the analysis of his original pictures. His ufos went from asymetrical to symetrical immediatly following the originals analysis! In his original photos this was one of the more noticeable oddities. Yet after making Macabbees aqquaintence this particular problem dissappeard. Very strange.
Macabbee had even allegedly allowed Walters to assist in his analysis of the photos in some instances. His reasoning for this and the pay and he recieved was his assertion of costs incurred by performing these studies and that it allowed to keep said costs down. This , in my opinion does not excuse the damage it caused to the veracity of the investigation at all. Nor does it excuse allowing Walters to learn the nature and direction of the investigation as it took place.
It simply shows the lack of adherence to the scientific principals which seem all but nonexistent in this case.
Mr Walters was also in negotiations with ABCtv who was willing to pay 400,000 for the movie rights to the story. (At the time of this incident it was a reality. After the incident completely fell apart ABCtv withdrew its offer.) This remains relevant because at the time it had yet to be nullified and the belief of the participants was that the money was forthcoming.)
Definitely some large profits appear ready to be made in ufology don't you agree?? One hell of a motive for preverication at the least. Slipping away from the mission statements even further without doubt.
There is still more to add that further casts suspicion upon Mufons integrity here in this case. Lack of cooperation and apparent reluctance to allow outside analysis of the photos for example.
Jerry Black a ufo researcher of over 30 years contacted Walt Andrus and asked that he allow an independant to analyze the Walters photos. Andrus agreed and arrangements were made for this to take place.
William Hyzer, an independant photoanalyst was Blacks recommendation and was commissioned to do an in depth study of the Gulf Breeze Photos. Despite Walt Andrus`s failure to provide him with original prints he was still able to make many observations which seriously damaged the credibility of the photographs in question.
Following this Mr. Hyzer was on the recieving end of some very insulting character and professionalism attacks by many involved which would cause him to refuse any further dealings with the analysis of alleged UFO photographs or the field of ufology in general.
An interesting note here is the originals have been closley gaurded by Andrus and Mufon and very little if any outside assistence or scrutiny by objective individuals has been allowed in analysing them since then.
What is all this discord and apparent emotionaly charged bias doing in an investigation by an organization which touts itself as a scientific group dedicated to credible research of the UFO phenomena? The many instances of vindictave behaviour and questionable investigative practises seriously calls into question the veracity and motives of the organization as a whole.
Cattle mutilations is another area still occasionaly given credence by Mufon , Caus , and other groups which is arguably another monetarily motivated claim involving ufology and large organization and big name researchers. Ranchers recoup losses through insurance and investigators reap profits from book deals and media appearances despite all the credible evidence practically screaming hoax to any willing to take notice. Objectivity again seems nonexistent.
In recent events a Mufon member has come under fire for selling abduction cases. John Carpenters ethics or lack thereof has brought him under heavy fire from various persons for his sale of 140 abduction cases to Robert Bigelow for 14,000 dollars. Another tidy sum of money for research based in ufology intended to go towards solving the abduction dilemma and assist those making these claims in coping with their alleged ordeals as a result of them. Not turn a profit.
In attempts to explain himself he has given various explanations and written numerous articles and letters to many persons. His claimed motives are suspect and irrelevant in my opinion.
Larry Bryant , Director of Governmental Affairs for MUFON is quite upset with Carpenters actions. He has called for the resignation of Mufons executive committee from all aspects of the organization including their memberships.
He does this on the basis that the committee had known for months of Carpenters activities and that as such there is now "a cloud of impropriety" which hangs over them.
Yet more discord and questionable ethics and motivation in what is supposed to be a scientificaly oriented organisation. More and more I am finding the credibility of these so called scientific or fact based organizations to be very weak at best.
Add in the lessons learned regarding the Ufo Sightings Data Experiment perpetrated by a fellow contributor and skeptic to this site and Mufons foundation begins to appear downright shaky and in danger of all together crumbling down around them.
It begins to seem to me that money and ego is a much stronger driving force behind Ufology and Mufon in particular. It is claimed that profits in ufology are modest at best but this just does not seem to be the case. Most of these individuals mentioned above have made a solid living dealing almost exclusively with ufology.
There is merchandising, publicity which adds to members personal business profits, membership dues, sale of information, sale of recovered official documents, copyrighting of certain material solely to insure profit from its future sale and on and on. Not to mention book deals , guest appearances on tv, and consultation fees for various tv specials. There is also money made from speaking at universities and appearances at lectures.
The list is quite large. Put together as a whole it all adds up to big bucks for the individuals savvy enough to organize and oversee the whole operation.
This subject is complex enough and pervasive enough to have me wondering if I will ever bring it to a conclusion for myself.
By ignoring the actual goals and rules set forth by their own organizations these people and groups have built a customer and merchandise base gauranteed to keep them in profits indefinitely.
The claim that you can't ignore all the sightings data has been brought down by Grendel using preverication to expose the truth.
Even without this these organizations appear to be on a downward spiral.
I believe in this instance the truth itself will be the only catalyst needed for the organizations themselves to fall. And from the apparent unchecked tomfooley still taking place this may not be long in coming.Nib68
References.
Ref. "THE DECLINE AND FALL OF AMERICAN UFOLOGY"
by Dr. Willy Smith
"LOOKING BACK: A REVIEW OF GULF BREEZE"
Marge Christenson
AN OPEN LETTER FROM JERRY BLACK TO VARIOUS "UFOLOGISTS"
OUTRAGE OVER JOHN CARPENTER'S ETHICS, OR LACK THEREOF:
Saucer smear
MUFON, 1990 - An Organization At Risk
by Marge Christensen