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From: Greg Sandow <GSANDOW@prodigy.net>
Date: Sun, 29 Dec 1996 23:32:28 -0500
Fwd Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 10:41:25 -0500
Subject: Re: 'Fake' and 'Self-Proclaimed'

As I catch up on some mail I missed, I see Michael Malone made a welcome
reappearance -- hi, Michael!

He was commenting on that vexed discussion of "self-claimed" abductees.
He agrees the term is negative, but thinks, reasonably enough, that I
went too far in saying "abductee" is a fair word to use for someone who
claims to have been abducted:

> I disagree with Greg on the issue that an abductee refers to someone who
> beleives they have been abducted but we have no evidence of the abduction.
> There are far to many who do not hold this view.  I think John Powell has
> the right of it when he attempts to clarify the lack of evidence for the
> abduction with a phrase like "self-claimed."  A better word, in my opinion,
> is alleged.

I think you're right, Michael. The word "abductee" literally means
someone who was abducted. Maybe those of us who think about these things
every day -- poor us! -- can finesse the literal meaning, and understand
that the people we're calling abductees can't prove their experience was
real.

Dunno about "alleged," though. That also sounds negative to me. The more
I think about this terminology business, the more I'm inclined to go
with "experiencer." It only says that someone has had this experience.
We can use the term with respect, while reserving judgement on exactly
what the nature of the experience is.

Greg Sandow