Aliens On Earth.com Resources for those who are stranded here Our Bookstore is OPEN Over 5000 new & used titles, competitively priced! Topics: UFOs - Paranormal - Area 51 - Ghosts - Forteana - Conspiracy - History - Biography - Psychology - Religion - Crime - Health - Geography - Maps - Science - Money - Language - Recreation - Technology - Fiction - Other - New Search... for keyword(s)   in Page Titles in Book Title/Author in Contents of Pages ---other searches--- Metacrawler Yahoo FAST Search Google Altavista Dogpile Inference Find Northern Light IWon.com MSN Search Las Vegas Sun Location: Mothership -> UFO -> Updates -> 1998 -> Jul -> Re: C-E: What To Do With Sturrock?

UFO UpDates Mailing List

From: Bruce Maccabee <brumac@compuserve.com>
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 00:04:17 -0400
Fwd Date: Fri, 31 Jul 1998 12:45:11 -0400
Subject: Re: C-E: What To Do With Sturrock?


>Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 10:18:26 -0500
>From: slk <slk@EVANSVILLE.NET>
>Subject: Sturrock Panel
>To: CURRENT-ENCOUNTERS@LISTSERV.AOL.COM

>On Tue, 28 Jul 1998 11:08:17, Bob Durant <70232.17@compuserve.com>
>wrote:

>What To Do With Sturrock?

>Public opinion polls show that over 50% of adult Americans think
>UFOs are "real," over 70% think the government is hiding
i>nformation about UFOs, and 40 % think that the government is
>concealing information proving the existence of UFOs, presumably
>hardware or bodies. Only one out of three are skeptics.>>

>Those are extraordinary numbers. They mean that more Americans
>believe in UFOs than the number who voted for Reagan or Bush or
>Clinton. Roman Catholics are the largest religious denomination
>in the U.S., and the UFO "believers" outnumber them two to one.
>Fundamentalist Christians comprise about 10% of the population,
>and exert a huge influence on the Congress. UFO "believers"
>outnumber them by five to one.

>Almost without exception since the press began reporting the UFO
>story in 1947, journalism has demeaned the topic and those who
>take it seriously. The climate of ridicule surrounding the UFO
>phenomenon has prevented meaningful activity by those elements
>of our society in a position to study it. I mean, the scientific
>and academic communities. UFO research has been pushed into a
t>iny backwater, unfunded and without the resources that are
>automatic in every established discipline.

>There are some "good" reasons why scientists steer clear of
>UFOs, but the "bad" reasons are the overwhelming rule. This is a >
>cultural issue, not a scientific one.

>When 70% of the population believes its government is engaged i
>a program of systematic deception on a topic of such fundamental
i>mportance as UFOs, this presents an ominous social issue.
>Regardless of one's belief about the "reality" of UFOs, this
f>act alone should militate for an open study. This is not a
>"scientific" reason for such a study, but in a society
>increasingly alienated from its ruling institutions, it is
>nevertheless a

<snip>

The biggest roadblock to major public funding of ufology/
ufologists is the "Self-Cover-Up" - a term I invented when I
realized the degree of reluctance to "go public" on the part of
witnesses and interested scientists. _It_ is one thing to make a
private, ananymous response to a pollster that "yes I believe in
UFOs" (whatever that is supposed to mean); it is quite another
thing to say "sure, I'll put some money into it" or "sure, I'll
be willing to stand up and be counted." I'm certain every active
invesetigator has encountered situations where witnesses will
say they told their closest friends and family, perhaps, but no
one else for fear of ridicule. "My mother/father.sister/brother,
etc. know me well enough to to I wouldn't lie about a thing like
this...but I never told anyone else,"  is a typical sort of
comment. When asked if he/she reported to a UFO group the answer
often/usually is "I didn't know there was such a thing."

What has happened is that the skeptics have won the 'propaganda
battle' related to UFOs (while, little-by-little losing the
war!). If we can reverse the bad propaganda - and the Sturrock
Panel results are a step in the right direction - then we can
perhaps get funding. But, keep in mind the great reluctance that
underlies the "self cover up" - the reluctance to really come
to grips with the _implications_ of UFO reality.

UFOs are a mystery that few people really want solved. Most
(including me), I suspect, just wish it would go away. What
will be the impact of the 'Grand Realization'? I don't know. I
suspect most people don't even give it a thought, and those who
do are apprehensive.

If you are interested in contemplating the future without and
with UFOs..... ask me to email 'Fright Night'. It is self
explanatory!