A "Very Serious Ufologist" e-mailed me today, after reading my "Winning the Ufological PR Battle" column, and said I had it all wrong. "Ufology," according to the VSU, "is winning the PR battle," as evidenced, he said confidently, by those opinion polls I mentioned - polls which show that more people accept UFOs as real than do not.
However, unlike most of the people who wrote me about the column (thanks everyone - the response has been, as the kids say, "off the chain" - er, or something like that), the VSU missed the point.
Polls do nothing more than measure surface responses. Where, I asked, is the serious interest in the UFO phenomenon within the general public, and particularly among younger people?
It is virtually non-existent.
Doubt that conclusion?
Fine - take a drive to your nearest bookstore, and check the shelves.
How many "UFO" books will you find (and you'll see why I put "UFO" in quotation marks)?
I've made this point before, but I'll make it again.
Last night, I wandered over to Chapters (Canada's equivalent to Barnes & Noble), and took a look.
The results?
As Obi-wan might say, "Not good."
Here are the UFO books on the shelf (and I mean "shelf," not shelves, as you could fit them all into one shelf, with room left over for some extra Harry Potter books):
Philip J. Corso's The Day After Roswell - 2 copies
Jerry Clark's Strange Skies - 1 copy
Barry Parker's Alien Life - 1 copy
Hopkins / Rainey's Sight Unseen - 3 copies
Redfern / Robert's Strange Secrets - 1 copy
William Birnes's UFO Encyclopedia - 1 copy
Zecharia Stichin - The 12th Planet - 5 copies; The Stairway to Heaven - 5 copies; The Wars of Gods and Men - 1 copy; The Lost Realms - 2 copies; The Cosmic Code - 2 copies; The Earth Chronicles Expeditions - 1 copy
Uh oh.
Contrast this to the fact that there were twenty shelves full of books about tarot (5 shelves), astrology (5 shelves), and wicca(10 shelves), and you get the picture.
The "Science" section (notably, nowhere near the UFO / Aliens "section") had about twelve shelves full of books, many by the likes of Michio Kaku, Carl Sagan, David Grinspoon, talking about other worlds, travel to the stars, time travel (including one by British ufologist Jenny Randles), and so forth. But while some of those books, like Grinspoon's, might reference UFOs, they are not about UFOs. I imagine Seth Shostak would be pleased, however.
I asked the assistant manager why so few UFO books. She sort of rolled her eyes, and said, "they don't sell - and, besides, you can always order them on-line."
Yes, on-line - but only if you already know about them. Not on the shelves in the store, where the casual browser might be inclined to pick one up.
Why?
They don't sell.
Why?
Because, polls or no polls, UFOs aren't on the general public's radar screen.
Doubt that conclusion?
Fine - wander over to your nearest university library. In Nova Scotia, a province with more universities and colleges than you can shake a stick at, you can check the Novanet system, and in one fell swoop see everything that is available at the following libraries:
Dalhousie Univeristy (4 libraries)
Atlantic School of Theology
Mount St. Vincent University
Nova Scotia Agricultural College
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design
Nova Scotia Community College (14 campuses, including Halifax's Institute of Technology)
St. Mary's University
St. Francis Xavier University
University College of Cape Breton
University of King's Colleges
In all of those libraries, serving post-secondary institutions which between them have tens of thousands of students, and are also open to the general public, how many books are there under the subject headings "UFO" or "Flying Saucer," or using the words "UFO," "Flying saucer" or "Roswell" in a title search?
Twenty-three.
Here they are:
On Roswell:
- Berlitz and Moore, The Roswell Incident
- Karl Pflock, Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe
- Benson Saler et al, UFO Crash at Roswell: Genesis of a Modern Myth
On UFOs or Flying Saucers in general:
Timothy Good - Above Top Secret
Don Ledger - Maritime UFO Files
Rhonda Blumberg - UFO
Susan J. Palmer - Aliens Adored: Rael's UFO Religion
Richard H. Hall - The UFO Evidence, Vol. II
Jacques Vallee - Messengers of Decption: UFO Contacts and Cults
Jacques and Janine Vallee - Challenge to Science: The UFO Enigma
Martin Sable - UFO Guide, 1947 - 1967
Yurko Bondarchuk - UFO Sightings, Landings and Abductions
Arthur Bray - Science, the Public and the UFO
J. Allen Hynek - The UFO Experience
B. L. Cathie and P. N. Temm - Harmonic 695: The UFO and anti-gravity
Philip J. Klass - UFO Abductions: A Dangerous Business
Robert Sheaffer - The UFO Verdict
Donald Menzel and Ernest H. Taves - The UFO Enigma
Paul Thomas - Flying Saucers Through the Ages
C. G. Jung - Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies
Jay David - Flying Saucers Have Arrived
Desmond Leslie and George Adamski - Flying Saucers Have Landed
Edward Condon - The Condon Committee Report
That's it, folks.
The only books on that list written in the last ten years are Pflock's, Ledger's, Hall's, Saler's and Palmer's. Of those, two are sceptical, and one is about Rael - which, while very tangentially related to the UFO phenomenon, is probably not what most ufologists have in mind when they say UFO books.
Also note that a fair number of the other books are by sceptics / debunkers - Klass, Menzel, Condon and Sheaffer are all represented. Clark? Friedman? Keyhoe? Nowhere to be seen. And, while pro-UFO, Jacques Vallee will hardly give comfort to pro-ETH ufologists.
And then there's Adamski. Again, not exactly the book that most ufologists would hope some university student would pick off the shelf to learn about the UFO phenomenon.
Just for chuckles, I ran very quick title-only searches on astrology, tarot and wicca / witchcraft.
Tarot - 18 books
Astrology - 50 books
Witchcraft / Wicca - 258 books
Er... how about "astronomy," this time by subject?
1,399 books.
Get the picture yet?
See the pattern?
Is it sinking in?
Ufology isn't a page in the "book of public discourse" - it's barely a footnote.
Nobody cares, outside the very narrow confines of the ufological hard-core - and ufologists spend most of their time talking to that hard-core, not trying to figure out ways to broaden the appeal of the subject.
Sticking your head in the sand, or talking about the latest opinion poll, or blaming everyone else, is not the answer.
It is a PR problem, Mr. VSU - and it's arguably worse than it's ever been.
Rather than look about for someone to blame (hey - the government doesn't control all of these bookstores and libraries), it's time for ufology to look inward, and ask some pretty hard questions.
Do you want to grow, or do you want to slide further into irrelevance?
The clock is ticking...
Paul Kimball
24 comments:
A cold, dose of reality, Paul.
This should provide an epiphany for the UFO community.
Will it?
RR
Rich:
Odds are better that Jack Nicklaus will win the British Open this year.
Still, one can always hope...
Paul
Dante:
Thanks for the note, but I couldn't disagree more - the UFO phenomenon is a scientific and historical question, not one of "awareness."
If you're going to engage the "New Agers," why not Christians, and Muslims, and other religions?
Where does it stop?
It is a physical problem that is within our means to solve, someday, with the proper resources and approach.
Patience is a virtue...
Paul
Brad:
I never said I wouldn't do the "heavy lifting" - if you think selling and then making documentaries isn't "heavy lifting" then you, like most people in ufology, have no clue as to what it takes to make one. Add to this my own research, done in in my spare time (much to my fiance's chagrin), and my blogging, and I do lots of "heavy lifting." What I said was that someone else will have to do the "heavy lifting" on the question of waging the PR war - somebody with a higher profile - and in organizing any group / symposium.
I'm not offended, though I may sound that way. Just bemused.
Paul
Brad:
The fact that you're frustrated (and I suspect you're not the only one) is something that all ufologists should take note of, and try to do something about.
Having said that, I can offer only two things from my perspective:
1. Walk a mile in my shoes...
2. To each their own, according to their talents, abilities and interests.
UFOs are simply not the defining thing in my life, like they are for a Stan Friedman. They are an interest, one which I am concerned about more than most - but that's it.
I'm not the guy to be "the guy," if you know what I mean. But, again, I'll help out when and where I can.
As I said above, patience is key. With respect, that's something that you'll realize as you get older. I don't mean that to be patronizing - it's just a fact of life.
50 years is a drop in a HUGE bucket in the universal scheme of things.
Again, it all comes down to my fundamental difference with Rich (and others) - I don't see the need to buy a new car; I just want to fix the one we have, and fill up the tank (and perhaps drive on better roads).
Robespierre vs. Lafayyete.
Or, in an example that Rich, who values his neck (don't we all) might find more palatable...
Lenin vs. Kerensky.
See - he wins in that one (although Kerensky lived a lot longer).
Paul
Dante:
Really?
Who are "they?"
And where is your proof that "they" have been here?
Paul
Dante:
My "them" is a "He" - and He and I have an... interesting relationship, to say the least. I keep asking Him for proof... and he always seems to lose the request form! :-)
But thanks for the Geroge Harrison reference (I am a huge Beatles fan). Just not my thing, and not the way, in my view, to pursue the study and investigation of the UFO phenomenon - or to involve the general public, which was the point of my column.
Paul
Brad:
I always listen.
Just remember - I'm on your side, mostly.
Paul
Paul hits the nail on the head, once more, with this blog entry.
And he is willing to give the quidnuncs in ufology more time to prove their worth.
Commendable. Useless but commendable.
And Brad, you want to have a confab with the very people who've mucked up the whole field of ufology, because they are and have been amateurs.
These are the same people who screwed up Donald Keyhoe's efforts by not supporting NICAP monetarily or philosophically.
Take a look at the latest UFO UpDate postings: self-aggrandizing crap and useless material.
After a hiatus of nine days, something as you are proposing, no one came back to the UFO table with anything of worth. It's the same old, same old (except or Paul's PR plea maybe).
The "science" of ufology or ufo-analysis will be done and is being done, quietly by small groups of dedicated, ego-free individuals with true expertise in various disciplines that apply.
If you want tap into that coterie of individuals, come up with a working hypothesis for what UFOs are, something unique if possible, and you'll get the attention of the doers rather than those who just like to debate for debating's sake....here and elsewhere.
Rich Reynolds
And Paul:
The better analogy would be Stalin and Trotsky.
Stalin was an apparat while Leon was a true Communist with some actual Marxist sympathies.
Stalin (like Lenin) didn't give a fig about Marxism (ufology) just the glorification of being involved in it, whereas Trotsky wanted power for the workers.
As you know, a pick-axe did him in.
RR
Richie, Richie, Richie...
So much anger. You must be spending too much time with Palpatine.
I do indeed like debating for the sake of debating - the time honoured role of the devil's advocate. But that's not what I'm doing here, as you imply.
If you don't like Updates, ignore it. Really - just walk away. I can't stand American (or Canadian) Idol.
Guess what?
I don't watch it.
Paul
Stalin was a reactionary, not a revolutionary...a thug, as was Lenin.
Kerensky was a Tory if you will.
Trotsky, on the other hand, was beholden to the Marxist cause, which isn't a bad one -- just unrealistic in a world where greed and self-aggrandizement are paramount.
(The "anger" of which you speak comes from my new double-dosed meds, just provided by the doc because my blood pressure has not gone down, but up actually, mostly your fault: those women! the debates!! the revisionist history!!!)
RR
Rich:
Just remember to breathe... breathe...
My "meds" have kept my BP and cholesterol under control since I was put on them four years ago (at 34 - so young).
Plus, they fill those late night hunger cravings!
Hmm... perhaps I shouldn't be taking them as food supplements, dozens at a time?
Thank God the fiance has a medical plan at work!
Paul
Rich:
P.S.
The history isn't "revisionist."
It's accurate.
Paul
Dante:
I don't know what polls you've been reading, but "every" man and woman in the street does not "know they're here."
With respect, statements like that are just ridiculous - and the kind of thing that has helped make ufology the subject of a fair bit of ridicule.
Paul
The only sensible thing, Paul, that came out of the UFO UpDate batch today was your scourging of Salla's exopolitical movement.
The Salla effort has gone off the deep-end for sure.
I put the Oppenheimer-Einstein exopolitical paper of June 1947 online (at the Forum).
It's amazing how similar Salla's take is to Oppenheimer's (that commie sympathizer, Pinko, just as was Edward U. Condon -- see our papers on Condon at http://www.ufolab.us -- near the bottom of the listings.)
RR
Dante is just being provocative; a bit loopy but provocative all the same.
I envy those who can say such things as "they're here" -- which was the line of an old guy in The Day the Earth Stood Still when Klaatu landed on the ballfield.
Loopy...
RR
Rich (and Dante):
Aww, we're all a bit loopy.
After all, I still think that "ufology" can be saved.
How loopy is that?
Good night, Gracie.
Paul
It's funny but I always thought of Mulder's "I want to believe" poster as an admonition to maintain one's objectivity. We all want to believe various things so this admonition isn't just for Ufologists. Whether you're a Christian trying to maintain your objectivity while studying religion from a historical perspective or a scientists pursing a particular avenue of research that may or may not lead to the results you hope to find we all have to be careful of the "will to believe".
Again, the statement "The public knows they exist."
The public knows no such thing. Many believe that it is possible, but that's a long way from knowing.
Even assuming that to be true, try comparing ufology to religion. People who "know" God exists are usually motivated to some action, often public. Heck, whole political agendas, even parties, are based on religious belief (for good and ill). Where is the mass ufological "action?" Stephen Bassett getting 1,600 votes while running for Congress? Ha!
It just isn't there.
I've spent a fair amount of time in bars, parties, lunches, etc, listening to people talk. UFOs? Never come up. sports, religion, politics, movies, music - heard them all. No UFOs.
It just isn't on the radar, outside of a very, very small niche, many of whom have convinced themselves that they are the cat's meow, and everyone cares - and that's the problem.
Paul
I'm interested to see where stores stock my "After the Martian Apocalypse." B&N puts it under "Metaphysics" -- side by side with Tarot and astrology* -- and Borders puts it under "Speculation," side by side with same.
*It's not a "UFO book," but it certainly isn't "metaphysical" either.
Let's face it ... there is no interest in the issue because there are no advances being made. Anyone is interested in Ufology will tell you that the books are oh so drab and redundant. Tales of abductions and sightings are all the same and very boring.
Only speculation on the nature of the phenomenon was mildly interesting ... for awhile. I'm afraid with all of the bases covered ad nauseum that it will take some major breakthroughs for any real interest in Ufology.
The most common reply when UFO's come up in a conversation? "So what if aliens or UFO's exist, doesn't affect me." So far and for the time being that is true. If some absolute proof doesn't come about within the next 25 years or so I strongly believe that the nature of this phenomenon will shift to accomodate any new paradigms that are prevelant at the time. This would really bring Vallee's beliefs to the forefront of issue I think.
Lastly, look at 95 percent of the UFO books out there. They stink. People don't want to read them, don't care about them and why should they?
What books were you hoping to find at Chapters? (Fellow Cdn. here)
Good points, sad reality. I've noticed the same where I currently live; Eugene, Oregon. Even the 'New Age' bookstore doesn't carry UFO books per se. They'll carry things like personal accounts of communicating with ETs, that kind of thing, but few, if any, good UFO books. Personally, I question the "the books don't sell" line.
It's difficult to find UFO books anywhere, outside of on-line. Second hand bookstores don't seem to have much. Thrift stores, like Goodwills, St. Vincent de Paul's, etc. put them in odd categories. If you're lucky enough to find a UFO book, frequently it's shoved in with science fiction, fiction; I"ve found UFO books in the religious section! The University library; you can forget it. Eugene built a brand new, huge, spiffy, beautiful library recently. Their UFO selection is actually worse than it was 25 years ago!
I'm in Canada, so not to speak for other areas, but truth be told ... in the used bookstores of my area there are huge sections on UFO's. Many used bookstores have multiple copies of their UFO books. People dump this stuff off. It's a passing phase of interest for them.
That being said, the Magick and Occult sections are scant. Owners of the used bookstores that I frequent say that this stuff flies off the shelves and that they often can't keep some of these works for even a day.
This is a true wake-up call for UFO enthusiasts and researchers. Move into the Consciousness related area of UFO studies!
Those who are interested don't need to be convinced that there is something going on with more accounts of sightings. Those who believe, believe and those who don't surely have had enough access to the subject to make up their minds - through TLC documentaries and the like.
Let's take the far-out stuff that was going on with the New Age movement and UFO's and filter out the flakiness, bulk up on the consciousness end of things. That might peak the readership a bit and take Ufology into a new realm.
These views are in accordance with the comments on the Nick Redfern board as well.
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