Richard Dolan is the king of ufological sleight-of-hand. One of thousands of people possessing a Masters Degree in History from some small liberal arts college, Dolan managed to turn himself into "Ufology's historian" in just over a decade, all while building a nice little multi-media congolmerate with him as the centerpiece.
How has he done it? Well, he wrote a book about the history of UFOs that was a combination of fact recitation, just enough wild-eyed speculation to bring in the true believers, and copious footnotes - the apotheosis of quantity over quality. But in the land of the blind, the one eyed historian proved to be king. He followed that up by doing anything and everything that would get allow him to build his brand, which was that of the reasonably articulate, well-educated (by ufology's standards), young-ish, and good looking researcher. What followed? More books, of course, usually just repeating the same themes that he has written about before, mixed in with some television gigs and now his own radio show (the flagship of the KGRA internet network), and a publishing company (that he called Richard Dolan Press, which is quintessential personal branding).
He's kept this all going by getting more and more outlandish with his claims over the years as he has refined his branding to the only place he could really take it and be successful - over-the-top conspiracy theorizing about anything, usually by quoting anonymous "witnesses" and "sources." Most recently he wound up on the stage at Mexico City with the Roswell slides promoters, a decision which blew up in his face within just a couple of days. Whereas some of the others involved apologized, however, Dolan did what all good corporations do - he issued some bland statements about how none of it was really his fault (conveniently forgetting any and all statements he made in support of the event and the slides before May 5th), and urged everyone to move on as quickly as possible... even as he steadfastly refused to offer anything even remotely resembling an apology for agreeing to be part of an event that was a money-milking sham.
But that's how UFO$, Inc. rolls.
But that's how UFO$, Inc. rolls.
Paul Kimball
5 comments:
Faux-intellectual Dolan has been alternatively snarkily defiant and melodramatically thoughtful in the aftermath of his endorsement of the slides hoax.
His cartoonish producer, the buffoon known as Race Hobbs continues to bluster uncontrollably against all who dare criticize Saint Richard.
A short list of the frauds & hoaxes in which Dolan has been involved -
- The Stan Romanek hoax, even after Romanek was arrested on child porn charges.
- The fraudulent dying ex-CIA guy that Ike supposedly sent to Area 51 to warn of an invasion by the 3rd Army.
- Aligning himself with known frauds like Moulton-Howe, Maussan & Romanek.
- And of course, the coup de gras, his endorsement of the Roswell Slides hoax.
I pity any true believer that still gives this guy anymore of their hard earned money.
A note: I will not approve comments that discuss the personal life of Dolan or anyone else.
PK
At one point in life I thought RD was a legit researcher. Boy, was I wrong. I'm surprised he's not re-revisiting the Linda Cortile case or Billy Meier. Ufology is now sad but true. I long for information from the likes of James Courier, Karl Pflock, Paul Kimball etc. I just wish the tin foil helmet pool of researchers and followers would just go away.
I am loving this series, Paul! Can't wait to see who else makes it into the Hall of Shame.
> the tin foil helmet
A pretty good critique of Dolan's shaaby research methods:
Richard Dolan’s Tinfoil Hat
http://www.theparacast.com/images/dolan.pdf
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