An Empty Suit

 

Agree or disagree with the late Stan Friedman, or the late Dick Hall, or the late Errol Bruce-Knapp, or their colleagues from years past, but you could count on them being serious of thought, erudite, and, in the main, gentlemen (if ones with the occasional sharp intellectual elbow in the corner of the rink, a la Gordie Howe). The late Mac Tonnies, who was at the forefront of a new generation of researchers until his tragic death, was both smart and imaginative, curious and cultured.

Those days are long gone. Now ufology gets the likes of Jeremy Corbell, who apparently thinks that profanity is a sign of gravitas. The only thing worse than his crass gutter mentality is the odious slogan he hangs it all on - "weaponize your curiosity", which appeals, no doubt, to a certain, targeted constituency. In the end, Corbell is all about the marketing. He doesn't stand on the shoulders of those who came before him. He's just kicking their memory, and their accomplishments, in the shins.

And to think that people wonder why I turned my back on ufology years ago. Each time I check back in, it's just gotten worse.

So long as it pushes the likes of Corbell to the forefront, the "field" is nothing more than an empty suit, hanging on a sad sack of bones, waiting for burial.

Paul Kimball