Phil Klass lecture to the National Youth Science Camp

A gem from 1998 - arch-skeptic Phil Klass talking to science camp kids about UFOs.

Paul Kimball

Klassic

This clip from the Larry King Show in 1997 is worth watching for those who want to see how little has really changed when it comes to Roswell. Of course Kevin Randle still holds the view that an alien spacecraft crashed, despite watching just about every witness he was promoting in 1997 turn out to be compromised in some way or another (usually by not telling the truth), but that's like watching a prospector who has been digging for gold at the same site for years keep trudging out every day in the hope that his luck will turn around. 

My favourite part of the tete-a-tete comes at the beginning, where Klass correctly points out Randle's very selective quotation from the famous Twining letter. As cherry-picked by Randle and his fellow saucerologists, the selective quote was used to buttress the claim that UFOs are alien spacecraft. But as Klass pointed out, they were taking the quote out of its full and proper context. 

The real problem is that Randle tried to have his cake and eat it too, something which people should recognize as a familiar pattern, when he stated that the memo was only "Secret" so of course it couldn't have gotten into all the details. But then why quote it at all... or at the very least, why not quote it in full and let the reader / listener decide? 

The answer is simple - for the same reason that some of the shadier religious figures throughout history have selectively quoted from the Bible. Their purpose is not to enlighten, inform or encourage people to seek the truth; it is to advance their own agenda, some of which relates to commercial interests, and some of which relates to their egos, and some of which relates to their will to believe - it varies with the saucerologists. The commonality, however, is that they have played fast and loos with the fact from the beginning, and will only tell people what they want them to hear. 

That continues to this day. 

Paul Kimball

Carol Rainey, The Alien Abduction Cult & Ufology

There is an orchestrated campaign at the moment of personal attacks and propaganda which goes far beyond the level of reasonable criticism against filmmaker Carol Rainey, who has spoken out about the activities of Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs and other "abduction researchers". I recently pointed out one egregious example, "Archie Bedford", who lied about Rainey on the message forum of The Paracast (with the full support of the show's owner).

This is what cult members do - criticize their gurus, and they will spare no effort to attack you, not on the facts, but on your person.

UFO researchers often decry similar tactics by those they label "debunkers" (and indeed, Phil Klass had a well-deserved reputation for making these kinds of attacks). It's just as bad, however, when people do the same thing in support of people with whom you agree.

And yet, in the comments section of the video above, we see approving remarks by a poster who uses the handle "kruggutter", who in reality is Sean F. Meers, a person whose 166 page "rebuttal" to Rainey's work has been met with praise at The Paracast and even UFO Updates. And then there are videos like this:

Presumably Meers endorses these even more inflammatory videos made about Rainey, as they all seem to be part of the same gang - the poster of the video above comments on the one below, endorsing it as follows: "Hhaahahahahahahah that Witch!".

One can disagree with Ms. Rainey; indeed, it is even fair game to question her motivations (as it is for any filmmaker). But there is a right way to do it, and a wrong way to do it, and what we see in the above examples is the wrong way. It is shameful behaviour, and it has no place in a civil society that values reasonable and rational discourse. Sadly, however, it is all too typical of "ufology", a "field" that has far more in common with the likes of Phil Klass than it will ever admit, or even realize.

Paul Kimball