MUFON Wisconsin Assistant State Director and Chief Investigator Mark O'Connell published a blog post Tuesday in which he requested the organization remove Roswell Slides promoter Jaime Maussan from its list of speakers for its upcoming annual symposium. O'Connell, who is currently composing a book on the life of the late ufology icon J. Allen Hynek, additionally requested that MUFON ban Maussan and his beWITNESS colleagues Tom Carey, Don Schmitt, Richard Dolan and Anthony Bragalia from its future events.
"There is no place for these people at any gathering that is meant to further the cause of serious UFO study," O'Connell wrote in a message to MUFON International Director Jan Harzan published in the Tuesday blog post.
MUFON has long been under fire from a wide range of sources for what many interpret to be a blatant disregard of its mission statement, "The scientific study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity." More discerning members of the UFO community have frequently voiced strong objections to the organization's choices of speakers given the claimed mission, and the latest decision to offer Maussan a platform is bound to draw more criticism. The theme of the 2015 MUFON Symposium is billed as, "Expanding Ufology: Opening NEW Doors in Academia, Industry and Media."
"Maybe we need to shut a few doors while we're at it," O'Connell wrote in response to the theme.
This writer appreciates O'Connell's initiative. Let MUFON and O'Connell know what you think about his request and the related issues by posting your comments at his recent post, 'Eradicating the UFO Pestilence'.
Jack,
ReplyDeleteGreat that you are blogging about this too. As Terry pointed out over on Mark's blog, MUFON is now in the entertainment business. Sad, but true.
Now, if we could somehow get more UFO enthusiasts to come to blogs like yours, Mark's and a few others, perhaps we would have a more discerning UFO public.
Terry also pointed out that MUFON is just giving the people what they want. And MUFON wants these foolish people's dollars, credibility be damned.
I guess their apparent lucrative contract to generate silly shows for The History Channel has given them Gold Rush Fever.
Maybe the best bet is to just ignore MUFON altogether. To make it persona non grata in as many circles as possible. Perhaps NUFORC should be given more attention now. Dunno. Grasping at straws here.
The cancer on Ufology known as The Roswell Slides has metastasized.
Reading Terry's comment at the other blog I wondered if, in fact, MUFON or various subdivisions thereof are in fact giving the people what they want. Clearly, to run a profitable conference you have to have a lineup that people will pay to see. That's not the same as satisfying the needs and goals of rank and file membership or of non-members who rely on MUFON as a place to report and maybe start to process sightings or experiences. It's more like MUFON is a vehicle for giving various MUFON leaders what they want. Science aweigh!
ReplyDeleteSue,
ReplyDeleteWell said. I'm not in MUFON, but did consider it to be a valuable vehicle for the public to report a sighting. Sooo.... perhaps a change in leadership is in order?
Excellent. I hope more people support this action. The entire Roswell Slide incident was a massive fraud.
ReplyDeleteI posted this at Jack's previous article, but I think it's more appropriate here, regarding the great scholar & serial MUFON case compiler Richard Dolan -
ReplyDeleteDolan's books are full of footnotes. But, these footnotes are simply references to other's references of already published reports. He does ZERO research. None. He simply surfs the net, finds the information which supports his book's thesis, then compiles it into a book. That's fine for a compilation book of UFO encounters, except that's not how he positions either himself or his books.
Reading one of his books, you begin to see what Dolan’s modus operandi is with regards to his citations of hundreds of UFO events. They come from the research of others.
His is a tertiary role of compiling sightings from other authors on the subject. But when you look at the citations themselves, they often don’t have any references; they’re dead ends. So it looks like there is a documented, cited source for Dolan’s description when, in fact, there is no such thing.
He supports hoaxers and aligns himself with frauds. Enough of this guy and his faux-intellectual persona which he has carefully created and encourages his fans to believe in.
Tom,
ReplyDeleteI agree. Dolan does no research that I know of. He is just out making a buck. I have no respect for him!