Advocating Higher Research Standards

The late Aladino Felix was the leader of a Brazilian right-wing paramilitary group, fought in World War II, and claimed to be the messiah of the Jewish people. As The Guardian reports, Felix wrote a book called My Contact with Flying Saucers in which he claimed to be in contact with extraterrestrials. He wrote the book under the pseudonym Dino Kraspedon.

Cult leader, false flag terrorist,
& self-proclaimed contactee, Aladino Felix

During the 1960's Felix led a group of police officers which carried out violent false flag terrorist attacks as a means to what they believed was a justifiable end: Brazilian dictatorships. Some 14 bombs were detonated by the group while the opposition was blamed for the attacks; a governing iron fist was supposedly required to protect the good citizens from the lawless terrorists. Targets included a bank and the Sao Paulo stock exchange before Felix was arrested in 1968 and served three years in prison. 

"He was seen as a crazy guy," said investigator Vasconcelo Quadros, "but he had a relationship with the authorities."

We could speculate how much that relationship influenced his decision to claim he knew extraterrestrials, or to what extent he thought such a claim would further his far right-wing agenda. What is relatively clear, however, is people might have a lot of undisclosed yet relevant circumstances surrounding their extraordinary claims. 

Fact-checking and suspending judgment pending conclusive information are essential. It's also important to remember it's no one's responsibility to deny a claim or sort out convoluted, cryptic statements released piece meal. It's the responsibility of an individual and an organization to present their material in competent, coherent manners in the first place, and to provide evidence justifying conclusions. Don't rationalize and make excuses for anything less.

The UFO genre contains a well documented, bulging archive of empty claims that were not only initially accepted without question, but in many cases continue to be promoted after reasonably shown to be false. Such circumstances are by no means limited to distant Cold War games of yesteryear, but also include much more recent events.

Oh, those drones

For those who are newer to the steeplechase or show a lack of willingness to keep such incidents in current discussions, we might reminisce about the great drone hoax. Photos and witness accounts started popping up, seemingly corroborating one another, yet diligent researchers found problems with the photos. Then the alleged witnesses didn't pan out. By that time, the story had legs, was covered by some higher profile UFO personalities and radio shows, and there are still some who will label you a debunker for desiring more evidence of the drone invasion than a picture on a social media account. 

There was the Great Lakes Dive Company case in 2006 in which someone claimed to have striking evidence of a crashed UFO on the floor of a lake. It was a rather complexly executed chain of events in which supporting materials included alleged sonar images which could not be authenticated and an AP story submitted to an e-list which was almost certainly hoaxed. When James Carrion bird dogged the case, including holding the self-described spokesperson of the dive company accountable for his claims, the case fell apart. If you never heard of it, that's probably the main reason why.

The Roswell Slides fiasco was one of the most absurd examples of claims demanded to be accepted absent evidence the genre has ever seen, which is really saying something. Suffice it to say it didn't work out. 

And then there was - oh, never mind.

In 2012 Leslie Kean dramatically promoted a case of what turned out to be an insect caught on camera during an airshow in Chile. She doubled down and the second Chilean case didn't hold water either. Kean's work was previously drawn into question when she chose to ignore conflicting points in one of her favored cases when the discrepancy was brought to her attention by a group of researchers at Reality Uncovered discussion forum. Moreover, Kean credulously supported the James Mortellaro case, a man in the Budd Hopkins entourage of alleged alien abductees. 

The case fell apart terribly, resulting in a great deal of embarrassment for all involved. Among other problems, Hopkins and Mortellaro never produced supporting medical documentation they long promised was forthcoming. Hopkins repeatedly urged others to trust that the medical evidence was for real (Please note the problematic nature of assuring the public something is forthcoming rather than producing it in the first place). Mortellaro eventually came up with an alleged medical report, supposedly documenting his abduction-related injuries and their miraculous healing, but it was identified by medical professionals as a fabrication. Hopkins' own foundation announced the case was deemed not worthy of further investigation, credible evidence was never produced, and that alleged official documents proved to be fabricated.

Which brings us back to Kean and claims not proportionate to the evidence. Maybe the 2017 articles, in which Kean was involved, on the AATIP were completely accurate. The problem is we have not yet been shown if that is so. Specifically, buildings were reported to have been modified for the storage of debris - alloys, it was reported - retrieved from, basically, UFOs. It was also reported that UFO witnesses were examined for physiological changes. Verification of such claims would be appreciated, and, given the history of the UFO genre, it's unreasonable to even expect, much less demand, such claims be accepted on trust and without question.

We regularly observe in TTSA a problematic and irrational method of operation: TTSA personnel release a statement or make a claim, then deny accountability for the situation. They accuse those of being unfairly critical who request verification for the claim, or for requesting further clarification on a talking point TTSA itself introduced. This is unreasonable, no matter what evidence may eventually be produced, and should be universally recognized as unreasonable throughout the community.

The above bogus cases are but a small sample of the hoaxes and incorrect claims regularly dispersed to the UFO community. We could make a list that would read like Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire. Given that verifiable situation, settling for less than authentic documentation is not only ill advised and in contradiction to professional research standards, it's a fool's errand.

It is not anyone's responsibility to deny or disprove a claim. It is the responsibility of a professional researcher to provide adequate documentation to support their point in the first place. Demand it, and call it out when you see otherwise.