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Re: CSETI in the news (Response and Comments)



The set of articles which came out of the CSETI "briefings" is about what I
expected when I heard what Greer's claims were.

It's a far cry from the original Congressional hearings where Hynek, Fowler,
and McDonald spoke persusasively about the scientific validity of UFO reports
and investigations, and the poor handling of the problem by the Air Force. Now
we have someone making claims right out of "Dark Skies". The comparisons, and
the use of the words "believer" and "fanatic" were inevitable. It is
unfortunate that serious researchers will now be tarred with the same brush.
Especially after Hale-Bopp and Heaven's Gate. Thanks to this new piece, the
impression of UFO research as a gathering of people who can't tell reality from
fantasy will be prolonged.

In his "briefing" Greer claims a number of things which cannot be proven or
disproven:

	UFOs are from an extraterrestrial source: Even within the research
community this is a topic for extensive debate. Wise researchers realize that
we are not yet at a point where we can develop credible theories of origin or
intent.

	There are three extraterrestrial races visiting earth: This is not
science, and it is not supported by the evidence. A brief perusal of the
Magonia catalog shows that distinguishing between types of occupants in close
encounter cases is difficult, but the resulting types are certainly far more
than 3. Where Greer came up with this number is hard to fathom, unless he has
been reading a different set of cases than anyone else.

	They are working together: The evidence of cooperation between
different types of entities is sketchy at best. Most occupants in any
particular case seem to be of the same type. Abductees have claimed to
distinguish between various races of beings working together, but this is based
soley on appearance, and cannot demonstrate that these entities have different
origins, even granting the reliability of hypnotic testimony, which is far from
given among professional psychologists.

	There are UFO bases under the ocean: Another unsupportable claim. We do
know that UFOs are sometimes observed entering and leaving the water. But that
is a far cry from proof that they are based there. There are many cases of
extensive UFO activity over the Brazilian rainforest, which led Fontes to
suggest UFO basing in that location. But again, correlation is not proof.

	The extraterrestrials are prepared for wide-scale contact with humans:
Since the ability to initiate contact with humans would be completely under the
control of the UFO source, and since the performance of UFOs (if they are
aircraft) and the weapons used by occupants appear to be superior to those
possessed by any nation on earth, they have nothing to fear from us. Yet the

[78 lines left ... full text available at <url:http://www.reference.com/cgi-bin/pn/go?choice=message&table=04_1997&mid=4546809&hilit=UFO> ]
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Article-ID: 04_1997&4412869
Score: 95
Subject: Re: What's wrong with Phil Klass? (Re: UFOs over Arizona)