• NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, eight years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

    Subscribe to The Paracast Newsletter!

Your Paracast Newsletter — January 24, 2016


Gene Steinberg

Forum Super Hero
Staff member
THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
January 24, 2016
www.theparacast.com


An Extended Review of the Possibilities of Synchronicity Featured on The Paracast

The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.

SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY A PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! We have another radio show, and for a low subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast without the network ads, and chat rooms when you sign up for The Paracast+. NEW! We’ve added an RSS feed for fast updates of the latest episodes and we give free ebooks for long-term subscriptions. We’ve just launched The Paracast+ Video Channel. Check out our new “Lifetime” membership! For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.

This Week's Episode: In the tradition of our recent episodes with Mike Clelland and Walter Bosley, we explore synchronicity even further with Dr. Kirby Surprise, author of "Synchronicity: The Art of Coincidence, Choice and Unlocking Your Mind." Is synchronicity due to some external force, or is it an ability that we all possess? How does it impact the world in which we live, and our own lives? According to his bio, "Dr. Kirby Surprise received his doctorate in counseling psychology from the Institute for Integral Studies. He works in an advanced outpatient program for the State of California where he assesses, diagnoses, and treats clients with psychotic and delusional disorders."

Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet

After The Paracast -- Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on January 24: Gene and Chris talk about how governments bamboozle the public into giving up their freedoms. The focus moves to the political arena, the elections and the crazy and corrupt people running for high office. On both sides of the aisle. When it comes to synchronicity, if we are all generating our own realities? How does it integrate into the whole — do we share a universal consciousness? How does the reflective factor impact our perceptions, and studies, or paranormal events? How do the possibilities of alternate realities enter the picture? On to cattle mutilations, we again cover the possibility that some might be the result of dirty tricks by “Big Agriculture” to put smaller ranchers out of business. Other possibilities include the UFO/alien/occult connection and all its forms, governments conducting environmental tests, or the possibility that some of it is due to mun dane sca venger action.

Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.

Filling Seats, Attracting Eyeballs
By Gene Steinberg

When it comes to UFO-related conferences, I got my feet wet back in the 1960s, as a friend/volunteer/staffer for Jim Moseley’s Saucer News. Every month, we’d invite someone to deliver a speech about UFOs and psychic phenomena at a hotel conference room in midtown. I should say a relatively run-down hotel conference room, since Jim ran those events on a tight budget.

Attendance ranged from a few dozen to a few hundred, depending on the guest. I even tried my hand as a guest lecturer on one occasion, and had a decent audience reaction. This came before I embarked on a radio career, so my presentation was a little ragged. Well, maybe more than a little.

In any case, by 1967, Jim decided to go all-out. He had become the “Permanent” Chairman of the National UFO Conference, and made it a major affair with thousands of attendees. He had never managed a business of more than a few people, and hence things quickly got out of hand. While Jim probably didn’t lose any money, he lamented later on that more than a few people got in without buying tickets.

I tried my hand at sponsoring a National UFO Conference in 1975, near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. While the convention would have attracted a much larger audience had we taken it to Philadelphia, 25 miles away, our budget was too limited. My colleagues and I hoped the historic location might still attract a decent audience. In the end, after receiving a reasonable amount of publicity in the local media, we managed to persuade a couple of hundred to actually show up for the two-day event. All in all, we sustained a loss of $135. I didn’t think it was so bad, but I’ll never forget the sad look on my business partner’s face.

Unfortunately, I was too busy managing things to actually enjoy the proceedings. Some of our attendees even reported seeing a UFO, but my attention was drawn elsewhere due to my responsibilities.

I vowed never to do it again.

But I do admire the perseverance and dedication of those who choose to engage in such ventures. These days, some can be reasonably profitable, while others just manage to cover their costs.

The attendance level at one of these things, however, will never, ever, approach that of a Comic-Con.

Now in the old days, Moseley had a libertarian view in choosing guests. He did not pretend to be running a scientific UFO research organization, and thus often chose lecturers that had views with which he disagreed. There were a few wacky contactees in the mix. After all, they had followings who’d gladly buy tickets. It was very much about having a good time, and leaving as few seats empty as possible.

However, a UFO club that gives at least lip service to taking a scientific approach to the subject — and hoping to educate the public as to the nature of the phenomenon — ought to be at least somewhat circumspect about which guests to select to make presentations. Surely there are enough serious researchers who can attract crowds.

So I continue to wonder about the Mutual UFO Network, MUFON, and its annual symposiums. MUFON claims to be “the world’s oldest and largest UFO phenomenon investigative body.” It claims to apply the scientific method to its research.

At the very least, if one is to take that last claim seriously, you would expect that the lecturers hired to make presentations at their annual conferences and regional meetings would reflect that approach. It’s important to put its best face forward, particularly in an environment where UFOs are usually thought to be the stuff of entertainment, sensational fodder for TV reality shows.

Yet when I examined the lists of presenters at MUFON’s annual “Symposium” for 2015, there appeared to be somewhat of a disconnect. Sure, there are valid differences of opinion as to which viewpoints or investigative approaches will yield factual evidence. But one of the featured speakers, Jaime Maussan, is better known as an entertainer rather than a researche. I’m being charitable, but I was curious to see him listed as a featured speaker only a few months after the “Roswell Slides” debacle, of which he was a key participant, came crashing down. I suppose it might have made sense if he confessed, but still. And please don’t get me started about the roster for the 2014 symposium, which revealed a number of questionable choices.

One of MUFON’s state affiliates once scheduled the notorious Michael Horn, who has devoted his life to promoting contactee Billy Meier, to speak at one of their meetings. Well, at least until they came to their senses — and we mentioned our concerns on The Paracast.

It does appear that MUFON, these days, is more about promotion than about presenting scientific findings about UFOs. The lack of focus is especially evident at the organization’s site, which is massively cluttered. There are so many things to click that you might suffer from a case of vertigo browsing through it.

After 47 years, it doesn’t seem as if MUFON has actually demonstrated any reasonable level of progress in understanding the UFO mystery. It’s still mostly about the promise of spaceships and life from outer space.

I remain tolerant of people like Moseley, who died in 2012. He was more the entertainer than the researcher, and admitted perpetrating a few flying saucer pranks to keep the subject alive.

I’m also inclined to give some slack to other UFO event promoters, such as Open Minds, sponsor of the International UFO Congress. It doesn’t pretend to be a scientific research organization.

Still, the IUFOC has tightened up the rosters considerably over the years. Some might question the presence of Dr. David Jacobs at this year’s event, scheduled for mid-February. But the conference will also feature such luminaries as Nick Redfern, Nick Pope, Chris Rutkowski, Douglas Trumbull, Marc Dantonio and especially Jacque Vallee, who almost never attends or addresses UFO conferences.

Filling seats is important. Costs have to be covered. So I appreciate the dilemma of finding speakers who have a large following and can also deliver factual presentations with reasoned speculation. It’s a difficult litmus test, and I can see where there are legitimate gray areas.

So if IUFOC offers both entertainment and information, that’s all right. It’s not getting near as close to the extremes as another event, in Joshua Tree, CA, which touts its designation as the “Woodstock of UFOs.”

But MUFON claims to be engaged in scientific research, and thus they demand greater scrutiny. Unfortunately, they appear to be tone deaf to such concerns. And don’t get me started about the questionable first season of the “Hangar 1” reality TV show that claims to be based on MUFON’s files. For all intents and purposes, MUFO is a retail business rather than a scientific research body.

Copyright 1999-2016 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
 
Good piece.

Recently I too have been wondering to what extent, that in trying to make money and fill seats, UFO conferences will book the tried and tested rather than those who might say something controversial or challenging. Money and attention flows to those who maintain the status quo rather than those who want to apply new ways of thinking to the phenomenon.
 
It does appear that MUFON, these days, is more about promotion than about presenting scientific findings about UFOs.

I should think that you if anyone here would recognize the importance of promotion of venues for discussion of ufos, given your own previous efforts. Is MUFON "more about promotion than about presenting scientific findings about UFOs"? What's the right balance in the effort to keep the ufo subject alive in public consciousness while data continues to be accumulated? Data-gathering is a scientific procedure, which depends for its pay-off on the involvement of professional scientists in interpreting the data. It's official 'science' that continues to be in default in this inquiry.

I'm not a member of MUFON and not knowledgeable about its long history, but I was impressed by the extensive analysis provided last year by key members of MUFON concerning the Puerto Rico event, certainly a major step in the 'scientific' direction. (Btw, I still haven't seen the detailed critique of that analysis undertaken last year under @IsaacKoi's leadership. Is it still under way?)

You also wrote: "After 47 years, it doesn’t seem as if MUFON has actually demonstrated any reasonable level of progress in understanding the UFO mystery." The 'ufo mystery' cannot be solved by researchers who gather and publish the data reported by those who experience sightings and encounters. All citizen researchers can do is gather and report the continuing data that cannot be accounted for by prosaic explanations. Progress in "understanding the UFO mystery" requires the open participation of academic science and other public scientific institutions in addressing the data. The subject itself, and the public interested in it, are still faced with the same problem articulated by James McDonald and Bruce Maccabee: science was in default at the time of the Congressional hearings in the 1960s and is still in default as demonstrated by Maccabee's paper of a decade ago, "Science Still in Default."

I'm also unable to understand the preference for people like Moseley, about whom you write:

"I remain tolerant of people like Moseley, who died in 2012. He was more the entertainer than the researcher, and admitted perpetrating a few flying saucer pranks to keep the subject alive."

Pranks and hoaxes don't keep the subject alive imo; they further marginalize an already long-officially-marginalized subject. Seven decades of planet-wide modern ufo experience have almost faded from living memory. The ufo subject itself will soon be quaint and quirky if that history is not read, understood, and discussed in the present, along with reporting of continuing ufo sighting data.
 
Moseley's transgressions are well known, and it's not a question of preference. He was a close friend, and the perfect friend has not been born yet. He never lied to me about his early days in the field once we became close. But he also wasn't pretending to be a scientific UFO researcher, though he did do good journalism from time to time.

MUFON does claim to be a scientific organization that uses the scientific method. That doesn't mean they never do good work, or that they don't have dedicated researchers in their ranks, or a large proportion of members who are aching for a solution.

If the mystery is solved, there's no need for a MUFON. Are they interested in delivering results that put them out of business? Does their board talk more about filing seats and getting more memberships than what can be accomplished to solve the mystery? Look up what a former MUFON director, James Carrion, says on that subject.
 
[Moseley]wasn't pretending to be a scientific UFO researcher, though he did do good journalism from time to time. MUFON does claim to be a scientific organization that uses the scientific method."

Data-gathering is part of 'the scientific method'. Does MUFON not make it clear that this is what they're doing? Is it a greater part of 'the scientific method' to do as the great majority of scientists do regarding the ufo phenomenon -- to ignore the research and data collected by civilian (and some scientific) researchers rather than reading it, and to form no hypothesis whatever about what it might signify? To solve 'the ufo mystery' requires both of those activities and then the testing of hypotheses against one another. Science also requires reasoning, which many specialists other than scientists are equally capable of. Science operates in general on the basis of theories (frequently revised) rather than on the basis of complete understanding of the nature of physical reality. The CERN scientists have just days ago proved the existence of faster-than-light travel by some particles, a major challenge to current scientific theory. Let's see if this leads to some expansion in what 'scientists' generally allow themselves to think is possible. In the meantime the ufo mystery is not solved.

If the mystery is solved, there's no need for a MUFON. Are they interested in delivering results that put them out of business? Does their board talk more about filing seats and getting more memberships than what can be accomplished to solve the mystery? Look up what a former MUFON director, James Carrion, says on that subject.

"If the mystery is solved, there's no need for a MUFON"? You think the mystery has been solved? By whom? Until it is solved there is a need for a large organization that continues to gather data and build up a public database for further civilian research, if scientists continue to ignore the subject, an organization that also keeps the subject in the public eye to the extent possible. Not of course by sensationalizing cases in their television series, but my impression is that that's no longer going on. So what's the goal of criticizing MUFON if you have nothing better to replace it with?
 
As far as me, I don't think I'd even sweat it regarding MUFONs agenda or raison d'etre or mission statement. I would ask though WWJ(M)D?

Part of the scientific method also requires making predictions based on that data and duplicating those predictions successfully. Has MUFON done that? Being that they've been around some 45 years seems like they've had enough time or am I being too strident? Otherwise I am not so sure they could make that claim could they, they should just consider themselves the oldest UFO database. But I'd be thankful for that provided they disseminate that data fairly and let the Christopher O'Briens of the world have access to the data and approach it scientifically.

I guess what I'm saying is let MUFON invite who they want if it keeps the organization solvent, because you can't be sure what will happen with all that collected data if MUFON withers and dies and the data ends up locked away on somebody's server in a garage in Arizona. Is there any media organization outside the Huff Post that gives serious lip service to the ufo field? Probably not and I don't think there will be for some time, so if your concern about MUFONS invite list is that the less desirable elements of the community may smear the whole community to the outside world I don't think that all the Jacques Vallees or Nick Popes in the world are going to change the minds of the outside world even if the rogue elements packed it in and became Pentecostal preachers.
 
Last edited:
Yeah it was the same with the local Paracon, which takes place in a very upmarket hotel very very near me (the place has been restored to its glory and its worth a vist for that alone)

Venue and more...

But the guest list for last years even Oy vey......

I guess the lunatic fringe has been and will always be a part of this topic, though i have hopes of a time when it need no longer be the case.

But just about every event ive even been to has been a wheat and chaff affair.

And to be fair sometimes, just sometimes a guest who i would have written off as nuts will say something that resonates as interesting
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I love the whole idea of imagining what a mainstream version of a Paracon would look like. I've been to professional scientific conventions where there are degrees of legitimacy represented. Plenary sessions are the +10 of legitimacy ranging down through a variety of scheduled sessions and round tables. Then there is the vendor hall, where the wackos are given free rein to hang out.

I staffed a booth that had a minor feature saying raisins were a healthy alternative snack; a white lady stopped by to say raisins were racist because of how Japanese Americans in California were exploited by the raisin industry. Then my booth partner came back from the bathroom and started arguing with the white lady because my booth partner was Japanese American and had first hand knowledge of the raisin industry and knew what the white lady was saying was wrong.

I said I was going to take a break and wandered around the vendor hall. A couple aisles over was a booth with a banner saying "Milk! The Deadly Poison" (this was at an American Public Health Association meeting) which was basically about milk being a deadly poison. There was also a great NASA display with a space shuttle you could go inside with lots of freebies. I asked one of the people staffing the display why NASA was at an APHA convention. He said he didn't know and gave me a brochure on Chagas disease.

It's easy to populate the vendor hall, but it's much harder to figure out what the plenary sessions should be. Hansen argues that liminal topics automatically undermine their own basis. Bigelow threw money at the hope that something else was true, and look at all he accomplished.

It's not easy answer territory, but adding an international food court to the vendor hall might help. Torta talong!
 
Back
Top