Binnall, Gulyas, Bishop & Kimball on Radio Misterioso

[Paul Kimball]

My good friend Greg Bishop has posted the episode of Radio Misterioso he recorded live here in Halifax back in August with Tim Binnall, Aaron Gulyas, and yours truly.

You can listen here.

The write-up:

"After the wonderful East Coast Paraconference, Paul Kimball put us up for one night in a haunted hotel in his hometown of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Before the event, he took us on a guided tour of the province, including a pilgrimage to the alleged UFO crash site in Shag Harbour. Sitting on the roof of our hotel, we discussed the events of that weekend and just about anything else that came to mind while we had a few beers and Tim tried to get a hookup on Tinder. We also talked about who can claim the title of “most influential ufologist,” praised the organizers of the conference for their non-dogmatic stance, and apparently annoyed some other guests of the hotel. Aaron also performed his soon-to-be-famous impressions of legendary UFO researcher and Men In Black originator Albert K. Bender."

 

[Randall]

... We also talked about who can claim the title of “most influential ufologist" of all time ...

If I got this right, Tim said Stan Friedman, Aaron said John Keel and Paul also said Stan Friedman. Vallée was briefly mentioned. Personally, although I have to agree that while Friedman and Vallée are undisputed Hall Of Fame members, J. Allen Hynek deserves the top spot: Topics In Ufology - Hynek

If you don't want to read the article, these bullet points should say enough:

• Instructor and assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Ohio State University.
• Associate director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Astrophysics Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
• Chief Scientist for the NASA sponsored satellite tracking program at the time.
• Scientific Advisor to the USAF for over 20 years on their official investigations into UFO reports.
• Upon retiring from teaching in 1973 he founded the prestigious Center For UFO Studies ( CUFOS ), which is still active today.
• Author of The UFO Experience, which outlines the UFO experience types still in use today, and inspired the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
• Numerous lectures and media appearances

Close Encounters of the Third Kind alone puts Hynek's influence on media and entertainment ( and consequently culture ), into the stratosphere. The film received numerous awards and nominations at the 50th Academy Awards, 32nd British Academy Film Awards, the 35th Golden Globe Awards, the Saturn Awards and has been widely acclaimed by the American Film Institute. In December 2007, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Add his scientific credentials and official capacity as consultant to the USAF during their UFO investigations, and there's no contest. Vallée should be in the top triad along with Friedman and Hynek. If we had to add another, then we'd have to mention Richard Hall, who was the workhorse behind NICAP and its high profile leader Donald Keyhoe. One of the things I like the most about Friedman is his unapologetic position with respect to being a ufologist. It's a subject he takes seriously, and rather than trying to rework UFOs into some paradigm that is more contemporary, fashionable, entertaining, or socially safe, he makes no bones about his belief that UFOs are alien craft.

 

[Paul Kimball]

I have no argument at all with the importance of Hynek. But we were talking more about ufology, and the cultural aspects of it, and I think Friedman trumps Hynek there. Hynek has Close Encounters, true (although I think you're giving him far more credit for that than he warrants)... but Friedman has every single thing associated with Roswell, which for good or ill has defined ufology now for 40 years, as well as all the conspiracy stuff (start at the X-Files and keep going), a hand in creating the modern alien abduction narrative, the myriad TV appearances over a period of decades, all those college lectures (never underestimate the impact that had on more than one generation), and more. Like I said, I have no argument with according Hynek a major role. Indeed, he would be either my #2 or #3 (it's a toss-up with Keyhoe). But Friedman's influence is so pervasive in terms of the both the broader culture and within the small subculture that is ufology, in ways we often don't even think about or notice, that he seems a clear #1 to me.

Put it another way. Who do you think more people have heard of? I have no doubt it's STF.

By the way, whenever I ask Stan the question of who was the greatest ufologist, he always says Dr. James McDonald.

 

[Paul Kimball]

Perhaps the more interesting question would be: who should be in the ufological hall of shame, and who is the greatest UFO fraud of all time? So many contenders...

 

[Randall]

Perhaps the more interesting question would be: who should be in the ufological hall of shame, and who is the greatest UFO fraud of all time? So many contenders...

I was just reflecting on that the other day after @Christopher O'Brien's post ( here ) where a list of dubious groups was created by another group called Active Observers In The Field. It seems that with the rise in the Internet and availability of digital media production tools, the number of hoaxes in the last week alone probably outnumbers all of them made during the entire Blue Book Era. It's become so pervasive that it's background noise. I rarely even watch the videos anymore. Maybe I'm missing something, but I just don't have the resources or time to filter out all the garbage.

One of our guys pegged the Santilli film as fake the first week it hit the news, and to me the Roswell slides were obvious from the start, but an important point to make is that there is a distinction between ufology and the offenders. Ufology itself doesn't deserve to be judged by the deeds of those who set out to exploit it. Yes, there are UFO frauds, but that doesn't make ufology itself fraudulent. We don't judge the worthiness of medicine or law as fields because they've got a long history of quacks and cons. At it's heart, ufology is about a genuine phenomenon that can be studied as objectively as any other facet of history and culture.