Schuyler,
My problem is that I find Bishop to be a bit bombastic and belligerent. He’s way too loud a personality for me. His little slug fest with Hastings on these forums is an example of that and he comes across in speaking the same way. On the other hand he was certainly friendly and in a good mood and it was nice to have an ‘un-contested show’ after last week. I think he reminds me of a relative I don’t care for so I’m saying this is my problem, not his.
I think that I may have come across as loud because I was apparently turned way up in the mix with a lot of low-end frequencies coming through (via Skype VOIP and my microphone.) It kind of startled me too, when I first listened to it. In interviews, I try to emphasize that I don't know everything, and neither does anyone else. If that was not apparent, I don't know what to say. I also enjoyed the interview quite a lot, so I got excited about certain things. Got to learn to hold it in, I guess.
Funny that you don't find Mr. Hastings "bombastic" and "belligerent." I actually tried to compliment him and he brought up my "naivete" about the whole MJ-12/ Doty thing, and used asides about my "ignorance of the current literature" to imply that I was willfully ignoring certain aspects of the issue. Hastings started the discussion based on a post I made at ufomystic. I tried to explain how I came to my conclusions, which he seemingly chose to ignore, particularly as the last thing I asked was how he could be sure of his sources (which surprisingly were Doty, Collins, and a television producer) when indentifying "Falcon." I could have gone on the attack and baited him about it, but chose to drop it as he seemed to want to do the same. I didn't bring our argument up on the program for the same reason. It's just not that important in the big picture, and the argument would probably never end, since we're both convinced by our evidence.
Anybody can talk about that stuff and pretend to be erudite, but only he can talk about his interviews with Doty and that is where he provides a unique and intriguing perspective. Thanks!
And thank you for a well-balanced commentary.
Curiously, one of the most positive reviews on Amazon is by Nick Redfern, one of his buddies who shares one of his blogs, and one 'Stuart Miller,' whose only other reviews are of Redfern’s books. I’m left scratching my head over this. It seems a little too cozy to me.
Perceptive of you. Nick wrote that review when we didn't know each other as well, and I didn't even know Stuart Miller when he wrote his. We became online friends afterwords. Both of them are quite interested in the government/ intel/ UFO story, which would predispose them to positive assessments. What I'm trying to say is that I did not try to influence their opinions in any way.
The other reviews range from quite positive to somewhat negative. None of most negative seem to have digested the point that the book was more of a warning about the quality of the message and the messenger than any sort of attack on the UFO community. UFO researchers seem to have the most negative reviews, and I sense that they feel I am attacking their personal, emotional views on the subject, which was not the intention. However, opinions held mainly for emotional security should have no place in any sort of research.
in the end he was talking very Basset-like.
WHAT?!
He says he doesn’t worry about the charlatans in the field because you can’t do anything about them anyway and more will crop up if one is exposed.
I said that I don't do anything about them because I don't think it will make much difference and people like Gene and David (and Royce Meyers in the past) are doing a much better job of that already. If I was more "bombastic and belligerent" things might be different.
He says he doesn’t bother to listen to Greer because his mind is already made up. Yet he admits to not knowing of Bill Knell. I assume his mind is made up now there, too.
What is your point here? My mind is made up on certain people because of the noise in their message, and little if any signal, at least to me. I have heard, read, and talked to Greer. I think that's a pretty good background to make up one's mind. Knell has no real publications or point of view that I could remember, so he went in the "non-issue" box in my brain. When he commented on ufomystic and took me to task for something he knew little about, I looked at his site and found he was selling my 15-year old video without asking me. That made it more personal.
He seems to be leaving this type of work to others. I wish he would change his stance on this.
Thank you for having the faith in my integrity to write this. From my point of view, if I went after the charlatans and fuzzy-thinkers, I'd get in stupid fights with people which would make me irritated and waste my time. The debates I get in with those who have a bit on the ball are tiring enough!
He also tends to drop names: ‘I talked with Vallee. I talked with Leary.” I guess the bottom line for me is that he is not as big a name in the UFO field as he would like to think he is.
So when the show hosts "drop names" it's apparently not a problem for you. I don't think I am in any way a big name in the UFO field, and I don't care if I ever get to that point. Listen to what I said (or perhaps just implied) in the interview: I am most interested in having enough recognition amongst the people I respect so that I can ask them questions personally. Apart from that, my interest is in pursuing stories and theories that seem to point towards a better understanding of the UFO/ paranormal enigmas.
Project Beta was something that I wanted to write about (among many other subjects) and was lucky enough to get a publisher who was interested. It was not meant to be a crusade, an attack, an apology, or a coverup. It was my attempt to understand what went on in a period that many had argued passionately about, but few had talked to the principals in the story. I was in a lucky position to do that and I tried to report what I found in a hopefully balanced manner.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to the show and make some thoughtful comments, and looking around online to find out more about my interests. If you want to hear me asking the questions and quieting down a bit, check out my show sometime. You can listen to and/ or download some of them
here. Older episodes going back almost six years are
here.
I'm sorry if we don't agree on some things, but that's part of what makes life interesting!
