UFO Studies or Ufology needs to move to the mainstream

In this post I’m going to explain why I think it’s time that the subject of Ufology or UFO Studies moves from the fringes into the mainstream.

This post is aimed at everyone who has an interest in this subject, be they interested onlookers and amateur or professional researchers, but also those in the media, particularly journalists, who might have a professional interest but who are unaware of recent developments.

There are four points I’d like to cover; the importance of recent events, why journalists and the media need to up their game, ending ridicule and cynicism, and how we can all help to contribute to the pool of knowledge and understanding. 

 The Importance Of Recent Events

Two things occurred in 2019 which have changed forever the way we contemplate and investigate the UFO phenomena.

Phrases like ‘game-changer’, ‘paradigm shift’’, and ‘watershed moment’ spring to mind but none of these worn out cliches really capture the essence of what has happened.

The first event was when the US Navy announced a change of guidelines for all personnel with regard to the reporting of what it terms UAP, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.

Prior to this change anyone reporting sightings risked losing flight status (being grounded), promotions, and career advancement, and possibly even psychiatric or psychological re-evaluation.

Previously, if you told your Commanding Officer that you’d seen a UFO it could ruin your career.

Now it seems, the US Navy wants its personnel to step forward and they’ll receive a sympathetic and open minded response.

One can only hope the world’s airlines soon follow suit and adopt the same attitude with regard to the sightings by airline pilots.

This complete change of attitude could be attributed to the fact that the number of sightings and the camera footage captured by some of the Navy’s elite pilots is so great that it can no longer be simply ignored or dismissed without investigation.

If UFOs are able to fly at will in and around your carrier groups and to follow your aircraft on missions then you need to find out what they are and who is operating them!

If these same objects demonstrate flying characteristics that not only out-perform the best technology that the USA can put in the air, but which defy the known laws of physics, then they are worthy of serious study, if only because of the threat they may pose to the aircraft and ships they follow.

The second significant event was the announcement, again from sources within the US Navy, that the videos widely circulated in the media of UFOs captured on the IR cameras of Navy aircraft in 2004 and 2015 are real videos.

It had been suggested that the videos were faked and therefore unworthy of any attention, but with these nods for the Navy everything about them was put into focus.

This means that the USS Nimitz UFO incident, the pilots’ and other Navy personnel’s  accounts of it, the tic-tac UFOs – all of it, became factual in that the sightings were real, even if the identification of the objects remains a mystery.

Why Journalists & The Media Need To Embrace UFO Studies

For 80 years ufologists have been investigating, interviewing, and publishing and yet the world still struggles with the idea that there are advanced forms of technology flying around in Earth’s atmosphere.

Of course, these announcements don’t prove every incident or sighting of the past eight decades is real but what they do show is that the time for scoffing and cynicism is past.

No one with any sense of reality and responsibility can simply dismiss the sightings of UFOs buzzing around battle groups and missile silos, unidentified and unchallenged.

We have to find out what they are, who is operating them, and why they seem so interested in the military.

The comfort of blissful ignorance is no longer an option.

Nor is the haughty, condescending laugh of a TV presenter who, when interviewing an eye-witness is disrespectful and chips in with inappropriate remarks.

Any eye-witnesses who have had close encounters of any type, who have seen black triangles flying silently through the still night air, or bright lights zig-zagging about in ways that are impossible for known aerial phenomena, will probably be thinking “What took you so long?”.

Journalists, in the words of the late Stanton Friedman, need to ‘do their job’.  They need to investigate as thoroughly and meticulously as they would any political scandal or financial impropriety, and to keep an open mind to any possibilities.

Journalists also need to study the history of Ufology that dates back to the Foo Fighters of World War II.

They need an overview that covers the main events, key characters, and accepted terminology, and which brings them up to date with the tic-tac UFOs of the 21st Century.

I’ve provided a link to such a short course at the end of this video.

An End To Ridicule, Denial, And Cynicism

Meanwhile, the current generation of researchers must surely have received a boost in confidence and optimism, particularly the To The Stars Academy Team who were the main channel for much of this year’s revelations.

Despite their efforts they attract criticism and cynicism. It seems no one who steps forward into the spotlight can escape the heckling and disparaging remarks from individuals in the audience.

We know that the internet is a medium for angry people who find an outlet for their ire and that anyone can become a target, even if they say or do nothing to which any otherwise reasonable person can object.

Beware the trolls.

We also know that social media has spawned a generation of people who have lost (or never learned) the basic norms of debate and discussion.

They are incapable of making a point and backing it up with evidence and instead resort to ad hominem attacks.

And even if the criticism is justified, if a researcher or author makes a mistake or draws the wrong conclusions and subsequent events prove them wrong, it doesn’t follow that all their other work is of no value. 

A small percentage of inaccuracies and errors in a career spanning several decades is understandable in any profession, let alone the subject of Ufology with its minefields of misinformation and disinformation.

Some researchers are even criticised for earning a living through their work.  

If a dogged and determined researcher gives up a lucrative career or the security of full time employment to devote themselves to Ufology research then it follows that they have to find another source of income.

There are various things they can do in order to earn some money but each method costs capital to get under way and the overheads are often underestimated by those who look on with suspicion.

A New Era Of UFO Studies

Embarking on UFO studies requires a mind that is open to all kinds of physical and metaphysical possibilities.  

It also requires discernment, humility, integrity, and respect for the viewpoints of others.

In any field of human study there are peer groups and personality clashes, and Ufology is no exception.  

If you think everyone is united in the quest to uncover the truth within a spirit of mutual support I’m afraid you’ll soon see your bubble burst.

On the one hand there is healthy debate and heated argument but there are also occasional accusations and personal attacks that are borderline defamation.

There’s no answer to the age old problems of rivalry among people on the same path.  You just have to be ready for sharp elbows. How you react is up to you.

In the meantime, we can at least check everything for accuracy ourselves and check our sources.

We can point out other possibilities without sneering or being dismissive. 

We can tolerate newcomers to the field of UFO studies without making their first steps into this bewildering world uncomfortable.

As ever, education and meticulous research is fundamental.  

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