95 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
95 lines
4.7 KiB
Plaintext
Jeff Walker #64 @7317
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Wed Jun 26 01:01:13 1991
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þ Ask_UFO #100
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Dt: 18-Apr-91 10:44
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By: Don Ecker
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To: All
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Re: Vallee responds
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THE REALITY OF ABDUCTION
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by Jacques Vallee
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The review of Confrontations (Vol. 5, No. 3) calls for a response
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and a few comments.
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On the topic of abductions, Don states that "the evidence is
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overwhelming that this mystery has affected possibly thousands of
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individuals in a manner that far exceeds any possible psychosis."
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I totally agree with that statement. Where did I ever say that
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abductees were victims of psychosis?
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On the contrary, Confrontations gives several examples of
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abduction cases that I have personally researched: the episode with
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Mrs. Victor in Chapter 6 fits a classic pattern, I have said that,
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in such reports, "I cannot agree with Philip Klass'conclusion that
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the witness is making up the whole episode. The abduction
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experience is real." Why is there such confusion, then, about my
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position on this issue? Simply because I do not believe that
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everything retrieved under hypnosis should be taken at face value.
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I have stated (and will continue to state) that much of what
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passes for abduction research today is unscientific, unethical
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garbage that reeks of standard cult recruitment techniques. My
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appeals to more caution have infuriated some abduction researchers,
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who have made up the story that "Vallee rejects all abduction
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cases." Nothing could be further from the truth. Not only do I
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accept these cases, but I believe their evidence is much too
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important to be treated in the superficial way evidenced in the
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work of many "abductionists." I refer the reader to the ten-page
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discussion of the issue in Confrontations, starting on page 170.
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On the extraterrestrial origin of UFOs, my position is clear, too.
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If the witnesses are telling the truth about the behavior of the
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phenomenon, then it could be from anywhere at anytime. This
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naturally includes other planets in outer space, and I have not
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rejected this hypothesis; I only think it is insufficient. And
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there are many other, possibly more promising hypotheses that have
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not been seriously considered.
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How could I "close my mind" to the possibility of
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extraterrestrial intervention? It is an hypothesis I defended
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vigorously 25 years ago. But we cannot be dogmatic in front of the
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data that has been accumulating during that period, much of which
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now contradicts the first level ETH (extraterrestrial hypothesis)
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to which most of American ufology is still clinging. It is time to
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open our minds to other possibilities.
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Don rightly notices that I have not treated the issue of
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"saucer crashes," notably Roswell, in Confrontations. This may seem
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to be an important omission, but it was the result of a conscious
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decision, which was clearly disclosed at the very beginning. In the
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introduction, I took pains to state that I regarded three impor-
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tant topics to lie outside the scope of the book. They were the
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possible relevance of cult movements to the UFO phenomenon, cattle
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mutilations and government intervention and "cover-up." There is
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much to say, as everyone knows, about all three subjects, but a
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scientist learns to focus on a single issue at a time. The
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central theme in Confrontations was field research methodology and
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physical evidence. I may develop the other topics in a future work,
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and the Roswell crash (and other crashes) will then be treated
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under the rubric of "Government intervention and cover-up " where
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it rightly belongs.
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In the meantime I did describe in great detail the analysis of
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physical samples reported to have come from UFOs, several of which
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I have in my possession and can supply to colleagues who would like
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to analyze them. I cannot make the same statement about the Roswell
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material, and I do not know anyone who can. It would have been
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inappropriate to mention Roswell in a book on the analysis of UFO
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evidence, no matter how many people have become fascinated with
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this particular story, because there is no Roswell material
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available to be analyzed. Again it is a case of individual readers
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projecting their own expectations into a very complicated topic,
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and expressing their frustration when conclusions are presented
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which differ from their own. There is very little I can do, as a
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scientist, to alleviate this problem. But I am grateful to Don
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Ecker for having set the framework for a useful and timely
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debate.
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-Jacques Vallee-
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=================================================================
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--- ZMailQ 1.10 @9:1012/3.0
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* Origin: ParaNet Alpha Delta <sm> The Data Base (9:1012/3)
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