FEATURE-Humans have image problem among extra-terrestrials
By Danielle Bochove
CHICAGO (Reuter) - As "alien fever" continues to sweep the United States
-- and the TV networks -- more and more people are becoming convinced that
intelligent life exists beyond Earth, including some who believe alien
lifeforms have already set up housekeeping on the planet.
More than 100 children and adults paid $10 each at a recent meeting in
Chicago to hear top American "Ufologists" speak. Among the topics was the
tarnished reputation of humans among our galaxy's extra-terrestrial species.
"Humans have an image in the galaxy. It's not the best right now but it
will be worse if we turn our backs on our neighbors in need," Courtney Brown,
associate professor of political science at Emory University, told his
audience.
Such "neighbors" include a handful of Martians already on Earth who are
waiting for a more welcoming climate before bringing an entire refugee
population here, Brown said.
According to a Harris poll conducted in August, 53 percent of adult
Americans believe there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe and 40
percent believe it exists within our solar system. And even the skeptics say
those numbers are going to increase as the coming millenium conjures visions
of apocalypse and television and film studios capitalize on the intrinsic
appeal of chracters like "ET."
"Quite clearly, there hasn't been any change at all in the scientific
evidence to support any claim of extra-terrestrial visitations by aliens,"
said Robert Baker, a retired professor emeritus at the University of
Kentucky, who has been studying the subject since 1947. "What has magnified
has been the media support of this phenomena, this legend, this myth," said
Baker, who specializes in abnormal psychology.
The popular success of television shows like The X-Files is a case in
point, Baker said.
Some U.S. insurance companies have even begun profiting from the wave of
"alien fever" by offering policies covering abduction by aliens. One British
broker recently began selling insurance against alien impregnation.
Even politicians are not immune. A Florida politician, Lynne Plaskett,
recently risked political suicide with her announcement that space aliens
cured her of cancer in 1975.
Such tales are nothing new, Baker says. "It is modern folklore. In the
Middle Ages we had serpents in the skies and demons and witches. Nowadays we
have our flying saucers."
There is little doubt even UFO skeptics find the subject fascinating.
Baker admits to being an avid X-Files viewer and, at this year's UFO
conference, Chicago business-types swarmed around a downtown exhibit over
lunch hour. Four deep, they jostled to snatch thousands of copies of reports
of captured aliens, downed spacecraft and a stinging letter attacking science
guru Carl Sagan for his skepticism.
But, while capturing the public's attention is easy, achieving complete
belief is not. This puts Ufologists in the unenviable position of having to
supply proof.
Some, like Leigh Culver, a clinical hypnotherapist who also spoke at the
conference, refer to hynotic regression as evidence. Under this procedure,
Culver claims many of his patients have remembered alien abductions in
stunning detail.
"They describe the types of meetings, the crafts, the mode of
transportation from their house to the ship, the details of that -- there's
tons of information," he said.
Brown prefers remote viewing -- traveling by mind -- as a tool to visit
alien cultures. That some persist in doubting this technique is absurd, he
says, pointing to sketches done by remote viewing "students" as evidence.
Under what he called "strict" test conditions, the students were asked
to visit and draw targets that are known only to the person administering the
test. To the untrained eye, the results may require some interpretation.
After displaying one Casper the Ghost-type doodle, Brown revealed that the
target was the Sphinx.
"I know this doesn't look like the Sphinx but this guy was no
Rembrandt," he explained when a few murmurs of protest were heard from his
audience.
Baker, who is familiar with Brown's work, said he too has tested students
for remote viewing capabilities. Asked to identify the contents of a
cardboard box across the hall, 100 students posted a success rate of zero.
"They couldn't even do nearby viewing, much less remote viewing," he said.
There is one point on which believers and skeptics agree. Ultimately,
both sides say, the facts will speak for themselves. In the credo followed by
Fox Mulder, the X-Files' protagonist dedicated to explaining the
inexplicable: The Truth Is Out There.
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