Encounters: The UFO Phenomenon, Exposed!/Encounters - The UFO Phenomenon, Exposed (1995).iso/abduct/abduc098.txt

Text File | 1993-07-25 | 19KB | 476 lines

                          Abduction Digest, Number 67

                             Monday, July 13th 1992

     (C) Copyright 1992 Paranet Information Service.  All Rights Reserved.

Today's Topics:

                                 Silent Invasion
                                What's happening
                                    Intruders
                                 Silent Invasion
                                    Workshops
                                 MIT Conference
                                  Omega Project
                               Who is an abductee?
                                   Ambiguities
                                    Workshops
                                  Omega Project
                                   Ambiguities
                               Who is an abductee?

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From: [e-mail] (David Jacobs)
Subject: Silent Invasion
Date: 4 Jul 92 07:04:15 GMT


    I would like to think you for your kind words about my book, it is always
nice to hear positive feedback.  I am afraid that I have to agree  with you
about the possibility of invasion on a more overt level. One of the things that
historians learn very quickly is that you cannot predict  the future.  While it
is certainly true that if invasion is on the aliens  minds, they could have
accomplished it a long time ago.  It is also true  that the end-product of the
abduction scenario could be a full-scale  invasion in the future.  It is also
true that a more sinister, covert,  invasion could also be in the works.
 Anything is possible.  Right now we  have to stick to what is known.  They
could have invaded if they wanted to and they didn't. I think that is a
positive note in our favor.
Via SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System - Version 3.2


--
David Jacobs - via ParaNet node 1:104/422
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From: [e-mail] (John Hicks)
Subject: What's happening
Date: 4 Jul 92 03:24:00 GMT


 > conducting a series of workshops around the country for psychiatrists
 > and  psychologists who are interested in learning more about the
 > subject.

  Please post a schedule for the workshops when you're ready to hold them. I
know a local psychologist who'd be very interested, plus I know a psychiatric
staff chief whose curiosity might just get the better of him.

                                           jbh

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From: [e-mail] (David Brune)
Subject: Intruders
Date: 6 Jul 92 04:37:00 GMT

Keith,

Please do!  It will be interesting to see if 'Intruders' does anything for the
UFO phenomena in your neck of the woods.

I would be especially interested in any sighting or abduction data that may
come up.

David

--
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From: [e-mail] (Alan Decker)
Subject: Silent Invasion
Date: 7 Jul 92 06:51:00 GMT

One of the  things that your work brings to the surface is the
"bonding" process. I have wondered for some time at what point the
abductee's  terror and fear suddenly change to "love and compassion"
for their abductors. I mean, It seems perfectly natural to feel
abject horror over what you are being subjected to, but
once you are on the "table", suddenly all is forgiven, everything is
fine, and you feel just peachy- keen! I imagined it to be either
drugs or technology or a combination. I suspect the "bonding"
procedure to be the main culprit in molding the hostage's feelings
towards the "visitor's" favor.
Alan
--
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From: [e-mail] (David Jacobs)
Subject: Workshops
Date: 7 Jul 92 05:44:20 GMT


John, the workshops are being given to interested psychiatrists, psychologists,
and psychiatric social workers who mailed in a special  card that was included
in the Roper Poll booklet.  The first one will be in New York City in mid-July.
 After that they will be held around the country, we hope. It means a lot of
work for Budd and I but we feel that  this is worth it.
 Via SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System - Version 3.2


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David Jacobs - via ParaNet node 1:104/422
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From: [e-mail] (David Jacobs)
Subject: MIT Conference
Date: 7 Jul 92 05:50:40 GMT


    The MIT conference was set up by Dave Pritchard and John Mack. It had
several goals.  The first, I guess, was to bring together the major researchers
in the abduction area and have them share data to see what  everyone has been
able to come up with.  The second goal, I think, was to produce the proceedings
which will, it was hoped, act as a scientific guide to the abduction phenomenon
that scientists and professionals could  refer to for solid information.  My
guess is that the third goal was to  allow the abduction research community to
find out where the state of art is these days.  I am not sure that all these
goals were met, but at least  it was a good, and valuable, attempt that can
only be seen as another  step in the important goal of professionalization.
 Via SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System - Version 3.2


--
David Jacobs - via ParaNet node 1:104/422
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From: [e-mail] (David Jacobs)
Subject: Omega Project
Date: 7 Jul 92 05:55:01 GMT


    Doug, I wrote a detailed critique of Kenneth Ring's article on the  Omega
Project in the current issue of the JOURNAL OF UFO STUDIES.  I am  afraid that
I was not very impressed with the article or his findings.  I  thought that the
study was ill-conceived and told us very little about  anything. The only point
that was interesting is that he could not find  any evidence that the Fantasy
Prone Personality theory was a major player  in abductions or Near Death
Experiences.  However, the study was so poor,  that I am not even sure that he
established that.
 Via SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System - Version 3.2


--
David Jacobs - via ParaNet node 1:104/422
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From: [e-mail] (David Jacobs)
Subject: Who is an abductee?
Date: 7 Jul 92 06:23:43 GMT


    Pony,  Thank you very much for your message. I certainly agree that strange
events happen to people that are not apparently related to the  abduction
phenomenon.  When a person contacts me to find out the origin  of these strange
events, I usually talk with him or her for quite a long  time on the phone at
first.  I want to ascertain whether that person is  suffering from mental
illness, delusions, or some other form of psychological generation of
paranormal events.  I do this by asking a series of about twenty-five questions
designed to elicity most of the  unusual experiences that a person can remember
having occurred to him or  her.  The people who, in my judgement, are not
abductees I do not work  with. I tell them that the origin of their experiences
lies outside of my expertize and I try to refer them to someone else.  If they
are  seriously psychologically disturbed, I refer them to a therapist and tell
them that I am not equipped to work with them.

     One person told me that he had had an out of body experience once.  He was
hooked up to umpteen IV's and medical equipment.  He was in the  hospital for a
life-threatening illness.  His mother was next to him.  He  floated up to the
ceiling and saw his body in the bed and his mother  looking up at him.  I
judged that this, obviously, had nothing to do with  the abduction phenomenon.
 I have also had occassion to do hypnosis with  several individuals who thought
that they might be abductees.  After the  sessions, I judged that these
individuals were not, in fact, abductees  even though they were very suspicious
that they were.

     I think that the publication of my book makes it easier for a person  to
fake an abduction, and it also makes it easier for a person to absorb abduction
material and then repeat it back to the researcher as if it  happened to him or
her.  It must be said, however, that in my experience,  and in Budd Hopkins',
the latter problem is not nearly as big or  widespread as is thought.  It is
extremely important to screen each and  every potential abductee so that the
researcher knows what he or she is  actually researching.

     It is also important to be very careful about how one does the screening.
One must be careful not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Inexperienced
researchers have said that good abduction cases were a hoax because various
aspects of the case were found to be  contradictory or the witness was not as
helpful as the investigator  desired.  What is even more important, is that the
abduction phenomenon  is extremely widespread and its hints and clues can be
easily overlooked by even the most experienced UFO investigators. My best guess
is that  thousands of abduction events are couched behind UFO sightings and
have been filed away in the cabinets of hundreds of UFO researchers over the
years.

     Pony, I cannot comment on what has happened to you personally. It is  most
probable that your explanation of the events is absolutely correct  and I am
going to leave it at that.
 Via SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System - Version 3.2


--
David Jacobs - via ParaNet node 1:104/422
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From: [e-mail] (David Jacobs)
Subject: Ambiguities
Date: 7 Jul 92 07:10:59 GMT


    Vladmir, I hope that we are finally moving to concensus.  To clear up  your
puzzlement, I had assumed that if you adhered to the Rodeghier  definition of
abductees, then it would automatically mean that you agreed  with propostion
that anybody who claims to be an abductee is therefore an  abductee.  That is
what the Rodgehier definition allows.  If you do not  feel that this is the
case, then you and I are in agreement that the  Rodeghier definition should be
amended.  I hope this clears it up for  you.

     I could not help but notice that you appear to be rather centered on the
idea that there would be such a thing as leading UFO researchers. You have made
the leap into the idea that this is a self-serving statement on my part. To the
best of my knowledge when the definition of abductions was conceived it was not
done in consultation with Dick Haines, John Carpenter, John E. Mack, Budd
Hopkins, or Dave Jacobs.  I  understand that Rodeghier had a perfect right to
say anything that he  wanted to in print.  I also think that he could have
avoided quite a lot  of imprecision and problems if he had consulted with those
individuals,  and others.

     I certainly agree with your sentiments about sharing data and  publishing
in refereed journals.  In the United States there are only two refereed
journals that publish pro-abduction material, THE JOURNAL OF UFO STUDIES and
THE JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION.  Every once in a  while a psychological
journal will publish an article showing how UFOs or  abductions are related to
some other phenomenon, but for the main the  normal channels of scientific
information sharing are closed off to UFO  reseachers.  The same is true in the
book publishing world.  You might be  aware of the fact that my first book, THE
UFO CONTROVERSY IN AMERICA,  remains the only authored book on UFOs that takes
a pro-UFO stance ever to be published by a refereed press--and that was in
1975!  I originally  gave my manuscript for SECRET LIFE to Temple University
Press--a very  good press. They had it for three months and never even bothered
to look  at it.  So the situation for abduction and UFO articles in refereed
journals and presses remains fairly dismal.  But, I am sure that you will  join
with me in hoping that the quality of our work will increase and  that the
arbitrary decisions of the refereed journals and presses will  become more
liberal so that we can meet in the middle and have a wider spread of scientific
information.

     Finally, although I agree that a certain amount of information can be
derived from conscious recollections of abduction material, I feel that  being
deprived of the very powerful weapon of hypnosis which is so uniquely suited
for this type of work, places you are at a distinct  disadvantage.  Until
Australian researchers learn to work around this  problem, and there are ways
to do this, or until medical professionals  not only get interested in the
situation but also learn enough about  doing research in it to be competent at
it, abduction research will be  enormously more difficult in an area that is
already extremely difficult.
 Via SPITFIRE Bulletin Board System - Version 3.2


--
David Jacobs - via ParaNet node 1:104/422
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INTERNET: [e-mail]



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From: [e-mail] (John Hicks)
Subject: Workshops
Date: 8 Jul 92 17:06:00 GMT


 DJ>     John, the workshops arfe being given to interested
 DJ> psychiatrists,  psychologists, and psychiatric social
 DJ> workers who mailed in a special  card that was included in
 DJ> the Roper Poll booklet.

  Sounds _very_ worthwhile. I hope those docs are curious enough to set
aside their preconceived notions and pay attention.

                                        jbh

--
John Hicks - via ParaNet node 1:104/422
UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name
INTERNET: [e-mail]



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From: [e-mail] (Doug Morrow)
Subject: Omega Project
Date: 10 Jul 92 22:16:00 GMT

David,

I have finished his book, and I am surprised that you feel it was
ill concieved. From my understanding, he was trying to demonstrate
that individuals who have UFO encounters and others that have NDEs
share a number of common traits. It seemed that his statistical
study did support that conclusion.

Do you fault his basic hypothsis, his methods or his analysis? It
seemed to me that all have some measure of value, and that it may be
to early to dismiss his ideas and findings outright.

Also, you said that he did not find any evidence of Fantasy Prone
Personalities in his studies, which is true, but he did find what he
called "Encounter" Prone Personalities. Do you accept that there may
be something to that, or are you convinced that few abductees share
any similar, pre-existing psychological traits?

Thanks,    Doug
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From: [e-mail] (Michael Corbin)
Subject: Ambiguities
Date: 11 Jul 92 05:57:01 GMT


 +      I certainly agree with your sentiments about sharing data and
 + publishing in refereed journals.  In the United States there are only
 + two  refereed journals that publish pro-abduction material, THE JOURNAL
 + OF  UFO STUDIES and THE JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION.  Every once
 + in a  while a psychological journal will publish an article showing how
 + UFOs or  abductions are related to some other phenomenon, but for the
 + main the  normal channels of scientific information sharing are closed
 + off to UFO  reseachers.  The same is true in the book publishing world.
 + You might be  aware of the fact that my first book, THE UFO CONTROVERSY
 + IN AMERICA,  remains the only authored book on UFOs that takes a pro-UFO
 + stance ever  to be published by a refereed press--and that was in 1975!
 + I originally  gave my manuscript for SECRET LIFE to Temple University
 + Press--a very  good press.  They had it for three months and never even
 + bothered to look  at it.  So the situation for abduuction and UFO
 + articles in refereed  journals and presses remains fairly dismal.  But,
 + I am sure that you will  join with me in hoping that the quality of our
 + work will increase and
 +  that the arbitrary decisions of the refereed journals and presses will
 + become more liberal so that we can meet in the middle and have a wider
 + spread of scientific information.

David.  I am wondering what should be done by the legit UFO researchers to
bring this problem to bear in the right arenas?  I agree:  Temple University
is a fine press.  Given your status there, what could they possibly say to
justify their inaction for publishing your material?

Mike

--
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From: [e-mail] (Bill Skiles)
Subject: Who is an abductee?
Date: 10 Jul 92 03:38:00 GMT

+ The people who, in my judgement, are not abductees I do not work with.
+ It is extremely important to screen each and every potential abductee so that
+ the researcher knows what he or she is actually researching.
+ It is also important to be very careful about how one does the screening.

David, is there any way a person can screen themselves,
so that they don't have to bother researchers unless and/or
until they can acertain that they are an abductee?

Bill

--
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