It's Not All About UFOnuts And Lunatics

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I hate to disagree with a favorable review but...

 After reading his take on my paperzine, Ray X X-Rayer, it seems the reviewer got the wrong impression about what I'm doing through it and my blog.  Of course the fault could me mine because I've never really stated the intent behind my eXpressions.

 The reviewer said that I rough up lunatic UFOnuts and conspiracy theorists.  Yes, there are crazy people out there but I don't think they dominate – and therefore invalidate – areas like UFO and conspiracy research.  I consider situations individually, X-raying and showing the basic structure underneath each one and pointing out defects that may exist.  I try to be fair, doing more than just "roughing up" a few people along the way.

 I do have a problem with extreme skeptics – skep-nuts if you will – whose debunking sometimes needs to be debunked.  I see problems on both sides of the divide.

 The reviewer compared me to the late Jim Moseley, editor of Saucer Smear, in how I went after UFOnuts.  I know that while Jim was more than happy to point out the foibles of "ufoologists" (and skeptics) he still believed that a small amount of UFO and paranormal events remained unexplainable by mainstream science.  I shared that view with him.

 Part of the problem is that actual unearthly mysteries are few and far between so I might be talking too much about the fringe thinkers with dubious claims.  And the same applies to the area of conspiracy theory where someone takes an actual program like MK-Ultra and conflates it with a purported Mega-Conspiracy to "prove" the existence of the evil Illuminati.  It's important to focus on the real cases, not fear-mongering myths.

Comments

X. Dell said…
A little bit of reading can be a dangerous thing.

Although I think the Moselely comparison is appropriate, I would actually tend to view you more as an umpire: you simply call 'em as you see 'em.

9:42 PM
Doug said…
Are we required to have a tight mission statement for our output? Eh, I suppose if we seek a tight, uniform reaction to it.

That would be convenient, I guess, but rather dull.

Keep on with your bad self, Ray.
4:44 PM
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