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Lesley

Grey Matter

8.26.8

Squeaky Wheels Don't Always Deserve Grease

I listened to George Knapp's Coast to Coast show on August 17th, his guest was Ted Phillips and I really enjoyed the show. Ted Phillips is the KING of trace evidence cases. He has been researching such since he was a young man and worked with J. Allen Hynek. Really, the man should be considered a Ufology icon.

It occurred to me that sometimes we forget there are great people like Ted out there doing true field research. Ted in no way seeks publicity, he just continues working away somewhere in the background.

Those involved in Ufology seem to spend far more time and energy pointing out those they feel are harming Ufology (the frauds or those who don't agree with their POV) and seem to never spend any time at all pointing out those who are who are really dedicated to gaining some understanding of the UFO mystery.

Yes, this brings me back to my constant point that it isn't the frauds and the kooks that are hurting Ufology -- it is the people involved in Ufology. The attention should be brought to the people who are doing the good work, not whoever is deemed to be a fraud or a kook. Most days if you were an outsider to Ufology and you just read the blogs, you would think that everyone involved in Ufology is either a fraud or a kook.

You would have to look pretty hard to find out about the good stuff going on, except for self promotion. It isn't the media or the frauds and kooks that give that impression, it is those who are actually in some way involved in Ufology and spend far too much time trying to help by pointing out what they think is wrong. They are the ones who give the impression that Ufology is filled with nothing more than fraud and kooks.

Yes, and while those above mentioned people are busy typing away at their latest blog post about fake wedding cake photos or who is wrong about what, Ted Phillips is probably doing actual research.

I do realize that not everyone is a researcher in the way that Ted is. I am not a field researcher and I in no way consider myself to be a Ufologist. I am even probably prone to write an occasional snarky post about someone in Ufology and you don't even want to bring up the subject of Sean David Morton, Ed Dames, Tom Biscardi or debunkers with me.

However, I do try to keep my negative opinions (especially about those in Ufology) to a minimum. I like to think that people are at least as smart as I am and they can figure out such things for themselves.

There are people like Ted though. The people who really contribute their time and effort into research. They are the ones who work towards gaining some understanding of the mystery. Sadly, most of them will never get as much attention within Ufology as Michael Horn or Serpo.

Thank you Ted Phillips for all your great research!

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