I belong to CFI (Center for Inquiry) and know Jim Underdown. He recently authored the email below. While I generally endorse the values of CFI, they have given rise to their own psychopathic conspiracy cult. The term cult being used here to denote a collection of individuals devoted to promoting a set of claims that are not well supported by established facts. In this case, the Debunker Cult insists that 1) Intersteller travel is impossible and therefore aliens cannot exist. 2) The myriads of witnesses to UFO phenomena must all be mistaken in their observations. 3) The government is not involved in a decades-long campaign to disparage or intimidate UFO witnesses. 4) Don't confuse me with facts; my mind is made up.

Then there is this content of a small boy whistling as he passes a graveyard...

UAP: Unproved Airborne Parable
August 1, 2023
Jim Underdown

Hollywood Reality Check

A bit father down, I’ll explain why the UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) hearings before congress weren’t a complete waste of time. But first things first…

You should know that most days of most weeks I deal with people who make hard-to-believe claims. Our Center for Inquiry Investigations Group’s (CFIIG) $500,000 Paranormal Challenge brings people out of the woodwork who claim a wide variety of superpowers and connections to otherworldly entities – yes, even extraterrestrials. (One such E.T. near Ventura, CA, turned out to be a string of balloons that had broken free of a car dealership.)

I mention this because I’ve heard enough wacky stories over the years to develop a spidey sense for when a bed full of manure is about to be unloaded. The sense doesn’t always work, but it was sure firing away while I watched the UAP hearings – especially when David Grusch was speaking. Grusch is the former U.S. intelligence official who made it pretty clear that he believes our government has UAPs in its possession and that there were non-human biologics associated with those UAPs.

Ok, stop right there. First, he didn’t say extraterrestrial life forms. He said non-human biologics. Hell, there’s non-human biologics on the sidewalk near my house. And every life form on this planet is non-human except for us. His language is slippery. We know that non-humans have been to space plenty of times. The Soviets put a stray dog (Laika) on Sputnik 2 in 1957. If you mean alien or extraterrestrial life, say it. Saying non-human sounds like you’re giving yourself wiggle-room in the future. Watch for that wiggle forthcoming, by the way.

Do people know that Grusch based many of his bombshells on interviews with 40 (alleged) witnesses? No, sorry. We need information from the horse’s mouth. I can line people up from here to Timbuktu who know someone (who knows someone) who had a magical experience. So what? In court, that’s called hearsay and is usually not even admissible. I heard this referred to as F.O.A.F – friend of a friend. Waste no time with non-eyewitnesses.

Grusch, himself, could not or would not disclose specific crash sites, spaceship, or E.T. locations. Why are were talking to someone who either has no direct knowledge of this earth-shaking claim or won’t disclose it? Oh, so you say you know details about the biggest story in human history, but you just can’t tell anyone? Is that it? You don’t want to alarm people? Please. That’s what some of our applicants sound like. “I can talk to Napoleon anytime I want, but he won’t talk to you.” What you have then, sir, is nothing. So Grusch, and all of your interviewees, put up or shut up. Show us a body or a ship.

Of course, as I’ve said many times, even eyewitnesses can make bad eyewitnesses. Such is the case Ryan Graves and David Fravor who also testified. These two pilots may have seen some things they couldn’t explain while they were up in the air. But you know who else saw things in the air that they couldn’t explain? Most human beings that lived before Copernicus. People thought the earth was the center of the universe before then, and reality didn’t affect their erroneous beliefs one bit. Same thing here. Being a pilot, or radar operator, or even a commander doesn’t mean you’re well-versed in optical illusions, meteorological phenomena, camera artifacts, trigonometry or any of the other skills that might shed some light on what you think you saw.
Unaltered, but fake UFO photo shot over Crater Lake, OR.

Graves and Fravor should understand that there are other possible explanations for what they saw before getting everyone riled up about aliens. They should talk to Mick West is what they should do. Ask Mick to explain the Tic Tac video. Mick has analyzed many UAP claims and found prosaic, science-based explanations for them. Go to his website metabunk.org, and have his findings at your fingertips next Thanksgiving when someone starts jaw-flapping about the government hiding little green men. Every member of congress questioning these folks should know of Mick’s work. Why aren’t they talking to Mick directly?

Some of this is worth discussing. Yes, we should be monitoring our skies. We should be watching weather, airplanes, satellites, and anything else flying over the United States. We already know that the U.S. (and other countries) are always working on new and weird ways to fly, but just remember to think experimental aircraft before you think Venusians. We should track what our adversaries are capable of militarily, and stay current with the technologies that will continue to keep us safe.

And personally, I think we should keep a lookout for life on other planets – even if the odds are slim that we’ll find it anytime soon.

But let’s not turn these inquiries into a circus. Don’t give forum and fame to anyone who isn’t prepared to provide direct evidence for any extraordinary claim.

Jim Underdown

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Learn more about Center for Inquiry’s Investigations Group

Center for Inquiry’s Investigations Group was founded in 2000 with the goal to “spread a plague of skepticism across the world” by pooling the talents of inquiring minds to investigate paranormal and extraordinary claims and publish their findings for the public.

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