Richard Dolan and the Roswell Slides

a reply to: batmmannn

-click the "down" arrow icon in the top toolbar

-click "upload"

-click the cloud icon with an up arrow with the words "upload" underneath it

-a new window will pop up. Hit "select files"

-browse your local computer for the file(s) you wish to upload

-click the cloud button with the up arrow

That's pretty much it. Its fairly easy...

I think that there is a rivalry underneath the surface in Ufology from every Ufologist involved (or at least, most of them anyway) - They all think that the next guys ideologies on the subject are bogus. Meanwhile, they parade around their own theories like its the gospel and chastise everyone elses theories. You're seeing this a lot in today's overall UFO field from the "so called" UFO experts. If given the chance, a lot of these "UFO experts" will try throwing the next "expert" under the bus via character assassination attempting to make them look like frauds. Then you have the "experts" who steal other "experts" ideas and use them as their own and so on......

I think that the UFO field is becoming a slippery slope and you have to pay attention and watch out who you're dealing with and sharing ideas with. A lot of these guys will stab you in the back when given the chance.

Am I the only one seeing this mentality in the UFO field these days? Does anyone else see this happening too?

a reply to: -Blackout-
The market is somewhat limited. The supply is high.
Competition for the market is fierce.

In the end, this was setup to make money and it did. Unfortunately it dragged a few good people down with it.

Here is an apology that Don Schmitt wrote:

From Don Schmitt:
"It would seem like I've been here before... Asking my friends and colleagues to accept my sincerest apology for my participation in the recent event in Mexico City. I accept full responsibility for the fact that I allowed myself to be drawn into this situation, albeit with the best of intentions, I sacrificed my better judgement by being overly trusting when I should have known better. As one strives to make up for the mistakes of the past, there are times that emotions cause one to outrun their headlights. In my case, I ran it right off the road. Through the years I have worked hard to earn back your respect and confidence in my work only to presently jeopardize it all. For that I am especially remorseful. I am afraid that after spending almost half of my life devoted to one specific investigation, I allowed the allure of final resolution cloud my skeptical nature to be replaced by a false vision of hope. I now realize that the image in the slides is a mummy as specified by the display placard. At this time I consider the matter concluded and intend on moving forward. My only desire is that you try to understand that I never willfully did anything to mislead or misrepresent what I thought was the truth and I only acted with the best of objectives. Still, if I have offended or hurt anyone through my participation in this event, you have my deepest apology and have every right to hold it against me. When the truth finally was made known to all of us, I realized that I could only blame myself for not only failing you, but more sadly, failing myself. I must do better. And with God's help and your understanding, I promise I will.
Sincerely,
Donald R. Schmitt"

And here is a post I'm sharing off of Dolan's facebook page that he wrote:

One interesting element about the current controversy is the theological-like zeal of certain people. What is it, I wonder, that has caused such anger, such fury? It is one thing for disagreements to occur, but I can only smile at those who would consider being wrong about something to be an actionable offense. My goodness, if I were to be ostracized for every time I’ve been wrong about something, I would have been living under a rock many years ago.
Everyone is wrong at times, sometime even on matters that are important (of which the current controversy doesn’t even qualify, despite the many protestations). And here is a shocker: I reserve the right to be wrong about things in the future. That is part of life. You go into something unknown, and sometimes you get it right, sometimes not. Sometimes you handle it perfectly, sometimes not. Those of us interested in UFOs are in a field with multiple layers of mystery. In the first place, it is intrinsically difficult, and (in my view) the product of a civilization that is well ahead of our own. In addition, it has been dominated by official denial and secrecy, making that mystery even more difficult to penetrate. By its very nature, we will always be struggling with this mystery, grappling with it in darkness for the most part. That is our condition.
It seems to me that the first rule in such a situation is to maintain our curiosity, realizing that without it, we would never be willing to ask questions. Second, bravery in our investigations, which includes by its nature a willingness to make a false step. Finally, we must retain integrity and honesty in our conclusions, which means changing them when needed. Those of us who are genuinely interested in this mystery should remember this.
I am aware that there are those who are disappointed with me over my connection to the recent event in Mexico City. Some are even angry. I have already discussed my position on this matter on Facebook and Richard Dolan Press. Critics may think what they want; I am satisfied with my actions, and that is all that matters to me. I am not here to prove anything to anyone about myself, and will continue to do my work to the best of my ability.
I should add to anyone who hasn't been paying attention that I never at any point endorsed the slides as representing something extraterrestrial. Even when I felt they were compelling, I maintained that before they were considered evidence, the arguments supporting them needed further examination. [additional edit here: After they were released, that is exactly what they got.]
Such controversies, even the current vitriolic campaign, always pass away. They are inevitable bumps in the road. The main quarry still lies ahead, and that is the greatest mystery of our age. This is a fascinating time to be involved in UFO research. I know that those of us who are genuinely interested in engaging that mystery will continue to support each other in that endeavor. The rest will simply fall away along the journey.

a reply to: -Blackout-

Poor guy. He makes me sad.

Where can I give him money?

Even when I felt they were compelling, I maintained that before they were considered evidence, the arguments supporting them needed further examination.

Wait a minute...
Didn't he say something about "analysis of the body" somewhere? Yeah. I think he did.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

No money for you Ricky.

a reply to: Phage

Was he going by what someone else said about the analysis though? And putting his trust into their word? Meaning Dolan really had no clue, and was just going by what someone else told him?

a reply to: -Blackout-
That.
And seeing dollar signs.

The illusive payday usually spoils the show.

a reply to: Phage
He'll have needed the money to hire photo specialists to analyze purported findings.

Oh wait, you can do that for free. By yourself. By looking at the photo.

Richard Dolan's credibility will stay intact. If you look at his posts on Facebook, you'll see why. Here are a few of his posts regarding the Roswell Slides.

Since returning from Mexico City, I have been in communication with many people regarding the so-called Roswell slides. I attended the event in the first place because it seemed to have the potential to unveil important information. I had not seen the slides beforehand, but did have conversations with some of the principals who had. During those conversations, I was also told about the analyses performed on them. So I decided to go, and at no point was I ever asked to endorse the slides.

After arriving and seeing the slides, and especially hearing the analyses in more detail, I felt the overall picture presented was compelling. The analyses by Jose de Jesus Zalce Benitez, Richard Doble, and Dr. Luis Antonio de Alba Galindo argued that the body depicted was not a human being. Since I am not a physiologist, I never felt qualified to debate that point.
My problem is this: when I simply look at the pictures, I see what many other people are seeing -- an interesting museum piece. One that looks like other examples that are on the web. With the acknowledgment that looks can be deceiving, I still keep coming back to that.

On top of this, there have been some very good critiques coming in. Recently, Nick Redfern posted a good analysis on the “Million Dollar Museum” in New Mexico, which he suggests may be where the slides were taken. Perhaps this is the answer, or perhaps it’s something else. But it is clear that the arguments promoting the slides as depicting an extraterrestrial have to overcome some serious objections.

It’s frustrating that the analyses by the three scientists have not been published in text form on a website where others can read them and respond to them. I told the group in Mexico City that this needs to happen as soon as possible, and they agreed. But it has not yet happened.

Although I previously stated the slides would not easily be debunked, it seems more relevant to me that they don’t need to be debunked so much as to be proven to be something anomalous. That is where the burden of proof lies.
For all the hoopla that accompanied and followed the Mexico City event, and all the furor that followed it, I feel it was a worthy endeavor. I believe the people involved are honest.

But for me, until the proper analyses are published, and until we have had time to read critiques of those analyses, and until there are strong replies to some of the critiques that are currently published, I cannot consider these slides as evidence of extraterrestrials.

Or this:

One interesting element about the current controversy is the theological-like zeal of certain people. What is it, I wonder, that has caused such anger, such fury? It is one thing for disagreements to occur, but I can only smile at those who would consider being wrong about something to be an actionable offense. My goodness, if I were to be ostracized for every time I’ve been wrong about something, I would have been living under a rock many years ago.

Everyone is wrong at times, sometime even on matters that are important (of which the current controversy doesn’t even qualify, despite the many protestations). And here is a shocker: I reserve the right to be wrong about things in the future. That is part of life. You go into something unknown, and sometimes you get it right, sometimes not. Sometimes you handle it perfectly, sometimes not.

Those of us interested in UFOs are in a field with multiple layers of mystery. In the first place, it is intrinsically difficult, and (in my view) the product of a civilization that is well ahead of our own. In addition, it has been dominated by official denial and secrecy, making that mystery even more difficult to penetrate. By its very nature, we will always be struggling with this mystery, grappling with it in darkness for the most part. That is our condition.

It seems to me that the first rule in such a situation is to maintain our curiosity, realizing that without it, we would never be willing to ask questions. Second, bravery in our investigations, which includes by its nature a willingness to make a false step. Finally, we must retain integrity and honesty in our conclusions, which means changing them when needed. Those of us who are genuinely interested in this mystery should remember this.

I am aware that there are those who are disappointed with me over my connection to the recent event in Mexico City. Some are even angry. I have already discussed my position on this matter on Facebook and Richard Dolan Press. Critics may think what they want; I am satisfied with my actions, and that is all that matters to me. I am not here to prove anything to anyone about myself, and will continue to do my work to the best of my ability.

I should add to anyone who hasn't been paying attention that I never at any point endorsed the slides as representing something extraterrestrial. Even when I felt they were compelling, I maintained that before they were considered evidence, the arguments supporting them needed further examination. [additional edit here: After they were released, that is exactly what they got.]

Such controversies, even the current vitriolic campaign, always pass away. They are inevitable bumps in the road. The main quarry still lies ahead, and that is the greatest mystery of our age. This is a fascinating time to be involved in UFO research. I know that those of us who are genuinely interested in engaging that mystery will continue to support each other in that endeavor. The rest will simply fall away along the journey.

Continued:

Just saw this message from Donald R. Schmitt regarding the so-called Roswell Slides. This had to be hard for him to write, and he has my sympathy and respect. I know without a doubt that his intentions, and those of Tom Carey, were sincere. As everyone knows, I supported the idea that the slides were interesting enough that they deserved more investigation. Well, they got it. In my opinion, the matter of the slides is CLOSED. If others wish to debate the physiology of the body, let them. I have no more interest in this matter and fully believe we can and will move on. There remains much work to do. RD.

From Don Schmitt:
"It would seem like I've been here before... Asking my friends and colleagues to accept my sincerest apology for my participation in the recent event in Mexico City. I accept full responsibility for the fact that I allowed myself to be drawn into this situation, albeit with the best of intentions, I sacrificed my better judgement by being overly trusting when I should have known better. As one strives to make up for the mistakes of the past, there are times that emotions cause one to outrun their headlights. In my case, I ran it right off the road.
Through the years I have worked hard to earn back your respect and confidence in my work only to presently jeopardize it all. For that I am especially remorseful. I am afraid that after spending almost half of my life devoted to one specific investigation, I allowed the allure of final resolution cloud my skeptical nature to be replaced by a false vision of hope.

I now realize that the image in the slides is a mummy as specified by the display placard. At this time I consider the matter concluded and intend on moving forward. My only desire is that you try to understand that I never willfully did anything to mislead or misrepresent what I thought was the truth and I only acted with the best of objectives.

Still, if I have offended or hurt anyone through my participation in this event, you have my deepest apology and have every right to hold it against me. When the truth finally was made known to all of us, I realized that I could only blame myself for not only failing you, but more sadly, failing myself. I must do better. And with God's help and your understanding, I promise I will.
Sincerely,
Donald R. Schmitt"

A person doesn't just lose credibility because he chased what turned out to be a mistake. I'm glad he went so we had a credible person giving this a thorough investigation.

a reply to: skyblueworld

While that very well maybe true, he does have some faction work to do and fix. I think a lot of people (me included) will forgive him for this, however, his future actions will be under a microscope now and if he pulls something else that is similar, then nobody will trust or respect him anymore.

I also posted two of those quotes above........

a reply to: -Blackout-

I think a lot of people (me included) will forgive him for this,

Greer has a following too.
Strange. But true.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: -Blackout-

I think a lot of people (me included) will forgive him for this,

Greer has a following too.
Strange. But true.

LOL, Yeah I know.

I'll admit though that his Disclosure book is excellent.

originally posted by: batmmannn
Pretty sad to see his making excuses all over the Internet trying to do damage control. What pisses me off is this isn't the first time I used my skills for someone I thought was my friend only to find out abruptly all they cared about was money and not being a decent person.

Enlighten us how Dolan made money from that charade?

He lost money, and gained nothing.

He gambled.

a reply to: skyblueworld

He gambled.

On no one doing actual research.

Oops.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: -Blackout-

I think a lot of people (me included) will forgive him for this,

Greer has a following too.
Strange. But true.

Greer is a complete different person to Dolan...

Dolan has never claimed to be talking to aliens through buls*** meditation for a start.

Poor comparison if that's what you were making.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: skyblueworld

He gambled.

On no one doing actual research.

Oops.

Researched slides he wasn't shown until the event?

Try again.