The paranormal money-making machine

Long time member here and ufo researcher in my spare time.The point of this thread is to see your opinions and thoughts on the topic.My op will be succint.

"fart in the woods"


roadkill???


lost sock during laundry?


Anyone else thinks the whole ufology-paranormal field is turning,or has turned into,a circus of lectures,snake oil selling,youtube vids and whatnot at the expense of true research?

Most if not all of the lectures rehash old cases and say the same things that we know with nothing new ever turning up.Instead we see new unsubstantiated elements that cling to old cases and hence as years go by we cant discern the wheat from the chaff.Lately we ve seen also musicians jump into the paranormal money making machine claiming disclosure and new tantalizing evidence.

I feel like it has turned into a very very very profitable enterprise of books-lectures-youtube videos that generates enough money to be profitable and people are capitalizing on this already.While i dont have problem with that, i do have a problem with ufology turning into a laughing matter way more than past years.IS true research even being done anymore?What are your thoughts?

a reply to: IMSAM

Anyone else thinks the whole ufology-paranormal field is turning,or has turned into,a circus of lectures,snake oil selling,youtube vids and whatnot at the expense of true research?

Yes , has turned into.
People these days are more interested in believing than researching even though they have the tools to easily research claims made.

a reply to: IMSAM

As long as there are TV networks out there willing to pay these people money to produce shows such as "Finding Bigfoot" (a misnomer, since they have yet to find him after several seasons on TV) and "Ghost Hunters" (where every mundane event results in a guy making like he has peed his pants over an imaginary ectoplasmic encounter), these people will keep doing it, and will keep the money-making machine going..

I call this kind of TV "Clickbait TV", especially when they build the mystery up so much, only to end up with a mundane explanation. Even some of the better shows, such as "What on Earth" and "NASA's Unexplained Files" (Sorry Jim Oberg) are often guilty of becoming this Clickbait TV ("What on Earth" moreso than "NASA's Unexplained Files").

a reply to: IMSAM

You just described what paranormal research has always been.
Research takes money and without results all these people can sell is hope. They use the lack of explanation and evidence to keep a flicker of wonder in the people that buy their books and event tickets.
This is not a knock on all researchers though.
I'm sure most of them believe and still need to make a living.

a reply to: IMSAM

Most if not all of the lectures rehash old cases and say the same things that we know with nothing new ever turning up.

I noticed that as well. I had a really impressive CE3, maybe 4 several years ago... The amount of professional interest in it has been really lackluster. I had brought my experience to several investigators because of the uniqueness of it (no greys, no saucer- a wedge- actually, a wraparound windshield, grey hull) and the fact that the details of it and the pilot stuck in my wife's and my mind with amazing clarity. If we were abducted, THAT wasn't typical nor traumatic. Emails went unanswered, a couple Facebook posts were as well.

My take is - our experience is too unique, and too non mainstream. Greys sell. Traumatic, mind rending abductions sell. *Saucers* sell. Anything else- Not a chance.

I have also had (unfortunately) many experiences that either are paranormal, border on it, and one, really special (blergh) one that plagued me nonstop for *25* YEARS. Then, decided to bug everyone else I knew or was close to as well! It took me till this year to get answers, after asking hundreds of people. Paranormal 'experts'? Ha. Again, I asked a couple Big Names- and got so little of a response- none, in fact- That my doubts of their professional standing began to creep in. And so help me- I even contacted James Randi. I may as well have sent Santa a letter. A % of responses I get on here were everywhere from dismissive to downright abusive, I figure that's the nature of the beast. What gets me is the amount of time it took for me to get answers to #1 problem.

More than once, I have offered to let a paranormal group poke and prod me for research purposes. All for the same amount of return I stated above. In a moment of frustration, I finally let loose with "How ****ing famous and rich do I gotta be before I am even remotely taken seriously???" Looking around at how things are- A helluva a lot more than I am.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

I call this kind of TV "Clickbait TV", especially when they build the mystery up so much, only to end up with a mundane explanation.

A lot of the time, you don't even get *that*. You get less satisfaction than 3/4 of an episode of Scooby Doo.

a reply to: IMSAM

Anyone else thinks the whole ufology-paranormal field is turning,or has turned into,a circus of lectures,snake oil selling,youtube vids and whatnot at the expense of true research?

It's been that way for a long time. In fact, the conmen and liars figured out really quickly that UFOs and such were not where the money/attention was and they turned to government conspiracies and politics instead.

Unfortunately, the crazies among the UFO crowd jumped head first in to the government/political conspiracies and helped shape ATS in to what it is today.

Ufology has been turned into Ufotainment for sure.

If there are people with a 'big name' in the field and they make a living from it then you probably can't trust them to tell you much at all of value about UFOs. They will make up all sorts of theories and throw in the US government conspiracies to justify why everything is kept from the public.

But it's all designed for TV shows, radio shows, books, conferences and podcasts. Nothing will get solved as it's all about entertainment.

originally posted by: IMSAM
Anyone else thinks the whole ufology-paranormal field is turning,or has turned into,a circus of lectures,snake oil selling,youtube vids and whatnot at the expense of true research?

Damn that George Adamski.

a reply to...OP+

The only major shift I've noticed in recent years is a general transition away from firm postulating of UFOs as solid, tangible, piloted objects (that also happen to be "flying" and remain "unidentified) to a more ethereal, vacuous, and elusive “Phenomena” or “Consciousness”.

All of the current UFOlogist trough-feeders like Greer, Cameron, TDL, Lind M. Howe, etc., etc, are all jumping on this now. My guess is that since none of them for decades have been able to definitively provide us unwashed masses with anything resembling solid, concrete evidence, and they haven’t been able to convince their ‘contacts’ or ‘informants’ to do so either, they are simply learning to play a new musical instrument.

Other than the ubiquitous photo or video clip of a distant, tiny, grainy, out-of-focus, utterly indiscernible speck of light in the sky – we got ‘nuthin! Toss in the occasional abduction human-interest story, and/or a rare ex-gubbmint, astronaut, or gum-shoe confession tale – and you can churn and burn some dollars out of hungry apes like you and me -for a while…



So, the material is getting thinner and more vaporous – time to change the “tune” a bit: It is the only way they can stay relevant (and keep lapping milk up at the UFO love-fests). So now, prepare for the paradigm shift to “Consciousness” and the "Phenomena".

UFO’s are now NOT necessarily spacecraft driven by extraterrestrials, NOR are they necessarily sekret black aircraft, but rather, a form of “consciousness” that wishes to “commune” with us. The UFOs are “manifestations” of our collective “ethos”.

…The money will flow once more: a von Daniken or clone will write “Consciousness of the GODS”. Giorgio and his pals, like Wilcock, Redfern et al will have a new series on the History Channel, “Ancient Consciousness”, and the UFO conferences will host dozens of “experts” and “researchers” to lecture us about our “feelings about UFOs” and how they may ‘appear’ in response to telepathic or other inquiry.

Personally, all I would like is a straight, factual, no BS, no fluff explanation with accompanying verifiable evidence so we, ALL of us, can finally move humanity forward in the right way. The matter is indeed significant – but hardly settled. Just my opinion, but the current crop of UFO-pundits just seem to be continually spewing the same hot air. No substance, no real truth, no evidence.

The whole UFO thing has been a giant joke played on us for decades. Perhaps by design. I’d like to know who is orchestrating it and why. Somehow I don’t think our collective “feelings” and consciousness is the answer. It will just be the theme in the next wave of books, conferences, and AM radio fodder. It’s just more wool over our eyes -and it keeps a handful of interested Pied Pipers moderately employed while leading us away from the real explanation…

...keep looking up, my friends!

a reply to: IMSAM

Called mudding the waters some of what they show marginal at best,they sensationalize to appeal to the boob tubers,like all these reality show,like the buried treasure on Oak Island,I never trusted anything on TV,why would I believe it now,although I have experianced ufo sightings,several paranormal sightings myself,I have my own sources I prefer reality

Honestly, though, there's not a lot of money to be made in fringe and paranormal topics. It seems popular here, but a person can make a whole lot more money just making stupid comments about other people playing video games. Or posting pictures of the latest Kardashian baby.

a reply to: mirageman


i have to agree there,we get the "Dont let the facts spoil a good story" and in most cases sadly narrative matters more than the facts themselves.



a reply to: Outrageo



My own research has led me to believe that this phenomenon has ties with the occult and is some form of consciousness?!?? that is with us from the dawn of our civilization.

It has a trickster quality and takes various forms to suit each eras status,from dirigibles and fairies to saucers and greys now.

The muslims call them jinn.This phenomenon takes different guises but for what reason and to what end.

originally posted by: IMSAM
Long time member here and ufo researcher in my spare time.The point of this thread is to see your opinions and thoughts on the topic.My op will be succint.

"fart in the woods"


roadkill???


lost sock during laundry?




Anyone else thinks the whole ufology-paranormal field is turning,or has turned into,a circus of lectures,snake oil selling,youtube vids and whatnot at the expense of true research?

Most if not all of the lectures rehash old cases and say the same things that we know with nothing new ever turning up.Instead we see new unsubstantiated elements that cling to old cases and hence as years go by we cant discern the wheat from the chaff.Lately we ve seen also musicians jump into the paranormal money making machine claiming disclosure and new tantalizing evidence.

I feel like it has turned into a very very very profitable enterprise of books-lectures-youtube videos that generates enough money to be profitable and people are capitalizing on this already.While i dont have problem with that, i do have a problem with ufology turning into a laughing matter way more than past years.IS true research even being done anymore?What are your thoughts?

I think you have your topics mixed up. UFOlogy has nothing to do with the paranormal which is defined as follows:
par·a·nor·mal
ˌperəˈnôrm(ə)l/Submit
adjective
denoting events or phenomena such as telekinesis or clairvoyance that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding.
"a mystic who can prove he has paranormal powers"

UFOs are mysterious air forms that we don't know one iota about. Most humans believe that there are beings (aliens) inside these aerial forms. We don't even know for sure that UFOs are someone's aerial craft. So given this info you really can't tie them to the supernatural which is another type of activity entirely.

How do you tie UFOs and the paranormal? What leads you to think that way?

You're just being anal about the OP's wording. It's perfectly clear the point he/she is trying to make. They even wrote "ufology-paranormal", which means UFology through paranormal (so all things inbetween included). And all of it, ufology, paranormal, prophecies, conspiracies - has a cash grab element. OP isn't wrong.

That said, the "money makers" are only half the problem. The other half are all the idiots lapping it up and paying for it. Cashing in on "hype" (hype being effectively something that hasn't happened yet, but the promise that it will) has never been fervent as it is these days - no thanks to the internet.

A quick solution would be to perhaps DDoS as many of the UFO/paranormal websites as possible in a short space of time, starve those gaining financially from the subjects by hitting them where it hurts the most, their websites where they take/make the majority of their money. They've found a sort of "comfort zone" on the internet, because it's really easy to hype up and (possibly) exploit the masses with it. It's not like hard-copy books on the subject sell en-mass any more, is it

Regardless, if we don't like the profiteering then we'll have to go out of our way to stop it, and make sure it affects both the money makers and those who support them with their wallets.