Society for Explanation of the Uninvestigated
Dr. J. Allen Hynek's tongue-in-cheek name for those scientists who dismiss the UFO phenomenon a priori.
Related reading and notable quotes:
» Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky, The Experts Speak: The Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation. 1998. ISBN 0-679-77806-3. 445 pgs, 87 B&W photos; chapter references and index. $16.95 [Vi]
» Winston Churchill, British Statesman, author, prime minister: "Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened"
» Stanton T. Friedman, "Pseudoscience of anti-ufology"; MUFON UFO Journal, June 2002, 410 pgs. 21-22. This article includes Friedman's Basic Rules for Debunkers:
Don't bother me with the facts; my mind is made up
What the public and media don't know, don't tell them
If you can't attack the data, attack the people; it's easier
Do your research by proclamation, rather than investigation
» David M. Jacobs observes: "All debunkers make one or more of three fundamental mistakes. They do not know the evidence, they ignore the evidence, or they distort the evidence." J. Scientific Exploration 20, 2, Summer 2006, p. 303
» Max Planck, : "Science advances one funeral at a time; a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it"
» Bertrand Russell, : "Anger at contrary opinion is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of no good reason for thinking as you do...Be on guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants". Unpopular Essays: An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish (1950)
» Ron Westrum, UFO abductions as a hidden event; pgs 532 - 540, Alien Discussions: Proc. of the Abduction Study Conference Held at MIT, Cambridge, MA. 1994. ISBN 0-9644917-0-2. [NC]
Hidden event: a widespread but under-reported phenomenon that may be unsuspected by society as a whole, and with a life course typically running through three stages:
Uncorrelated observations -- noticed by individuals but not published; treated as a curiosity, an isolated event, noise, or experimental error
Controversy -- events come to public attention when someone, an advocate with opinionated persistence, notices there is more than one of them, but their existence and nature remain moot; aid comes as additional documentation, from other observers; denial continues for those unwilling to confront the new reality and its effect on existing institutions
Acceptance / rejection -- event information becomes standardized and enters the matrix of scientific knowledge or is definitely placed outside of it; societal changes may follow; non-standard aspects may continue to be rejected until they are better understood
In the first two stages, supposed "experts" in academia are (a) ignorant, (b) unaware of their ignorance, and (c) contributing to the inhibition of reporting. Historical examples: meteorites, ball lightning, battered child syndrome. The UFO phenomenon in general, not just alien abductions, is in Stage 2.