Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Jester in Black: The Secret Space Program and the UFO Cover-Up

For as long as there has been modern UFOlogy, there has been the contention that the governing body, the military or intelligence communities know what the UFO issue is all about. Secreted away in top-secret bunkers, or within hollowed out mountains are remnants of saucer debris and alien technology - and some would even go so far as to say there's aliens working hand-in-hand with human counterparts.

I should start by saying this isn't a discussion on whether there is or is not a deliberate cover-up of the UFO phenomena by the governing bodies of the world, but a discussion on how the theme of a cover-up effects the critical rationale of the public and researchers as it applies to the phenomenon. This essay is also not an attack on anyone personally, but rather an examination of stances and actions taken by UFOlogical personas and their tandem effects. 

To delve into this area of the subject with any depth at all, will lead you through many layers of intrigue and even some paranoid ramblings. The path seems benign and plausible enough as an idea from the start: that the government, in it's bid to hold onto power and maintain societal order has silenced UFO witnesses, covered up sightings and crash events, and has all the hard evidence skirted safely away from the public. Seems a completely rational thought, considering some of the reactions by government agencies - right down to some of the largely blacked out documents obtained by FOIA.

This quickly evolved into secret treaties with aliens by the shadowy government in which the aliens were free to abduct and molest humans in exchange for technology. This gave way to the Dulce myth where the treaty seemed to fall through, with aliens and commandos slugging it out in the underground base. Not so much as a shred of proof on the reality of this sort of thing at all.

A level of absurdity is reached from a plausible idea or notion and into that which is completely irrational.

In recent years, Rich Dolan has suggested a "breakaway civilization" - whereby those in the know have enough secrecy, enough black budget money, enough time and autonomy that they have gained a level of knowledge, technology and awareness of reality that they have broken away and now exist as a super-secret society that have all the cool toys - never sharing them with the rest of the world.

Seems plausible enough, if you subscribe to Dolan's anatomy of the UFO cover-up. There's a foundation of belief here that has to be accepted as real before the breakaway society will fit into your overall view. One big one being that flesh and blood aliens have technology that we somehow, now possess and have understanding of.

Think about that one for just a moment. I am constantly in awe of how pedestrian some proponents in UFOlogy assume the 'alien' to be. We say the word quite commonplace these days - alien has lost it's mystique to a degree. Consider a culture that has developed completely independent of the Earth. Nothing of our knowledge has touched this culture and none of Earth's influence would be present. None of Earth's evolutionary effects, nor biology. Nothing. This is the pretense we have to start from.

Here ya go kiddo. Let's make it happen. Oh, and hurry up.
A good comparative scenario for the reverse engineering of alien technology, would be giving a child of 3 years an iPhone and telling them to figure out how it works. Then instructing them to make their own. Imagine that with many multitudes of complexity, extrapolated from there.

There is a separation of rational thought here. That's only a single example, and there are many instances of irrational thoughts accepted as some version of fact in the paranormal. On it's own that's not a good thing, but it's made worse when other contentions are offered that build upon these as a base. Pretty soon what was proffered as a scenario or suspicion becomes established fact for many as the story expands into more layers of complexity. For instance, Dolan's piece referenced here makes mention of 'military abductees' as a connection to the breakaway society. 'MILABs' or military abductions were by in large a product of the hypnotic regression craze of the late 80's early 90's. Hypnotic regression is widely dismissed as a memory recovery tool by the psychiatric field, and is well known for creating and hardening false memory.

The article on the breakaway society also mentions MJ-12, a myth of the UFO field who's very existence hinged upon the faked documents of 1984. While it's not mentioned in support of the 'breakaway' idea, it's included in the discussion, presented in a manner that makes it credible - when there's nothing credible about it.

But like the early days of the supposed government cover-up of UFOs, Dolan's breakaway society has birthed it's own level of absurdity: the far flung claims of Andrew Basiago, and Corey Goode, to name only two. Claims of induction at childhood into top secret projects that include teleportation to Mars for extended stays, time travel, and attendance via time travel to pivotal historic events such as the Gettysburg address.

This of course without a shred of evidence to support it. Not even anyone to say for example, "yes, they were gone and we didn't know where they were for a year". Because, time travel.

In a recent post on Facebook, Dolan voices his dismay with these sort of whistle blowers and their inclusion in the 2017 MUFON Symposium, of which he is a speaker as well. While Dolan's piece is in my opinion just an attempt to draw a line of demarcation between himself and the less than credible folks he'll share a stage and probably a panel discussion with - here's what is missing from the discussion:

  • Dolan, with his Secret Space Program and Breakaway Civilization programs and lectures, effectively drew these people to the forefront. He is distancing himself from something that he has in part, helped to create. I am not suggesting he is actively aiding these people, but they are building narratives upon the ideas he has been promoting.

  • At no point after voicing his non-support of his fellow presenters does he say he is effectively withdrawing from the speaking engagement - which should be the natural response if he is so in opposition to them that he would write this lengthy piece detailing his feelings about the event and the other presenters.

This is similar to his Roswell Slides post where he seemed compelled to explain why he was going to speak at an event that already involved questionable personalities and highly dubious 'evidence'. Richard claimed he didn't agree to participate until a long discussion with Don Schmitt (who he claimed to know better than the others involved). This seems odd in that Schmitt was publicly exposed years ago regarding the truthfulness of his background and research - and even his former research partner Kevin Randle called him a "pathological liar". This association seems antithetical to everything Dolan represents within the UFO field.

I should point out that I don't believe Richard purposefully concocts the ideas of a Secret Space Program, or the Breakaway Civilization just to put out content. While I think the notions are greatly overstated, I'm sure he sees reason to speak about them.

Within this situation is a repetitive path seen in many aspects of the paranormal: the genesis of any idea, theory, or supposition will be extrapolated to a level of highly strained credibility (absurdity) fairly quickly - no matter how well-reasoned and plausible the original concept was. There is also a 'down the rabbit hole' effect, where rational, otherwise intelligent and well-reasoned researchers will find themselves engaged in irrational research, ideas and paranoia - then often finding themselves in questionable company. This goes down the tandem path of what we've discussed before - in that some seemingly intelligent researchers fall apart and descend into all matter of madness upon entering certain aspects of the paranormal.

There is another aspect of this situation that deserves mention. The idea that Richard Dolan mentions in his 'On Corey, Andrew and the Whistleblowers' piece, that he doesn't want a war with anyone in the field. That's certainly admirable, but I think this goes much deeper than an avoidance of conflict. This seems to be hedging a bet, much as was done with the Roswell Slides - on not coming down too hard on the outlandish personalities so that if they become the flavor of the year, or how the 'field' ultimately turns (it's a possibility no matter how repugnant we may find that) - he is not on the outs. In my opinion this is a tactic to remain neutral to the discussion and still be asked to speak and attend events. That Dolan will not take a definitive stand in opposition to presenters with serious credibility issues is a testament to the clique mentality that exists in the convention and organization circuit. Bring the real world into the Dungeons & Dragons of UFOlogy and you will quickly find yourself cut out of speaking engagements.

James Clarkson, former Washington State Director for MUFON (who rightly quit in disgust) has spoken in this Radio Misterioso interview to this effect as well: that calling out poor research and organizational practices often garners you the ire of people in power within UFO circles. Then, you're wrongly accused and berated for attacking someone - when personality has nothing to do with the matter, it's about the actions and research

The 'insider' is as ambiguous as the phenomenon.
In addition, in his '...Whistleblowers' piece, Dolan warns: "Everything is based on trust. Believing such stories without genuine evidence takes us down a dangerous road within an already treacherous field that is constantly in the crosshairs of a skeptical establishment."

He also says that "If something is falsifiable, it doesn’t mean it’s false. It means you have the ability to test it, to investigate it, to determine whether it is true or false."

When Dolan has related whatever information he has gleaned from an 'insider' he cannot name - he is asking you to take the same dangerous road -  to believe based on nothing but trust. There is no way to qualify any of his alleged 'inside' sources, or their words.

The UFO cover-up is one of the most fascinating angles of the UFO problem. On one hand, the public seems to believe those researchers who portray a conspiracy that is formidably complex, huge in scale and depth, and protected by personnel who will stop at nothing to keep the secret.

And yet many of those same researchers talk of leaked information from trusted 'inside' sources, government documents obtained through FOIA, and clandestine arranged meetings with former  top-secret scientists, military, and intelligence.

When the scenario is looked at rationally, there are some rather glaring points to be made:

  • That the public places trust in the researcher that he is truthful about his 'contacts'. This seems counter to the idea of really being critical (or suspicious) of what one is told, is true (this is the foundation of the UFO cover-up).
  • That if said 'contacts' do exist, they are telling the researcher the truth. There is no reason to ever believe an 'insider' if indeed the conspiracy is as far reaching and complex as is claimed.
  • It's not often mentioned that the blacked-out documents squeezed out of the government via FOIA are not deliberately made to appear sanitized. If the cover-up is indeed as complex as claimed, this would be a distinct possibility.
  • It's widely claimed the powers that be have no issue making people 'disappear' or even resorting to assassination to silence individuals attempting to end the cover-up. This seems not to apply to the researchers who claim inside contacts, or claim to be an insider themselves (including the time traveling, Mars explorers.) None to my knowledge have ever been arrested for making critical intelligence information, public. 

There are plenty more contradictions, but in the interest of brevity (it's too late), I'll leave that for future discussion.

Where we end up is intriguing as we have 2 separate items: the very strange and complex UFO phenomenon, and the widely held belief of a conspiracy to cover their existence. Both have a provocative commonality: evidence for either is steeped in ambiguity.

And that lays us in the valley of the Trickster: the margin between real and fake. Between truth and lie. Between information and disinformation. But what is truly fascinating is that the effects of irrationality, ambiguity, charisma, and the trajectory from plausible to absurd - not only applies to the UFO phenomenon itself, but even bleeds into topics that involve it more indirectly.

The MUFON Symposium has now come and gone. I began writing this essay before the event, and finished it today, July 28th, 2017. There is still an air of contention over the event, and I expect that kind of feeling to grow. Richard Dolan has apparently taken a video series gig with GAIA entitled 'False Flags'. GAIA are the same folks who brought you...the Nazca alien mummy fiasco.

One thing, if nothing else is certain at this point: the UFO field succeeds regularly in ensuring that the phenomenon retains it's position of marginality. 🔻

17 comments:

  1. "SOMEONE took my nutty, unsubstantiated, dangerous idea too far!"

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  2. I think that many UFO researchers are very safe from reprisals by the "Men in Black," because of the valuable cost-free service they provide to the US Government: in accordance with the Robertson Panel's conclusions, that public interest in UFOs should be suppressed with ridicule, etc. In Ufology the more outrageous the claim with no supporting evidence, the more attention and accolades you receive.

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  3. You failed to mention Catherine Austin Fitts, former Undersec at HUD during the first Bush Admin, who found trillions missing from DOJ, DOT, and HUD budgets, monies returned to the NY Fed, and passed to the Pentagaon for "special access projects" within the black contractor-Military Industrial Complex, since at least '96. These trillions according to Fitts and Dolan, who spoke with her at Conferences available on You Tube, feed the advanced technologies at the heart of the "Breakaway Civilization". If your going discredit "Pop Ufology" why not what Dolan and Fitts think the BC is, it's motives, and how it operates? Trillions of dollars goes unaccountable for unknown projects, beyond the control and oversight of Congress and the GAO. Isn't that a story worth telling everyone? There's currently a Rep Congressmen, Wyden, who wants more accountability in Federal Budgets, you might contact him for some real quotes about what he would do about the trillions lost to a Black Military. The knowable truth, the 400 or so, vetted military, NASA, and Government witnesses to UFO and associated military activity goes far beyond your mere discrediting of "Pop Ufology". See Dr Stephen Greer about his list of witnesses, his 2001 presentation of his first 20 witnesses at Washington Press Club, out on video, and his most recent "Unacknowledged" for more information from new witnesses regarding unacknowledged special access projects. And by the way, the formerly secret US Space Command, now called the US Space Corp. is no longer secret. With the next Federal Budget, you'll see it as a line item under the Pentagon. More independent confirmation of hundreds of former Air Force Missileer's reports of alien and/or military exercises of craft, seen around or "sitting" over US ICBM sites since '65, can be found in Robert Hasting's books, with special attention to former Capt. Robert Salas, and his '67 encounter at Minot, AFB, Missile Wing.

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    1. I'm not sure you actually read the article. Your comment speaks far more to reactionary defense of an ideology. I'm not sure where you derive that I'm trying to discredit anything when I stated at the very beginning of the article:

      "I should start by saying this isn't a discussion on whether there is or is not a deliberate cover-up of the UFO phenomena by the governing bodies of the world, but a discussion on how the theme of a cover-up effects the critical rationale of the public and researchers as it applies to the phenomenon."

      Please do try to actually read the piece before posting reactionary responses. Your post is however, a direct example of what this blog routinely covers.

      Jeff

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  4. Re; Catherine Austin Fitts. This assumption that the missing Trillions (no argument a lot of money has disappeared somewhere), has gone to develop secret space technology is not based in any facts I'm aware of. It seems far more likely that it is used by the intelligence agencies to destabilise other nation states through bribery, funding dissident groups, terrorism, supporting right wing dictatorships and even possibly rewarding themselves for a job well done. If you think, and you should by now, that the Banks and corporations have stolen money from everyone, why would you not make the same assumption about the government/ alphabet agencies? It seems clear to me that there clearly is a conspiracy at work here, but I would suggest it's about impoverishing the population, destroying democracy and suppressing dissent. That's your breakaway civilisation.

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  5. I disagree on the point of Dolan concocting the "Breakaway Civilizations" idea just to put out content. My feeling is maybe he and a couple of others in Ufology (who will remain nameless) are always such delightful dinner companions or drinking buddies they continue to be cut way too much slack and given too many venues to peddle their recycled trash.

    Many UFO blogs, podcasts, and social media sites are filled with utter nonsense, and their real purpose to promote books, speaking tours, conference appearances, and generate revenue from site sponsors.

    In essence, they are meant as money making machines not as vehicles to enlighten the masses. So gotta keep churning out content; gotta keep coming up with and promoting weirder, goofier, and more implausible scenarios in the hope the next one will catch fire and serve to effectively continue separating the gullible from their money.

    Yes, all of these Ufology outlets are immensely entertaining (which is why, personally, I frequent the blogs, podcasts, and social media sites).

    But a word of advice to all who do the same. Everything presented therein must be taken with not a grain but a boulder of salt. Many of these outlets (but not all; try to exercise at least a little discernment) exist for the sole purpose of trying to get your money. If you find yourself reflexively reaching for a credit card after you've read a post or listened to a podcast, a warning alarm should start sounding in your head.

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    1. Hi Purrl - "I disagree on the point of Dolan concocting the "Breakaway Civilizations" idea just to put out content."

      I do too. What I wrote was that I *didn't* believe he did so just to put out content. I agree with your second point wholeheartedly. A previous post about charisma and it's relation to all this speaks a lot to your notion about the latitudes given to delightful dinner companions.

      Although with charismatic 'leaders' they either produce results, or they are quickly dismissed. I think we may be seeing that effect in relation to some UFO personalities.

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  6. Great and informative article, though I missed the most plausible theory associated with the "Breakaway Civilization," that it is simply a nonpublic military intelligence environment with absolutely nothing to do with aliens, other than as simple disinformation. The missing trillions of US military dollars and other resources into "black projects" over the years have no other plausible explanation; all this money has been going somewhere with some one using it for some massive set of goals, whatever they are.
    And the stories of crazies like Corey Goode would of course perfectly serve as further disinfo to ensure that no one takes a serious look at such things. To quote John Keel, "Make him look like a nut!"

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    1. Thanks for your comment Michael - the real point of the article here wasn't so much to discuss the theory of the Breakaway Civilization as much as it was to point out the absurdity factor present in such ideologies. Although I feel like you're probably right in that where ever the money is going, it's likely for reasons that have nothing to do with any theory that has been presented.

      After all the thievery going on in Government that has been publicly exposed, well, you get the idea.

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  7. Re: Dolan's piece. Wow. That's a long winded way of trying to distance yourself from people who bought your BS whilst still taking a paycheck for appearing on the same stage.

    I think any serious student of the UFO subject would do well to put these alleged whistleblowers, secret space program aficionados and the click-bait vultures that promote them to one side. Sure, people will always listen and be entertained by them, but let’s call it what is is - ufotainment. I’m always amused when people hold up one whistleblower as credible, simply because of apparently corroborating stories, whilst the next is deemed laughable. None of them have provided any credible evidence as to what they are supposedly revealing. In that respect they are all even... and no different to you or I. The fact that two or more peoples stories may apparently corroborate one another is not corroboration of anything. How easy would it be for individuals - or even the intelligence community - to fabricate such a set up? And given the historic attempts by the US intelligence community to control narrative and socially engineer UFO belief, studying UFOs outside of the USA would probably be far more beneficial with regards to anomalous phenomenon.

    NOTE: We would also do well to remember that the UFO/ET whistleblower and Disclosure concepts are almost entirely US-centric.

    In Trump era America the marginal trickster is apparently running rampant.

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  8. I fully understand your point here - and I expected some replies on this. But again, many of the people you mention here have had hypnosis employed in 'researching' their case(s). I too have known many people who claimed the MILAB experience, but I also know that those people were also wide spread users and subjects of hypnotic recall.

    The bulk of MILAB accounts are from hypnotic recall - and what ones were not, were often separated from true conscious recall by unconscious states. This is a critical bit most MILAB people don't bring to the forefront: that it's not like they are abducted by the military types and brought back in the same sense as they left - these events are laden with accounts of being drugged and in and out of consciousness. This presents a murky recall that really can't be considered reliable. Much of this area of the subject is fraught with cultural contamination - for instance the first published book on MILABS was out in 1996 - The X-Files (which had a HUGE impact on the subject and 'abduction' accounts) debuted in 1993.

    I'm again, not saying they don't happen. But the evidence is extraordinarily murky, and far from being considered actual recall (with all the alleged drugging and unconscious periods). The bulk that people know, I feel confident in saying most likely originated from cultural contamination / hypnotic recovered 'memory' (Confabulation).

    I notice you reference the 'alien jigsaw' site here, which is by no means a credible source of information. I only need point reader's to the page: http://alienjigsaw.com/index.html where the 'contributors' page reads more like a 'here's who to avoid' of the field. Marden, Lamb, Jacobs, Greer, Bassett, etc. I can't take any of what would be printed there even remotely serious. Sorry.

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  9. I think sometimes what is absurd scales through the plausible. Probably thermodynamics.
    I think what is the baseline and what is the carrier depends on the observer, and can trade places.

    Numbers do it. The birds and the bees do it. Perhaps a rational filter is just a way to keep moving.

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  10. Enjoyed reading this, thanks!

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  11. Hi Jeff, I think everything you say is completely on point. I have huge problems with Dolan, first and foremost for his complete arrogance and secondly for his unabashed opportunism. When he was part of the whole Roswell slides fiasco, our lead MUFON investigator here in Wisconsin put out a statement that MUFON should distance themselves with Dolan. I later heard Dolan bascially call the investigator a hick and then falsely claimed he was part of MUFON Minnesota. This again betrays the provincial nature of some of these investigators. I also find it funny how Goode, Basagio and Dolan constantly get large captive audiences and have people of high standing, income and or education backing them while you were ridiculed for telling your own personal experience and constantly prefacing it with "you don't need to believe any or all of this experience." Also, your stories weren't "I, Jeff Ritzmann, was humanity's last hope!", more often than not your stories are embarrassing (sorry to say). Also what I find really odd is that I was recently looking at the YouTube comments from your 3 part interview on Where did the road go, and there is one guy who for all 3 episodes said something to the effect that you were a huge liar and your story was very cringey. Now why on earth would someone truly believe that and yet enact the labor of conveying the message that you are a liar on all 3 parts of the interview? It is very odd and it seems like it was almost a directed attack. I've noticed this a lot recently, the more credible and sane the paranormal researcher is, the more they are marginalized and or attacked as being a liar. Curious to know if you noticed the same thing.

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    1. Hi Bill-
      Yes. To be in this field for any length of time, is to garner enemies. Whether they don't like what you say, the inconsistencies you expose, or simply the tone of your voice - these types come out of the woodwork in the paranormal. You just accept that and move on.

      What you have to ask yourself in regard to the YouTube comments you mention: why is he anonymous? Easy answer: they're afraid. I have my suspicions about who this is, but it's safe to say that it's likely someone who I've exposed in the past, or someone I could easily dismiss by knowing who they are. They don't want that, so they hide as a coward.

      If they truly believed what they say, they'd have no issue owning it with a name. They exist as a perfect example of what I write about here at the Den - and while they chastise the idea of trickster, they are oblivious that they are exemplifying it. That, is the most amusing thing to me.

      That said I've dealt with their like for 3 decades and I've come to realize they are only pitfalls to hindrance. I've often said you either care about this subject or you don't. I do, and for that reason alone I don't give these faceless, anonymous cowards the ability to take residence in my mind, or occupy my time.

      Jeff

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    2. Maybe Dolan that it was me - I'm in Minnesota and I emailed Dolan questioning why he was promoting the Robert Hastings fraud that James Carlson exposed were lies about his dad Eric Carlson. Dolan didn't really have any response. That's when I knew the gig was up. I had bike - on my bicycle - out to the Edina library to read his first "tome" and I was not at all impressed. I found his lines of argument to be very sketchy and you could sense him pushing the E.T. story with no evidence. So I was fishy about him and then when he was pushing the Hastings shenanigans - I just emailed him and was like - dude? haha.

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