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Contact in the Desert Features Lots of "Ancient Aliens" Pundits, Plus Peter Levenda

5/23/2018

12 Comments

 
​Next week is the annual Contact in the Desert symposium in which the cast of Ancient Aliens and those who profit from association with them will gather to provide audiences with summaries of past episodes of Ancient Aliens, and more extreme claims that are too offensive to make it past network standards and practices over on the History Channel. This year, however, there is something new. In addition to the regular group of Ancient Aliens talking heads, Tom DeLong’s coauthor, Peter Levenda, will be on hand to promote To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science as a major player in the ancient astronaut field.
A regular reader of this blog did some calculations based on the symposium’s speaker list to see what the demographics of the gathering’s 54 speakers might tell us about ancient astronaut theorists. The speakers are 96% white and 89% male, with a breakdown like this:
 
  • 46 White Males = 85%
  • 6 White Females = 11%
  • 1 Black male = 2%
  • 0 Black Females = 0%
  • 1 Native American Male = 2%
 
To this, let me add the number of people I could identify as talking heads from Ancient Aliens: 19 of 54, or 35%. I’m sure I missed one or two who are obscure enough that I didn’t remember their faces. Add in people who appeared on other History Channel pseudo-documentaries, or similar programs on other networks, and the number approaches 50%. Therefore, it seems that the typical Contact in the Desert speaker is an aging white male who opines about space aliens on cable television.
 
Speaking of which: Former giant hunter Jim Vieira will be presenting, but it’s rather depressing to see what he has chosen as his next project after having failed to find Bible giants or the lost colony of Roanoke. He now wants to hunt for Atlantis and Lemuria:
He will present his findings based on 30 years of research into the origins of civilization and Homo Sapiens through a comparative analysis of myth, legend, worldwide indigenous oral traditions, religious documents, Freemason, Rosicrucian and Theosophist teachings, the writings of Plato and the wisdom of the great mystics Rudolf Steiner, Madame Blavatsky and Edgar Cayce.
In other words, he’s planning to collect a bunch of lies and pretend that they betray a hidden truth. The fact of the matter is that Cayce stole from Blavatsky, and Steiner stole from Blavatsky, and Blavatsky stole from everybody, but notably Ignatius Donnelly, who borrowed his ideas from a stew of racist and imperialist nonsense published in the 1840s through the 1870s. Specifically, Donnelly accepted the work of Brasseur de Bourbourg, who made up imaginary translations of Mexican codices to “discover” Atlantis in the records of ancient Mexico, and Augustus Le Plongeon, who invented fantastical fictions about a Mexican Atlantis based on de Bourbourg. Le Plongeon came to his interest in these fictions while working for Ephraim Squier, whose belief in a lost race of Mound Builders he found insufficiently extreme. Donnelly came to all these claims through John Thomas Short’s 1880 book The North Americans of Antiquity, from which he cribbed in ways small and large, and not always with citations. Short, for better or worse, bequeathed us this mess, even though he himself doubted the reality of Atlantis.
 
The so-called psychics happily strip-mined all these books for spare parts, and it is depressing that Vieira cannot see the clear debt that these authors owe to one another. They are not independently confirming a miraculous ancient history; they are repeating one another in close and not particularly careful plagiarisms.
 
Other speakers are doing their usual schtick. Brien Foerster will be repeating his typical claims about elongated skulls. Erich von Däniken will be—for fuck’s fucking sake—repeating yet again his single-mindedly wrongheaded belief that the “old Arabian historians” recorded the true history of Great Pyramid and Enoch from the time before the Flood. As you know, that is my area of special expertise, and it pains me to see this story recycled yet again. Giorgio Tsoukalos will deliver a lecture on—and I am not making this up—himself. “Giorgio will talk about how he got involved with this field, his early relationship with Erich Von Daniken and the guiding philosophy of his phenomenally successful television show, ‘Ancient Aliens.’” Of course his lecture is about himself. Anything else would require research, and that detracts from the fun of being a celebrity.
 
Peter Levenda’s lecture is perhaps the more interesting since he seems to be looking to damage control for the claims that To the Stars and Tom DeLonge are being manipulated by the government as part of a disinformation campaign:
This will be a discussion of the current theories in Ufological circles that Tom DeLonge and the To The Stars Academy are agents of a “deep state” that wishes to manipulate Ufology, or expectations concerning UFOs, for the benefit of a secret cabal of government insiders.  Recent discussions at MUFON suggesting that the disclosure event of December, 2017 in the New York Times and elsewhere represent a “false flag” operation designed to prepare the United States for martial law will be addressed as well.  This will provide the groundwork for a look at the history of modern conspiracy theories and their relationship to Ufology and how Ufological circles are being manipulated by the theories themselves.  
​It sounds a lot like Levenda finally sees that ufology has become an ouroboros eating its own tail with each new and more extreme conspiracy theory, but I would like to see him thread the needle of arguing against the conspiracy that makes him part of a disinformation campaign while retaining all the elements that allow him to posit that the government is suppressing UFO information and manipulating public perceptions of UFOs.  
12 Comments
Matt
5/23/2018 09:08:03 am

Reading Corey Goodes bio always gives me a chuckle. Thanks for the laughs Contact in the Desert.

Reply
Joe Scales
5/23/2018 10:13:50 am

Just curious, but as you yourself become an aged white male, should you somehow be villainized for it? Or is there some sort of litmus test that would make you one of the good ones?

And besides, perhaps the brothers and sisters don't care much for the desert...

Reply
Jason Colavito link
5/23/2018 10:40:22 am

There is nothing wrong with being a white male. The interesting figure is in the aggregate--the overwhelming dominance of white men in the UFO field. Any field that lacks diversity can't help but be less rich and fruitful than those that have a multiplicity of perspectives. Surely, since women make up a quite sizeable percentage of UFO witnesses and abductees, we should be seeing many more women in the field if it were truly representative.

Reply
Aaa
5/23/2018 10:51:11 am

Not so sure that diversity is always for the better.

Momus
5/23/2018 11:16:30 am

Not always better for creativity, but always better for critique.

Joe Scales
5/24/2018 10:42:11 am

"Surely, since women make up a quite sizeable percentage of UFO witnesses and abductees, we should be seeing many more women in the field if it were truly representative. "

Perhaps that's why they abhor academics.
Title IX, you know...

Americanegro
5/23/2018 02:06:19 pm

I wouldn't consider Jason "aged" and people left Africa for a reason and that reason wasn't "we want to find somewhere worse". What's a brother gonna do? Doesn't like the desert and can't swim. Sad, right?

Agree that diversity is not ipso facto beneficial.

A family tree chart of who borrowed/stole from whom might make the information more easily comprehensible. Could be multiple charts. Just a thought.

Reply
Tom mellett
5/23/2018 02:27:35 pm

Jason,

I just posted the following on Peter Levenda’s own FB page and then on the TTSA Discussion Group FB page. (I recall how much he accused you of “circular reasoning” in response to your review of hi Sekret Machines book last fall.)

Tom

================

Hello Peter,

I’m sure you will be very excited to read that your favorite book critic on the Internet, Jason Colavito, has just blogged about the upcoming Contact in the Desert conference and has deemed your lecture to be the one he finds most interesting of all. (I copy an excerpt below and ID the writers for clarity.)

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/contact-in-the-desert-features-lots-of-ancient-aliens-pundits-plus-peter-levenda


===========

[. . . I then quote the last 3 paragraphs of the blogpost above . . .]


==============

TOM M: Now, Peter, I certainly would not be so crass as to claim that Jason has you “by the balls,” here, but I would say that he definitely has you “by the Ouroboros” since I have come to see you as a virtual grandmaster of “circular reasoning” in so much of your writing, especially in what you have written under the aegis of TTSA, namely “Sekret Machines.” Just sayin’.

Reply
Clete
5/23/2018 04:08:01 pm

Jason, I looked to see who were going to be some of the speakers at "Contact in the Desert". I was surprised to see that one of the speakers was listed as Congressman Merrill Cook. Merrill Cook hasn't been in congress since the year 2000, when he was defeated by the Democrat Jim Matheson. He ran again in 2008 and didn't even survive the Republican primary here in Utah. I guess I shouldn't be shocked that "Contact in the Desert" would still show him as a congressman, even though he hasn't been in office for eighteen years.

Reply
Only Me
5/23/2018 06:01:23 pm

Jim Vieira has spent decades researching both giants and Atlantis/Lemuria? Interesting. I'd assumed most alternative historians were focused exclusively on one subject. I'm thinking his latest project will result in 0-3 in the "proven" category.

Reply
Tom mellett
6/4/2018 07:35:16 pm

The local CBS TV news affiliate in Coachella Valley did a very short but puffy piece on Contact in the Desert, (No video but a few photos)

You’ll never guess which expert in Ancient Astronauts the lady reporter lets have the last word. (It’s worth the wait.)

http://www.kesq.com/news/contact-in-the-desert-explores-the-unkown-in-the-coachella-valley/749148562

Contact in the Desert explores the unknown in the Coachella Valley

By Katie Widner

INDIAN WELLS, Calif - It was an out-of-this world experience in Indian Wells as thousands flocked to the city for what organizers say is the world's largest UFO expo.

"This convention is based on finding the truth," said founders Paul Andrews and Victoria Gevoian.

The sixth annual Contact in the Desert Expo took over the Renaissance Resort and Spa for the first time after spending the last five years in Joshua Tree.

"Knowledge is power, therefore the more the public knows, the more power they have," said Richard Newton, who traveled from Bakersfield to attend.

Andrews and Gevoian said the expo is a serious exploration of the UFO phenomenon and ancient artifacts and structures found around the world. The event included speakers from the FBI, CIA, and NASA, as well as scientists, pilots and astronauts.

They're all threads of the same web coming together in one place," Andrews said.

A new focus this year included government disclosure. 

"There's all this evidence. Why isn't somebody in authority talking about it? Why isn't somebody telling us what's going on," said Andrews.

Gevoian added that the expo hosted roughly 3,000 people this year.

"To many, this is a homecoming because you no longer have to hide if you had an experience with a UFO," said Giorgio Tsoukalos. 

Tsoukalos said he is an ancient astronaut expert.

Reply
TOM MELLETT
6/6/2018 05:50:41 pm

*****BREAKING GNN NEWS*******.

GIORGIO’S ASTOUNDING CLAIM ABOUT GOD
DELIVERED TO ENRAPTURED CONTACT IN DESERT AUDIENCE

MAKES NEWS ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE POND IN UK EXPRESS

“The reason we have religion today is because of misunderstood visits of extra-terrestrials.”
— Giorgio Tsoukalos, Ancient Aliens


https://www.express.co.uk/news/weird/970172/Alien-news-Giorgio-Tsoukalos-ancient-aliens-UFO-conference-Contact-in-the-Desert

Aliens created GOD when they left Earth - TV history presenter claims

ANCIENT alien civilisations were once mistakenly venerated by humans, creating the base for modern-day religion, it has been spectacularly claimed by History Channel presenter Giorgio Tsoukalos.

BY SEBASTIAN KETTLEY

Mr Tsoukalos presented his incredible theory about the origins of religion at the annual Contact in the Desert UFO conference in Indiana Wells, California, this weekend.

The TV conspiracy theorist known for hosting Ancient Aliens on the History Channel gave an impassioned two-hour talk about ancient encounters between humans and extraterrestrial astronauts.

The UFO-hunter alleged early people misrepresented alien visitors as deities and their technology was interpreted as magic.

He said: “The reason that we’re in the crap that we’re in today is because of misunderstood technology.

The reason we have religion today is because of misunderstood visits of extra-terrestrials.”

According to Mr Tsoukalos, examples of the misrepresented technology are evident in the Egyptian and Central American Pyramids as well as ancient literature and art.

The TV host blamed archaeologists for dismissing evidence of alien visitors in ancient relics as artwork of gods, magic and other fantastical beings.

Among other things, the Ancient Aliens host claimed the Earth is round and not flat, humans will one day explore the far corners of space and aliens do in fact need space suits when travelling through space.

He said: “If the alien guy says that the Earth is round, trust me, it’s round.”

Mr Tsoukalos is a vocal proponent of the idea alien astronauts interacted with ancient humans in the past.

His offbeat theories came to prominence and online fame thanks to his appearances on the History Channel series Ancient Aliens.

The TV host has since appeared on the Travel Channel, the Sci-Fi Channel and National Geographic.

However, his work on Ancient Aliens has been described by audiences to be farfetched and extremely speculative.

Historian Ronald Fritze criticised the “pseudo-history” presented by the show’s experts.

He said: “The producers provided the window dressing of giving both the true believers and the skeptics some screen time.

“In the end, however, the final presentation was heavily stacked in favour of those who believe in ancient astronauts.”

The Contact in the Desert Expo is an annual UFO and alien conference held in the US.

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