Top MUFON Official Quits Over Organization's Continued Support of John Ventre a Year After Ventre's Racist Rant

4/17/2018

On Wednesday, the Smithsonian Channel will air the controversial Canadian Ice Bridge documentary that revived claims that the first Americans were Europeans known as the Solutreans who crossed the Atlantic during the Ice Age. The documentary was roundly criticized in Canada for its lack of attention to the racist uses of the Solutrean myth and for its endorsement of a hypothesis for which little evidence exists. While the show aired on the CBC in Canada, the country’s major public broadcaster, here in the U.S. it will screen on digital tier cable, meaning that pretty much nobody will watch it. The Smithsonian Channel is a partnership between CBS-owned Showtime and the Smithsonian Institution, which employs Dennis Stanford, the major advocate of the Solutrean theory and the star of the documentary

Meanwhile, there is new fallout this week from last year’s racism scandal at the Mutual UFO Network. Regular readers will recall that last May, one of the organization’s most important figures, John Ventre, posted racist comments to Facebook in which he ranted about systemic bias against white people and alleged that “everything this world is was created by Europeans and Americans. F’ing blacks didn’t even have a calendar, a wheel or a numbering system until the Brits showed up.” MUFON took little action, issuing a milquetoast statement distancing themselves from Ventre, who blamed literal demons from hell, arguing that “Satan’s minions” control flying saucers and are responsible for atheists and ancient astronaut theorists alike. Ventre resigned his leadership post, but the organization never cut ties with him. Only now, however, are some of MUFON’s members realizing this fact.

In January MUFON selected Chris Cogswell, a Minnesota-based podcaster with a PhD in chemical engineering, as their new director of research. On Friday night, just four months later, Cogswell abruptly resigned after learning that MUFON is still closely aligned with Ventre. He sent MUFON the following letter:

To whom it may Concern,

It is with a heavy heart that I must report my resignation from my position as director of research for the Mutual UFO Network. Yesterday afternoon (Friday, April 13th 2018) it came to my attention that John Ventre, former state director for Pennsylvania, has had a continued role within MUFON as an active member, is listed as a paid consultant, conference coordinator, and treasurer for the PA chapter, and is a part of the preparations for the upcoming symposium. I was stunned to receive an e-mail from Mr. Ventre stating that he was the “guy putting together the symposium” for National MUFON, and even more stunned when his involvement was not strongly condemned and denied. Had I known that Mr. Ventre was not completely removed from MUFON, despite the upheaval that may have caused and potential further resignations that may have followed from those who did not see the issue with what he wrote, I would never have joined. I believed, as I am sure the vast majority of the interested public believes, that he had been completely removed from MUFON and any attempt to return to the fold of this organization would have been completely and instantly rebuffed. However, as l have now discovered through discussion with MUFON, looking at the MUFON PA website and their list of upcoming speakers at their local conventions, and investigating the public comments from Mr. Ventre since his racist diatribe it is clear that this is not the case. I expect this evidence will be removed from these websites, as it is clear that this process has already begun taking place.

When I joined MUFON I had hoped to bring a scientiﬁc viewpoint and strong critique of ideas to this field. Sadly, it appears I will have to attempt that effort elsewhere. I am very grateful to those who gave me the opportunity to begin this process, and to those who believed in my plan moving forward. I am sorry that my trust was misplaced, and that your trust in me was not protected correctly.

Chris

MUFON has never formally broken ties with Ventre, and the organization has enabled him to remain engaged in the UFO field even after exposing himself as a racist with extreme occult beliefs. The broader UFO community has also continued its involvement with Ventre. In a few weeks, just about exactly one year after his racist rant, Ventre will be a featured speaker at the Mile High Mysteries Conference in Colorado alongside Linda Moulton Howe, John Greenewald, and others.

I applaud Cogswell for taking a principled stand, and I continue to be amazed that ufologists in general terms have a rather high tolerance for racism, both from figures in the field and from the ideas promulgated in the name of ufology. Ancient astronaut theorists have not been shy about advocating for outdated beliefs about the inferiority of the African race, for example. Erich von Däniken once called Africans a bungled hybridization experiment only rectified by the creation of the white race. Jim Marrs and David Icke have flirted with outright anti-Semitism, and the so-called alt-right features figures who happily cross between the UFO and racist worlds, like Jason Reza Jorjani, who advocates for the Aryan race (broadly defined) and for the ancient astronaut theory.

51 Comments

Dunior

4/17/2018 12:36:20 pm

Once again we are confronted with how a subject as mundane as strange lights in the sky can be twisted into racist rhetoric. What is it about the alternative world that breeds this weird point of view? Every single subject matter out there from fringe to informed speculation is riddled with this. Just don't get it beyond the fact that someone sees these subjects as part of a battle for hearts and minds. In a way it drags other people interested in this stuff w/ out the racism into the cesspool with the rest of the creeps.

Silent Books for the Blind

4/17/2018 12:50:05 pm

I thought it was South America that didn't have the wheel. Also don't understand why criticism of Africa is automatically racist. There's a reason people left Africa, the certitude that anywhere else would be better.

Ventre's quoted statement is not far from the truth. Finding racism everywhere has become an industry.

Terry the Censor

4/18/2018 05:07:26 am

> Finding racism everywhere has become an industry.

Maybe you should hide your racism, and so make it harder for these professional finders of racism? That would undercut their industry, I should think.

Oakenhelm

4/22/2018 09:50:53 am

People left Africa because they were enslaved and forcibly removed you nitwit.

4/17/2018 01:19:32 pm

If you agree with Ventre's statements then you are part of the problem. You actually think this is a valid statement:

"F’ing blacks didn’t even have a calendar, a wheel or a numbering system until the Brits showed up."

What about the Black Pharoh's of Egypt? I'm sure they were a bunch of dumb asses. Ditto that for the Ethiopian people who preserved tenets of Judaism and Christianity separate from the sphere of the Holy Land. What a bunch of idiots they were. People that developed all the same astronomy and technology available in the Greek world while European whites were slaving under the feudal system. Wow. You are kind of disgusting. You sound like a Frank Joseph fan. I am laughing at you.

SILENT BOOKS FOR THE BLIND

4/17/2018 02:06:35 pm

Sorry buddy I raised the question about did Africans have the wheel?

Ethiopians don't consider themselves black. The Egyptian Pharaohs certainly weren't, although they were super inbred. And Ethiopia is walking distance from what you call the "Holy Land".

"People that developed all the same astronomy and technology available in the Greek world"

That's a lie, a lie, a lie, a lie. You are late to the party with your old disproven lie.

4/17/2018 02:40:28 pm

You should be sorry for being a racist weirdo. Where is American Negro when we need him? I'm glad you say Ethiopian people don't consider themselves black and if you check into there were Black Pharaohs from upper Egypt. In the words of American Negro:

"Silent Books for the Blind is an idiot."

What a scumbag you are. Are you really that stupid and uniformed?

Now go look up all your sources from the other racist idiots. You came on here and patently proved everything Jason said on this blog about what racist idiots like you think. ta ta.

Doc Rock

4/17/2018 02:20:34 pm

I think that the Kingdom of Mali was doing quite well when England was still a backwater coming out of the dark ages. There is a pretty impressive list of African kingdoms throughout Africa that pre-date European colonialism. They often had all sorts of good stuff like writing systems, complex judicial systems, metallurgy, cities, etc.

There is a substantial amount of myth-making at play in terms of how pre-colonial Africa is portrayed. .

Americanegro

4/17/2018 02:45:50 pm

That sounds like white-guilt lies. I worked in Mali in the Peace Corps and I mostly speak Fulaa when I go back, and though they borrowed writing from the Arabs, the tradition is oral.

If by "complex judicial system" you mean "a lot of punishments" then sure. I look forward to your explication of the complexity of the Malian judicial system and their mathematics.

There's a reason we left Africa.

4/17/2018 03:03:14 pm

No white guilt lies, historical fact. Talking to people in Mali in the present doesn't really change the fact that there was a complex civilization there when London wasn't much more than a village. The last time that I checked, Middle Eastern influences (which influenced Europe as well) pre-date European colonialism. Then there is the matter of stuff going on in Africa prior to the rise and spread of Islam. All that obviously pre-dates the arrival of the Brits, so there isn't really an argument here relevant to what Ventre claimed. You've scored another direct hit on a windmill.

People were leaving the UK in droves at a time when the UK was considered to be the most civilized and technologically advanced society in the world. The grass is always greener n'est pas? Another direct hit on that mean old windmill.

I'm not going to waste time arguing this. For anyone interested in learning rather than arguing and looking foolish, it is pretty easy to google up discussions of civilizations, science, and technology in pre-colonial Africa..

4/17/2018 03:23:15 pm

Alternatively one could actually go to Africa but you prefer to hang around the kids' table.

Palestine in Joosus's time was a "European colony" as was Egypt.

You seem to think all Europeans are British. An interesting but wrong-headed concept. Did a British man touch you where your bathing suit covers? That would explain your affinity for the kids' table.

David Bradbury

4/17/2018 03:57:34 pm

"I think that the Kingdom of Mali was doing quite well when England was still a backwater coming out of the dark ages."
I think you think wrong- Mali as a significant polity was roughly contemporary with Norman through Stuart England. The great commercial and cultural hub Timbuktu was not even part of Mali until the 14th century.

Stickler

4/17/2018 04:19:32 pm

"The grass is always greener n'est pas?"

Dude is drunk, can't even spell "n'est-ce pas".

4/17/2018 04:20:19 pm

Ray,

You are thinking of the Empire of Mali. The kingdom upon which it was based, which was a significant polity by the standards of the time, may pre-date the Norman conquest. I think we are drifting away from the salient point here relative to countering Ventre's claims.

4/17/2018 04:28:19 pm

I don't know who Ray is, but you can call me Ray you can call me Jay, just don't call me late for dinner.

Don't try to direct the argument mate, or Nick Redfern will punch your eyeball. The "salient point" is YOUR ignorance, wrongness, and assery.

Triple D, once again we are allied. Allons y!

4/18/2018 03:58:28 am

Mali's pre-imperial history seems to have had parallels with England's around 1-50 CE- a region on the fringe of somebody else's empire, not very civilised but resource-rich, particularly in metals.

De vils despotes deviendraient les maîtres de nos destinées!

4/18/2018 05:12:30 am

David,

As you acknowledged, pre-Empire Mali (which pre-dated the empire by roughly two centuries) was very resource rich, especially in gold. They, quite obviously were on a trend that culminated in a major empire by the mid-13th century with a capital city over double the size of London of roughly the same time. So, I think that my description of the area as "doing quite well" during the period in question continues to hold up nicely.

A rather moot point anyway. Whether we are talking 11th century or 13th century we are still talking about an era that pre-dated British colonialism by about four centuries or so. That fact is the only thing that really matters relative to addressing Ventre's comments.

4/18/2018 07:24:59 am

One final note for those interested. The rise of the Empire of Mali came in the wake of the decline of the Empire of Ghana. The latter was a powerful state that dated back to the 8th century.

There is a long and complex history of the rise and fall of various kingdoms and empires in west Africa that resembles the political dynamics of Europe during the same time frame. The fact that scholars use concepts like kingdom and empire to describe what was going on in various parts of Africa is kind of a hint that society there was often much larger and complex than many people would like to think.

I'm not a big proponent of the accuracy of Wikipedia. But if anyone takes the time to google up things like empire of Ghana and empire of mali, etc. and takes a good look at some of the bibliographic references there is some pretty interesting reading. A search on google scholar will yield some good stuff too, although much of it is in French.

This is really one of those topics where one should spend a little time reading and researching before posting. Many people are just locked into this mindset that society in Africa was nothing but small groups of people walking around naked chasing monkeys with spears. So they are resistant to any information that demonstrates otherwise. Don't be one of those people.

Bloody Mary time.

4/18/2018 08:25:55 am

Doc, ultimately my beef is with your original statement "the Kingdom of Mali was doing quite well when England was still a backwater coming out of the dark ages".
England was beginning to revive the Roman concept of "Britannia" as a political unit by the 7th century, and the framework of what is now the Anglican Church emerged around that time (some of its current buildings being even older). The Venerable Bede was engaging in international academic discussions by around 700, and Anglo-Irish book production was the envy of Europe. A backwater only in terms of physical distance from the main power centres around the Mediterranean.

Machala

4/17/2018 01:23:30 pm

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Smithsonian hasn't disassociated itself from Solutrean believer David Stanford, considering their 170+ years of insensitivity and outright racism when dealing with the Indigenous People of the Americas.

I am disappointed in the CBC, who promoted this piece of garbage, and featured Bruce Bradley and Dennis Stanford. Their Solutrean theory and they themselves have been widely discredited. It has been undermined by recent advances in genetic analysis of ancient human remains in the Americas.

Even "Ice Bridge" director Robin Bicknell - she of such well known films as "Curse of the Axe" and "Blackwatch Snipers" - admitted that the Solutrean Hypothesis was so toxic, and so debunked by mainstream scientific researchers, that she could hardly find anyone to go on camera to say it was wrong. ( This I find a bit disingenuous, since she paints Bradley and Stanford as brave resisters against the narrow-minded mainstream scientific community. )

The second part of your blog regarding Chris Cogswell's departure from MUFON, let me second your commendation. It is refreshing to see someone, in this day and age, to grow a pair, and stand up for their convictions. Bravo Chris !

An Anonymous Nerd

4/17/2018 07:01:01 pm

Regarding South America and the wheel: My memory is that they had the wheel but only used it in limited contexts: child's toys, urban transport. Otherwise the wheel wasn't the best way to get around in the terrain they had. Google Images has a few examples.

So not a case of not having it, a case of choosing not to use it when it didn't make sense to use.

Regarding Africa and the wheel: My memory is that it's a similar case. They had it, or could have had it, but why bother when there's better ways for the terrain. Note the Egyptian use of sleds to move heavy objects long distances across sand.

My memory is backed up by this Harvard article that the Wikipedia links to. (The Wikipedia iis an awesome annotated bibliography.)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140106032919/http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/jrobinson/files/the_wheel_in_africa_february_2012.pdf

Here is a critical quote from right at the beginning: "One of the great technological puzzles of Sub-Saharan African economic history is that wheeled transportation was barely used prior to the colonial period. Instead, head porterage
was the main method of transportation. Though early colonial officials regarded this as highly inefficient economically, the consensus amongst historians is that rather this was a rational adaption to the underlying conditions and factor endowments. The wheel was not an appropriate technology in Africa. In this paper we undertake the first systematic investigation of the relative costs of the different forms of wheeled transportation."

Regarding whether or not the Egyptians were "Black." My understanding is that this can be debated, but they definitely were African. (Honestly I don't care what skin color they were: They were Africans and, accordingly, are fair game for refuting racist things people say about Africans.) Also definitely African were the Kush/Nubian people to the south, who actually took over Egypt for awhile, and certainly were as "civilized," for want of a better term, as Egypt ever was. (See Toby Wilkinson's "The Rose and Fall of Ancient Egypt." I never wrote down the page numbers unfortunately.)

Which brings me to....

Regarding civilizations other than Egypt in Africa, pre-modernity: From everything I've read and seen, yes they existed, even using the old school textbook criteria for that label. John Haywood's "The Penguin historical atlas of ancient civilizations" lists several, including Carthage, Kush/Nubia, and various sub-Saharan African civilizations. (Page 66-70.)

Also note the mysterious peoples that produced the walled city of "Great Zimbabwe." Despite fringe claims, the evidence suggests strongly that this culture was native African. (Note Peter James and Nick Thorpe "Ancient Mysteries," an awesome book that approaches "mysteries," and then explains them rationally, sort of like the way Jason does. Zimbabwe is spoken of on pages 174-176.)

Also note this awesome documentary series: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01bgnb1/episodes/guide.

The Fringe though will have a pat answer for all this. I'm just being "politically correct," or suffering from "white guilt," or am "Communist" somehow. My answer is: I'm using seemingly-reliable sources that tell me a story that makes sense, is coherent, and is properly sourced.

That's kind of what you're supposed to do. Reality contradicts the Fringe and all I can say is that if you think you can bring your enthusiasm to the side of rationality I'm sure many of us would love to have you on board.

-The Anonymous Nerd

4/17/2018 07:54:15 pm

Mr. Nerd,

The interesting thing is the people who hang out here claiming to be anti-fringe but who throw out all sorts of nonsense that makes the fringe appear to be downright rational in comparison. Just read carefully thru what they say, the logic they use, their communication style, and the consistent lack of substantiating sources in their arguments (more like tirades). It's laughable by pretty much any objective standard. Reminds me of the 13 year old that seeks out arguments with adults, get's their ass owned in the ensuing discussion, but then come away from the encounter convinced that "I really showed them." Both sad and amusing.

Yet again, I head off to happy hour (a late but well earned one) and hope that the third double cape cod will help me try to forget that this thread ever existed.

4/17/2018 10:19:08 pm

The wheel is a simple machine, a slice or segment of a roller. DRAGGING STUFF is not technology. People who insist that Egyptians were black are themselves racist. Mr. DocRock likes to think about 13 year olds' asses and get drunk.

If it sounds like I'm saying he's an alcoholic child molester, did I actually say that?

4/18/2018 02:55:46 pm

The biggest mistake being made in this discussion, honestly, is the homogenizing of entire continents. Egyptians most definitely and definitively had the wheel; war chariots were a big thing, to the point where even Tutankhamen had something like 14 of them buried with him. I'm not sure the wheel was as prominent in sub-Saharan Africa for many of the same reasons it wasn't as prominent in equatorial South America: neither thick jungle nor mountainous terrain encourage the use of the wheel when sledges and packs allow you to move faster and with heavier loads.

You know who else didn't use the wheel much? Scandinavian peoples, with their very mountainous and water-intercut terrain. But we'd never say "Europe didn't have the wheel" on that basis.

West African societies definitively had wheels dating back well into the BCE years, according to the art they left behind, and there's some probability that it existed in southern Africa, as well--the reason why it seems to have not is that much of African history has been not only damaged by European Colonialism, but deliberately erased, as well.

As for things like calendars and number systems, again--various cultures all over Africa did in fact have both, one or the other, or neither--depending on the CULTURE.

For number systems:
https://www.afrikanistik-aegyptologie-online.de/archiv/2012/3553

For calendars, again....Egypt, for one. Evidence of multiple types of calendars in multiple locations starting as far back as the Megalithic period.

As for "black" vs. "African," black is a social construct. African is a line of descent. Egypt, being on the continent of Africa, is African.

Egyptians are NOT Europeans. They are NOT Caucasians. They are EGYPTIANS, of Middle Eastern/African descent. Most people who argue that Egyptians "aren't black" are trying to argue that they're white, as if race was EVER a binary concept, which is truly stupid. If you don't like the word "black," well, Egyptians are definitely overall what we would today term "People of color." Get over it. Better yet, instead of arguing over stupid shit like trying to Europeanize Egypt, just acknowledge that race is a bullshit concept in the first place and should be done away with because it has no legitimate purpose.

silent books for the deaf

4/18/2018 03:42:35 pm

Take it up with the Ethiopians sir. They tend to say "We are not black like those other Africans."

Afrikaaners are African. So an Afrikaaner moves to the U.S. and he's an African American, RIGHT?

4/18/2018 09:14:41 pm

V: I can't believe I forgot about chariots! Oh well. Excellent points all around.

Silent Books: Difficult to say what you're really talking about or how it bears on the discussion. I have no idea what term to use to refer to an Afrikaner who emigrates to the USA. As to Ethiopians and what they consider themselves: No matter what they are from Africa and therefore are fair game for a discussion about Africans and their achievements. Minimal Googling suggests a complicated situation that relates to the identity politics of Africa -- nothing as simple as you're implying.

Myself, V, and others have pretty much refuted the empirical claims you sought to make, and have cited specific evidence to do it.

So, yeah.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Riley V link

4/18/2018 05:24:35 am

Jason,
I love your blog, and learn something every time I visit.

Clearly I need to start reading your posts and skipping the comments. What I had viewed as a near academic blog now has a comment section that reads like Am Ren or Stormfront.

I really don’t care what color of the first people to reach the Western Hemisphere were. Or the color of the people ruling ancient Egypt, Timbuktu, or the Indus Valley.

I’m more interested in what they did and why.

4/18/2018 02:57:45 pm

Riley, what "color" people are matters when you're discussing why the theories being touted despite obvious falsehoods to them are false. IE, when you're discussing racist concepts, you perforce must discuss race. And surely you've noticed that Jason's blog is about explaining why these various false concepts ARE false. That means that the racism inherent in many of them IS important to the discussion.

Tom mellett

4/18/2018 09:56:26 am

As a memory refresh, here is the blog site Punk Rock and UFOs writing about the Ventre statement, dated May 30, 2017

https://www.punkrockandufos.com/blog/2017/5/29/mufon-fails-to-disavow-awful-racist-comments-from-state-director

They quote Ventre’s FB post in full and I think it is important to copy the rant here so his statement about blacks can be put in the context of his playing the white victim card.

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

John Ventre
Facebook
May 2017

‘Netﬂix announced a new anti-white show (Dear White
People) that promotes white genocide. I cancelled my
account. do the same.‘

I don't find this funny. The last thing blacks want is for
white males to organize and that's not too far away!
White males are the absolute target of the gov‘t with
illegal afﬁrmative action which violates the 14th
amendment and the Supreme Court refuses to hear the
case because they know it does. The media also
attacks us constantly with interracial couples in every
show and commercial and portraying white males as
incompetent.

Everything this world is was created by Europeans and
Americans. F***ing blacks didn't even have a calendar , a
wheel or a numbering system until the Brits showed
up.

Google serotonin by race, to by race and violent crime
by race and then compare that to the f***ing message
the media portrays. Time to turn off the TV‘s.

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

4/18/2018 10:04:45 am

Allowed a critical OCR typo to get through. Ventre’s last paragraph should read:

Google serotonin by race, IQ by race and violent crime
by race . . . .

Americanegross Ventre

4/18/2018 12:33:21 pm

I only have basic cable but I'm trying and failing to think of an interracial couple on TV. There was one on the Jeffersons and arguably Sanjay and Alex on Modern Family but beyond that I don't know. I'm sure others will fill out the list.

4/18/2018 06:16:03 pm

Interracial relationships/romances are not unknown among the companions on Doctor Who (most recently Bill and Heather).

Jim

4/18/2018 06:30:13 pm

Captain Kirk was a rake, black, white, green, he just didn't care.

Shane Sullivan

4/18/2018 07:08:42 pm

There's Captain Holt and Kevin on Brooklyn Nine-Nine--although I don't know if that's the media attacking us with an interracial couple, or the unrelated work of the Sinister Gay Cabal™.

Americanecro

4/18/2018 08:31:23 pm

"JIM
4/18/2018 06:30:13 pm
Captain Kirk was a rake, black, white, green, he just didn't care."
-----------
But always under supercool circumstances! But yeah, that's a great pull. As a 5 year old I never felt "attacked". In fact I was always down to clown.

I feel fortunate to grow up in an era when TV was exploring the interracial stuff.

4/18/2018 08:41:24 pm

"Interracial relationships/romances are not unknown among the companions on Doctor Who (most recently Bill and Heather)."

And it's probably fake but I PERCEIVE a race blindness in the British shows that make it over here to the U.S. Haven't been to England in years so I have no idea. What I perceive I like!

Not pickin' my usual fight with 3rple D, just figure he's prolly in England and can comment on this.

Joe Scales

4/18/2018 08:45:50 pm

Jon and Kate Plus Eight?

4/28/2018 12:07:52 pm

Also, Rick and Michonne from Walking Dead.

ralph hunter

4/19/2018 11:02:44 pm

They haven't "flirted with racism" they ARE racists. Ventre was never removed from MUFON, and never even stepped back. He continued to run the PA conferences, is the source for their email announcements, and lists his MUFON position on Linked In. If I know this, and I am not a MUFON member, just on their mailing list, it strains credulity to think the president of MUFON did not. UFO buffs are racists, conspiracy believing geeks and this is a well known fact. So it should come as no surprise they not only sheltered Ventre but applauded his comments. The "UFO community" is a lowly evolved tribe, which has a nerve commenting on the history status or achievements of any other group, race or organization in all of history, itself being one of the basest examples of devolution available.

Huh? What?

4/19/2018 11:20:57 pm

Super not interesting.
I hope your search for Ralph bears fruit.

4/20/2018 03:22:23 pm

"UFO buffs are racists, conspiracy believing geeks and this is a well known fact."
You know the biggest racists? Betty and Barney Hill.

Jim Davis

4/20/2018 01:09:09 pm

Okay, Ventre is a racist; that's reprehensible, we all get that. But given that, what organizations should he be allowed to join, who should he be allowed to work for, where should he be allowed to live? I mean, if I see him flipping Bic Macs at McDonald's am I supposed to boycott McDonald's? If he greets me when I walk into Walmart am I supposed to demand to see the manager and demand to know why Walmart is hiring racists? If he volunteers to fill sandbags during a flood should he be turned down because he's a racist?

How far should the marginalization of such people go? Is making him sleep on park benches and dumpster dive for food far enough? If he can't associate with a totally disreputable outfit like MUFON who can he associate with?

4/20/2018 02:56:56 pm

"How far should the marginalization of such people go? "

I'm thinking something akin to Leper Island.
You don't want someone like him having a position of authority do you ?
You wouldn't want to vote in a racist President would you ?

4/20/2018 03:48:44 pm

Yeah, we don't want any more Washingtons, Jeffersons, Jacksons, Lincolns, Wilsons, Roosevelts or Johnsons or Obamas.

4/20/2018 02:58:20 pm

I hear the Nation of Islam is hiring.

4/21/2018 09:39:40 am

"what organizations should he be allowed to join, who should he be allowed to work for, where should he be allowed to live? "

Not really sure what this is about, honestly. No one is talking about what organizations he should be "allowed" to join but, rather, an organization's failure to expel or otherwise discipline him, and what it says about that organization.

MUFON states the following about itself (citation: http://www.mufon.com/about.html):

"Our Goals...
I. Investigate UFO sightings and collect the data in the MUFON Database for use by researchers worldwide.
II. Promote research on UFOs to discover the true nature of the phenomenon, with an eye towards scientific breakthroughs, and improving life on our planet.
III. Educate the public on the UFO phenomenon and its potential impact on society."

They have a section on their site dedicated to the "scientific method."
http://www.mufon.com/scientific-method.html

Which says, in part: 'Field investigators apply the scientific method of investigation in the following manner: we establish a hypothesis, then set out to prove or disprove the hypothesis. Our hypothesis is “this event can be explained rationally”, and we set out to PROVE it.'

It makes sense therefore to question their state commitment to the principles or research, science, and evidence when they fail to expel or otherwise discipline a prominent member who adheres to views that are the opposite of research-based, science-based, and evidence-based. Whether or not MUFON really means it is a separate question: This is what they say they're about and this what we can judge them by.

Even if MUFON advertised itself in a more explicitly kooky kinda way, we could still say "kooky perhaps but do you want this particular kind of kooky on your letterhead?"

If MUFON is ok with stuff like this then I'm not ok with MUFON.

If they're not ok with it, if they want to live up to themselves, they need to do something about it.

" if I see him flipping Bic Macs at McDonald's am I supposed to boycott McDonald's? If he greets me when I walk into Walmart am I supposed to demand to see the manager and demand to know why Walmart is hiring racists? If he volunteers to fill sandbags during a flood should he be turned down because he's a racist?"

Huh? It's up to you what you do, dude. We're talking about his membership in MUFON, and how it reflects on MUFON. We're not talking about anything close to the other made-up examples you cite.

-An Anonymous Nerd

John Ventre link

4/27/2018 06:39:09 pm

Another desperate pathetic attempt at sensationalism. MUFON is a first class organization. I offered to help Cogswell who embarrassed himself on the Twisted Philly radio show when he didn't know anything about Kecksburg. He behaved like a 10 year old.

John Ventre

4/27/2018 06:43:12 pm

Maybe you should remove the MUFON sightings link from your home page you hypocrite!

4/29/2018 12:18:23 pm

Story makes NEWSWEEK! But the accompanying video shows the Nimitz video fighter jet encounter of To the Stars claim and fame, which implicates TTSA in the MUFON racism scandal. Nice guilt by association.

http://www.newsweek.com/ufo-sightings-mufon-2018-john-ventre-alien-extraterrestrial-905060

WHAT IF ALIENS MET RACISTS? MUFON RESIGNATIONS HIGHLIGHT INTERNAL DIVISIONS IN UFO SIGHTINGS ORGANIZATION

All Father

5/5/2018 06:08:07 pm

He talks of "blacks", but it sounds like he's talking about 5 or 6 different human species, not just Caucasians and Africans, and he even throws in Americans which he seems to confuse with... someone else, perhaps, as Americans had both a better wheel, a better number system and a better calendrical system? And then he compares the "blacks" to the British, not exactly a progressive cream-of-the-crop fallen empire to compare anyone to, so his rant seems very confused as if to be narcotics driven. If he focused his rant he may have had a point and was trying to say something meaningful and constructive, but it just came out ridiculous and a mishmash of nonsensical gibberish.

Kristen

1/21/2019 10:05:29 pm

That is ridiculous. I am one who would be called an "ancient astronaut theorist". I believe in many things others do not. I am absolutely NOT a racist of any sort. How could someone make such a broad statement about a group of people. It sounds to me that he has a real problem with people like me!

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