In this highly-emotionally-charged field of ufology, it’s easy to forget the differences between a “contest of egos versus ideas” that so much characterizes what’s wrong with the field. Bryan Sentes here eloquently makes that distinction. He challenges a nearly-universally-accepted “given” in UFO circles—particularly the “nuts and bolts” group—in “Existence Precedes Essence”: Culture, Society, and the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis. “Advanced technology,” in the sense most define it, seems prerequisite to the star flight that UFO ETH’ers espouse. But this definition is based upon a Sample of One—and maybe less than even that, because it’s itself drawn from Western cultural change. Chance, not inevitability, may be king. Bryan touches upon a contributor to ufologists’ internecine battles while at the same time making a larger and more useful distinction between “Testimonies” and “Commentaries” in the field in Getting to a Root of the Matter: A “Radical” “Theory” of the UFO Phenomenon if Not the UFO-in-itself. He’s also separating “the UFO Phenomenon” from “the UFO-in-itself,” which incidentally explains his general perspective and approach towards the Whole Shebang. And he develops this line of thought further in Il n’y a Rien dehors du Texte: A Note on the (UFO) Phenomenon and Text. Remember that we do not study UFOs themselves directly, but through UFO reports, themselves mediated (and transmuted) by witness perception and recounting. Sobering; especially since Bryan could also likely make an argument regarding “measurable” data. (WM)
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