Ufology’s “mission” today should be…….?

UFO buffs/mavens have got to come to the realization that its phenomenon is no longer relevant or important, in the great scheme of things.

It once seemed to be, and obsessively, for some, it is still important.

But, really, it is a “mystery” that no longer matters.

Ufology, as a discipline – which it is not and has never been – should become archaeological; that is, its purpose should be to explain all the UFO stories, reports, and tales in the UFO lore, e.g. Kenneth Arnold’s sighting, what happened near Rowell, those Trent photos, the Flatwood’s monster sighting, Betty and Barney’s episode, Socorro, the Solway “spaceman” picture, the Travis Walton “abduction,” the O’Hare Airport event, or any number of other UFO accounts that still resonate with devotees.

Gathering current UFO sightings, which arguably, don’t have the cachet of the classic flying saucer events, is not exactly a waste of time but it is an effort without value.

The mystery about those old(er) UFO stories is just that, a mystery that itches and needs to be scratched, for many UFO old-timers.

It’s akin to Heinrich Schliemann’s search for Troy, or Stanley’s trek to find Livingston, or the ongoing attempt to discover what happened to Amelia Earhart.

What UFOs are today is meaningless in the context of world as we know it: barbaric militants trying to assert an unwanted world order, diseases and illnesses that can abruptly run amok, financial disasters looming ever so near for countries and individuals, insane crimes without rhyme or reason, et cetera.

Ufology would do well to renew itself by establishing a methodology by which it can take on the old UFO enigmas and, perhaps, tackle any new UFO emergence with real scientific and forensic tools, eschewing the inept and slovenly activities of UFO enthusiasts of the past – need I name them?

UFOs mean nothing to the vast majority of humans on Earth today.

(A cursory query of students and faculty at U of M in Ann Arbor by members of the RRRGroup indicated a sum-zero interest in UFOs; not one person evinced an interest in the topic, something I found out when I asked media persons online at our Facebook page a few months back about UFOs – no one, not one person, expressed a goddamn about UFOs.)

But still, there are a few “outlanders” like me, CDA, and a few others who read here, who are still enthralled by UFOs, mostly the classic cases but also UFOs in and of themselves.

Again, it’s not something we’re proud to announce but, nostalgically, we still want to know exactly what happened or what was seen exactly in those flying disk or UFO reports.

Ufology could serve us by redefining its “research” if only to ease that UFO niggling that still causes some of us to find the topic interesting, even though we recognize that the whole UFO panoply is worthless as a human commodity.

Yes, it’s obsessional and silly, but there it is…

RR