Copyright 2021, InterAmerica, Inc.
A friend of mine watches those TV programs that highlight
persons who gather goods of all kinds – trash, memorabilia, junk, detritus of
every kind, most of it without value or worthiness. And they call
themselves “collectors” (not hoarders).
The practice is a psychological malady, and almost epidemic
within societies.
And in the UFO community we find “hoarders” or
“collectors” too.
Pals Isaac Koi and Jan Aldrich collect, for
posterity, publications, newsletters, magazines, mimeo-sheets, et cetera that
were or are geared to highlight UFO ephemera. And some persons, like Philip
Mantle, collect anything that references UFOs: toys, clothing, ashtrays,
paintings, and other discursive junk.
None of this has anything to do with UFO research or
investigation. (Persons who gather or look for the materials that these guys
provide or collect do so, as “collectors” themselves, using none of it to
further insights to the UFO phenomenon. They, too, are hoarders.)
Ufology is a gaggle of persons afflicted by the UFO enigma,
most postulating on the phenomenon, some attacking the UFO fellowship’s persons
who are approaching the mystery in ways that offend their sensibilities, but
most doing nothing but gathering moments when they read or see something about
UFOs, doing nothing meaningful but immersed in the idea that they are
investigating UFOs when, in fact, they are merely “collecting” their own kind
of ephemera, all of it as useless as those psychologically challenged hoarders
my friend likes to watch on TV.
RR
