Disingenuous Infiltration

I wrote this in October, 2007 and UFO Digest very kindly published it. Disingenuous Infiltration discusses the unethical actions of some "skeptics" who set up, spy, or otherwise go undercover in some way, ostensibly to "expose" UFO researchers.Disingenuous InfiltrationThere are the pranksters and jokers of the world, who play tricks on others for the fun of it. They like to goof around, maybe get some publicity and attention, in the name of a good time. Usually no harm done. There are many reasons why someone would perpetuate a paranormal or UFO hoax: attentions, laughs, the "thrill," to make money, keep a tourist attraction going, dissuade others from entering a property, etc.There's another level of "hoaxing" that goes on, and that's the person who fools around with UFO or paranormal witnesses, or the researchers who are sincerely trying to study such things. Frequently these types of "hoaxers" have a sense of entitlement based on their personal anti-woo crusade.Crop circle hoaxers fit into this group. They trespass on private property in order to create their circles. I've always been surprised by the lack of responsibility on the skeptic camp side when it comes to this fact. There's plenty of outrage and scoffing going on about the so-called "believers," but little if any about the fact there are people tromping around fields without permission just to create their circles. (Not all who fake crop circles are "anti" crop circle, in fact, they've had some interesting experiences with genuine crop circles and UFOs while making their fake ones.) Some "fake" crop circle makers do so in order to understand the mystery, and they don't fit in with those who do it under cover without permission. And do we even have to mention Doug and Dave from years back?There's another type of "hoaxing" that goes on: those that pretend to be a witness, experiencer or abductee, or in sympathy with the groups beliefs, who misrepresent themselves to researchers or investigators.Filmmaker Abdullah Hashem is one such person. Hashem infiltrated the UFO group the Raelians in order to "expose" them. I'm not a fan of the Raelians for a lot of reasons, including their politics involving Israel. But I'm not "against" them either. Leave them be is my philosophy. But Hashem's justification for going into the Raelians organization under false pretenses is as dangerous as any "cult." Hashem is offended by their idea/belief of god, God, G-d, etc.:I'm not a religious nut, but according to my beliefs, when people wear shirts that say there is no God, I have to do something," ~ Hashem told the Mooresville-Decatur Times.Hashem believes that his beliefs about God are right, and others who don't believe the same way should be "exposed." This is extremely dangerous thinking, and yet, no one that I know of in the UFO community has commented on this. The few that have see no problem with Hashem's "infiltration" because for one thing, the Raelians are an embarrassment to many within the UFO community. Well, they are a bit, but so what? That's always been the case with the UFO crowd, and it always will be. Trickster having some fun. Can't have one without the other.Another example is the writer Donna Bassett, who pretended she was an abductee and became a "patient" of the late Dr. John Mack. Presumably she did this to expose him as a charlatan. By doing so Bassett intentionally sabotaged his research. And this is the point of people like this who do these things: to put a big glitch in the work of UFO and paranormal researchers.It is astounding, though not surprising, that at a CSICOP (now CSI) conference in 1994 no one objected to Bassett's deception. In fact, in the CSI article about the conference, Bassett's presence at the presentation was referred to as bringing "balance" to the proceedings. At the conference, Mack accused the (now deceased) debunker Philip Klass of having a hand in this, which caused Klass to take the stage:At this time, Klass had heard enough and angrily approached the stage. Taking the microphone, he chastised Mack for making what he labeled "false innuendos. Before you made accusations... why didn't you check with me? I could have told you that the first time I talked to Donna and her husband about you and your work was when they called me on January 9."What does this mean, that Klass was indeed, a party to this?Bassett posed as a UFO abductee. She came to Mack with a lie, for she wasn't a witness, not an abductee.Her actions were not only irresponsible but immoral. For her to do such a thing means she doesn't think the work of a Pulitzer Prize winning academic and scientist is valuable, since the subject he took on was taboo by most of mainstream science. Therefore, her actions were justifiable. Or at least that's how the thinking goes.But it goes further than that. When things like this happen in the arena of honest research -- and it doesn't matter if it's within academia and science, or the lay UFO or paranormal researcher -- it puts a large wall up in the journey of understanding. Everyone has to stop and deal with the problems caused by these people, who believe that their self appointed roles as undercover provocateurs is answering a higher calling, and therefore justified.Hashem had God on his side, Bassett had scienticism.It's a dangerous thing when one thinks that their religion, their personal indulgences (as in creating crop circles) or their attitudes towards research of things they don't approve of, gives them the right to lie and misrepresent themselves.Each time this happens, time and energy are taken up by discussing and defending one's work. Meanwhile, the research, the real work that's been going on takes a rest while everyone's attention is spent on the latest hoax.No matter how self righteous these latter types of "hoaxers" are, no matter how disingenuous, they do more harm than good.It's a given that there are scam artists around. Those of us involved in UFO and esoteric studies accept that. And even if some of us are fooled by one, or two, or even a few, so what? We learn from that. Those who should know better, the ones from academia, science and journalism who "infiltrate" are worse than the prankster out to get some laughs.Notes:'UFO cult' infiltratedExploring Mind, Memory, and the Psychology of Belief

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