High Strangeness: Another Skeptic Whining About "Proof"

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Another Skeptic Whining About "Proof"

I think it's weird that in his wind-up to the big announcement about the Roswell Slides last November at American University, Roswell Dream Teamer Tom Carey referred back to "the Ramey memo" as "Smoking Gun #1."

The Ramey memo, for those of you not "in the know" like I am, is a piece of paper with text printed on it, visible in a 1947 photo taken of alleged Roswell saucer crash cover-up conspirator General Roger Ramey. In the photo, which shows Ramey displaying to the media the weather balloon debris that is central to the Roswell saucer crash "cover-up" story, the memo is clutched in Ramey's left hand.

What does the memo say?? Does it support the saucer-crash cover-up conspiracy narrative or debunk it? Is it -- is it a smoking gun?? The world needs to know!

Well, several years ago someone named David Rudiak decided to find out. Apparently, Rudiak used some slick software to "de-blur" what was written on the paper that was inexplicably clutched in Ramey's hand. You may be surprised at the results. Sure enough, the memo was shown to be a smoking gun because the software revealed the following words and phrases on the document:












I ask you, is that not the smokingest gun of all time? Wasn't it ballsy of General Ramey to be lying to reporters at the same moment that he was holding a clearly-visible document in his hand that proved that a saucer crash had occurred and was now being covered up? That's what we in the know call "Hiding in Plain Sight," and it's one of the government's favorite mind-fucks. The key is deniability: if any intrepid reporter had asked, "Say, General, what's that suspicious looking memo you are holding in your left hand?" he could have crunched it up and slipped it into his pocket in a flash and pulled the old "Memo? What memo?" ploy.

This is what a smoking gun looks like.
Now, here's the crux of the issue:

Back in November, Carey argued that the text said to be visible on the Ramey memo only after the picture had been photographically enhanced had to be accepted as the truth.

But after May 5, the DreamTeamers argued quite insistently for the exact opposite. After the mummy bombshell, they argued that the placard text said to be visible in the Roswell Slides only after the picture had been photographically enhanced couldn't be trusted, and was, in fact, false information. Even now, some of them still seem to think that.

How is this possible? How can these guys really think they can have it both ways?


Tom said...


(1) Identify a constituency- a person or group of people who, for reasons such as piety or patriotism, or greed, will truly care about your creation. (Hello mindless unwashed masses!)

2) Identify a particular dream which will make your hoax appeal to your constituency. (There really really were Roswell aliens!)

3)Create an appealing but "under-specified" hoax, with ambiguities. (Hello blurred slide!)

4) Have your creation discovered. (Hello b.s. backstory!)

5) Find at least one champion who will actively support your hoax. (Hello Dream Team, plus Rudiak, Bragalia, Dolan & the Mexico City "experts"!)

6) Make people care, either positively or negatively – the ambiguities encourage interest and debate. (They make money either way! Brilliant!)

The "deciphering" of the Raimey memo is every bit the hoax/fraud that the Roswell Slides are. Different play - same premise - same actors.

Lance said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

It's a manipulative technique known as "Haversack Ruse".

Anonymous said...

The sad part is not only will these guys not crawl back into the hole they came from, they keep coming back with more money making schemes to milk the Mulderites.

purrlgurrl said...

Just as religions, religious leaders, and religious followers really aren't about a Supreme Being, neither is organized Ufology really about UFOs.

It's simply another social/cultural belief system (like religion) that's all about self-perpetuation, exclusivity (we are the chosen few who know The Truth), and providing a framework for some basic social control (believe and act accordingly or be publicly branded a heretic, reviled, expelled, and shunned).

All of these systems rely heavily on their followers being incapable of engaging in independent, logical, and critical thinking (just unquestioningly toe the line if you know what's good for you).

So . . . ain't nuttin' gonna change in today's organized Ufology because real UFOs exist outside its current insular, self-protecting world view.

Erickson said...

Yes, the old smoking gun trick. Would you believe that there were three men in black posing as reporters at the Ramey press conference? How about one? How about someone dressed in black loitering suspiciously across the street?

Mark UFO'Connell said...

All we can do is continue to expose their activities to the light of day.

Terry the Censor said...

> Psychologist Peter Hancock

Now in book form: Hoax Springs Eternal: The Psychology of Cognitive Deception


> neither is organized Ufology really about UFOs.

I have to agree with PG, as usual. Of course, there are many respecters of fact in ufology, but the vast majority, especially the mystical/paranoid masses of fandom, care only about curating their favored cases and evangelising beliefs. There is little science going on in the offices of the UFO organisations, large and small.

Even so, i have been greatly encouraged by how many people in ufology have said ENOUGH! when it comes to the Roswell slides. This fiasco has been a good separator for determining the epistemic values of UFO buffs.