From: UFO UpDates - Toronto <post.nul>
Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:28:31 -0500
Archived: Tue, 03 Mar 2009 06:28:31 -0500
Subject: Evidence For Paranormal Doesn't Improve




Source: Yahoo News - USA

http://tinyurl.com/dam29a

Mon Mar 2, 2009


Why Evidence For The Paranormal Doesn't Improve
By Benjamin Radford
LiveScience.com's Bad Science Columnist

It seems that every month or two some new piece of evidence
surfaces that promises to shed light on an unexplained mystery:
A miraculous healing story here, a Borneo river monster photo
there. Yet like the proverbial carrot before the donkey, final
evidence is always in sight but never obtained.

For decades, UFO buffs have claimed that conclusive proof of
alien life is just around the corner. They believe that the
"truth will be revealed" - either by extraterrestrials finally
making themselves known (a visit to the White House lawn or
Times Square might be on the agenda), or by the world's
governments ending their conspiracy of silence and letting the
public see the real evidence and alien bodies they've had on ice
since 1947.

For decades, New Agers have heralded the coming of, well, a New
Age. Some may remember the "Harmonic Convergence" that took
place in August 1987, when thousands of people gathered at
supposedly sacred sites around the world (including Stonehenge
and the Golden Gate Bridge) to help usher in a global era of
peace, brotherly love, and unity. Unfortunately - despite two
days of song, prayer, and dancing - the world's wars, genocide,
terrorism, and catastrophe have continued unabated.

Time and again, conclusive evidence is promised and fails to
materialize; in fact it follows a predictable pattern. First, a
non-scientist or layperson claims to have discovered some
important new piece of evidence (such as the discovery of Noah's
Ark on Mt. Ararat in Turkey or the discovery of a Bigfoot
track). News media then pick up and broadcast the story,
sensationalizing it in the process. Then, as public interest
mounts, the original promoters promise that scientists will
examine the evidence and prove their claims.

You might think that the next step is that scientists examine
the evidence and then hold a press conference to announce that
the existence of UFOs, Bigfoot, psychic powers, etc. has finally
been verified.

But that doesn't happen. Instead, the claims just fade away.
Sometimes the evidence turns out to be hoaxed (such as the
"Bigfoot body" reported in Georgia, or the New Jersey UFO lights
case). More often, the evidence is not faked, it is simply
ambiguous and open to a variety of interpretations. Nothing
comes of the story because nothing can be determined from the
evidence.

A case in point is the Yeti (Bigfoot) tracks found in 2007, by
Josh Gates, host of the Sci Fi series "Destination Truth." Gates
couldn't figure out what made a few strange tracks in the
Himalaya mountains, and assumed it must have been a Yeti. The
discovery made international news (aided by the publicity arm of
the TV show), and the tracks were sent to the United States to
be examined by top scientists. And what became of the footprint,
touted as elusive hard evidence for the existence of the Yeti?

As usual, the story began with a bang and ended with a whimper.

The best preserved track that Gates found is not being studied
by scientists at the Smithsonian. It is not the subject of
scientific scrutiny, with results being published in a peer-
reviewed science journal.

No, the much-hyped, long-awaited solid evidence of the Yeti is
currently on display at Disney World.


[Thanks to Greg Boone for the lead]



Listen to 'Strange Days... Indeed' - The PodCast

At:

http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/sdi/subscribers/

Your access info works there too...

These contents above are copyright of the author and
UFO UpDates - Toronto. They may not be reproduced
without the express permission of both parties and
are intended for educational use only.