After December 2017, social media exploded with a whole
series of emerging UFO content creators. One of the best examples of this
"New UFOlogy" bonanza is a programme with a title that is quite
original because it is so literal: That
UFO Podcast. I listen to all the episodes of this programme and usually
enjoy them, but there has been an exception. The other day, the host Andrew
McGrillen posted an interview with the UFO witness Alex Dietrich. Alex used to
be a US Navy fighter pilot and was in the same squadron as Cmdr David Fravor. She
was involved with the famous UAP encounters near the USS Nimitz in 2004; but she has been less vocal than Fravor, keeping a
low profile since her 60 Minutes
interview. I was looking forward to this episode because of its rare and
significant guest, but sadly almost from the outset Andy started making
statements that were obvious feminist virtue-signalling; for example saying his
wife took an interest in his show for a change because it had a "female
voice". The conversation that followed included numerous other tiresome clangers,
similar to the ones you've probably heard before; I know I have. The worst was
when Alex remarked that the news panels and YouTube videos about the hearing
were all overwhelmingly with white males and that we were "sucking the air
out of the room." I sighed because I wasn't in the mood for a debate, but
I knew I could not remain silent about this; if only so that other viewers who
feel the same way knew they were not alone. Therefore I posted the following
comment under the video:
"It's great to hear Alex on the show, thanks. However, I must comment on the idea about 'diversity'. If there is a 'scarcity' of women in UFOlogy then this does not mean necessarily that there is anything wrong. I often hear that we need 'balance'. However, any attempt to force a balance in that regard would be incredibly destructive. 'More women' can so easily be translated into 'fewer men', especially white men. How many does not count as 'scarcity'? Without proper definitions it's impossible to know and this is why I consider this situation rather Orwellian. Men considerably outnumber women in UFOlogy and I suspect they always will. It is not us 'sucking the air out of the room', which is actually a very insulting thing to say; it may be a simple product of human biodiversity, one of the perfectly harmless natural inequalities in life. Some inequalities are harmless because no individual is held back by them. It appears UFO's are more likely to appeal to the male mind than the female, when generalizing across the whole population, for totally benign and organic reasons. It's part of what makes men and women essentially different. There are many exceptions of course and I assert that there is absolutely nothing precluding a woman who wants to from getting involved in UFOlogy if she chooses. Women have made enormous contributions to UFOlogy. It is not only in UFOlogy that this myth can be found. In fact in every institution where men outnumber women, from university science departments to computer game fan clubs, the pejorative phrase: 'dominated by men' will be heard and the cry goes out: 'Something is wrong here! Something needs to be fixed!' They invariably assume that there is some kind of cackling hand-rubbing cabal of male chauvinist pigs actively maintaining their male exclusivity, but evidence for this is rarely found. It is simply an assumption. What's more, this is certainly not the case in UFO research; I'd be the first to object is it was. Nothing needs to be fixed because nothing is wrong." Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4JVMXYpLLg.
If those words sound familiar to regular readers then that
is because the comment is adapted from ones I've made before to Alyson Dunlop,
Erica Lukes and Paola Leopizzi Harris. The comment cannot currently be seen on
the video. Now, I'm tempted to be defensive and assume Andy deleted it, but
it's too soon to say that. Comments sometimes do inexplicably vanish from
YouTube and my own HPANWO TV viewers have experienced that. Also, my comment
was polite and respectful, however critical and robust it might be. It may well
be in the spam folder because of its length. I'm glad I did this. I will do so
again every time anybody tried to spread such toxic and perilous ideas, even
unknowingly, into my community.
See here for background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/political-correctness-portal.html.
"It's great to hear Alex on the show, thanks. However, I must comment on the idea about 'diversity'. If there is a 'scarcity' of women in UFOlogy then this does not mean necessarily that there is anything wrong. I often hear that we need 'balance'. However, any attempt to force a balance in that regard would be incredibly destructive. 'More women' can so easily be translated into 'fewer men', especially white men. How many does not count as 'scarcity'? Without proper definitions it's impossible to know and this is why I consider this situation rather Orwellian. Men considerably outnumber women in UFOlogy and I suspect they always will. It is not us 'sucking the air out of the room', which is actually a very insulting thing to say; it may be a simple product of human biodiversity, one of the perfectly harmless natural inequalities in life. Some inequalities are harmless because no individual is held back by them. It appears UFO's are more likely to appeal to the male mind than the female, when generalizing across the whole population, for totally benign and organic reasons. It's part of what makes men and women essentially different. There are many exceptions of course and I assert that there is absolutely nothing precluding a woman who wants to from getting involved in UFOlogy if she chooses. Women have made enormous contributions to UFOlogy. It is not only in UFOlogy that this myth can be found. In fact in every institution where men outnumber women, from university science departments to computer game fan clubs, the pejorative phrase: 'dominated by men' will be heard and the cry goes out: 'Something is wrong here! Something needs to be fixed!' They invariably assume that there is some kind of cackling hand-rubbing cabal of male chauvinist pigs actively maintaining their male exclusivity, but evidence for this is rarely found. It is simply an assumption. What's more, this is certainly not the case in UFO research; I'd be the first to object is it was. Nothing needs to be fixed because nothing is wrong." Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4JVMXYpLLg.
See here for background: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/political-correctness-portal.html.
I was quite interested in your post and found myself nodding along until this.
ReplyDelete"It appears UFO's are more likely to appeal to the male mind than the female, when generalizing across the whole population, for totally benign and organic reasons. It's part of what makes men and women essentially different".
It could be you are tied to the belief of women don't tend to study sciences, maths, IT or engineering therefore less likely to be interested in the study of UFO's.
However the vast majority of UFO researchers get into it through a witness event. This isn't something that happens to more males than females statistically. It is more likely males research it simply as they have an educated background in one of those subjects so more likely to question what they see and dig deeper. However the 'best' UFO researchers I have listened to on the subject have always been female as they tend to be more 'on the fence' and don't let themselves be owned by the subject to much so they disregard evidence if they have a scientific qualification or background to allow them to be more analytical in their approach. There are however exceptions.
Linda Moulten Howe is a great example of a female 'researcher' with no scientific background but a background in English and journalism which she uses to great effect 'selling' claims which when proven fake or unfounded doesn't retract the story and this results in the entire UFO field becoming less credible as a result.
Anon, you have completely misunderstood me. Women indeed do tend to study science and tech less than men (I don't know about IT), but I don't believe women are actively excluded from those subjects, despite all the protests to the contrary.
ReplyDeleteUFO encounters do happen to all demographics equally, but this does not mean all demographics are inspired to enter the research field equally.
I think you're being very unfair to LMH and I've written an entire article defending her from the recent attacks you refer to, Q.V.