Skeptical Inquirer is writing articles for MSNBC now...

Nothing like coming across an "article" written by Benjamin Radford, cheif editor of Skeptical Inquirer.

Again, a skeptic latching onto a bunk UFO movie I haven't seen anyone mention on here, trying to paint this entire topic with a broad stroke-of-the-brush. Man, do these instances piss me off.

www.msnbc.msn.com...

reply to post by dtrock78


Well when it comes to the Maya and this ancient aliens "theory" the guy is 100% correct, there is no evidence to support this, and continuing this myth, as well as the 2012 myth, is a slap in the face to any actual Mayan Scholar. But no one listens to the guys on the ground in the dirt exploring these sites, nope, they are lying, but the guy writing books (which aren't offered for free) and a tv show on a pay cable channel, as well as a guy promoting a movie, yes, those guys are legit.

I'm willing to speculate that there is a chance aliens might have visited earth in our past. i'm not willing to subscribe to this notion that man was so retarded and inept that ONLY aliens could have built these monuments.

It's a load of crap.

reply to post by dtrock78


Yes, that was horrible journalism.. Completely biased, a condescending attitude in it's prime. I wouldn't have expected much more from MSNBS.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


Even so, I still think about these types of people like this. See below. They like the smell of their own crap. Talking about the skeptical moron.



The reason his argument falls over flat for me is that he is not a psychic. He is assuming he knows what the movie is about and decides to debunk it BEFORE its even released. That sounds like pseudoscience to me. They need to change the name from 'Skeptical Inquirer' to 'Super Debunkers'. There is a big difference in my opinion.

And LOL at assuming the universe is devoid of life, except here.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters



Phishy,

I'm with you 100%. As an avid ufologist (with a scientific background), I cringe whenever I hear of movies such as these. Ancient Aliens drives me up a wall. The jumps and conclusions they make on these types of shows do real damage to the people that try to approach this subject with an objective stance.

reply to post by dtrock78


It is entertainment(Ancient Aliens)

Of course it will be ful of hard to believe rubbish.

It is not meant to be a dissertation. It is meant to be interesting, entertaining and above all else consumable by the general public.

It is not made specifically for the people of these forums.

Why would you crap on something that at least shows a lot of really great information along with the stupid stuff?

reply to post by dtrock78


Sorry for double quoting.

But this film is supported by the Mexican and Guatemala governments. They jhave come out and have said that they are going to be releasing codices, artefacts, and addtional information that proves the Mayan had contact with an unknown, extraterrestrial entity. Why are you "cringing" at this? Why crap on it before you have even seen the film?

I have a strong feeling that the Mexican and Guatemalan historical and archeological authorities have a stronger case(as they are strongly stating) than the stuff you have personally read over the internet. Even the pixelated photos of glowing orbs and everything....

Originally posted by ErraEpos
reply to post by dtrock78

 

It is entertainment(Ancient Aliens)

Of course it will be ful of hard to believe rubbish.

It is not meant to be a dissertation. It is meant to be interesting, entertaining and above all else consumable by the general public.

It is not made specifically for the people of these forums.

Why would you crap on something that at least shows a lot of really great information along with the stupid stuff?

same reason schills and hoaxers enter the field.. Money.
SE makes money writing counter arguments about fringe topics.
They will always be as strongly opposed as possible, to play their role.

SE jumps to conclusions, and then criticizes other for doing the same.

They have always been a joke, andf they make it easy to see they are very flawed.
It's all about money.

The comments in the article's thread are quite amusing.

There's more than one person on there who states "well, if UFO cases can't be explained rationally, they should be dismissed!"

Great thinking there, guys. We wouldve come a long way out of the Middle Ages with that stance, huh?

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
reply to post by dtrock78

 

Well when it comes to the Maya and this ancient aliens "theory" the guy is 100% correct, there is no evidence to support this, and continuing this myth, as well as the 2012 myth, is a slap in the face to any actual Mayan Scholar. But no one listens to the guys on the ground in the dirt exploring these sites, nope, they are lying, but the guy writing books (which aren't offered for free) and a tv show on a pay cable channel, as well as a guy promoting a movie, yes, those guys are legit.

I'm willing to speculate that there is a chance aliens might have visited earth in our past. i'm not willing to subscribe to this notion that man was so retarded and inept that ONLY aliens could have built these monuments.

It's a load of crap.

I happen to live in the Yucatan. I know LOTS of real Mayans here. *snip* I REFUSE to believe that these people built those pyramids. NO WAY.
THEY even told the conquistadores themselves that "giants built them in the old days" in other words, "They were here when we got here". NOT that aliens had helped them build them. These pyramids and other ruins are FAR older than the archaeologists say they are. Anything that disagrees with their "theories" is swept under the carpet.

For example, and I'm sure none of you have heard even a PEEP about this, about six months ago they found something in a cenote in Belize that would completely turn the archaeological world on its head if they didn't cover it up. In a super deep penetration cave dive over 150 feet below sea level, and MILES into the caverns, they found a skeleton of a teenage boy. But wait, there's more. That's not the weird part.

This skeleton was dated over 12 thousand years old. Think about that for a minute. And then, add the icing on the cake: he was ASIAN. For sure, they can tell from the shape of the skull. Think about that. How did he get there?

First of all, he didn't swim across the Pacific. Secondly, it's doubtful a teenager would go halfway around the world on his own. At the least his parents brought him, and more likely a large group. You know, like a ship full? So the Clovis theory is destroyed, that in ancient time people walked across the Bering strait land bridge about ten thousand years ago, during the ice age. Then they WALKED across over a thousand miles of glaciers. You know, ice. Not a blade of grass, or ANY type of food. They walked. Somehow. And this is where EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the Americas came from. Yup.

Problem is, none of these archaeologists are SAILORS like me. They consider the oceans were IMPASSABLE BARRIERS up until Columbus. I know for a fact that it is EASY AS PIE to sail across the ocean. I've done it several times. But they refuse to believe that anyone knew how to navigate or sail in the old days. Pay no attention to the fact that there were people on every inhabitable island in the South Pacific before any Europeans ever saw them, thousands of miles from the mainland. And they did not SWIM out there. These were the type of guys who would sail five hundred miles to windward just for LUNCH. You know, kind of like the Vikings.

Also ignore the fact that there are tribes in Mexico that somehow look really ASIAN. Coincidence. Or wait, they look like that because they are all descended from some Mongolian sourced Clovis people. Oh yeah. Or the Olmecs, who strangely made statues of absolutely AFRICAN people. Then somehow vanished. Here is there nonsense "explanation" for the giant African heads they have found:

The flat-faced, thick-lipped characteristics of the heads have caused some debate due to their apparent resemblance to African facial characteristics. Based on this comparison, some have insisted that the Olmecs were Africans who had emigrated to the New World.[34] However, claims of pre-Columbian contacts with Africa are rejected by the vast majority of archeologists and other Mesoamerican scholars.[35] Explanations for the facial features of the colossal heads include the possibility that the heads were carved in this manner due to the shallow space allowed on the basalt boulders. Others note that in addition to the broad noses and thick lips, the eyes of the heads have the Asian epicanthic fold, and that all these characteristics can still be found in modern Mesoamerican Indians. To support this, in the 1940s artist/art historian Miguel Covarrubias published a series of photos of Olmec artworks and of the faces of modern Mexican Indians with very similar facial characteristics

And it's true, the Mexican and Guatemalan governments ARE basically vouching for this crazy movie. That says a lot. They seem to have found some real evidence of SOMETHING.

lol, good post, Captain.

Do you have a reference for the Belize case? It sounds like an interesting story.

Having worked in the scientific field for 11 years I can tell you from firsthand experience - archaeologists, like any other scholar/professional, have egos the size of mountains and are very close-minded. Look what happens in the quantum psychics community alone when someone makes a new discovery or proposes an alternative theory, they line up to trample them.

Originally posted by ErraEpos
But this film is supported by the Mexican and Guatemala governments. They jhave come out and have said that they are going to be releasing codices, artefacts, and addtional information that proves the Mayan had contact with an unknown, extraterrestrial entity. Why are you "cringing" at this? Why crap on it before you have even seen the film?

Perhaps you are unaware that only four Mayan Codices are in existence, and they've all been translated?

Originally posted by ErraEpos
I have a strong feeling that the Mexican and Guatemalan historical and archeological authorities have a stronger case(as they are strongly stating) than the stuff you have personally read over the internet.

That may be true, but this film has, to my knowledge, not even been mentioned by either of the above two types of authorities, as was stated in the article.

It is the Mexican minister of tourism that was quoted, not anyone associated with history or archaeology.

Originally posted by dtrock78
There's more than one person on there who states "well, if UFO cases can't be explained rationally, they should be dismissed!"

Great thinking there, guys. We wouldve come a long way out of the Middle Ages with that stance, huh?

While I wouldn't agree that every unexplainable claim should be dismissed, I can certainly identify with the concept.

After all, how many claims have been shown to be false? How is it that their falsity was discovered? By trying to explain the claims rationally.

Originally posted by CaptChaos
I happen to live in the Yucatan. I know LOTS of real Mayans here. Now that I know how retarded and inept they are now, and certainly were then, I REFUSE to believe that these people built those pyramids. NO WAY.
THEY even told the conquistadores themselves that "giants built them in the old days" in other words, "They were here when we got here".

Your personal inability to believe a thing says nothing at all about the thing you personally refuse to believe.
What you say about the Maya in the Yucatan might be true, but the Mayan civilization had already collapsed by then.

I assure you, when Spain got to Peru, the Inca there told them that they had built the sites that today people try to use as "proof" of unknown ancient civilizations or alien interference.

Originally posted by CaptChaos
For example, and I'm sure none of you have heard even a PEEP about this, about six months ago they found something in a cenote in Belize that would completely turn the archaeological world on its head if they didn't cover it up. In a super deep penetration cave dive over 150 feet below sea level, and MILES into the caverns, they found a skeleton of a teenage boy. But wait, there's more. That's not the weird part.

This skeleton was dated over 12 thousand years old. Think about that for a minute. And then, add the icing on the cake: he was ASIAN. For sure, they can tell from the shape of the skull. Think about that. How did he get there?

This complies perfectly with the Bering land bridge theory of human migration into North America. So, why does it "blow your mind?"

Harte

After all, how many claims have been shown to be false? How is it that their falsity was discovered? By trying to explain the claims rationally.

Riiiight....but what about the milestone cases that haven't been explained rationally?

The Zamora Incident, Bentwaters, JAL flight over Alaska....does this mean they should be dismissed because mankind, in the year 2011, can't explain them?

Originally posted by dtrock78
After all, how many claims have been shown to be false? How is it that their falsity was discovered? By trying to explain the claims rationally.

Riiiight....but what about the milestone cases that haven't been explained rationally?

The Zamora Incident, Bentwaters, JAL flight over Alaska....does this mean they should be dismissed because mankind, in the year 2011, can't explain them?

I think my position on that was stated in my previous post.

I can imagine the author's position on these, but I haven't read it.

Do you claim that SI mainatins that these events are all false, or hoaxes? If so, could you link me to the mag making this claim?

The subject of my post involved the postings in the comment section of that article. People post any crap that pops up in their mind in "comment" areas. Just because someone says such sightings that can't be rationally explained should be dismissed, that doesn't mean either that the events can't be rationally explained nor that they should be dismissed.

Of course, some of them should be dismissed, but being more of an afficionado of the "Ancient Alien" claims, I can't speak to the ones you mention.

Harte

You should look into them, I think you'd find them very entertaining.

Most serious ufologists despise Ancient Aliens. It does more damage than good to the subject.

Frankly, I'm surprised Derrick Pitts of the Franklin Institute agreed to guest star on their latest show, he's a pretty respectable figure head in Philly, but he always was a ham for the camera.

Originally posted by dtrock78
You should look into them, I think you'd find them very entertaining.

Most serious ufologists despise Ancient Aliens. It does more damage than good to the subject.

Well, we have that much in common already, then.

Harte