Merged Is ufology a pseudoscience?

[carlitos]

ufology is the one true ufologist^TM. I called that a month ago.

 

[ufology]

Why do you want to redefine "ufology" to include fiction, entertainment, sociology, journalism, anthropology, history and other similar fields? I am puzzled by your insistence that the ballet I watched the other night is part of ufology.

I have an OED next to me which doesn't list the word, but online MW does, as does dictionary.com and freedictionary.com.

Ufology culture is a fact. Examples have been provided that include film and celebrations ( e.g. the film Close Encounters & The Roswell UFO Festival ). Just because concise dictionaries don't recognize these things doesn't mean they aren't there. Or would you deny that the Roswell UFO festival is part of ufology culture?

j.r.

 

[Agatha]

Sigh. Of course we accept that ufo(logy) culture, history, sociology and entertainment exist. However, ufology, the study of unidentified flying objects, remains firmly a pseudoscience.

ETA Congratulations, by the way, on the editing you did to my post. You have removed the strike tags and the word film, and you have removed the entire middle paragraph, the one which is asking you for your definition of the word "ufology". Kindly do not edit my posts in your quotes again, other than to strip out extraneous material not relevant to the discussion.

 

[RoboTimbo]

Ufology culture is a fact. Examples have been provided that include film and celebrations ( e.g. the film Close Encounters & The Roswell UFO Festival ). Just because concise dictionaries don't recognize these things doesn't mean they aren't there. Or would you deny that the Roswell UFO festival is part of ufology culture?

j.r.

ufology, can you name a pseudoscience?

 

[ufology]

ufology is the one true ufologist^TM. I called that a month ago.

Sorry you've got it backwards ... You're implying that all ufology is pseudoscience, but when I show it's not, then you claim only true ufology is pseudoscience.

j.r.

 

[AdMan]

Ufology culture is a fact. Examples have been provided that include film and celebrations ( e.g. the film Close Encounters & The Roswell UFO Festival ). Just because concise dictionaries don't recognize these things doesn't mean they aren't there. Or would you deny that the Roswell UFO festival is part of ufology culture?

j.r.

Using the term "ufology culture" to describe UFO enthusiasts dressing up as aliens is completely misleading and intellectually dishonest.

Where is anything remotely similar to that mentioned in the Wikipedia article on ufology, for example? Or in any other ufology site, such as MUFON, if you don't like concise dictionary definitions?

 

[Stray Cat]

He's had to expand his definition of ufology way beyond "the study of UFOs" to include anything remotely UFO-related, in order to desperately try to show that ufology is not a pseudoscience. Too bad no one else defines it that way.

Not only expand the definition of UFOlogy, but also contract the definition of pseudo science... and the square peg still fits neatly into the round hole... go figure.

 

[John Albert]

When I'm here you're dealing with me. But even if I weren't here, it doesn't change the fact that non-scientific ufology works exist, that Ufology Culture exists, that Ufology History exists and that therefore, whether I'm here or not, or Friedman or Dolan or Birnes agree or not, all ufology cannot be fairly and logically called pseudoscience ... or maybe you think this is pseudoscience:

http://www.bestourism.com/img/items/big/459/UFO-Festival-_Roswell-Festival_1910.jpg

From the Roswell UFO Festival ( example of ufology culture ).

So you contend that the picture above is not pseudoscience, and the Raelians are pseudoscience?

What's the difference? That the Raelians have actually managed to devise a way to dress like that and still get laid?

Edited by Loss Leader: 

Image in quoted text changed to URL. It is not clear the hosting site allows hotlinking.

 

[ufology]

Using the term "ufology culture" to describe UFO enthusiasts dressing up as aliens is completely misleading and intellectually dishonest.

The above is blatantly intrue ... and there is a picture to prove it ... it's caled a UFO Festival, have some fun ... I think it's an annual thing.

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7465776&postcount=1928

http://www.roswellufofestival.com/

j.r.

 

[RoboTimbo]

ufology, can you name a pseudoscience? We'd all like to see you not engage in special pleading so can you be honest?

 

[Akhenaten]

ufology, who should we think speaks for UFOlogy as a science? Stanton Friedman, Richard Dolan, Bill "Blinky" Birnes, MUFON? Or... you?

When I'm here you're dealing with me. But even if I weren't here, it doesn't change the fact that non-scientific ufology works exist, that Ufology Culture exists, that Ufology History exists and that therefore, whether I'm here or not, or Friedman or Dolan or Birnes agree or not, all ufology cannot be fairly and logically called pseudoscience ...

In other words, your answer to RoboTimbo's question is that you consider yourself to be ufology's №1 pseudospokesman and if those other guys don't agree with you then they aren't true ufologists.

... or maybe you think this is pseudoscience:

http://www.bestourism.com/img/items/big/459/UFO-Festival-_Roswell-Festival_1910.jpg

Not pseudoscience because it's not ufology.

 

[AdMan]

The above is blatantly intrue ... and there is a picture to prove it ... it's caled a UFO Festival, have some fun ... I think it's an annual thing.

http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7465776&postcount=1928

j.r.

Again, repeating absurd arguments doesn't make them any less stupid.

 

[AdMan]

Oh, look! Medicine!

 

[John Albert]

Not only expand the definition of UFOlogy, but also contract the definition of pseudo science... and the square peg still fits neatly into the round hole... go figure.

Ufology is like the TARDIS; it looks bigger from the inside then it does from the outside.

 

[Akhenaten]

The above is blatantly intrue ... and there is a picture to prove it ... it's caled a UFO Festival, have some fun ... I think it's an annual thing.

The picture doesn't say anything at all about your attempts to rebrand various passtimes to fit your pseudodefinition of 'ufology culture'

 

[ufology]

Again, repeating absurd arguments doesn't make them any less stupid.

Well the above poster should stop repeating himself then.

 

[RoboTimbo]

ufology, you've still not overcome your error in using the fallacy of special pleading. Can you name a pseudoscience?

 

[ufology]

Oh, look! Medicine!

Exactly ... the cute kid in the picture doesn't mean all medicine is made of Doogie Howsers. Similarly an instance of pseudoscience in ufology doesn't make all ufology pseudoscience.

j.r.

 

[GeeMack]

Ufology culture is a fact. Examples have been provided that include film and celebrations ( e.g. the film Close Encounters & The Roswell UFO Festival ). Just because concise dictionaries don't recognize these things doesn't mean they aren't there. Or would you deny that the Roswell UFO festival is part of ufology culture?

Okay, where in the movie or promotional material does the Close Encounters movie say anything about it being "ufology"? Where does the Roswell UFO Festival say it's doing "ufology"?

 

[Stray Cat]

... or maybe you think this is pseudoscience:

http://www.bestourism.com/img/items/big/459/UFO-Festival-_Roswell-Festival_1910.jpg

From the Roswell UFO Festival ( example of ufology culture ).

I'm betting if any of us went to the Roswell festival we would find countless examples of pseudo scientific material and pseudo scientists spouting nonsense about proof of alien flying saucers crashing.


Sorry to disappoint my friends here, it turns out I'm a UFOlogist