Recent Facebook discussion between Andy Colvin, Ted Roe, and many others regarding Tom DeLonge, Peter Levenda, and so much more inspired me to blog. A comment that non-UFO experinceres and witnesses are often somehow assumed to be UFO 'experts.' If they've never seen or experienced UFO related events, how 'expert' can they be? Excellent point.
Am I an 'expert?' Life long experiences regarding UFOs, and much more in the Fortean/anomalous/paranormal realm. Much more. My own experience has led me down the path of UFO study for decades. Am I an 'expert?' Only as to my own experiences. My own truth. The academics of UFOs; the history, details of specific cases, meh. I know more than people outside of UFO Land, true. I have my own experiences. All the UFO researchers as well as skeptics can argue with me about what I've been through, but they weren't there. I was.
On the other hand, many people studying Mothman, Sasquatch, Chupacabra, etc. have not seen these creatures for themselves. But they could be considered 'experts' because of their research. Collecting stories, witness accounts, histories. I am no expert in those areas, but I have given a lot of study to Sasquatch, though I've never seen one. Not once. And yet I believe it exists. Why do I believe this? Because of my own experiences concerning the realm of the strange. Because of my own study in this area. Because of the numerous witnesses I've met with. Because of some odd experiences I've had connected with Bigfoot but not a sighting. Because, ... why not?
So is there a belief factor here in giving credit to someone who is assumed to be an 'expert' even if they haven't seen a UFO, etc. themselves?
My point is that there are no parameters for what makes someone an expert in this field. And there shouldn't be. As soon as we start up with the UFO Police, we've only added another wheel-within-the-wheel of research.
One can be an expert in a specific area: the history of WWII UFOs, or any single aspect of this multi-tentacled phenomena. But that still doesn't make one a expert in the field. It's too vast a realm.
I don't think it matters, much if a researcher has had experiences, but it does matter that we anoint some as 'experts,' and reject others because of our own ideas about things.
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