Searching for UFOs

Jimmy Reynolds

TLC,

You've done it again. I've been watching tonight's program, Searching for UFO's. This is an amazingly credulous, one sided, and misleading presentation even by your notoriously lax standards. In responding to one of my earlier complaints, your representative told me that your programs represent only one of many points of view and that viewers are encouraged to look at all sources of facts before reaching conclusions. How can your viewers do this when the most popular media sources for scientific information systematically exclude legitimate science in favor of commercialized fantasy? I'm fed up with seeing UFO skeptics and doubters presented as fools, dupes, and worse. I am a UFO skeptic, the facts are on our side if anyone bothers to look.

TLC represents itself as a resource for teachers. Yet your selection of programming gives the public the impression that UFO conspiracy theorists are at least as credible as their critics and the vast majority of the world's legitimate, credentialed scientists. The validity of the UFO subculture's claims is repeatedly and falsely represented as a legitimate scientific issue. This programming makes damning accusations against so-called mainstream science, that is, the kind practiced by scientists who test their hypotheses with repeatable experiments. How are lay-people to understand the difference in methodology if nobody bothers to make them aware of it?

Tonight's program featured interviews with Martin Caidin, the noted science-fiction author, screenwriter and aviation historian who died in 1997. I met him a few times at airshows and other aviation events. He was a good writer and a great pilot and aviation enthusiast. It was unfortunate that he chose to get involved with ufo promoters late in his life.

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