tommyball said:
...attract more of a mainstream audience.
Disclosure deserves a separate thread, but "mainstream audience" is the key phrase. Besides the perception that UFOlogy is the domain of those who subscribe to far-left politics and see a sinister conspiracy behind everything (just read any ufo-related message board), the field has other problems, just as serious.
Far too many of the more prominent personalities have suspect credibility. We have those claiming the Queen of England is a reptile, ufo flashlight tours, wedding-cake ufos with a bad glue job, etc. The list is exhaustive. The problem is that sincere, credible witnesses and researchers are tainted by those personalities and "researchers" who are delusional, off their medication, are snake-oil salesmen only trying to peddle books (often science fiction) or those who are just plain lying and who want attention.
This is the key issue with ufo research and why it will never be taken seriously by the mainstream media. No prominent journalist would dare do a serious and honest, public investigation. There was hope before Peter Jennings' "mockumentary" was aired, but he made it clear that belief in ufos is foolishness and preserved his reputation as a serious journalist.
This is also why "there will never be a FULL disclosure" by the US or any other government that may have incontrovertible photos, videos or artifacts. Is anyone naive enough to believe that the stated disclosures by other governments is truly "everything" they have?
Although most people are open to the possibility of an et presence, why would the government yield to pressure from disclosure groups when they can be discounted as a bunch of nuts? Many witnesses have impeccable credentials, but are tainted by those they associate with.
The phenomena has been reported in every country on the planet, so the US government doesn't hold all the cards. And if there really were anything to disclose, who would do it? A number of congressmen, senators, Goldwater, Ford, Hoover, Carter, Clinton and even J. Edgar Hoover seemed to have been stonewalled. "IF" there was any recovered technology, that country's defense contractors would likely be involved and private companies don't have to and won't tell the public anything. Sensitive data is also so compartmentalized in government and industry that few people are in a position to know the whole picture.
So, in my opinion, forget about disclosure. The field needs an honest and sincere multidisciplinary group, funded by a credible benefactor, to look into this -- just as we have with Paul Allen and Nathan Myhrvold with SETI. It will also need to get prominent members of the media, with the tenacity of Beth Holloway, on its side so any positive conclusions are not ignored (ie., COMETA).
Although I have the greatest respect for the work of Friedman and Maccabee, the group cannot include "ufo researchers" or the group's conclusions will be suspect. There's enough evidence out there to come up with independent analysis. If some ufo incidents were presented as a court case, there are enough credible witnesses for an affirmative judgment. A credible eyewitness testimony is enough to put someone in jail for life.
In the absence of an independent group, we need another mass sighting and have it reported on the ABC evening news as a headline story. With LightZone and PhotoShop around, a photo taken by an individual just won't cut it.
A final note, but maybe most important... If there is an et presence, then why the parade over Phoenix in the dark? Why blink out even in the absence of any threats? I wouldn't recommend they land in DC or New York, but there are plenty of other places they could publicly reveal themselves. If et, actually does exist, clearly he "doesn't want disclosure". And if there is more than one et group, then they are all on the same page??? Anyone who comes on the show to talk about disclosure needs to address a lot of questions beyond focusing on government disclosure. It's far more complicated than that. Even Corso said that he wouldn't know where to go or who to ask to get answers.