It's not going to be very exciting, but the first step in cleaning things up is to purge all the anecdotes, speculation and fantasy. Then, there can be a focus solely on the data. Dr. Hynek and Jacques Vallée were struggling with this problem long ago. They realized that UFO buffs, despite their enthusiasm, do little to solving any of the mystery. Worse, their appetite for infotainment fuels the bogus claims of the frauds crackpots and whackos.
When those in the medical profession try to "out" the crackpots, the crackpots come back with a retort essentially saying that they are offering "The Secrets the Medical Establishment Doesn't Want You to Know" and continue about how the profession is trying to silence them. As always, they sell the idea that They and only They are willing to offer you The Entire Truth.... As soon as you subscribe to their newsletter, pay for the details and buy whatever product(s) they're hocking. The more these crackpots are denounced, the more ammo they have showing how the establishment is oppressing them. There is a large segment of the society that will always accept this logic, in part because they feel their personal needs are not being addressed by mainstream medical professionals and in part because some people will believe any conspiracy theory.
As this occurs in an industry as regulated as our medical system, what luck will we have in purging the crackpots from the paranormal fields, which by definition is a study of events that have no scientific explanation?
par·a·nor·mal [par-uh-nawr-muhl]
adjective
of or pertaining to the claimed occurrence of an event or perception without scientific explanation, as psychokinesis, extrasensory perception, or other purportedly supernatural phenomena.
Paranormal | Define Paranormal at Dictionary.com
Any purging of the "crackpots" (which may well be the purging of those who don't offer popular theories or simply lack a media personality) will doubtless be met with a similar outcome. There will be the "Mainstream UFO Clique" and there will be the "Uncorrupted Outsiders", who doubtless haven't been infiltrated by Men in Black types spreading their disinformation. There will also be a large segment of the population who will consistently follow the "Uncorrupted Outsiders", no matter how wacky these outsiders may seem, because they feel their own personal experiences have been dismissed or they feel the whole topic of UFOs has been popularized to the point of being ridiculous. Add into this equation those who are simply addicted to conspiracy theories and feel the best evidence is a lack of evidence. "Crackpots" are here to stay, folks.
At the same time, we should remember that a large percentage of all paranormal discussions and investigations will include anecdotal evidence because we lack the scientific tools to adequately measure and reference this. Do we automatically dismiss eyewitness testimony if a phenomenon cannot be measured or recorded by other methods? If we lack hard science to determine an explanation for an unusual occurrence, doesn't this leave us with speculation? Much of what we now consider hard science began as speculation before we had the tools and ability to study it scientifically (think Germ Theory, among others).
I keep saying that I believe much of what is currently considered paranormal may well be scientifically proven once we have the tools and knowledge to do so. Until then, we're left with anecdotal evidence, speculation and an understanding that
something we don't quite understand keeps being reported by people all over the world, throughout history. Keep this in mind when trying to dismiss the "crackpots" whose investigations include researching eyewitness testimony and gathering other anecdotal evidence when other evidence may simply be unavailable. I suspect our dear hosts are considered "crackpots" in many circles, simply for researching and reporting on topics not (yet) embraced by mainstream science.
