WS is very significant to the field of the Abduction Phenomenon as his fictional skill set allowed him to narrate an incredible story in a very descriptive and visceral manner.
That does appear to be true, however, I would add that his contributions are firmly situated within the social reality or social register of the field. He has codified a popular narrative by delineating the conventions and distilling the features that one still
expects from the genre. This was created and still exists within the popular imagination of society, as a narrative genre: the alien abduction phenomenon as you put it.
Let's face it, Communion is what cracked open the Abduction Phenomenon and is a watershed moment in ufology
Well, I would say that
Communion merely systematized the phenomena and distilled it into a coherent narrative for the mass market. A pop cultural phenomena (the AP and himself, as it were..) does not a watershed make for a discipline. That would be like saying that
Indiana Jones performed great strides for the field of archeology.
Whether what took place between the covers is real or not is not its true impact.
I am very comfortable with this statement. If enough people believe in something, then it's real. It's social reality has been tested and it remains.
That story was paradigm shifting in society, and along with Travis Walton, they bookend what we know about abductions in the modern era; they are the standard.
I would say that the paradigm had already shifted and WS was simply in the right place at the right time. His work resonated so heavily exactly because the conventions were so familiar, it simply reflected the zeitgeist. The
standard, in this case
, and not unlike the rather monolithic conventions of MUFON and Roswell serve to distract, disinform and really just entertain. They are the moribund cliches of a field that is so often disingenuously characterized as "in need of resuscitation". These last few weeks have been quite telling in this regard, I must say. I have been astonished by how many smart and paradigm shifting people have been consumed with this Roswell slides business. Many of these people are the very same who, week after week, declare ufology to be dead or in need of restructuring on their radio show or forum posts and then spend all of their time talking about Roswell or someone like WS! Why?!? I would be ashamed to post a show like Bishop and Hanks, Paracast and pretty much everyone else has on this utter nonsense. Why would one associate oneself with this?
He needs to be seen as a contactee at this point and belongs to that cohort.
He needs to be seen as an author of fiction who helped pioneer and popularize the genre of alien abduction. He has changed the social reality of this phenomena and if this does not change once again then this field is destined for the $1 bin at the used bookstore. A new narrative must emerge.
