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ABBREVIATED UFO PING LIST PING.

More to follow after this post.

Some interesting links on abductions . . . maybe some on demographics of same:

Alien demonology: the Christian roots of the malevolent extraterrestrial in UFO religions and abduction spiritualities

Christopher PartridgeE-mail The Corresponding Author

Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University College Chester, Parkgate Road, Chester, CH1 4BJ, UK

Available online 17 August 2004.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WWN-4D3WGR4-1&_user=10&_coverDate=07%2F31%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=aab8e9068e9a2e11ff3dc53ff58611c1

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Supernatural Support Groups: Who are the UFO Abductees and Ritual Abuse Survivors?

Christopher D. Bader
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology &; Anthropology

Supernatural Support Groups: Who are the UFO Abductees and Ritual Abuse Survivors?

ABSTRACT

In the 1980s two different groups emerged that exhibited a strikingly similar combination of the quasi-religious and psychotherapeutic - UFO abductees and ritual abuse survivors. Both movements focused upon healing members from victimization they experienced at the hands of beings of often supernatural power. Further, both movements attempt to use techniques developed in psychotherapeutic circles, such as hypnosis, art therapy, and role-playing, to recover “repressed” memories at the hands of these abusers. This paper presents the results of surveys of fifty-five UFO abductees and fifty-one ritual abuse survivors. Both UFO abductees and ritual abuse survivors are compared to the general population in terms of their gender breakdown, age, race, marital status, education, and occupation. It is determined that the demographics of these two fledgling movements closely mirror those of other NRMs.

Supernatural Support Groups: Who are the UFO Abductees and Ritual Abuse Survivors?

In the 1980s two different movements emerged that exhibited a strikingly similar combination of the quasi-religious and psychotherapeutic - UFO abductees and ritual abuse survivors (Paley 1997). Both movements focused upon healing members from victimization they experienced at the hands of beings of often supernatural power. Further, both movements use techniques developed in psychotherapeutic circles, such as hypnosis, art therapy, and role-playing, to recover “repressed” memories at the hands of these abusers.

In the mid-1980s an increasing number of support groups appeared that were centered around so-called UFO abductions. UFO abductee support groups attempt to help people recover repressed memories of victimization at the hands of extraterrestrials. lso in the mid-1980s an increasing number of therapists and support groups focusing on “ritual abuse” began seeking clients/members. Ritual abuse support groups also attempt to recover repressed memories of past abuses. In this case, the abuse is believed to take place at the hands of secretive, underground, usually Satanic, cults. While much has been written about both of these movements, little of this research has focused on the members themselves.

Many sociological studies of flying saucer, or UFO, religious groups have appeared over the years. In fact, Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory developed based upon observations of a small flying saucer cult (Festinger, Riecken, and Schachter, 1956). Although there are many case studies of UFO cults with origins in the beliefs of the contactee movement of the 1950s and 1960s (see for example: Balch 1995; Tumminia 1998, Tumminia and Kirkpatrick 1995; Wallis 1974) much less has been written about groups centered around UFO abductions (see for example: Bader 1999; Whitmore 1995)

Sociological research on the ritual abuse phenomenon has focused mainly upon critiques of the movement, such as surveys of ritual abuse therapists and/or critiques of their methods (Bottoms and Davis 1997; Mulhern 1991), discussions of the investigative techniques used by law enforcement (Crouch and Damphousse 1991; Hicks 1991a, 1991b) and the construction of a “moral panic” surrounding Satanism (Jenkins and Maier-Katkin 1991; Nathan 1991; Victor 1991, 1994). An extensive body of research on ritual abuse has been accumulated outside of sociology, mainly centered upon how to recognize ritual abuse and the symptoms reported by ritual abuse survivors (Driscoll and Wright 1991; Jonker and Jonker-Bakker 1997; Young et. al 1991; Young 1992) , the relationship between ritual abuse and multiple personality disorder (Brown 1986; Fraser 1990; Friesen 1991; Hector 1991; Ryder 1992) and discussions of types of abuses reported by survivors (Hudson 1990; Ryder 1992; Young 1992).

What has been lacking in research on both movements is sociological information on the “clients” themselves. Although sociological theory would provide hypotheses on the demographic characteristics of UFO abductees and ritual abuse survivors, we in fact, know relatively little about members of either movement. In fact, the study of so-called new age movements suffers from a dearth of basic demographic data (Lewis 1992; Mears and Ellison 2000).

http://www.nidsci.org/articles/abductees.php

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From pdf file at:

http://www.nidsci.org/pdf/nids_dayaftersurvey.pdf

TWO NIDS “Day After” Surveys on REsponse of the Public to Extraterrestrials: Comparison of a Nationwide Roper Poll with an Online Survey that Asked Identical Questions

In 1999 NIDS contracted the Roper organization to conduct a nationwide survey of opinion that focused on the response of the public to extraterrestrials. The Roper organization polled 1971 demographically balanced people and the results of that poll were published in 1999. As a comparative exercise, NIDS subsequently asked the identical questions via an online questionnaire. 2046 people who were demographically UNCONTROLLED submitted answers in the allotted time. There is widespread agreement that Internet surveys, especially conducted on specialty web sites, are wildly inaccurate in sampling public opinion. The purpose of this exercise was to evaluate the extent of the difference in attitudes to extra terrestrials between the public at large and the visitors to the NIDS website. The actual wording of the survey questions can be found in the pie-chart presentation. The complete statistics and some analysis of the 1999 Roper survey can be found at:

http://www.nidsci.org/news/roperdaysafter.html

Some predictable differences and some surprises emerged from this comparison:

* In response to question 1: “ETs landed and you could choose who should make first contact?” a huge majority (86%) of the online responders chose either scientists (42%) or a private organization that has planned for such a contingency (44%). In contrast, only 49% of the public at large chose the scientists (29%) or a private organization (20%). Fully 20% of the public at large preferred the military to make first contact, while 4% of online responders preferred the military.

* In response to the question regarding “What are UFOs?” a surprisingly high percentage of online responders answered “I don’t know” (41%), higher than the public at large (32%). Equally surprisingly, exactly 25% of both the public at large and the online responders answered that UFOs are alien spaceships. Given the assumption that the people who visit the NIDS web site might have a greater interest/knowledge of UFOs than the general public, it surprised us that such a high percentage of the web site visitors answered that they did not know what UFOs are. This may be attributed to open-mindedness. Further, since the words “UFO” and “alien” are almost interchangeable in most media treatments of this topic, it surprised us that such a low percentage (25%) of people in BOTH surveys thought UFOs were alien spaceships.

* In response to the question: “If I believed that an advanced extraterrestrial life form had been discovered, how would it change my life style?” 16% of Roper nationwide respondents answered “Who cares”, while predictably, 2% of NIDS web site online people answered “Who cares.”

* Question 4 asked how much the respondents trusted the US government to disseminate information about advanced extraterrestrial life if they discovered it. Both surveys indicated a large majority of respondents who did not trust the government. A combined 71% respondents to the Roper survey said that the United States government would classify the information, move to suppress civilian sources from obtaining knowledge, or both. A combined 74% of the NIDS website respondents said the same thing. There was a significant difference in the DEGREE of suspicion between the Roper respondents and the online visitors: only 23% of the Roper respondents said the government would classify AND suppress, while 47% of the NIDS web site respondents said the government would do both.

* A large majority (75%) of the NIDS online responders were “fully prepared to handle” undeniable evidence of the existence of advanced extraterrestrial life, while only 32% of the general public were that confident.

* 25% of the public at large thought that others would “totally freak out and panic” if undeniable evidence of extra terrestrial life were confirmed. Only 8% of the NIDS web site responders thought this. NIDS web site responders displayed either greater trust, greater confidence or greater complacency in their answers to these two questions than did the general public.

More such links and info to follow after this post. I won’t ping more than JoeProBono, however.