[One of the most important areas of study concerning possible human contact with other advanced intelligence centers on evidence of extremely ancient civilizations on the earth, and speculations on how and why they appeared. A recent (US) NBC television program, "The Mysterious Origins of Man," presented some of this evidence and argued that it should be taken seriously. The program made no mention of UFOs or aliens, but left the door wide open for speculation that "outside" influences were responsible for some of the earliest and most impressive developments in human culture. Since the show aired, the scientific reaction has been harshly negative, prompting a strong response from the show's producers.
The vehement backlash against this program arises from the very same mindset that refuses to consider mountains of evidence for the possibility of genuine UFO phenomena and human-alien encounters. ISCNI*Flash does not wish to imply that the producers of this NBC program are in any way involved in UFO advocacy, but we feel that our struggle to bring legitimacy to "inconvenient" and potentially devastating new discoveries is the same. ISCNI*Flash thanks producers Bill Cote, Carol Cote and John Cheshire for permission to reproduce this text, dated March 4, 1996.]
On February 25, 1996 NBC aired "The Mysterious Origins of Man." In their search for answers about man's origins, scientists gather evidence based on what they observe. But sometimes evidence turns up that completely contradicts their accepted theories. Here is some of the evidence reviewed in this program.
-- Documented cases of human bones and artifacts demonstrate that man could be millions of years older than the theory of evolution accepts.
-- Astronomical alignments found in the ancient city of Tiahuanaco, in Bolivia, suggests that technological man could be thousands of years older than history tells us.
-- Geological dating methods suggest that modern man was in the New World 250,000 years ago.
-- Accurate details in ancient maps suggest the continent of Antarctica was known and mapped before the time of Alexander the Great.
-- Human footprints found side-by-side with dinosaur tracks, suggest that man lived at the time of the dinosaurs.
Much of this evidence has already been judged false by the scientific community, but many of these judgements may have been based on personal and professional biases, rather than on the evidence itself.
In this show we attempted to re-examine potentially valuable evidence that has been unjustly disqualified. Evidently, we struck a nerve.
Many viewers praised the production "for raising the question in public, even if the scientific community does not believe it..." (R.M., ...alaska.edu) But the scientific community itself had a completely different reaction.
"Most of the ideas presented...were so ludicrous as to not even warrant a rebuttal by any honest investigator". (L.W., ...mt.wilson.observatory)
"I think you should apologize publicly for this show. It was appalling.... Frankly, you are either morons or liars". (D.L., ...colorado.edu)
"...the non-scientific public watching this drivel may be inclined to actually believe it and to vote for politicians who also believe it." (J.K., New Mexico State University)
"It's all a bunch of hooey, and my recommendation is to stay away." (B.D., Yale University)
"I recommend people write NBC and protest the presentation of this show as a documentary. ...Thanks largely to the efforts of people like yourself, the American public is generally not capable of evaluating the "arguments" and "evidence" you present. (A.D., University of Texas at Austin)
"You should be banned from the airwaves". (J. J., ALCI)
And so on....
PRODUCERS' RESPONSE TO THE CRITICS
As we expected, the response to our show has been heated. We've been accused of pseudo-science and setting back the course of education in America. But our goal was simply to present the public with evidence which suggests an alternative view to some of our most accepted theories. After all, the theory of evolution is still a theory, not a fact, and therefore alternative views should be welcomed, not banned.
Probably the most common criticism is that the show gave no opposing view from the academic community. The producers' position is that the accepted view has been so frequently presented to the public that only a brief summary by the host was necessary. It was more valuable to focus on the documented anomalous evidence.
For example, if man evolved from the apes around 5 million years ago, then how does the scientific community explain tools of modern man found in rock strata dating to 55 million years old? (J.D Whitney, California State Geologist, Table Mt. Mine) Those artifacts currently reside in a museum in Berkeley, California. When we applied for permission to film them, we were denied by the museum.
Another criticism is that the information in our show is presented by experts who do not hold degrees in their fields of expertise and therefore their opinions are not endorsed by the scientific community. But Dr. Virginia Steen McIntyre holds a PhD in Geology and was a fellow with the USGS when she did her field work in Mexico. Her conclusions about the age of the spearpoints she dated (250,000 years BP) were backed by two other USGS members, yet because of their implications, the findings were ignored and her career was ruined.
In the case of the Paluxy River man tracks [which run side by side with dinosaur tracks], to our knowledge, no accredited archaeologist has ever proven the prints to be fake. [However], many scientists have referred us to an article written by Kuban and Hastings, who seem to be the experts on this site. They categorically deny that there is any validity to the prints and that the case has been solved.
It is interesting to note that the scientific community refers to this report as if it is definitive proof, when in fact neither gentleman is an accredited archaeologist, anthropologist or paleontologist. If this is to be a fair discussion, let's all play by the same rules.
Many of our critics are using very strong language, calling us morons, liars, and subversive creationists. These are emotional responses, not logical arguments. To set the record straight, we are not creationists or affiliated with any group whatsoever. We are being attacked on a personal level, because we are questioning issues that have been deemed too fundamental to be questioned.
We are fully aware that the information presented is highly controversial. This was re-iterated by Charlton Heston in the show, "We've seen a broad range of evidence, some of it highly speculative. But there are enough well documented cases to call for a closer look at the conventional explanation of man's origins. "
We never take the stance that we know the answers or in any way suggest that we will provide them. We are merely offering an alternative hypothesis. In this way, we feel that the American public is fully capable of making up its own mind.
To follow the controversy on our World Wide Web site: http://www.bcvideo.com/bcvideo
[Copyright 1996: Bill Cote, Carol Cote and John Cheshire. May reprint with permission. Direct any inquiries to <bcvideo@interport.net>.]
Original file name: .CNI - Critics.Myst Origins.Man
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