Dear Editor,
At a recent meeting I encouraged REALL to graduate from describing and debunking those who make fabulous claims, both natural and supernatural, to the harder to work of analyzing and explaining the reasons behind their rise in the first place. A rational explanation of the irrational, if you will. Specifically, what is needed is a deep psychoanalysis of our culture.
It was therefore with surprise and delight that I read Martin Kottmeyer’s well-documented "A Plastic Phenomenon" [The REALL News, Vol. 6, #2, February 1998, p. 1]. Kottmeyer’s well-researched, insightful overview of the recent history of UFO sightings, where and how it arose, how it has changed over the last 50 years in this culture, and hints to what it means--all this is a great step in the direction of explaining our collective neuroses, fantasies, and projections. That aliens are now believed to be invading, not just our cars, but our bedrooms — well, Freud would love it! Cultures have neurotic complusions, too. I look forward to even deeper psychoanalyses.
Sincerely,
Richard Walker, Ph.D.
Springfield, IL
