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The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community

Jack Brewer (Goodreads Author)

4.20 · Rating details · 15 ratings · 5 reviews

"The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community" explores the ways deception, sensationalism and questionable ethics characterize the UFO genre and distort public perception of the UFO phenomenon. Activities of credulous investigators of alleged alien abduction are considered, as are the roles of intelligence agencies in the theatrics, including thought prov ...more

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Paperback, 280 pages

Published December 16th 2015 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

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Dec 30, 2015 Jim rated it really liked it

I liked this book. It's a bit of a survey of some of the chicanery around UFO/abduction research. Most of it pertains to David Jacobs and his victims. He also gets into some instances of government agencies pushing the ETH for their own purposes.

What's really good is that Brewer documented all his sources with end notes for each chapter. It makes it easy to follow up on the stories. ...more

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Jan 09, 2017 Eric Wojciechowski rated it it was amazing

After I read and reviewed Richard Dolan's “UFOs for the 21st Century”, I concluded it would be my last review of a general overview of the UFO phenomena. It was time to start drilling down. Over and over the same stories get passed around and some books promise brand new, never before evidence and revelatory proof of alien contact. They never deliver but to anyone not critically thinking during the read, they appear to. They're usually just brand new speculations and/or dubious witnesses with an ...more

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Sep 30, 2017 Steve Wehba rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal

The author doesn't come out as a complete debunker, but he is a hard, rational skeptic. He is critical of the user of hypnosis as a method, particularly the use of regression hypnotherapy and the use of hypnosis by unskilled practitioners. He is particular critical of some of the luminaries in ufology including Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs who all to often were more interested in supporting their agenda than addressing the emotional trauma of victims/experiencers. Much of the book also focuses ...more

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Dec 03, 2019 Eric Hoffman rated it liked it

Researcher Jack Brewer is not overly concerned with the UFO mystery. Instead, on his blog The UFO Trail and in this new book, The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community, Brewer's focus is on how UFOs and ufology are exploited by certain researchers, government agents and agencies, and other charlatans to manipulate, defraud, and deceive, and to further traumatize the already traumatized or mentally unstable.

Following a brief discussion of how certain personality types are susc Researcher Jack Brewer is not overly concerned with the UFO mystery. Instead, on his blog The UFO Trail and in this new book, The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community, Brewer's focus is on how UFOs and ufology are exploited by certain researchers, government agents and agencies, and other charlatans to manipulate, defraud, and deceive, and to further traumatize the already traumatized or mentally unstable.

Following a brief discussion of how certain personality types are susceptible to the manipulations of insane yet charismatic leaders (the Heaven's Gate cult, the Seekers) who use the UFO myth to propagate eschatologies meant to subjugate their followers, Brewer turns his attention to the questionable use of hypnotic regression in abduction research, recounting in painful detail Budd Hopkins's and David Jacobs's controversial methods. Rather than assist their subjects to heal from traumatizing experiences, these researchers’ methodologies, Brewer argues, are essentially a means of extracting repressed memories (the result of screens installed by aliens ostensibly to cover their tracks) -- often fabricated -- that support confirmation of their own pre-conceived biases concerning the alien abduction narrative.

Hypnotic regression is now largely dismissed as an ineffective means of memory recovery, as views concerning the intricacies of memory have evolved considerably over the past few decades; currently, most experts discount the "recording tape" view of memory acquisition and retention. As for claims by abduction researchers that the aliens are undertaking extensive breeding programs in order to produce alien/human hybrids, Brewer readily offers that advances in genetic testing would easily detect any alleged alien manipulation of the human genome.

In detailing these researchers’ unethical, and now outdated, practices, Brewer draws on Jacobs's indefensible treatment of his subject "Emma Woods", and Hopkins's ex-collaborator (and ex-wife) Carol Rainey's observations of Hopkins's abundance of credulity, coupled with his decided lack of concern for his subjects' well-being. Brewer notes the tendency among abduction researchers to respond to critics by labeling their critics "debunkers" (as Hopkins did Rainey) that, much like Trump with his "fake news" soundbyte, represents a transparent attempt to silence opposition rather than responsibly address their legitimate criticisms. Researcher Tyler Kokjohn, in a brief interview with Brewer included here, provides a sober -- and damning -- analysis of alien abduction research and its capacity for self-deception, bad science, and lack of ethics.

In the second half of the book Brewer, drawing largely on the previous researches of Nick Redfern and Mark Pilkington, addresses the storied history of government involvement with UFO phenomenon, and the various forms of chicanery perpetrated by officialdom. Government infiltration into UFO groups and among independent researchers, Brewer contends, was undertaken in order to create confusion and disarray and to protect top secret espionage and spy efforts, including advanced weaponry and equipment (essentially spy planes and satellites). Moreover, in 1947 the FBI believed that UFO sightings -- including those spotted on radar -- were hoaxed in order to cause mass hysteria. According to Brewer, two years later, the CIA got in on the action, utilizing the UFO as a method of psychological manipulation. By 1952 they were manufacturing saucers utilizing electronic counter-measures technology to create false radar blips (as in the 1952 Washington DC flap).

Special focus is here paid to James Carrion's research on the 1940s "ghost rocket" phenomenon as an example of government deception program, and the Betty and Barney Hill abduction, inexplicably regarded by Brewer as an example of manipulation by the intelligence community. More recent examples include Area 51-stationed Airman Simone Mendez's experience with a fraudulent government document that allegedly concerned NORAD tracking of UFOs, and the Leah Haley abduction case and Carpenter Affair, a strange admixture of the classic abduction narrative of missing time, repressed memories, and unexplained body markings, coupled with the familiar conspiracy narrative of intimidating and unusual visits from unidentified military personnel, as well as the subsequent exploitation of her story by researchers in the ufological establishment, namely MUFON.

Brewer in fact considers many UFO-related events to be the result of government deception (including, according to Brewer, much of the UFO mythology as we now know it, everything from Roswell to Rendlesham, from the Flatwoods Monster to the Villas Boas abduction and beyond), a continuation and expansion of Cold War-era mind control and propaganda efforts of various individuals and institutions involved in the intelligence community. Brewer's claim is bold, and indeed something of a stretch, for, apart from some definite examples of government shenanigans (e.g. the Bennewitz affair and Serpo, among others), much of the mythology government actors perpetrated in fact drew from civilian experience and literature, itself deriving in part from pulp fiction and horror and science fiction films, in what amounts to a kind of modern-day folklore. Many of these high strangeness events simply defy comprehension and cannot be accounted for by the various sciences -- including consciousness studies or indeed current physics -- let alone the result of something as prosaic as mere government manipulation.

Brewer provides adequate citations (interestingly, and perhaps tellingly, his references are entirely limited to various websites, perhaps a sign of the times but also betraying the oddly limited scope of Brewer's researches) and a passable, if limited, index. The sections detailing government-perpetrated human experimentation past and present, while illustrative of the extent to which certain publically funded agencies -- primarily the CIA -- would engage in unethical, illegal, and harmful activities, seem a little beside the point.

The Greys Have Been Framed (the title is a bit odd, given the subject matter) is nevertheless an enlightening and disturbing, if ultimately frustratingly flawed, look at the use of the UFO phenomenon by professionals in and out of government for decidedly non-altruistic purposes. For those interested in pursuing a more nuanced understanding of UFO phenomena, Brewer provides a cautionary tale, warning against the tendency of government agencies and certain individuals in the ufological community to use experiencers and researchers as means to an end. Brewer may not be interested in the UFOs themselves, yet his efforts at identifying these manipulative efforts helps to clear away much of the smoke that continues to cloud the field. - Eric Hoffman, Fortean Times ...more

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Feb 18, 2020 James M rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ufo-alien-abduction-essential-reads

I'll preface my review by stating that I have had a long time, heavy interest in this field, mostly leaning towards the ideas of Vallee, Whitley Strieber & Carl Jung. I find the philosophy behind the spiritual aspect of the phenomenon fascinating. That said, Jack Brewer's research here has flat out destroyed the credibility of most alien abduction accounts, since pretty much the entirety of the phenomena in popular cases are rooted in hypnotic regression. The book covers in detail how well known ...more

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About Jack Brewer

Jack Brewer

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Jack Brewer writes "The UFO Trail", a blog dedicated to publishing credible info on incredible topics. Brewer's research interests include alleged alien abduction, the intelligence community and related social dynamics. He is the author of the nonfiction book, "The Greys Have Been Framed: Exploitation in the UFO Community". ...more