This form of irrational behavior should be no surprise to the readers of the Skeptical Inquirer . I submit that the mass media deserve a large share of the blame for this UFO mythology. Book publishers and TV and movie producers have fed the public a steady diet of science fiction fantasy packaged and sold as real. Because, I reply, the public, with few exceptions, does not have careful, critical knowledge of paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. So far, the Council for Media Integrity's warnings have gone largely unheeded.
Many people blame the Internet.
I think the media conglomerates, who sell their ideas as products, are to blame, not the Internet. We are surely not calling for censorship, only that some measure of responsibility be exercised by editors and producers. Interestingly, the Heaven's Gaters were avid watchers of TV paranormal programs. We have attempted to provide, wherever we could, scientific evaluations of the claims. We have never denied that it is possible, indeed probable, that other forms of life, even intelligent life, exist in the universe.