'don't have to disprove every case' - a posting transplanted from my Y360 blog

This afternoon, I saw a rebroadcast of an old panel talk show entitled "The Other Side". In the show, they had a panel of several noted abductees, as well as hypnotherapist Yvonne Smith. This show was recorded was back in 1994, and one of the experiencers was Karla Turner, who has since passed away. I thought that the show gave a good sense of the contemporary abduction scenario, even though it was filmed 15 years ago. I find that most aspects of the abduction narrative haven't changed all that much in the years since this show was filmed.

The show also had its obligatory skeptic, Michael Schermer - editor of Skeptic magazine. Each of the experiencers related accounts of their events - each a powerful narrative of a lifetime of close encounters. Then it was Michael Shermer's turn.

Shermer claimed that the close encounter experience is essentially a dream phenomenon - either awareness during sleep paralysis or halucination. He even cited an event of his own, in which he was sleep deprived - on a cross-country marathon bicycle race. While he was bicycling, he says he saw a large object approach him and take him from his bicycle. His next memory was about 90 minutes later, again on his bicycle. He claims that this was entirely a halucination due to sleep deprivation.
There's lots of things I could say about Michael Shermer's event but I will simply ask the rhetorical question, "is he sure it was just a halucination?" How does he know it wasn't an alien abduction? Isn't it really just his own faith in the nonexistence of alien abduction that leads him to say that it was purely sleep deprivation? I wonder... I have known some hardcore skeptics who turned out to be experiencers. The power of denial is strong indeed.

In the show, one experiencer on the panel recounted an event in which some very telling physical evidence was left behind. Furthermore, he remembered the event without the aid of hypnosis. In response, Shermer insisted that he didn't have to disprove every case; he was only speaking in generalities. He said he was "not a debunker" of every case - hmmm, interesting comment from someone like Shermer, who makes his living debunking the paranormal.

And so I ask, isn't debunking each and every case exactly what Shermer has to do? If just one case can be shown to be an actual case of alien abduction, then by definition the phenomenon is real. Still, Michael Shermer is "not a debunker" and so by definition, he can speak in generalities. As a (non-)debunker, he "doesn't have to disprove every case."

So what is his claim and what is his proof that abduction absolutely doesn't exist? And just exactly what happened to him on his bicycle during that moment after too long without sleep?

The Journey Continues...

Welcome to my transplanted blog on www.theCosmicBridge.Blogspot.com.
I'm picking up here from Yahoo 360, due to the incredible slowness of Y360.

Stay tuned as the posts continue...