Impact of Alternative Media

It is no secret to most of us that supermarket tabloids have a tendency to stretch the truth… well in most cases they blatantly lie. While this is a bit of a problem to the paranormal community there is also a few benefits to these types of publications. What I try to do in my articles is not necessarily convince you one way or the other but open you up to an experience and this article is not going to be any different. So let’s explore how alternative media has affected our field.

The impact is a very noticeable one. For the most part it is a negative impact that has hindered paranormal research for some time. Due to outlandish stories such as bigfoot had my baby and ghost of dog drives owners car to Seattle, a great deal of people have decided that all paranormal activity is false and those claiming otherwise are wacko. People who see these publications start to assume that we all see the world of paranormal research through the same eyes the tabloid journalists do, and the saddest part is a great deal of people in the field do. The ideas within the pages of these supermarket publications have triggered a multitude of reactions and we are about to take a look at a few of these reactions but first let’s explore the tabloids themselves.

While each one of these tabloids cover a wide array of paranormal news, few people realize these are also the publishers of the tabloids that deal with celebrity and soap opera news. Knowing that, one would assume these to be truth based publications, but in fact the truth is usually either A. Not present, or B. very well hidden. Right now I want to open you up a little to how the truth can be stretched a little to make for a good story, and how the truth can be totally turned false to make for a good, while wrong, read.

In the March 8, 2004 issue of the Weekly World News (my fav), we see an article claiming that terrorist leader Saddam Hussein is possessed by the ghost of former German madman Adolf Hitler. At first we start to think that this is just crazy but we need to look further. It has long since been assumed that both men have a great deal in common, both in appearance and in attitude. They share the same love for wars and destruction and in truth act very similar. While possessed might be a bit strong a word, it may be a case of reincarnation. This is a great example of how an assumed idea (Hitler and Hussein, are one in the same somehow) can be made into a better read by using words that have a stronger meaning. Instead of saying reincarnated, we see the word possessed.

In that same issue we see the article Raising the dead which claims scientist have the ability to clone exact replicas of stars such as Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean as well as great political figures like Kennedy, and Martin Luther King JR. This is a case of taking a truth and turning it into a lie. We know cloning is possible, science has proven that, but we also know the end result will not share the behavioral patterns of the being it was cloned from. The tabloid has stretched the truth a bit, but they go over the top by implying that the dead can be cloned. This has not been proven by science so we are introduced to a lie. This is a common practice in these tabloids, now you know that let’s look at how this information collides with the paranormal research field.

Negative feedback is the most obvious of the affects. These articles cause people to question the credibility of the entire field and make for a great deal of debate on what is real and fake. It creates a false image that all researchers are faking evidence and submitting questionable pictures and the such in hopes of being noticed. With the stories in the tabloids one might assume even a small encounter needs to be revamped so they will add false information just to make their account more interesting. This could be because the false stories in these publications have made researchers feel they must lie to get proper attention. These tabloids have caused many to assume every aspect of what we do to be fraudulent and falsified to get attention. While these negative impacts have been most harmful, you may find it interesting to hear that the positive impacts have been great as well.

Despite the negative impacts, there is a positive, although it may be hidden. While these tabloids have made what we do come under constant scrutiny they have also forced us to be better researchers. We now realize that our evidence has to be solid if we are to submit it to public scrutiny. With that in mind we now have to be more observant and assertive. We can no longer assume every picture with an orb in it is paranormal in origin. We even find ourselves sharpening our skills within the very pages of the magazines that have made us so jumpy with what we see as evidence of the paranormal. We must figure what stories are false and what are true and to what degree the truth within them is. How does this help us you may ask? Easy. If we can analyze and evaluate these articles than we will be able to better evaluate the evidence and accounts we are given when going into a case.

For now I will leave you to decide if these publications are good or bad for the field, but I do hope I have at least opened you a little more to the experience and by all means Happy Hunting!