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CHAPTER Ufology: an ambivalent world always have the interests of truth and happiness of mankind at heart. They deserve our utmost respect. As in scientific practice, most rela- tions that exist between ufologists reflect their own preconceptions. Exactly where one would expect lively and curious minds, a dust-cov- ered indifference to fundamental questions has crept in. Several thought currents live side by side and many people seem convinced that the truth is inaccessible, whereas, in parallel, science bases its progress on experiences, even if they are imperfect. Countless debates take place between people of very different cul- tural and intellectual backgrounds. Renewed public interest has caused the revival of the same questions and the same answers in a deleterious climate of misinformation transmitted by the media, the worst failings of which resurface where you least expect them. Every- one chooses their favorite hypothesis and crosses swords with those advocating opposing theories. The extraterrestrial, psychological, soci- ological, psychopathological, parapsychological, religious, natural or military hypotheses are some of the most widely accepted. The con- spiracy dimension often surfaces in the first and the last, while the real secrets are being kept from us by the misinformation orchestrated by governmental agencies. Few have accepted the idea that all hypotheses may be valid at the same time. In long-winded casuistry, such an event will be part of one or the other, and sometimes of several at the same time. Some ufologists have become debunkers, copiers or virtual librari- ans because they feel powerless. Like everywhere else, ufology is 29 I PAY TRIBUTE TO THE REAL UFOLOGISTS who