Team Dubious

Part 2

by Ellen Barry

It is the tail end of the 20th century, and although "the scientific establishment" remains the nation's most trusted institution, according to Gallup polls -- well up the list from, say, the White House -- large segments of society also see nothing unusual about enlisting the help of psychics to search for UFOs. Young people believe in the supernatural in startling numbers. Twelve percent of teenagers surveyed by Gallup say they believe in Bigfoot, 11 percent believe in the Loch Ness Monster, and 19 percent -- one in 5 -- believe in witchcraft. (See "What we believe.")

"The level of credulity in America is really very high," says George Gallup Jr., who is executive director of the Princeton Religious Research Center and a seasoned trend-watcher. "I don't think we were ever totally rational, but these trends . . . would suggest that we have a higher belief in spiritual things."

In a way, it's not surprising. In a year when the government apologized for the Tuskegee experiment, thyroid cancer was linked to nuclear testing, and a respected newspaper suggested a connection between the CIA and the crack trade, Americans have lost faith in the official version of events. Not even the traditional purveyors of knowledge know quite how to keep up. Within a three-week period this summer, Time magazine ran two cover stories about outer space: the first (June 23) covered the 50th anniversary of the alleged alien crash at Roswell, New Mexico, and the second (July 14) was a breathless report on the landing of the Mars probe. But did readers take the stories at face value? Not likely. Gallup says 31 percent of Americans surveyed said they believed that aliens had in fact landed in Roswell; and according to the Washington Post, 17 percent of Americans surveyed believe the Mars photos could have been faked.

One phenomenon is beyond question: the paranormal sells. There are, at present, at least seven shows about paranormal phenomena on prime-time television. Of these, most are presented as true, because -- as TV producers certainly know -- revealing the absence of paranormal activity is not exactly a ratings coup. Bryce Zabel, the producer of Dark Skies, was quoted in the Miami Herald saying this: "The more you believe, the more Hollywood is likely to make a movie for you."

Part 3

Ellen Barry can be reached at ebarry[a]phx.com.