February 28, 2005 Whitley Strieber’s rant on the Peter Jennings Reports, UFOs Seeing is Believing.
\nFebruary 27, 2005<\/p>\n
—The Scum Rises: Peter Jennings on UFOs<\/a> I’ve seen a couple of harshly worded bits coming out of the Strieber web page, few venomous as his commentary on the ABC, Peter Jennings Reports, UFOs, Seeing is Believing. Whitley Strieber, author and abductee seemed very disturbed about the tone and the subject of the report<\/p>\n The much heralded ABC special on UFOs has come and gone. Predictably, it was more of the same, a large number of lies sprinkled with a few truths.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Lies? A large number of lies? Specifically what lies are we talking about? Certainly the Jennings UFO segment of Peter Jennings Reports was attempting to be objective, to tell both sides of the story. Insomuch as reporting is supposed to about relating both sides it’s not unusual for any news program to air \u201clies”? just to be fair. Allowing the audience to make up their minds is what it’s all about. Anything else would be sheer propaganda.<\/p>\n It’s pretty clear to the Odd Emperor that Mr. Strieber is not really interested in weighing the pros and the cons. Some of his statements are telling indeed.<\/p>\n \u201cJennings was somewhat open to the notion that some UFOs might be actual unknowns, and he actually told the truth, for once, about Project Bluebook: it was indeed a publicity stunt.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Well, no. Blue Book was a public relations office, not a publicity stunt as Mr. Strieber so quaintly states. Not really studying UFOs at all it was (according to some) meant to channel some of the public interest in UFOs and make it appear that the Air Force doing something about them. Why they chose to do something like this is a fascinating (and more or less unanswered) question of the period. The Jennings piece did a much better than average job explaining some of this.<\/p>\n On Roswell Streiber calls Peter Jennings a \u201cprostitute” for characterizing this incident as a \u201choax.” Somehow the Odd Emperor cannot recall anything approaching this kind of wording in the Peter Jennings report. They did strongly suggest that the Air force covered up a crashed surveillance device with an initial press story stating a flying disk had been discovered, then yanked it when public interest became focused opposite of their apparent intent. It would seem the Air Force spent decades backpedaling and covering up this embarrassing genie they unwittingly uncorked. Jennings report covered this aspect and also gave considerable time to the people who insist it was an alien crash site. While not perfect it seemed to fairly cover many aspects of Roswell without becoming too judgmental.<\/p>\n According to Mr. Strieber, since *he* met some people who, in all sincerity say that the debris were otherworldly it must have been a case of aliens crashing their spacecraft and any attempt to explain it differently is enemy propaganda. Even when the facts don’t really conclude much of anything? All we have from Roswell is a big fat bunch of anecdotal data, just like most UFO reports. How can anyone make a conclusion from that? Only one who’s already made up their minds on the subject. Since Mr. Strieber already knows that aliens crashed at Roswell he seems to think that the rest of us should just shut up and believe. In the real world though, just believing is not enough. To have a compelling belief, one must have some compelling evidence. In the case of Roswell, all we have is a mass of stories, we don’t even have *one* first hand witness.<\/p>\n Strieber goes on to say<\/p>\n \u201cThe ones who debunk it are professional liars or ignorant fools, pure and simple.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This goes under the \u201ctakes one to know one” heading. Seems to me that Mr. Strieber made a bit of money being a professional liar. That is what a fiction author is, a paid liar. There is nothing wrong with this. But anyone who debunks is either a fool or a liar? If ever a statement is poised to bite an author on the ass. Mr Strieber’s entire epistle is an attempt to debunk too, what does that make you sir? A liar? a fool? Mr. Strieber; take your pick.<\/p>\n I wonder what Mr. Strieber’s beef is about all of this. Is it jealousy? He did not appear on the Jennings’s report although they did flash photos of his book covers. He seems bitter and angry that some people have called him a cultist, and labeled his friend Budd Hopkins with a similar moniker. if I am simply sitting back and making a fortune off my books, then where is that fortune? This is assuming all cultist make a fortune and the simple fact is, just like writers, most cultists fail to gain a following or a fortune.<\/p>\n The bottom line seems to be that since ABC news did not consult with Strieber personally on the issue of UFOs they are to be demonized and lambasted. \u201cSince they did not choose to tell only one side of the UFO abduction story, that of the abductee they, (according to Strieber) have made an unforgivable sin not only to journalism but to humanity as well. \u201c<\/p>\n There is a single word description to what Mr. Strieber seems to want from ABC. It’s a word he used many times in his rant. The word is propaganda. Yes; he wants propaganda from ABC but only propaganda emanating from himself and the small cadre of people who “know the truth.” This is presumably so that the rest of us ignorant idiots will somehow become enlightened and awaken from our silly ideas of proof or compelling evidence.<\/p>\n I sympathize with the abductee community to some extent. Assuming the phenomena is real, that aliens are here and interacting with humanity. Is it not incumbent on us to stop feeding at the trough that the aliens have set before us. Since they have purposely hidden their agenda and actively prevent people from obtaining proof in the form of physical evidence, should not people like Mr. Strieber support a news program like Seeing is Believing which seemed to be a real attempt to tell both sides, to actually report and not deliver propaganda. If the aliens exist, it seems clear to me that *this* is in fact what they are doing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" February 28, 2005 Whitley Strieber’s rant on the Peter Jennings Reports, UFOs Seeing is Believing. February 27, 2005 —The Scum Rises: Peter Jennings on UFOs Friday February 25th, 2005 I’ve seen a couple of harshly worded bits coming out of … Continue reading
\nFriday February 25th, 2005<\/p>\n