Coping with Abduction Coverage

By Billy Cox
De Void
8-19-09

     If, in times past, De Void had watched the sort of soft chewed cud that ABC “Primetime” served up last night, there might’ve been a small blurb in the obits about a forensics mystery in a south Sarasota apartment, with investigators wondering about a missing head, and how the splattered fragments wound up on the paddlewheel fan above. Fortunately, with an assist from Lao Tzu and controlled breathing techniques, De Void now knows how to avert needless tragedy.

Even as reporter Juju Chang’s package on alien abductions twice plucked “UFO enthusiasts” from the cliche bin, then swerved into a formulaic nonsequitur riff about SETI and radiotelescopes, De Void held the Buddha pose, imagining inhaled oxygen molecules as particles of white cleansing light. Consequently, Chang’s entire feature imploded into a harmless flash of deja vu, no better or worse than all those other canned network takes on abductions over the last 20 years.

No, the hook — in this case, three seconds of video footage of an alleged space alien peeping into the window of controversial alleged abductee Stan Romanek — didn’t merit the hype. And yes, the subsequent pros and cons of the “sleep paralysis” debate was right out of the playbook.

But in the context of De Void’s new-found coping mechanisms, Chang’s conclusion to the hour-long piece — “Psychologists say we will always be intrigued with the possibility of the unknown” — wasn’t lame or insulting at all. It was wise. Because it’s true. We will always be intrigued with the possibility of the unknown.

But if, at some point, any network actually contemplates going off-script with UFOs and wonders about a package that won’t require a massive budget, De Void offers a few suggestions:

Get an interview with John Podesta and ask what he’s done to advance federal transparency on UFOs since Obama came to office. Put a bee in Hillary Clinton’s bonnet by asking about her interest in the Rockefeller Initiative. Ask the military why it can’t produce radar records about the UFO that surged towards President Bush’s Crawford, Tex., ranch in January 2008.

Seriously — it won’t cost a lot of money. And you won’t have any competition.

More . . .

See Also:

Man Claims Aliens Send Him Messages

THE FAITH-BASED SCIENCE OF SUSAN CLANCY

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Could So Many UFO Witnesses Be Right?

"Primetime" Examines the Evidence for UFOs and Aliens

By ABC News
9-12-08

     For decades, millions of people around the world have reported seeing UFOs hovering in their skies. It is a mystery that science has been unable to solve, and the phenomenon remains largely unexamined. Much of the reporting on this subject holds those who claim to have seen UFOs up to ridicule.

"UFOs: Seeing is Believing" takes a serious look at the phenomenon in today's world. The 90-minute special includes interviews with scientists searching for proof of life beyond earth and UFO witnesses who claim aliens are already here. Building on the original Peter Jennings report in 2005, David Muir reports on new sightings, as well as NASA's current search for life on Mars.

"UFOs: Seeing is Believing," to be broadcast in HDTV, airs on a special edition of "Primetime" Tuesday, September 16 from 9:30 - 11:00 p.m. ET.

The program follows the entire scope of the UFO experience, from the first famous sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day. Muir reports on a recent UFO sighting in Stephenville, Texas, where multiple witnesses reported seeing enormous lights moving in strange configurations on the evening of January 8, 2008. He interviews some of the most credible witnesses of the sighting and a radar expert who evaluated their claims and found something surprising in the data. Sophisticated animations approved by the eyewitnesses allow viewers to get a feel for the experience first hand.

The special draws on interviews with police officers, pilots, military personnel, scientists and ordinary citizens who give extraordinary accounts of encounters with the unexplained. While professional skeptics about UFOs speak out, including scientists who are leading the search for life forms elsewhere in the universe. The special also examines the most recent advances in the search for life on other planets. This past summer, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, a robot that tests and analyzes soil on the planet, found conclusive evidence of water ice on Mars. You'll hear from scientists on the project about the real possibility of finding life on Earth's next-door neighbor.

ABC News explores the facts behind the mystery of the incident at Roswell, New Mexico, where, in 1947, the story goes, the U.S. Government collected the wreckage from a crashed flying saucer. And you'll hear from the people who claim they've been abducted by aliens.

Among the UFO cases presented:

• Minot Air Force Base, October 1968 -- Sixteen airmen on the ground and the crew of an airborne B-52 witness a massive unidentified object hovering near the base.
  


• Phoenix, Ariz., March 1997 -- Thousands witness what many believe was a huge triangular craft moving slowly over the city.
  


• St. Clair County, Ill., January 2000 -- Police officers in five adjoining towns all independently report witnessing a giant craft with multiple bright lights moving silently across the sky at a very low altitude. Today, if you report a UFO to the U.S. government, you will be informed that the Air Force conducted a 22-year investigation which ended in 1969 and concluded that UFOs are not a threat to national security and are of no scientific interest.

But leading theoretical physicist Michio Kaku told ABC, "You simply cannot dismiss the possibility that some of these UFO sightings are actually sightings from some object created by an advanced civilization because … on the off chance that there is something there, that could literally change the course of human history."

More . . .

See Also:

Press Release: UFOs Seeing is Believing (Again)

Jennings UFO Show—Coup de Théâtre

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Press Release: UFOs Seeing is Believing (Again)

“UFOs: SEEING IS BELIEVING,”

A 90-MINUTE “PRIMETIME” SPECIAL, AIRS TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 ON ABC

ABC News Media Relations
9-11-08

     For decades, millions of people around the world have claimed they’ve seen UFOs hovering in their skies. It is a mystery that science has been unable to solve and the phenomenon remains largely unexamined. Much of the reporting on this subject holds those who claim to have seen UFOs up to ridicule.

“UFOs: Seeing is Believing” takes a serious look at the phenomenon in today’s world. The 90-minute special includes interviews with scientists searching for proof of life beyond earth and UFO witnesses who claim aliens are already here. Building on the original Peter Jennings report in 2005, David Muir reports on new sightings, as well as NASA’s current search for life on Mars. “UFOs: Seeing is Believing,” to be broadcast in HDTV, airs on a special edition of “Primetime” on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 (9:30-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

The program follows the entire scope of the UFO experience, from the first famous sighting by Kenneth Arnold in 1947 to the present day. Muir reports on a recent UFO sighting in Stephenville, TX, where multiple witnesses reported seeing enormous lights moving in strange configurations on the evening of January 8, 2008. He interviews some of the most credible witnesses of the sighting and a radar expert who evaluated their claims and found something surprising in the data. Sophisticated animations approved by the eyewitnesses allow viewers to get a feel for the experience first hand.

The special draws on interviews with police officers, pilots, military personnel, scientists and ordinary citizens who give extraordinary accounts of encounters with the unexplained. While professional skeptics about UFOs speak out, including scientists who are leading the search for life forms elsewhere in the universe.

The special also examines the most recent advances in the search for life on other planets. This past summer, NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, which is a robot that tests soil on the planet, found conclusive evidence of water ice on Mars. You’ll hear from scientists on the project about the real possibility of finding life on Earth’s next-door neighbor.

Among the many inexplicable UFO occurrences, ABC News explores the facts behind the mystery of the incident at Roswell, New Mexico, where, in 1947, the story goes, the U.S. Government collected the wreckage from a crashed flying saucer. And you’ll hear from the people who claim they’ve been abducted by aliens. Among the UFO cases presented:

• Minot Air Force Base, October 1968 -- Sixteen airmen on the ground and the crew of an airborne B-52 witness a massive unidentified object hovering near the base.


• Phoenix, Arizona, March 1997 -- Thousands witness what many believe was a huge triangular craft moving slowly over the city.


• St. Clair County, Illinois, January 2000 – Police officers in five adjoining towns all independently report witnessing a giant craft with multiple bright lights moving silently across the sky at a very low altitude.

Today, if you report a UFO to the U.S. government, you will be informed that the Air Force conducted a 22-year investigation, which ended in 1969, and concluded that UFOs are not a threat to national security, and are of no scientific interest. But as one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists says, “You simply cannot dismiss the possibility that some of these UFO sightings are actually sightings from some object created by an advanced civilization because…on the off chance that there is something there, that could literally change the course of human history.

Rudy Bednar is the executive producer of this special edition of Primetime, “UFOs: Seeing is Believing.”

See Also:

Jennings UFO Show—Coup de Théâtre

Friedman vs Jennings Reality vs Propaganda


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