ABC News primetime special on UFOs

Discussion in 'Pseudoscience Archive' started by Wolfboy, Feb 10, 2005.

  1. Wolfboy Registered Senior Member

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    33
    I just saw an add in a major magazine for a 2 hr primetime special on the UFO phenomenon hosted by Peter Jennings of ABC news. It is being aired on February 24th at 8 PM Eastern in the U.S.

    Follow the link here for details.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Primetime/story?id=468496

    Is it just me or does this represent a major breakthrough in mainstream media treatment of this subject? All indications are that this will represent a fair and balanced treatment of the history of the UFO phenomenon and will hit most of the high points including Roswell, Phoenix Lights, Rendesham Forest etc.

    I realize all of this has been done (see Out of the Blue on Sci Fi) but this is a major US network at primetime. Much different in terms of exposure.

    Should we suprised that the network execs green lighted this special?
    Is there something in the wind here?

    Thoughts?

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  3. SkinWalker Archaeology / Anthropology Moderator

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    I think its a genuine reflection of the culture of belief that exists in the United States. According to a Fox News poll (2003), about 92% of Americans say they believe in god; 85% in heaven; 82% in miracles; 71% in "the devil;" 34% in ghosts; 34% in UFOs; 29% in astrology; 25% in reincarnation; 24% in witches.

    We, in the United States, believe all sorts of shit (which is perhaps what Fox News was counting on in its "Fair and Balanced" presentation of news in September of 2003 when it was covering the recent invasion of Iraq). ABC News is only capitalizing on that fact.
     
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  5. Wolfboy Registered Senior Member

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    Skinwalker,

    I don't need to argue the veracity of reports of unexplained aerial phenomena. Even if I did, you would not be convinced. Suffice it to say, there are too numerous credible reports by sober and often well trained individuals to ignore or dismiss out of hand.

    I think it is refreshing and worthwhile for a major news outlet to present and discuss what many people believe is an important and inappropriately ridiculed subject.
     
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  7. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    It may just be the need for a popular headline. ABC News, after all--and the network itself--is sort of a ratings gutter.

    However, being one who assigns a large number of planets in the Drake Equation and other considerations of extraterrestrial life, I find curious the assertion that people are more willing to believe in God, miracles, and heaven than Ufos.

    It says something about our priorities as a culture. What exactly that is, however, is its own question.
     
  8. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    When I see a Nova special about it, I'll be interested. There are still unknown phenomenon in the upper atmosphere, strange kinds of lightning, northern lights, etc. The vast distances between anything in space makes any secret alien attention highly unlikely. What's the need for such alleged secrecy? The human need to believe such things, I believe, outweighs the plausability of UFO contacts.
     
  9. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    37,882
    I think, maybe, er ....

    I think Nova has already covered it in some form, but twenty years ago. I could be mistaken, though. It could easily have been another show. I wasn't taking notes.

    Thankfully, that special, should it exist, would be devoid of the nexus between experimental aircraft and aliens.

    On that note, let me just make the irrelevant observation that I do find it strange that Bob Lazar turns up with tales of the U.S. being in possession of "saucer" and "gelatin mold" Ufos at about the same time the black triangles started showing up with greater frequency.

    I don't know what the connection between the one and the other is, but it's a curious moment in Ufology that only slightly predates the rise of certain X-Files myths that I only heard about in large doses after the relevant episode had aired, e.g. tracking systems in $20 bills, and chupacabra.

    Twenty years ago, a Nova special on Ufology would have been a reasonable idea. These days, they're wise to avoid the discussion. We have no more direct evidence than when I was a child, but strangely people have much more to talk about. I mean, who won't be excited to find life abroad?

    But if it happened in 1985, there is a part of the believing culture that could have legitimately attempted that phrase of all phrases, "We told you so!" But if it happened tomorrow, no, the Ufology culture would have no right to say, "We told you so!" because they're in a dart-throwing phase.

    And if you throw enough darts, you'll eventually get a bullseye.

    Remember that information media are part of the marketplace.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2005
  10. SkinWalker Archaeology / Anthropology Moderator

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    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/aliens/

    They're not exactly in favor of the ETI-UFO hypothesis, but they did look at it from the so-called alien abduction hypothesis.

    http://www.dbarkertv.com/PBS.htm

    Apparently they've rejected the production titled The Edge of Reality: Illinois UFO, January 5, 2000 and dismissed the topic as "not fitting" their program goals.

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    But they did have this page on their site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/worlds/
    I don't know if its an actual show they did, but it appears to be... I'll have to read the page a little more closely.
     
    Last edited: Feb 10, 2005
  11. btimsah Registered Senior Member

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    665
    Obviously I would want to watch that program! However, I hope they go more into the evidence of a top secret designation of UFO'S or "flying saucers, instead of "JUST UFO'S" - the mystery. The mystery just never get's anywhere.

    Cuzz if you can try to prove it's being covered up, then you have some sort of base to actually begin proving there's something to all of it.

    I read somewhere on those released top secret documents relating to UFO'S or reports of UFO'S as them being classified as a rare class. I mean, why do you need an FOIA class to release UFO cases, if their not classified? Thus they are, then the question becomes, WHY?
     
  12. Starman Starman Registered Senior Member

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    I really like what you are saying here.

    People who do not believe in UFO's are mental midgets, growing up into an open mind is a challenge for some.
     
  13. SkinWalker Archaeology / Anthropology Moderator

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    What of the people who "believe" in objects that fly but may not be readily identified (unidentified flying objects), but just don't see them as significantly important and certainly not intelligences of extraterrestrial origin.

    I could just as legitimately say that people who believe that UFOs are ET are "mental midgets," but I'll refrain. That sort of ad hominem remark isn't my style. But I'll certainly state that the inability of these believers to accept the possibility that they are victims of a new religious faith were belief need not be proportional to evidence are, indeed, lacking in "open" minds.

    Just because those like myself are skeptical of the existance of ETI-UFOs hardly implies that we don't consider the possibility. It simply means that the evidence has thus far not been compelling enough to warrant belief. Significance junkies, however, ignore the fact that evidence is lacking and elevate questionable evidence to "significance" merely because of volume, regardless of quality.

    So, from a mental midget, fuck you very much.
     
  14. Starman Starman Registered Senior Member

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    540

    SkinWalker

    No offence intended and I would ad that the use of profanity is beneath you.

    I thought we covered this before, A UFO is a Un-identified Flying Object. My remark had nothing to do with implying that UFO's are ETI, ETL or ETV's or the origin's of reported UFO's. If you can not Identify the object in the first place how can one be so sure about its origin.

    As for ETI, ETL and ETV's that is a whole different story.

    A UFO is simply put something that can be observed but not identified.

    I would have to say SkinWalker you may be UFOfobic and this might account for the anger in your response.

    According to your statement:

    Correct me if I miss understand you, I do believe that your are referring here to people who do believe in UFO's such as yourself, therefore my comment would not pertain to you.
     
  15. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    When you look at the figures preposed of what people believe in they themselves provide clue that their is a "Willing to accept" audience out there.

    Currently we are a Mass consumer market, we buy things when we buy into things. This is why so many people are willing to fraud the general public through their made-up stories in the hope of making money. Hollywood isn't innocent from this either because if people didn't believe in all the hocus pocus and fantasy what dreams/nightmares would they be left selling?

    As I've mentioned previously there are people in Hollywood that are paid to manufacture events for their selected genre to keep the publics interest, along with alot of the television companies that have "series" based upon such stories.

    Everytime a person talks about a UFO are they talking about something they have seen? perhaps their belief? or is it more likely what someone has carefully constructed to sell something to the public?
     
  16. Starman Starman Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    540
    The problem with the term UFO is many misinterpret the actual meaning.

    Un-identified Flying Object.

    When people talk about UFO's they use improper definition associated with the term UFO. Most think that this is a definition of ETI, ETL or ETV's this is simply not the case.

    I could compare this to the misuse of the word, {Race} It has several definitions however the one definition that is most abused is when it refers to people answering questionnaires about their heritage.

    If I fill out an application for employment or the like and there is a question of what Race I am, It makes me laugh and I respond with the word Human. What the question is trying to ask is, what ethnicity the person is.

    I can not stress the importance of terminology, for without it, communication is not effective.

    UFO's are witnessed by many individuals from various backgrounds all the way from myself up front and personal to the president of the United States of America. UFO's are real and again because they are NOT key word NOT identifiable their origin will in all cased remain unknown until such time as they are Identified and that's the end of that story.
     
  17. Starman Starman Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    540
    The problem with the term UFO is many misinterpret the actual meaning.

    Un-identified Flying Object.

    When people talk about UFO's they use improper definition associated with the term UFO. Most think that this is a definition of ETI, ETL or ETV's this is simply not the case.

    I could compare this to the misuse of the word, {Race} It has several definitions however the one definition that is most abused is when it refers to people answering questionnaires about their heritage.

    If I fill out an application for employment or the like and there is a question of what Race I am, It makes me laugh and I respond with the word Human. What the question is trying to ask is, what ethnicity the person is.

    I can not stress the importance of terminology, for without it, communication is not effective.

    UFO's are witnessed by many individuals from various backgrounds all the way from myself up front and personal to the president of the United States of America. UFO's are real and again because they are NOT key word NOT identifiable their origin will in all cases, remain unknown until such time as they are Identified and that's the end of that story.
     
  18. SkinWalker Archaeology / Anthropology Moderator

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    True enough. Perhaps it was the late hour and the second snifter of brandy. My years in the military gave me some bad habits. That phrase probably seemed more offensive than it really was intended.

    Sure it did. That's the problem with the UFO community. They like to talk about UFOlogy, ufologists, the "UFO Enigma," and the "UFO phenomenon." When the average person hears "UFO," the connection to ET is immediate. To demonstrate, why would someone need to "believe" in a mundane phenomenon. It would be akin to saying that people believe in unidentified insects and those that aren't are "mental midgets." Of course there are insects that cannot be identified. We see them flying and hear them in the brush. We wash their exploded remains from windshields, but often we cannot identify them. We just know they are insects.

    With UFO's, we know that things fly and physical manifestations of weather are airborne. But as soon as the general public cannot identify a bird as a bird, a plane as a plane, or a cloud as a cloud, it gets classed as a "UFO." It then becomes elevated from the mundane to the extraordinary. But the fact remains that the only thing extraordinary about it is that the observer has no experience with this particular object or phenomenon in this specific perspective. Perhaps the cloud is small and high and the ice crystals inside reflect for a moment giving a metalic quality for the observer to interpret.

    No further explanation need apply. The object is now a "UFO." And popular culture associates UFO to aliens. Show me one website that proposes to "investigate UFOs" that doesn't discuss aliens.

    Not hardly. Its the same story. It is always implied by the fundamentalist ufoist that UFO means alien spacecraft.

    My anger was the implication that those that don't believe in UFOs (meaning that those who don't believe UFOs are anything but ordinary phenomena that have ordinary explanations that the observer is too ignorant to discern or arrive at) are mental midgets.

    I don't believe UFOs are extraordinary phenomena. Indeed, I think that the hyperbole that surrounds them is part of the dumbing down of American society. So if you are suggesting that I'm afraid that the pseudoscientific nature of ufoology is contributing to the decline in scientific thinking among contemporary students in school, then you're right. If, however, you are suggesting that I have a pathological fear, akin to that of agliophobia, agoraphobia, melissophobia, or coimetrophobia (fears of pain, crowds, bees, or cemetaries, respectively), then you are mistaken. If that were the case, would I not be constantly looking out of windows, inclined to avoid being out of buildings or vehicles, particularly at night, or cring each time an airplane passed?

    But what I do "cring" at, is the constant flip-flop that fundamentalist ufoists present when discussing ufos. They have no problem discussing crashed disks, alien contacts, the probabilities of extraterrestrial intelligence, the signs of past alien contacts in ancient texts and art (all the while refusing to educate themselves on the original cultural contexts), or alien abductions. But they rise to the occasion to exploit the "true" meaning of UFO in the literal sense as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

    Lets call a spade a spade, shall we.

    For the purposes of discussion in the sciforums Pseudoscience sub-forum, and unless specified differently from the outset, the term UFO refers to craft operated by extraterrestrial intelligence. That has always been the case in this forum.

    UFO defined by WordNet 2.0: http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=ufo

    The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition (1989): UFO - An unidentified flying object; a ‘flying saucer’.
     
  19. §outh§tar is feeling caustic Registered Senior Member

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    4,832
    The American Culture = Idleness/Workaholism * booze + sex/drugs

    And of course, divide all by God, for your country is under God, is it not?

    UFOs are just plain crazy. Why? What could you possibly hope to gain by the knowledge that there actually are or aren't UFOs? Satisfaction?

    I don't think you should want to know. Blindness makes man reach too far.
     
  20. Starman Starman Registered Senior Member

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    If you wish to believe that all UFO's are ET's I would ask what is your evidence? For if you can not Identify the object in the first place then why would you make assertions as to it's origin?

    Just because one acts in an incorrect manner by using the wrong definition of a word or term, is this a reason to repeat another's mistake, I think not.

    "Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence." --Einstein, Albert
     
  21. SkinWalker Archaeology / Anthropology Moderator

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  22. Starman Starman Registered Senior Member

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    Ok I am not without error, in the sentence where I make a UFO reference I meant to say Disk. Lazar worked on an Identified craft not a UFO my mistake.

    The other sentences you have referenced say nothing about UFO's they are claims about a crashed disk not a UFO and the crash, recovery and cover-up at Roswell.

    I never said that I do not believe in ETI, ETL and ETV's because I do.

    What I stated is that a true UFO sighting cannot be identified as a domestic or ET origin until it is Identified. So to make a claim that a UFO is of a specific origin is pre-mature, the fact remains UFO's do exist.
     
  23. nexus Registered Member

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    I have to agree with SkinWalker that the term "UFO" is inextricably connected with alien craft or "flying saucers." I've long wished the term Unidentified Aerial Phenomena was used instead, it seems to be a more accurate descriptor to me. However, my use of the term seems to be doing little to convert the masses

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