Posted on 06/21/2003 12:07:33 PM PDT by demlosers
NEW YORK - In an unusual step for a television network, the Sci Fi Channel is campaigning to persuade the government to be more forthcoming and aggressive in investigating UFO sightings.
Sci Fi has hired former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta as a Washington lobbyist, sponsored a symposium on interstellar travel and is considering a court effort to declassify documents related to a 1965 incident in Pennsylvania.
The network will premiere a documentary, "Out of the Blue," Tuesday at 9 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific time zones) that methodically lays out an argument that there's something out there.
Most TV networks are reluctant to spend money for anything other than self-interest. The few public interest efforts are hardly controversial: Lifetime promoting breast cancer research, for example, or MTV's Rock the Vote campaign to encourage young people to register.
But by fighting for UFO probes, Sci Fi is wading into an area that invites not only dissent, but also ridicule.
"It's very, very tough for people to take this subject seriously," said Ed Rothschild, a lobbyist in Podesta's firm. "We thought the only way it was going to be seriously addressed is to have serious people talk about it, scientists."
Rothschild won't even identify the members of Congress he's talked to about leaning on the government for more openness about UFOs. He's afraid they'll never help if their names come out and they're laughed at.
Even believers are reluctant to talk about the issue.
After hearing that former President Carter once saw a UFO, "Out of the Blue" filmmaker James Fox repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, asked Carter's representatives for an interview. Undaunted, Fox essentially ambushed Carter with a camera one day at a book-signing. Carter confirmed the incident but his brevity and forced smile indicated he wasn't happy to be answering.
Given the "giggle factor" that surrounds UFOs, Sci Fi is taking a chance with its reputation, Fox said.
"I don't think there's a risk because the questions need to be asked," said Thomas Vitale, Sci Fi's senior vice president of programming. "Even somebody who is the biggest skeptic in the world ... still wants the questions answered. And who better to do it?"
The mission isn't entirely altruistic, of course. The Sci Fi Channel, which is seen in about three-quarters of the nation's TV households, polled viewers on the topic. Evidence of keen interest is also seen in the ratings.
Last November's documentary on the celebrated, suspected 1947 UFO crash in Roswell, N.M., was the highest-rated special in the network's 11-year history. It was seen by nearly 2.4 million people, or about 2 1/2 times Sci Fi's usual prime-time audience.
"Our main goal is not to find a UFO," Vitale said. "The goal is finding the truth. We're expanding and exploring the blurry line between what is science fiction and what is science fact."
Vitale wouldn't say how much Sci Fi is spending on this. The network sponsored an archaeological excavation at Roswell, will debut a public service announcement Tuesday and has four new UFO specials in the works.
It is backing an effort to get U.S. Air Force records released on a 1965 incident in Kecksburg, Pa., where some witnesses believe a UFO crashed. This may end up in court, Rothschild said.
Fox, a San Francisco-based journalist, never thought much about UFOs until a visit nine years ago to Nevada, when he and his friends watched a saucer-shaped object hover silently in the sky then dart away.
"When I got home, I was met with laughter," he said. "No one believed me, even my family. I thought, if my own family doesn't believe me, who does?"
Intrigued, he began looking into other UFO incidents. He sold a 1998 documentary to the Discovery Channel and shopped "Out of the Blue" to the same network, but said he was told Discovery no longer buys pro-UFO films. (A Discovery spokeswoman denied this.)
So he went to Sci Fi. Fox considers 95 percent of reported UFO incidents bunk, either hoaxes or easily explained conventional phenomena. And don't count him among people who believe aliens already live among us.
But that still leaves a significant number of mysterious cases. "Out of the Blue" outlines several, concentrating on the most reputable of witnesses - former astronauts, military and government officials, topped off by an ex-president.
Fox's storytelling is sober, not sensational. Summing up incidents at the end of the film, Fox gives the official government explanations of what happened, and they're often more ridiculous than the sightings themselves.
"You get to a point where you can no longer dismiss each and every episode," he said.
Fox and Rothschild can think of several reasons why the government doesn't want to talk about UFOs:
_ The military doesn't want to spend time or money on something that isn't perceived as a threat.
_ Officials may also like the secrecy; it keeps other governments guessing about what kind of new weapon technologies might be in the works.
_ It could also be embarrassing, since it can expose what they don't know and the limitations of human technology.
_ And who wants to set off a "War of the Worlds"-type incident?
Fox envisions the public announcement that could come with such an event: "We don't know where they come from, we don't know what they're doing. We can't stop them if they become hostile and they can fly rings around all of our aircraft.
"Thank you, and good night."
Something seriously screwy happened at Roswell. You had the military announcing they found a UFO, then announcing a crap story. Then changing their story again later. Perhaps they were testing something in the area with new weapons, and they felt the need to obfuscate, but obfuscate they did.
Governments love to keep secrets. If there was something weird going on with the Air Force say, and the Army boys didn't know about it, thought it looked "alien" to them, but then were told to shut up, I could see how the lies and cover-ups occured.
What happens though, is that the government refuses to release their secrets. Any military project they were doing in 1947 is out, or failed, and can in no meaningful way hurt national security by being released today. But they don't. National Security by all nations sometimes means something embarassing that is covered up. No deep cabals of evil plotters, but bunglers who attach TOP SECRET to something, and let people go crazy with wild imaginations rather than reveal the truth.
We do need a reform. Anything non nuclear say, that is over 25 years old, should go before a closed session of an intelligence committee only if the spooks genuinely believe that sensitive secrets will still be revealed. Embarassment can not be used as a justification for keeping something private.
That would depend on the individual person. There are things that happen that cannot logically be explained or proved, unless you are actually there to see or hear the event. In my lifetime, I have about 4 events that I have witnessed, but cannot prove. Only my word is all I have.
Do I believe in ghosts? I believe there are events which appear to be caused by an unseen,(usually), being. I definitely believe in demons, which could cause unexplained events. Thus, could be called ghosts by many.
Demons could also be mistaken for aliens. Not the illegal kind.
If, you are waiting for scientists to prove this kind of phenomenon, it will probably never happen.
I didn't know there was a live thread for this last night :-(
I saw bits and pieces of the second show. I agree, there was a whole ton of pictures and videos that I had never seen before either. I thought I had seen every UFO show on cable at least twice! LOL!
I looked at your home page, and your "Big Girl" looks suspiciously like my big male "Elvis Aaron". :^))
Reagan had some sort of incident, did he not?
LOL! She's not even that big (about 11-12 pounds). She's just bigger then the other cat so that's how she got that nickname. Does Elvis like peanut butter and banana cat food? LOL!
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