Back on the Road, Tracking the Red, White and Odd [Extraterrestrial Culture Day]

The New York Times ^ | February 7, 2007 | WILLIAM GRIMES

[Alex Murphy]

Do not flinch if an alien approaches. Their pale, elongated bodies and big, shiny eyes take some getting used to, but extraterrestrials mix well with Earth people and share many of the same tastes. The members of one colony, sponsored by the C.I.A., spoke English and enjoyed chaperoned trips to Las Vegas. “They liked to go for entertainment in casinos,” a U.F.O. buff tells Louis Theroux. “They’re just like we are.”

Just who is “we”? In “The Call of the Weird,” Mr. Theroux’s extended road trip in search of American oddballs, it’s the wide, wonderful universe of survivalists, flat-earthers, end-of-the-world prophets, Nevada brothel owners, topless dancers, get-rich-quick motivational speakers, white-pride lunatics and the many, many Americans who have been abducted by aliens. And Ike Turner, too.

It might feel as if we have met many of these people before. Mr. Theroux certainly has. He made the same stops about 10 years ago for the BBC in a television series called “Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends.” In a nostalgic moment, or perhaps to pick up a quick paycheck, he decided to revisit his old pals and see how they were getting along.

This was both a low-risk and a high-risk proposition. Few assignments require less of journalists than letting a colorful monomaniac speak into a tape recorder. On the other hand, most of Mr. Theroux’s subjects had seen tapes of his television show, and a fair number of them were prone to violence. “Rather than a Reunion Tour,” he writes, “the trip might turn into a kind of referendum on my own methods, as voted on by my ex-subjects.”

Fortunately, the kind of people who believe that the United States is in Iraq to gain access to its stargates tend to be used to ridicule or unable to recognize it.