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UFOs on The Colbert Report

Last Friday I posted my interview with Leslie Kean about her book UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record. The book has been getting good publicity and generating plenty of discussion again about the UFO topic. That publicity is likely to skyrocket (pun intended) though, as Leslie will be Stephen Colbert’s guest on The Colbert Report this Monday, August 23rd, at 11:30 pm (hah, beat him to the punch on an interview…in your face Colbert!). Make sure you tune in if you have access to the show – should be an interesting face-to-face, given the controversial topic and Colbert’s provocative interview style.

Update: Here’s the spot:

The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Leslie Kean
www.colbertnation.com

I’ve also noticed that UFO skeptic James Oberg has been busy posting a number of comments in the reviews section for the book at Amazon, signaling his intent to publish his own review of the book soon with “substantial criticisms of the book’s thesis and approach to evidence”, as well as its conclusions. So settle in folks, looks like UFOs is going to provoke plenty of back and forth – and as always, TDG gives you ringside seats.

Update: Here’s Oberg’s piece. Not overly impressed, he basically boils it down to “pilots make mistakes too, can’t explain these cases, but just because it will take too much time”.

Editor
  1. Hey, do we have any of that Plutonian Nyborg left?
    Oberg plays the part of the gentle (or maybe, genteel?), informed skeptic pretty well.

    Had a few encounters with him over the years, some at the old MSNBC boards and once or twice at ATS. Underneath that kind, grandfatherly facade is a knife-wielding debunker… and he’s good enough with the written word to cut you to pieces.

    Not sure how Colbert’s participation is going to work out. But I guess that any airing of this topic is a good airing… right?

    Right??

    (PS- Thanks for the heads-up on this!)

    1. Iceberg
      [quote=Redoubt]Had a few encounters with him over the years, some at the old MSNBC boards and once or twice at ATS. Underneath that kind, grandfatherly facade is a knife-wielding debunker… and he’s good enough with the written word to cut you to pieces. [/quote]

      Jim Oberg certainly knows his stuff…I know a few UFO researchers that think highly of his analyses of UFO sightings. Though when you look at the multiple comments to those reviews, you get the feeling that there’s a bit of an unhealthy fixation with debunking them.

  2. Good old JimO
    I’ve tangled with Mr. Oberg in a few places, including Strieber’s message board. He knows his stuff inside and out and I have a healthy dose of respect for his knowledge, however…there is an undercurrent of zealotry in his pursuit of anything to do with UFO reporting.

    I’m reading Leslie Kean’s book right now.

  3. Oberg
    I don’t recall when or where, alas, but a number of years ago I saw an interview with Oberg in which he was critical of some former government figure coming out to reveal classified information about UFOs and our involvement with them–not that UFOs didn’t exist, mind you, but that it was bad for someone to be compromising our classified secrets like that. That caught my attention. Around the same time, there were rumors of possible ties to inside sources, with suspicions being bandied about that his role as debunker was quite a formal one, intended to muddy the waters on the subject. Does anyone know anything more about these claims, and whether there is any truth to rumors of his governmental ties? It certainly would explain a few things.

  4. Christianity
    At the risk of being offensive, I just encountered him on Facebook – at a posting by Michio Kaku mentioning that he was going to be on MSNBC today about the book. Clicking on Oberg’s profile, his first two likes and interests are:

    First United Methodist Church of Brazoria, Galveston County Young Republicans

    I have no idea about the guy’s core beliefs, but if it’s Christianity, I wonder if he’s been as rigorous with “proving” the tenets of his faith as he has been with disproving UFOs. And it does point to an ulterior motive of someone who doesn’t want UFOs to exist for what it might do to certain religious principles.

    He also says that he’s writing a review for MSNBC.com, which isn’t great news.

    1. … a terrible thing to waste
      Without knocking anyone’s faith… I have often wondered how believing that an invisible, omnipotent spirit-being created the universe and all that is in it in six days is completely rational… but to allow for the mere possibility that UFOs are extraterrestrial visitors, makes one subject to ridicule.

      I am Christian and I have yet to find a single tenet that suggests that humanity was the apex extent of God’s creativity. In fact, I often think that we have to be an embarrassment to the Almighty. He gave us a brain and the ability to reason… what a shame we don’t put that to good use sometimes.

      1. another reason
        Another possible reason for the scarcity of verifiable alien visits:

        [quote]
        In fact, I often think that we have to be an embarrassment to the Almighty…
        [/quote]

        Perhaps that is why He keeps us out of sight from the rest of creation?

    1. Sheesh

      Thus, I am not dismayed by the fact that I can’t explain every case Kean mentions in her book, because experience has shown that finding the real explanation — even if it turns out to be prosaic — is often a massive effort involving as much luck as sweat. If investigators are unable to find the explanation for a particular UFO case, that doesn’t constitute proof that the case is unexplainable.

      But, does that constitute proof that the case is not meritorious of further inquiry?

      This is just a fact of life, for UFO sleuths as well as other breeds of investigators. The same is true for murders, kidnappings, accidents, illnesses — for all the catastrophes that befall humanity. We don’t need to conjure up alien murderers or kidnappers to account for unsolved crimes. Not finding Jimmy Hoffa isn’t proof he must be on Mars.

      No; but that does NOT give you the right to call off the search for the body.

      Bottomline, Oberg seems to try to give the impression that ALL the cases Leslie used in her book are the same seconds-long, distant & fuzzy sightings he’s always been fond of debunking away.

      Sometimes a massive effort is worth it due to the promise of a high reward.

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