Peter Rogerson's review of Whitley Strieber's latest book has stimulated more hits than anything else published on this blog except our obituary of Hilary Evans, and far more comments (17 as I write this, including one from the man himself) than anything else we've published. Although some of us (OK, me) might have thought that Strieber was a bit passé, and that he was, as Peter suggests, a figure from the early 'nineties, it is clear that his accounts of his experiences still create a great deal of interest and partisanship. 🔽
I think what might be happening here is that we now have something which could be described as the 'Strieber Phenomenon', which has now developed into a phenomenon with only a peripheral link to what we usually think of as the 'UFO phenomenon'. Has Streiber created himself anew, has he become something akin to the conceptual artists Gilbert and George who recreated themselves as a 'living sculpture'? Like them has Strieber also turned himself into virtually a work of art which exists alongside, but separate from Strieber the novelist?
In his earlier Communion-related books he has always allowed for a great deal of ambiguity as to the nature of the phenomena he experienced. In Solving the Communion Enigma he seems to be limiting the scope for such ambiguity. Readers may be interested in checking out Magonia's reviews of some of his earlier books, which can be read at these links: Communion, Confirmation, and The Communion Letters.
There is obviously a lot more to say about Whitley Strieber, so in the words of former chat-show host Mrs Merton, "Let's have a heated debate".
10 comments:
Let's start with this implant, of which I know nothing. What is it believed to be, and where was it implanted?
Someone has tried to extract it. Why? Can someone enlighten me on this aspect of Strieber's life? Most important, does Strieber himself genuinely think the implant is from an ET source?
cda,
Mr. Strieber describes the history of his implant in Chapter 5 of his new book. It is presently at the top of his left ear, the site he noticed it originally. He correlates its appearance with an intrusion into his home by two mysterious people who possessed amazing technological prowess.
The object itself exhibited unbelievable capacities of movement and possibly exerted physiological effects on the circulatory system (local redness) and brain. It eluded capture by translocating to his earlobe, but a fragment was obtained and analyzed. The results conveyed in the book suggest an unusual object, but information such as pathologist reports were not provided.
As to his thoughts regarding a link to ET, only Mr. Strieber can enlighten us. Notwithstanding the title of this post, let's hope he provides more light than heat.
Tyler-To add Whitley claims the piece that was in fact obtained is gone. Is this not always the way it is.
That aside, I still cannot accept the notion that this thing "migrated" to and fro without significant pain and tissue damage. I can tell you one thing, and I'm no doctor: had a small object tried to move while I was extracting it? I'd have clamped the surrounding area.
When I had a small fatty tumor removed from my rib cage, it's surrounding skin and tissue was clamped to be removed. Why wasn't this object? No, it was left to roam. This seems completely unlike a doctor/surgical procedure.
Again, I'm no doctor, but wouldn't most have said "well we have to get this out, it's moving and could get into the bloodstream and cause a stroke." etc?
Jeff Ritzmann
Considering Strieber to be passé might denote a somewhat shallow knowledge of the current development of the abduction discussion in the realm of the bloggosphere.
It would be easy to assume that the glory days of the abduction enigma as UFOlogy's 'flavor of the month' died out with the (disappointing) ending of the X-Files TV series. After 9/11, the attention of the circles on the fringe of culture seemed to have shifted to focusing more on NWO paranoia and its crosspolination with the UFO mythos: unholy deals with malevolent aliens to enslave us all into one banner, or the possible false-flag attack that might unite the world against a mirage alien threat with a swiftness that would have made the Gipper shed tears of ectoplasmic joy.
But the fact is that discussions concerning 'alien' abductions and their implications never went away. They just simply migrated into the new format of online journals, and following the democratic trends of the other nascent social networks, abductees were empowered to share their accounts in a raw, unfiltered format, free at last from the bias of researchers who always tend to mold the anecdotal evidence they gather so that it may conform to their particular belief system.
In that digital community, Whitley Strieber is considered a very important voice. Perhaps because the other anonymous experiencers acknowledge that HE was the first one to enjoy the freedom they now share; a privilege paid by Strieber's previous success as a best-selling author.
With that privilege Strieber had no restrictions to disclose the most bizarre aspects of his encounters with the Visitors, stuff that did not conform with the simplistic thesis that spindly extraterrestrial doctors were just here to carry out experiments that would have made Mengele cringe.
And that's why people in that community keep listening to what he has to say. Because he has the talent to voice out the doubts and anguish that assault them in a more structured way than they possibly ever could.
That's why he's not passé.
To Mr. Ritzmann,
Why did you not point out to Mr. Streiber what you're now sharing here when you had more than one opportunity while interviewing him (as well as his wife Anne) on your Podcast - Paratopia?
Also, are you in an ethical position to critique Mr. Streiber's claims when you recently publicized on your Paratopia Podcast, Forum(which you personally deleted now for different reasons) and Youtube about your visitations from a non-human you call "Shroudman" who gave you dictations about how the universe works. Yet, you did not collect dna evidence to submit to your Paratopia Project Core colleague Dr, Kokjohn. Is this not a double-standard?
Jeff -
I sincerely wish this aspect of a book touting solutions was more satisfying. Mr. Strieber seems to have recognized the potential significance of his implant and I give him credit for taking concrete steps to determine its nature. Unfortunately, his effort was poorly documented and just plain baffling.
Let's accept for the moment that the physician did not clamp surrounding tissues because he judged the object to be fixed in place (as mentioned on page 61). I agree, the doctor's reaction after the thing moved seems most strange. Beyond the immediate questions regarding the nature of the thing, would any doctor, responsible for the welfare of Mr. Strieber, fail to become shocked and concerned over what it might do and where it would go next? A reasonable conclusion would be that there might be no limits as to where this object could end up and no predicting the consequential damage that could follow. The situation would seem to have been an emergency and it is hard to imagine the physician failed to seek better facilities and urgent consultation with other surgeons. Stitching up the wound and simply sending the patient home seems utterly unbelievable. But that is the account of what transpired.
The implant fragment examined by a pathologist is gone? Unfortunate. But, also much more than a little strange, too. If what we are told is true, this little bit of matter was more valuable than a winning billion dollar lottery ticket. It might have changed simply everything about our world. Would anyone not be aware of its potential monetary value? How about a guy in admitted desperate financial distress? It does not make sense to me that the owner of such a thing would not take extreme precautions to safeguard it.
It is hard to rationalize why anyone in Mr. Strieber's position would not pursue this implant vigorously and thereby bolster their credibility as a visionary truth-teller. Instead, nearly 23 years later, the object remains precisely where it was first discovered. I agree with Mr. Strieber it would help if more implants were available for scientific examination. However, it would only take one whose capabilities were documented under controlled conditions to literally turn our world upside down. It would not require the support of the National Academy of Sciences to show the thing moves on its own. All he has to do is to perform his first documentation efforts in a way that shows something, but after almost a quarter century later the work remains unfinished.
Mr. Strieber is extremely intelligent and he has probably thought about alien implants and their function deeply, for a long time. It is hard to imagine that he would fail to anticipate describing his implant experience would immediately lead to calls for more investigations. What if his implant won't function now? Perhaps page 66 provides a glimpse of a brilliant pre-emptive hedge against that possibility; implants serve their (hypothesized) purpose even if they do nothing at all.
Is Mr. Strieber's new book a solution to an enigma or some entertaining stories? We will simply have to wait and see how he chooses to rationalize the implant issues.
I’m mildly conflicted about guys like Strieber and the cottage-industry he’s a part of. On the one hand, they provide for a need that already exists – some people like their reality with fable-sauce. On the other, they feed the paranoid fantasies of a sub-culture that might be better off with less fantasy and certainly less paranoia.
Typically, they present apocalyptic dystopias with paedophilic satanists running the world. Great orchestrated schemes span millennia (sometimes galaxies too) as the evil-doers play chess with the hearts, souls and minds of men. Let’s not worry though, because the tales always come with the age-old narrative promise of redemption and their favourite concept – transcendence. Of course, humanity is usually too pitiful in these sagas to be instrumental and depends on the good-will of angels/aliens/whistleblowers/authors/radio hosts.
Who wouldn’t want all that epic-fantasy drama?
@ JR - Hiya Jeff, not just that - the surgeon's only apparent response to this extraordinary incident was a cosy chat on a sofa with Mr Strieber. Medical negligence and duty of care cheerfully cast aside with a warm shrug...
"Let’s not worry though, because the tales always come with the age-old narrative promise of redemption and their favourite concept – transcendence. Of course, humanity is usually too pitiful in these sagas to be instrumental and depends on the good-will of angels/aliens/whistleblowers/authors/radio hosts."
In Communion, Strieber shared his fascination with the writings of Meister Eckhart, the German theologian who speculated that when you die if you try to cling to the Earthly realm you'd be sent to Hell to be tortured by devils, but if you accept your fate and 'let go', then the devils turn into angels that carry you to the heavenly gates.
http://youtu.be/yt3Ny_BG3yQ
So Strieber proposed that this might be a better analogy to explain the abduction phenomenon than mere genetic experiments carried out like Medieval tortures. He also proposed that consciousness played a vital role in these experiences, because the abductee is transported to a state of 'non-ordinary reality', to borrow a term from Castañeda. And he also proposed that the visitors had more to do with what happens to us after death than with 'outer space'; in fact, 'outer' & 'inner' may be just arbitrary terms, just like all the ancient Mystics keep telling us —before we kill them :P
IMO John Mack was the one researcher who communed more with these ideas —see what I did there? ;)
Anon-
Since you're the only one calling me "Mr. Ritzmann, I'll assume you've followed from one blog commenting area to another to somehow "get" at me.
The answers (which I've also posted elsewhere) are simple: I do not know if the shrouded man is a physical reality (although it seems to be), and secondly, I've not been in a position to garner clean samples. If and when I am, Dr. Kokjohn has provided me the tools to collect, and collect I will.
But I have not said that I have any tangible object - either within the body or out - as Strieber and others have. This is the difference that seems to elude your argument.
As to the program, we are not in the habit of being a "hit" program. I've made my stance VERY clear on the show multiple times. I think implants are nonsense, and not a shred has been brought forth to date that shows anything more than common biological fragments or old foreign objects that have been encapsulated (and likely depending on how long they've been in the body, migrated). I have also said on the program that I respect Strieber's work and openness - but that I do at times find him naive.
Unlike some folks, I do have social skills and so see little point to coming at someone with a verbal knife who's clearly not going to agree with me. That might be "good radio" but it's counter-productive discussion. Whitley is well entrenched, and there's little one can do to change his mind about some things.
But all that aside, Mr. Anonymous, you seem to have quite the bone to pick with me personally - so why not take off your convenient mask and be accountable for your digs. Because standing behind the wall of anonymity chucking rocks doesn't hold a lot of weight. That is, if you expect to put pressure on me. I mean if you're gonna do it, at least do it right. But my bet is that you won't because revealing who you are reveals the actual reason for the questions to begin with - and it's nothing to do with actual "issues". So, come on over to Paratopia's message board and register with your real name, and we'll talk. I'm pretty much done at this point answering to a faceless entity with an unknown agenda. See you there.
Mr. Ritzmann, I would counter with the published words from your former colleague in the paranormal - David Biedny, as he publically commented about your "Shroudman" and other outrageous claims -> "As Ritzmann admitted to me in a private email - that he and his wife are totally comfortable lying profusely - I am not surprised to see him making stuff up for attention, and I'm very happy to see that he and Vaeni are being publicly taken to task for their shadiness and total lack of honesty." http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3963595&postID=5390802423141527864
It's people like you that muddy the waters of ufology and the paranormal.
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