Friday, July 29, 2005





Whitley Strieber has written his most expansive, bizarre online journal entry yet. As usual, it poses far more questions than it answers. And, for a metaphysical rallying cry, it's peculiarly insistent that readers who truly support his website send him money so they can access some superfluous "subscriber" material.

I like this paragraph:

"The implant also enables me to travel almost anywhere in space and time, or even outside of space time. It acts as a sort of accellerator [sic] of being, intensifying my ability to move out of my body and into many remarkable realms. It also causes me, at times, to hear the inner workings of the minds of other people, something that is so extremely different from what one might imagine that it is really hard to describe in words. It's not a common experience and has not entered language, which is why I can only talk about it indirectly."

Unfortunately, virtually all of Strieber's recollections and pronouncements are colored by this "indirect" quality. I'm not claiming Strieber is a fraud; I think he's experienced episodes of high strangeness. But I also think his mind tends to inflate the significance and meaning of his experiences, effectively "editing" them into a symbolic grammar amenable to intellectual analysis. In this sense, Strieber's bold declarations are probably about as valid as those of infamous "contactee" George Adamski, albeit rather more literary and in keeping with contemporary cosmological thought.

Strieber isn't the mild-mannered sage one might expect. I once emailed him to question an omission in a self-published book and was told to "quit nitpicking and absorb the philosophy." This is the kind of quip expected from an L. Ron Hubbard, not a man in touch with the universe's most elusive secrets. And as a writer with grand online pretensions, Strieber is curiously selective about the "news" items that grace his site's front-page. For example, I find it difficult to believe he's unaware of the very promising Roswell leads documented in Nick Redfern's powerfully argued new book "Body Snatchers In the Desert." Revealingly, Strieber has made a psychological investment in an alien explanation for Roswell -- a scenario that Redfern's research threatens to obliterate. Strieber's commitment to certain hoaxes is further evidenced in his new essay, which cites the late Col. Philip Corso, alleged government whistleblower whose book "The Day After Roswell" has been dismissed as make-believe by UFO researchers.

Strieber inhabits a universe of boundless subjectivity built upon a substrate of engaging memes. But his relevance to the disciplined UFO research he champions is increasingly tenuous. Which is too bad. For if he knows what he claims to know, his "subscribers only" approach to disseminating his revelations is at best manipulative and at worst harmful.

20 comments:

Unknown said...

Its as if he has the same gift as Robert Monroe (wrote books on OOBE travel and opened the Monroe Institute to explore audio entrainment techniques that trigger OOBE experiences), only he's painting his experiences with the color of UFOlogy and not being as objective.

Mac said...

If Whitley ever starts a "Church of Ufology" I have to say, after reading this latest, that I'd be strongly tempted to sign on.

Just don't give him any money. The last I checked he'd sold movie rights to "The Last Vampire" and continues to publish books; I don't think he's nearly as "poor" as he's claimed.

Ken said...

I place Strieber on the same level and in the same category as those TV Evangelists who claim to be regularly visited by angels or Jesus. To put it bluntly, he's a social miscarriage and mental case.

Gerald T said...

“If there’s money involved, then there not evolved.”

fleeting improvised man

Mac said...

Srieber got a million-dollar advance on "Communion" (the book). The movie wasn't a commercial success but it's become something of a cult classic. It's one of my favorites, actually.

Chy said...

Hmm. It seems this is the final nail in the coffin of Strieber's credibility.

Mac said...

Yet another casualty of Chapel Perilous . . .

Ken said...

You are all intelligent folks. I don't understand why any of you would see Strieber as being worthy of discussion, much less any sort of consideration whatsoever. I am very familiar with his type: someone who has never grown out of an infantile propensity to weave fantasy scenarios for himself, combined with an altogether childish yearning for attention.

Mr. Strieber is not being abducted, nor has be ever been abducted. Neither is he engaged in any sort of "mind travelling". Wake up people: learn to discriminate between someone who is worthy to be heard and someone who is a mere quack (on that note, let me add that there is precious little separating Strieber from a psychological type like David Koresh -- *very* precious little. Learn to discriminate!).

Ken said...

I'm not saying that we should dismiss a claim just because it "sounds crazy". Obviously, just because a claim sounds absurd does not necessarily make it false. And there usually is some reward in gleaning even the oddest claims in order to take what there is to take.

My point was, again, that I recognize Strieber's *psychological type*, which is similar to types like David Koresh. The only real difference between Strieber and Koresh is that the former employs UFOesk/paranormal language and imagery as the content of his fantasies, while the later was inclined toward religious/apocalyptic content. Sometimes these two respective ways of expressing one's fantasies can also converge, as in the case of the Heaven's Gate Cult.

Based on the above observations, I don't see why I should take anything Strieber says seriously. I turn a deaf ear to persons who also advise that we castrate ourselves and wear nyon underwear in order to wait for the imminent end of the world.

In conclusion, Strieber can be understood as 1) a psychological case 2) a sociological phenomenon 3) in concrete and practical terms, a charlatan.

Unknown said...

Mac, you're in contact with Whitley. What does he say to you when you post criticism like this?

Mac said...

I used to be in intermittent contact with him. I don't think he reads my stuff anymore; otherwise I doubt he'd still be linking to the Cydonian Imperative!

Mac said...

Ken--

I don't think the strange case of Mr. Strieber can be made to go away by waving a stick at it and making broad (and in the case of "nylon underwear," unwarranted) associations.

Of course, that doesn't mean we have to take everything he says as gospel. I've read Strieber closely for years and honestly think he's had some bizarre experiences. It's his efforts to interpret them that I'm exasperated with.

I recommend checking out http://www.beyondcommunion.com and Ed Conroy's "Report on Communion," for starters.

Kyle said...

To all -

In the end, Streiber is a victim of his success. Some will now conclude that whatever he spouts is intended to assist the further lining of his pockets.

The answer? Forget Streiber. His utterings will not change the world...or your life.

Find the old guy that works at the garage, or the old woman who sells papers at the corner store.

Ask THEM about the world.

For just like Whit, they have seen a world from afar. But their insights will help you AND the world...because the world they see from afar...the world they "escape" to in their minds...is this one.

And they have no fiduciary imperative to color the story or make it "salable".

Kyle

Anonymous said...

I lived on the same road to Strieber when he had his little cabin in Accord NY. In Raycliff Estates. Frankly, there was a light that would come over his place at night. It would sometimes make a noise as well, a faint sort of moaning sound. I must have seen it dozens of times.

The area was frightening for that and a lot of reasons while he was there. It's been peaceful since and we are glad he's gone. Things happened. It was terrifying.

As to his book, he mentioned it to me before he wrote it and tried to find out if I knew anything. All I could tell him was about the light, which made him upset.

Mac said...

Anonymous--

You're not the first to report strange aerial phenomena near Strieber's old place. Fascinating.

Unknown said...

I've always been most interested by the possibility -- not a weak one -- that Strieber was a child victim of a mind control program, and his "Grey" recollections are a screen memory. It would definitely put both MKULTRA and the "Abduction phenomenon" into a very frightening new light.

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www.muebles3d.es said...

What exactly you're writing is a horrible mistake.

Mikey3457 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
UFO Investigator said...

100 Raycliff Drive?