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I was disappointed.

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I think particular episodes of the Paracast like this are needed sometimes just to point out that The Paracast is NOT like shows of the Coast to Coast ilk. It shows that Gene and David are intelligent enough to call a spade and spade when things like this arise, and not just go with the flow like some other shows tend to do.

People unfortunately have near-zero attention spans nowadays. Shows like this are in effect a kick up the arse of those who are starting to fall back into complacency ... no idea what the hell I'm talking about ... but then again ... neither did Mr Spencer :D
 
The point is, this guy didn't really burn any evidence, because there never was any evidence. He made it up as part of his story.

I've read a lot of novels with this framing technique--an open-minded person is delivered an incredible tale, and it seems fantastic, but he has to publish because it could be true. It's a common storytelling technique, a framing sequence.
 
Graphimancer said:
The point is, this guy didn't really burn any evidence, because there never was any evidence. He made it up as part of his story.

I've read a lot of novels with this framing technique--an open-minded person is delivered an incredible tale, and it seems fantastic, but he has to publish because it could be true. It's a common storytelling technique, a framing sequence.
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Ah yes, a number of authors have used that method. :)
 
I actually enjoyed this show -- vintage Paracast. To me the show was not about Spencer, this was a show about how ufology is supposed to work. We got to hear a panel of qualified investigators talking about evidence, context, logic, history, motive etc. It was an instructive window on how the research process should work. I expecially enjoyed Dave's analysis of the internal logic of the content and Frank's references to military history. It was a good antidote to other shows that just blindly accept whatever garbage comes their way.
 
tomdownie said:
Your guest obviously was not even familiar with what he was writing about,
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[FONT=&quot]Hoax? Who cares?<o></o>[/FONT]
 [FONT=&quot]How much of this kind of stuff litters the UFO landscape?<o></o>[/FONT]
 [FONT=&quot] This guy Lawrence Spencer doesn’t take any responsibility for his material, doesn’t really defend what he has written, and rolls over and plays innocent every time something is challenged.<o></o>[/FONT]
 [FONT=&quot]Further, he says he has destroyed anything that might buttress what he has written.<o></o>[/FONT]
 [FONT=&quot] He comes off as a non aggressive hoaxer. The motive for the hoax is a bit elusive. Maybe he just wants to see how quickly gullible “Ufologists” will integrate the story into the body of UFO lore.<o></o>[/FONT]
 [FONT=&quot] It would have been a more interesting show if the guy had defended his work. I think he should admit that, like his favorite author Dean R. Koontz, he made the thing up!<o></o>[/FONT]
 [FONT=&quot] Even though the book if free (thank you Paracast) I can see no reason to read it.<o></o>[/FONT]
 
This was rather difficult to listen to, you guys ran over him numerous times and like Wile E. Coyote, he peeled himself off from the asphalt, bloody broken toothed smile and all. But you still couldn't get him to admit it was bullshit.

What clinched it for me was when I posted about this "book" last week, I noticed a glaring "see me" waving its arms, which was the "emblem" the alien was wearing on its uniform.

If it wasn't a match for a Star Trek Star Fleet emblem, I'd be damned.

In fact, I'm borrowing this guy's storyline and improving it some in my own Trek fan fic.

He had a good idea, but it was way too Scientology-ish to get it past anyone.
 
dad2059 said:
This was rather difficult to listen to, you guys ran over him numerous times and like Wile E. Coyote, he peeled himself off from the asphalt, bloody broken toothed smile and all. But you still couldn't get him to admit it was bullshit.

What clinched it for me was when I posted about this "book" last week, I noticed a glaring "see me" waving its arms, which was the "emblem" the alien was wearing on its uniform.

If it wasn't a match for a Star Trek Star Fleet emblem, I'd be damned.

In fact, I'm borrowing this guy's storyline and improving it some in my own Trek fan fic.

He had a good idea, but it was way too Scientology-ish to get it past anyone.
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I think he would have done better if he went for the SF crowd, but then again I'm not sure about this guy and what he thinks he's accomplishing.

I mean, he says he isn't in the UFO field, but he found The Paracast, and sent us his press release via his Contact Us form.

Or is it just a scientology-driven mind f--k?
 
Lawrence Spencer:

I can't believe how insane all this crap I'm writing is. I believe myself even less than anyone else. Heck, I'm stupid too. All you edumacated folks know all about this stuff. I don't know a damned thing about it UFOs. For some odd reason, Matilda sent me all this crap and I just had to publish it all since I've destroyed the originals. What? They'll kill me for the copies too? Oh, it's the information and not the paper it was written on? Oh crap.

Heck, I ought to just shut-up. I really don't know anything about this crap and have no idea what I wrote. I just copied some crap that was dictated to me for some unknown reason.

Do you guys like cheese?
---

You gotta' admit, the guy pulled a pretty funny attitude on it all. He didn't even put up a struggle during his beating.
 
That guest was pathetic !

Gene, Dave, Frank Warren and Scott Ramsey were good to listen to though.

It's a shame because i was really looking forward to this show, what with all the build up and all.

I enjoyed the show for all the wrong reasons.

I'm guessing that this particular book is just some kind of marketing ploy for the Author.

If he really did burn all this Supposed evidence then he wants a Swift kick in the Bollocks !
 
digigeek said:
Lawrence Spencer:

I can't believe how insane all this crap I'm writing is. I believe myself even less than anyone else. Heck, I'm stupid too. All you edumacated folks know all about this stuff. I don't know a damned thing about it UFOs. For some odd reason, Matilda sent me all this crap and I just had to publish it all since I've destroyed the originals. What? They'll kill me for the copies too? Oh, it's the information and not the paper it was written on? Oh crap.

Heck, I ought to just shut-up. I really don't know anything about this crap and have no idea what I wrote. I just copied some crap that was dictated to me for some unknown reason.

Do you guys like cheese?
---

You gotta' admit, the guy pulled a pretty funny attitude on it all. He didn't even put up a struggle during his beating.
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LOL! Nicely summed up. I thought the show was really entertaining and DB's comments concerning the moon and asteroids gave me one of the best and hardest laughs since the beginning of the week.

The book itself is, of course, pure, unadulterated trash. But not a whole heck of a lot more trashy than other interviews or messages from alines you can typically find on the internet.
 
I thought his comments on his favorite charity were false as well. It's a charity that's not set up yet, so it has no website and you can't contact it.

Maybe I'm wrong here, because he seemed passionate about this charity, and well spoken on what it was for. We can pretty much assume he is going to make no money off this book, but what if that wasn't the point? Maybe, if the charity is real, he's doing his virtual book tour to spread the word on his charity? Having the book gives him entre into radio and pod casts that he otherwise wouldn't have. Of course, for this to be true, he would have been better served to have a website and official name and contact info of the charity at hand.

He claimed to be ignorant of the UFO scene. There again, I didn't believe him, because, since most of us agree that he wrote this whole book himself, he had to have been studied up enough to write the manuscript.

Don't get me wrong--I'm not being hateful here! Many performers have been masterful mythology creators, making up all sorts of lies to increase their notoriety. It's wrong, but I remember that Bob Dylan bio-pic where Dylan would tell each interviewer straight out lies about his past, all in an effort to make himself a mysterious, mythological figure. It worked. I think all of us, when we write our bios or talk about ourselves, try to present ourselves in the way we want to be percieved, not necessarily the way we are. It's lying, or at least light fabricating, but it's the way things are done.

I've had a website since 1996, and I have a daily blog. When I feel shitty about my career, or am unwell, or depressed, my blog still has an undertone of success, being laid back, and accessibility. Believe me, sometimes I really wish I could write what I felt, but that's not professional so I don't.

Was this writer trying the same thing? Personal mythologising? If so, I don't think he was very good at it.
 
Yeah, the guest was a bust. Of course it's good to hear about 30 mins of grilling just to show how things should be done and to discredit this guy or anything he does for life, but I think after about 30-60 mins there should have been an ejector seat and the conversation could have just been an interview with Frank (I think that was his name?) about his thoughts on Roswell and then more about David's take on moving on from Roswell and maybe discussion about current events that could take the place of Roswell etc........

I think what made this show of a lower quality than others is that the guest provided nothing to work with, there were hardly any nuggets of credibility to discuss. It might as well have been some random guy on the street who found a note pad underneath a pizza box in central park which he published. That dude needed to be pre-screened more, but I think that should wait until XM Radio picks up the paracast and they can hire someone!

Within the first 20 mins it's pointed out that he has no real evidence, it's second hand info from someone he never met, that he burned any evidence, that the document itself has internal inconsistencies, and that even the guest himself doesn't make any sense.

This reminds me of the Chewbacca defense from South Park. In this episode Johnny Cockren has to essentially convince the jury that reality itself doesn't exist so his client is not guilty, here's an excerpt:

"Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of two-foot tall Ewoks? That does not make sense! But more important, you have to ask yourself: What does this have to do with this case? Nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case! It does not make sense! Look at me. I'm a lawyer defending a major record company, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca! Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense! And so you have to remember, when you're in that jury room deliberatin' and conjugatin' the Emancipation Proclamation, [approaches and softens] does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.<sup id="cite_ref-0" class="reference">[1]"</sup>
 
What a crappy episode this was :mad: I'd like to have heard more of the other guests questioning Lawrence Spencer instead of David...

They have more knowledge about the Roswell case anyway, so they could've discussed more about the contents instead of just ranting about the circumstances...

I felt sorry for the guy just listening to it!
 
from the decriptions in the program it seems his first book expounds the premise that historical fact, is often no more than a collection of the most successful "myths" of the day.
perhaps this latest work is an experiment to see how easy it is to do that.
if in ten years certain unique references from this book become accepted as UFO lore then the experiment worked.

but it looks like he'll be joining the nameless one, in the hoaxers hall of shame
 
Well, I made a serious error with the whole thing. When I discovered the book was available as a PDF I thought all of us could do a service and point out some of the internal inconsistencies. Several of us did that and we collectively found quite a bit. I thought the scientology connection was really a coup, for example. I was kind of excited that we got to participate in a small way by giving Gene and David some ammunition to use in the interview....

....that had already taken place. Well, duh! Of course! What a dummy! (Me, I mean) The interview, of course, did not deal hardly at all with the content. So, yeah, I was disappointed, but I managed to set myself up. And when Spencer just rolled with the punches, geez! At least Greer fights back!
 
Gene said:
I think he would have done better if he went for the SF crowd, but then again I'm not sure about this guy and what he thinks he's accomplishing.

I mean, he says he isn't in the UFO field, but he found The Paracast, and sent us his press release via his Contact Us form.

Or is it just a scientology-driven mind f--k?
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Nah, even the Trek crowd I hang with sometimes would've laughed at this fluff, Spencer had no chance.

I think you and Dave nailed it, viral advertising to help sell his other stuff. Pretty effective. Even bad reviews are better than none.

And the scientology crap was subtle, it only messes with folks if they let it. It's still bad sci-fi.

And I'm amazed that Hubbard's shit still sells. Just goes to show that P.T. Barnum's Law still applies.
 
Mogwa said:
Someone said they were looking for a decent e-book reader. Foxit is free and much less bloated that any of the proprietary Windows Adobe PDF programs. You can get it here:

http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php
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Ahhh that was probably me. However I actually meant a device for reading e-books rather like the Sony Reader. We have nothing down here in New Zealand even remotely like that. I think I might be getting a cheap pda thingy and use that to read them with instead.

Anyway thanks for the heads up folks ... much appreciated.

Oh and now having heard the entire episode, I remain convinced that Mr Spencer deserved everything he got. I shall however immerse myself in his ramblings once I do track down a device for reading it. I really don't want to stare at a computer screen and read it. It can't be good for your health :p

ps. what was the name of the charity he mentions in episode?? I really don't want to spend any more time today trying to track down the bit(s) where he mentions it ... but I will spend time trying to dig something/anything up about this so-called charity ... you never know what you're gonna find digging around in the internets more dark and less travelled places.
 
I'll tell you what made the show worth it for me...

Dave's Larry King impression (the first one).

"Is it ALIEN?! Well, is it ALIEN?! Is it EXTRATERRESTRIAL?"

I almost pissed myself. LOL.
 
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