The morning after my alien abduction experience
May 3, 2005
So, I expected that my 30 minutes of taped interview on alien abduction with the local Fox station would end up as 10 or 15 seconds of broadcast video — maybe two sound bites. It ended up as about 3 seconds, although a perfectly good 3 seconds of me saying that filling in details from other sources after the fact can be integrated into the memory of the event, and so distort your recollection. But, it’s not surprising that they only used 3 seconds, since the piece didn’t really end up being about abduction experiences at all, but about UFO and quasi-bigfoot spotting. So, all my lovely and thoughtful commentary about sleep paralysis, hypnopompic imagery, and the social/cultural background of “hag-riding”, succubi, and the Japanese Kanashibari — all that became irrelevant. Apparently, they just couldn’t dig up somebody to put on and claim they had a real abduction experience, even with the promise that their identity would be hidden.
Ah, that’s what you get when you’re a slut: They take what they want, use it, and cast you aside like a mucous-covered kleenex.
One more little complaint: When they mentioned the “expert” (yeah, that’s me) in the teaser before the segment, I was described not once but twice as “cynical (sic) about these things”. Given that I wasn’t the least bit cynical in any way (well, not so that it showed), I’m pretty sure it’s just that the Fox people mixed up “cynical” and “skeptical”.
On the bright side, I got some cool screen captures of me with the caption “Fox News / Ron McClamrock / Philosopher” superimposed. Which makes it all worthwhile.
If you really care, the video is available on this page via the link “Alien Abductions, part 2″, or directly here.
