-Caveat Lector- from The Konformist ----- As always, Caveat Lector. Om K ----- For those that have waited for the killed George article on the konspiracy kingpins, here it is, with me in the top 10. They even did a photo shoot of me. Apparently, the George editors wimped out in the last second. But it is now on the web at: http://www.conspire.com Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com Conspire.Com Dept. of Last Laughs The Story George Magazine Didnt Want You to See Though Only God (and JFK, Jr.) Knows Why Editors Note: Weve always had a lot of respect for George Magazine. No kidding. We have. Its the political magazine for people who dont understand politics -- the New Republic for the Entertainment Tonight generation. Georges unrelenting effort to strip any and all discussion of political issues from its coverage of politics, rendering the entire democratic process a superficial joke, all in the interest of turning a quick buck, gives us here at Conspire.Com a goal we can really aspire to. Thats why when the ad-page- challenged, JFK, Jr.-managed, Big Apple-based mag approached 70 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time co-author Jonathan Vankin last year, and asked if he would like to write a 1,200-word piece profiling some of his favorite conspiracy guys, well, we just picked up that phone and yelped, Youre darn tootin! (Actually, thats not exactly the way we put it, but weve been waiting for four years to use the phrase Youre darn tootin! somewhere on this Godforsaken, pain-in-the-butt Web site.) The article was slated to run last October in a special Conspiracy Issue of George (now theres a frightening concept). So what the heck happened? Well, doggone if we kin figger it out. After numerous rewrites, edits, the full fact-checking process and even a photo shoot -- Georges top brass suddenly gunned down the piece at the last minute. So, as a service to our devoted and beloved fans, we below present the original, unexpurgated, untampered-with-by-bigshot-New-York-editors 1200 words of deathless prose, originally titled Movers and Shakers of the Conspiracy Industry. Thats their title, not ours. Were still trying to figure out what the Conspiracy Industry is. 1999 by Jonathan Vankin Princes of Paranoia -- Exposed! ALEX CONSTANTINE Author: Psychic Dictatorship in the USA, Virtual Government. AGE: About 40 WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: Covered Satanic cult murder trial. I discovered there were Star Wars connections and Reagan White House connections to this group. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: The pseudonymous Constantine weaves O.J. Simpson, UFO abductions, the L.A. riots, River Phoenix and Satanic cults into a web CIA- Nazi-military mind control operations -- of which Constantine himself was (he says) a target. The CIA used me in three years of experimentation. I was electronically bombarded. I was victimized. Its very advanced technology. Okay. But wont people who read this think hes a nut? Good! Theyre going to deny to the end, so let them deny. One or two people will read this and understand. That will be their inspiration. JIM KEITH AGE: 48 Author: 10 conspiracy tomes since 1992. WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: A profound alienation from human culture. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: The irrepressible Keith is just as likely to service the insatiable UFO crowd with tracts like Saucers of the Illuminati as to hammer home the militia-friendly themes of his Black Helicopters Over America and OK Bomb. (The latter probes such possibilities as whether Timothy McVeigh was a mind-controlled intelligence agency asset. ) I find the militia guys a lot less threatening than the establishment, says Keith, who isnt willing to specify how much conspiracy theory he finds credible. Its a touchy subject because if presented wrong it makes me look like a complete hypocrite. In fact, Im only a partial hypocrite. RICHARD METZGER AGE: 32 Founder: DisInformation web site. WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: Worked on 1992 Jerry Brown presidential campaign. It wasnt that I saw a conspiracy not to give him air time. But there would be 10,000 people at his rallies. And the media would report that there were, like, four people. Very odd. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: Metzgers site delivers hidden information that seldom seems to slip through the cracks of the corporate-owned media conglomerates. Yup, its the Internet search tool for conspiracy theorists. Nonetheless, Metzger swung nearly $1 million in startup cash from corporate-owned media conglomerate TCI -- cable TV behemoth. Shortly after the sites 1996 debut, TCI honchos actually viewed the aggressively iconoclastic site and promptly cast Metzger and Co. adrift. DOUG MOENCH Age: 50 Author: The Big Book of Conspiracies. WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: When I was 15, I saw Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV. A gray pall descended on my consciousness. Ever since then I felt like somethings being hidden. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: A three-decade comic-book scripter (Master of Kung Fu, Moon Knight, Batman etc.), Moench in 1995 gave the graphic treatment to a potpourri of paranoid favorites: CIA links to the Jonestown Massacre, the death of Karen Silkwood, CIA mind control, etc. Like Metzger, Moench has infiltrated the corporate-owned media conglomerate. His Big Book is published by DC Comics, owned by Time-Warner. ADAM PARFREY AGE: 40 Founder/owner: Feral House Press. WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: I wasnt interested in politics, but I found conspiracy theorists interesting because they had a different idea about the world. I went further and found some of these so-called strange ideas actually had some worthwhile information. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: The 1987 Parfrey-compiled anthology Apocalypse Culture, a decade ahead of its time, anticipated multiple late 90s millennial fads. Parfrey showcased ultra-obscure conspiracy polemicists whose unsettling screeds linked the birth of the atom bomb, the Apollo moon landings and the Kennedy assassination to an ancient cabal of alchemists. Feral House publishes a string of conspiracy titles, including Parfreys own Cult Rapture, a collection of his investigative pieces from such venues as The Village Voice and Hustler. Conspiracy theory, says Parfrey, is just a pejorative term for investigative reporting. ROBERT STERLING AGE: 29 Editor: The Konformist e-zine. WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: I came from U.C. Santa Barbara and I did a lot of surfing there. Then I found out that (X-Files creator) Chris Carter used to edit a surf magazine. People who surf tend to smoke pot and smoking pot is conducive to being hip to conspiracy theory. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: The budding Matt Drudge of conspiracy, Sterling oscillates between impishness and credulity in his on-line newsletter. I felt there was an opening for a humor-based magazine, like what Spy was in the 80s, with a conspiracy edge. On the Web and via e-mail, The Konformist wins the conspiracy industrys Most Eclectic award. A lengthy, frequently published pastiche of news clippings, e-mail and Sterlings own puckish interlocutions, recent Konformist topics have included food irradiation, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and Hegels Place in History. KENN THOMAS AGE: 40 Editor/Publisher: Steamshovel Press magazine. WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: Inspired by the late, California conspiracy radio host Mae Brussell. In high school I was really into Lenny Bruce. That connected me to Paul Krassner -- and Krassner to Mae. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: Now in its 16th issue, Steamshovel is where the resolutely fractious conspiracy subculture coalesces into something resembling a scene. Thomass mag even has its own nascent jargon (the conspiracy, becomes the con). There is a big scene, Thomas says, but there are little scenes within it. Theres the UFO community. Theres right-wing militia groups. Theres the Left. There are beatnik scenes. Ive made an attempt to stay connected with as many as possible. ROBERT ANTON WILSON AGE: 66 Author: Illuminatus!, Everything is Under Control. WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: Even before fuzzy logic became fashionable I was thinking in terms of probabilities. Thats my singular contribution to conspiracy theory. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: A Playboy scribe in the swingin 60s, poet-philosopher- prankster Wilson became a guru for conspirophiles of a somewhat psychedelic stripe. His fascination: the Illuminati, an 18th-century Bavarian subversive group suspected of ruling the world behind the scenes. He made them the villains in his epic Illuminatus! Trilogy. The novel satirized conspiracy theorists -- and also skewered the scoffers. Not everything can be reduced to yes or no. I look at things in terms of probabilities. People who are too sure of anything end up acting like damn fools. BRYCE ZABEL AGE: 44 Co-Creator: NBC-TV show Dark Skies. WHY HES INTO CONSPIRACY: Created an eyes-only briefing book to pitch show. All of us would like to be the guy in the dark room with the one light on our desk opening the secret document nobodys supposed to have seen. Thats how we sold Dark Skies. CLASSIFIED DOSSIER: Zabels series eschewed X-Files coyness for episodes in which The Beatles were agents of a massive mind-control plot and Robert Kennedy covertly crusaded against the plotters. While X-Files posits unthreateningly anonymous aristocrats as its designated Illuminati, Dark Skies sat Harry Truman, Hubert Humphrey and Henry Kissinger on the Committee That Runs Everything. All of this appeared on a major television network. Does Zabel -- CNNs original Southern California correspondent -- actually swallow this stuff? Or is it just dramatic license? Conspiracies have always existed so I certainly dont dismiss them out of hand. Im a former journalist. Ive been lied to by professionals before. ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
