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Title : New Agers, occultists and the Alex Jonesians
link : New Agers, occultists and the Alex Jonesians
New Agers, occultists and the Alex Jonesians
The Alex Jonesians usually sneer at the New Age movement (which no longer goes by that name). Fundamentalist Christianity -- the avant garde of right-wing conspiracism -- considers New Agers to be, at best, dupes of the Great Satanic Scheme.Yet -- paradoxically -- the current version of the New Age movement has become a dumping ground for conspiratorial codswallop.
A good example can be seen here. The writer is one Richard Enos; the headline reads "Illuminati Pedophilia: What Is The Role Of The Awakening Community?" (By "Awakening Community," the writer apparently means what used to be called "The New Age Community.")
This hilarious exercise in anti-logic presumes that the Illuminati -- a completely mythical organization -- runs the world. In a previous article, Enos went into a veritable Illuminati-palooza, repeating all sorts of absurdities from the Infowars catechism.
Before you say it: Yes, I am quite aware that there once was a genuine -- and, in some ways, admirable -- clandestine organization called the Illuminati. I've read Terry Melanson's excellent book Perfectibilists; in fact, Melanson has contributed comments to this humble blog. I've also read Johnson's The Architects of Fear, Vernon Stauffer's New England and the Bavarian Illuminati, and Roberts' Mythology of the Secret Societies. I've even read (or skimmed) an actual work by Adam Weishaupt, founder of the Illuminati. In short, I've read the kind of scholarly works that ninnies like Enos prefer to ignore.
How can a rational person mount a response to dangerous horseshit like this?
There are no "Illuminati bloodlines." There are no Third and Fourth "Densities." A "Pleiadian entity" named Adamu is not "channeled through a healer named Zingdad." The "insider testimony" cited by Enos is such obvious bullshit that it should evince howls of laughter from anyone over the age of twelve.
Intelligent people usually find these absurdities unworthy of refutation. I know from experience how infuriating it can be to interact with people who have never taken a class in formal logic, and who will never let go of the inanities to which they have become emotionally wedded.
In particular, I'm thinking of an online argument I once had with an obdurate dunderhead who believed in the Gospel According to Myron C. Fagan, a now largely-forgotten figure who once was the go-to guy when it came to Illuminati lore. Fagan (who still has his defenders) once said that Frank Sinatra was a communist. When I pointed to this assertion as an example of Fagan's insanity, my online "sparring partner" presumed that I must be a communist.
How can one talk to such people?
How can one prevail in a dispute with the fear-junkies who fasten onto nonsensical ideas they way my teething puppy latches onto my socks in the morning?
Actually, that metaphor doesn't really work, since the pooch eventually lets go. Fear-junkies never do. Addicts need their fix.
These addicts have a phobic reaction toward normal standards of evidence. They regard scholarship as a debauched game, as an example of the corruption pervading our society. What they want to be true is true -- in their minds. I'm not the world's greatest fan of Robert Anton Wilson, but these words are wise:
Conspiracy buffs tend to forget the difference between a plausible argument and a real proof. Or between a legal proof, a proof in the behavioral sciences, a proof in physics, a mathematical or logical proof, or a parody of any of the above.When he said those words, the religion of conspiracism was still small, quaint and rather attractive in its oddity. Todays buffs no longer care about plausibility, never mind proof -- yet their numbers grow and their power increases. They elected Trump.
A half-mad civilization cannot long endure. Annoying as these creatures are, we must find the patience necessary to interact with them.
All of which brings me back to the original question: How can tofu-gobbling New Agers (or whatever the current terminology may be) fall for the drivel concocted by the Alex Jonesians and fundamentalist freakazoids? Southern Baptist fear-addicts hate New Agers, yet the vegans and the gun-toters meet at Ye Olde Fearmonger's Shoppe. In truth, those furtive encounters have been taking place for quite a long time; the first time I ever saw The Protocols of the Elders of Zion formally published and offered on sale, I was in a New Age bookshop, circa 1989.
New Agers and Alex Jonesians. How can such strange bedfellows share a sheet for more than a few seconds?
Here's a cognate question: Why is it that the right-wing Illuminati-spotters, who see signs of occult conspiracies everywhere, seem to be the only people who believe that occult rituals actually work? Many of them actually try to practice one or another occult tradition. To prove the point, first go here and then go here. The latter link goes to a piece written by a pro-Trump Thelemite, "Thelema" being the rather bizarre belief system invented by Aleister Crowley. (You may not recognize the the references to "Crowleyanity," but I know about this stuff.)
The hypocrisy is confounding. Proles who dabble in occult rituals firmly believe that their patrician "overlords" share these irrational views and have gone far beyond dabbling.
Is the world run by an occult cabal, as the Alex Jonesians maintain with increasing fervor? No evidence backs this view. I've been reading about "fringe" subjects since the 1970s; if real evidence existed, I'd know about it. I suppose one could cite the case of La Voisin, which takes us all the way back to the 1600s -- but even that case concerns mostly "wannabes" on the edges of the aristocracy, not people who wielded actual power.
In modern times, the only viable examples are to be found stage right.
One could cite the proto-Nazi occultists, as outlined in the excellent work of Nicholas Goodricke-Clarke. One could also cite the case of Steve Bannon, a student of Julius Evola -- who was, in many ways, a product of the 19th century French occult revival. One could even point to Putin, a follower of Alexander Dugin, who in turn draws from Evola.
Yet the Alex Jonesians never talk about Bannon's flirtation with an occult philosopher. The conspiratards prefer to tell all sorts of wild fables about Hillary Clinton, a complete innocent. The fear marketeers consistently refuse to confront the discomforting truth about the right-wing populists, who are the only ones who actually believe in this crap.
Another term for "right-wing populism" is fascism. Some (not all) fascists have become genuinely convinced that the occult view of the world is valid; one can point to the examples of Rudolf Hess, Deitrich Eckart (to whom Mein Kampf was dedicated) -- and, of course, Evola. Dare one add the name of Steve Bannon...?
These are the only occult believers who have ever gotten close to power, at least in recent times.
Yet a popular new mythology absolves everyone on the right while proclaiming all leading Democrats (along with all anti-Trump Republicans) to be devil-worshippers.
A myth can be dangerous if enough people believe it. We need to make the facts crystal clear: Eyes Wide Shut -- the worst film of Saint Stanley's maturity -- is a work of fiction. Pizzagate is a hoax. The people who run the world are not pedophile Satanists. You can read biography after biography of the last century's decision-makers without seeing a single reference to Old Nick. Most pedophiles are of below-average intelligence, incapable of attending good schools; they are more likely to read dimwits like Richard Enos than to hold positions of power.
Yet each day, more and more people -- particularly the ill-educated and the young -- fall under the spell of this insane weltanschauung.
What to do?
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