Most of you will want to click on to the next blog, but a few of you might be interested in this. Yes, it's piffle. Yes, piffle might seem an indulgence at a time when so many serious problems face the world.
But it's Christmas, and I'm in the mood for something light-hearted.
About eight years ago, I embarked on a book -- never finished -- on the dangers of conspiracy theories. My intent was to investigate certain widely-distributed documents considered gospel truths by believers.
A large segment of the populace went conspiracy-mad during the Clinton years; this project was my small attempt to help restore some sanity.
Perhaps the time has come to continue that book. The controlled demolition beliefs of today bear no small resemblance to the nonsense in circulation a decade ago.
That's why I've decided to pull this items from the files. I doubt if it will have a restorative effect on the nation's mental health, but it may bring a smile to those who can recall the madness of yesteryear.
Our subject today is the great "Alternative Three" conspiracy -- a hoax which still lives on in some quarters.
Believe it or not, many people were once just as passionate about A3 as are today's preachers of the gospel of controlled demolition.
This yarn certainly seems quite silly after 9/11 and the Iraq debacle. But in the 1990s, the real world gave us fewer reasons for paranoia, so those who got a junkie's rush from fear scrambled for an armload of this stuff.
Near the end, I will present a previously-unpublished item which still somewhat mystifies me. But I'm saving that for the grand finale. The beginning comes after the jump.
(Do forgive the lack of footnotes, but I'm pressed for time and formatting these things can be a bother.)
(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)
Lies live many times before their deaths. Sometimes they seem indestructible: Like some malign Tex Avery character, the Protocols myth keeps popping back up no matter how many anvils drop on it.
Fortunately, fear-marketeers can peddle a bogus apocalypse only so many times. Life goes on, the planet refuses to cease spinning, and the naive finally realize their naivete.
Case in point: Alternative Three, a British hoax famed through print and cathode ray tube.
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