Skeptic Project

I just now came across a page on the Harris Interactive site about a recent Harris poll showing the extraordinary popularity of various wacky beliefs about Obama, including:

• He wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government (29%)
• He wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers (23%)
• He may be the Anti-Christ (14%)

The first two beliefs mentioned above are pretty much at the heart of "New World Order" beliefs. So, it would seem that Alex Jones's statistic about the number of "New World Order" believers here in the U.S.A. is, indeed, not too far off.

none of the above is "spam", if you want to see real "spam", don't look here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0

I warned you, don't say I didn't.

"Are you sure you aren't just knee-jerking because I agreed with Alex Jones about something?"

No, my liberal friends on Facebook posted this stupid poll endlessly because it "proved" that rightwingers were crazy. We looked into the company that did the polling and everything about it stunk.

Its a piece of shit, but hey, believe it if you want. I wanted to, since I can't stand rightwingers. But I couldn't do it without being intellectually dishonest with myself, and that is something I will not do.

Why do you want to believe this poll is true so badly? It makes my fellow liberals look like vultures.

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/scott-whitlock/2010/03/24/after-heavily-touting-online-poll-msnbcs-david-shuster-questions-sur</p>

The methodology for the poll was garbage as was the way it was reported.

Thanks for making me go to NewsBusters. I hate that site.

I was wrong on remembering why the poll stunk. It wasn't the company that did it, it was the way the poll was conducted. Can't remember everything.

"To Matt: Thanks for the link to Newsbusters, which, however much you may hate that site, provides a lot more substantive info than you just saying that the poll is "garbage," which really doesn't tell me anything at all."

I don't understand why you sourced a poll you hadn't investigated in the first place.

"1) In what part of the country do you live?"

I live in Tulsa, OK.

Still want to ask question number two?

"Are you aware of the rapid worldwide growth of independent charismatic churches these past several decades?"

OMG NOT UNTIL YOU JUST TOLD ME ABOUT IT HOLY CRAP

Anna Falling ran for mayor here. Her pet issue was putting a creationist exhibit in the Tulsa Zoo.

So yeah. I'm aware.

"Harris is a respected polling organization of long standing. I assumed that they know what they are doing. That assumption may be wrong, of course, but it seemed prima facia reasonable."

The poll results were anything but reasonable, which made me investigate it rather than automatically assuming it reinforced what I already wanted to believe.

But that's me.

"So you're aware of creationism, at least. Have you paid much attention to the varieties of evangelical/fundamentalist/charismatic end-times beliefs, and how those beliefs have been evolving these past few decades?"

Nah, I couldn't possibly know anything until you tell me about it.

I checked out your site, and honestly, I don't think I want to continue a dialogue with you.

You strike me as a humanist zealot, and despite having no spiritual beliefs whatsoever, I find groups like yours to be extreme and counterproductive.

"Whatever the religious right wing is against, we are for!"

Seriously? How juvenile.

Matt wrote:

"Whatever the religious right wing is against, we are for!"

Seriously? How juvenile.

We are for: GLBT rights, abortion rights, quality scientific education, rights of religious minorities, etc.

The slogan is intended to attract people who are incensed by the religious right wing's goals on multiple fronts. I'm sorry that this strikes you as "juvenile."

Anyhow, even if the Harris poll's numbers turn out to be greatly exaggerated, it is still evident that, to at least some very significant extent, there has been a massive recent growth in the popularity of grand conspiracy ideology.

Here's my collection of links documenting this:

The growing popularity of grand conspiracy ideology

• Conspiracy theories propel AM radio show into Top 10 by Delfin Vigil, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, November 12, 2006.
• Jesse Ventura Takes the Soaring Interest in Conspiracy Theory to TV -- And Viewers Are Flocking to It by Daniela Perdomo, AlterNet, January 30, 2010.
• In a zombie nation, 'secret' history sells by Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Tuesday, October 06, 2009. Includes mention of (1) Fox News host Glenn Beck's speculation about the "true meaning" of the architecture of New York's Rockefeller Center and (2) the popularity of books about the Freemasons, the Illuminati, and America's "occult" origins at a local Barnes & Noble bookstore.
• Glenn Beck makes nice with the John Birch Society by Alex Koppelman, Salon.com, Thursday, Jul 26, 2007.
• Who Is Irma Plavatsky? Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, and the Internationalization of Popular Culture from the Dime Novel to The Da Vinci Code by Massimo Introvigne, Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), 2006. Introvigne has also written Dan Brown and the London Court Case: After Many Bogus Conspiracies, A Real One Finally Surfaces and Dan Brown Wins the London Case - where Judge Confirms that the Priory of Sion is a Hoax, about the legal dispute between Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, and Michael Baigent and Richard Leigh, co-authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail (1982).

Grand conspiracy ideology and the religious right wing

• Articles by political analyist Chip Berlet:

• Dances with Devils How Apocalyptic and Millennialist Themes Influence Right Wing Scapegoating and Conspiracism. Detailed multi-page article with lots of information about the religious right wing. (Link leads to table of contents.)
• Hagee's Antisemitic Conspiracy theories. Briefly discusses Pat Robertson and Tim LaHaye, as well as John Hagee, as part of a brief history of grand conspiracy ideology in the U.S.A. (Note: The characterization of Hagee's beliefs as "antisemitic" is probably inaccurate or at least overstated. See NYARBB's position against "Illuminati" claims.)
• John Salvi, Abortion Clinic Violence, and Catholic Right Conspiracism. Contains information about the Catholic religious right wing, plus a section on the tendency of the mass media to ignore the grand conspiracy ideologies of right wing movements, even though these movements often do manage to attain mainstream political clout at least temporarily.

• New world order, old world anti-Semitism - Pat Robertson of the Christian Coalition by Ephraim Radner, Christian Century, Sept 13, 1995
• Anti-Masonic Examples: Pat Robertson on the "Anti-Masonry: Points of View" site by Edward L. King

• Wikipedia article on Tim LaHaye
• Americans United for Separation of Church and State: If Best-Selling End-Times Author Tim LaHaye Has His Way, Church-State Separation Will Be ... Left Behind by Rob Boston, February 2002
• Talk To Action: The World According to Tim LaHaye: Chapter Eight - The Age Old Conspiracy by Chip Berlet, Mon Sep 18, 2006
• Page on Tim & Beverly LaHaye in Time magazine's photo essay 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America, Feb. 7, 2005 (date obtained here)

• John Hagee's Controversial Gospel - An excerpt from Sarah Posner's new book, God's Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters, The American Prospect, March 12, 2008.
• Hagee Mass-Marketed Hitler's Favorite Conspiracy Theory by Bruce Wilson, Huffington Post, June 12, 2008
• Resource Page on John Hagee and Christian Zionism by Bruce Wilson, Talk To Action, Mon Nov 02, 2009

• Part 2 of Spiritual Mapping and Spiritual Warfare - Muthee and the "Transformations" Franchise by Ruth, on Chip Berlet's blog Talk To Action, October 30, 2008. (See also Bruce Wilson's posts Imagining a Witchcraft-Fighting Vice President, October 31, 2008, and Links to Information and Documentaries on Palin's Churches. See also A true Halloween horror: Sarah Palin's extensive connections to Joel's Army by dogemperor, Daily Kos, October 30, 2008.)
• Conspiracy as Prophecy, Fri Jun 12, 2009, and Col. Jim Ammerman, Apostle & New World Order Conspiracy Theorist, Mon Jun 22, 2009, by Ruth, Talk To Action. (Col. Jim Ammerman heads the Chaplaincy of Full Gospel Churches, an endorsing agency for over 270 military chaplains and chaplain candidates, as well as chaplains serving prisons and veteran's hospitals.)
• What Palin's "Jewish people will be flocking to Israel" statement really means by Bruce Wilson, Talk To Action, Thu Nov 19, 2009

• The Legend(s) of John Todd - reprint of editorial from Christianity Today, February 2, 1979
• The Cornerstone series on Mike Warnke (and another copy here of "Selling Satan: The Tragic History of Mike Warnke" by Jon Trott and Mike Hertenstein)
• Illuminati - RationalWiki. Very brief article emphasizing promotion of Illuminati claims in evangelical Christian subculture

The claims of Mike Warnke and other "ex-Satanists" helped to launch the "Satanic Ritual Abuse" scare of the 1980's and early 1990's. Also they played a key role in popularizing the more occult-oriented versions of "Illuminati" claims among evangelical Christians, especially among Pentecostals and charismatics. (Note that Pentecostals are among the fastest-growing Christian denominations.)

Grand conspiracy ideology and other right wing movements

• The John Birch Society, from the book Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort by Chip Berlet and Matthew Lyons (Guilford Publications, 2000). See also this news story about the John Birch Society's summer youth camp by Roy Rivenburg , Los Angeles Times, July 1996. Nearly all of today's many variants of "Illuminati" conspiracy ideology are heavily influenced by the John Birch Society's version, which was widely promoted in the 1960's. More recently, the JBS, once regarded by mainstream Republicans as a beyond-the-pale extremist group, has become increasingly influential in the conservative movement as a whole. (See, for example, Rightwing Fringe Welcome at Conservative Confab, Gay Republicans Not So Much by Steve Benen, Alternet, December 17, 2009, about the JBS being welcomed as a co-sponsor of the Conservative Political Action Conference.)
• Battling the New World Order: Patriots and Armed Militias, another excerpt from the book Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort by Chip Berlet and Matthew Lyons.. Includes a section titled "Ripples on the Pond," about some "local, state, and federal election races where candidates for public office sought to attract voters from the ranks of the "Patriot" movement" and were, in most cases, elected successfully. Also includes examples of successful influence by the "Patriot" movement on the Republican Party in terms of agenda.
• Beyond the Bombing: The Militia Menace Grows, Anti-Defamation League, 1995, on the Nizkor site.
• Lyndon LaRouche: Fascist Demagogue - collection of articles by Chip Berlet
• Common Law and Uncommon Courts: An Overview of the Common Law Court Movement by Mark Pitcavage, on the ADL site, about the weird legal theories of the Posse Comitatus, a source of many ideas of the subsequent "Patriot Movement"
• The North American Union: Right-wing Populist Conspiracism Rebounds by Chip Berlet. A recent (spring 2008) example of "Illuminati" conspiracy-believing right wingers influencing mainstream politics. (Note, however, that not all the people who worry about a forthcoming "NAU" are "Illuminati" believers; some just see the alleged NAU plan as an agenda of multi-national corporations.)

The spread of grand conspiracy ideology into other social milieux

• David Icke And The Politics Of Madness: Where The New Age Meets The Third Reich by Will Offley, on PublicEye.org.
• Jay-Z, Swizz Beatz Deny 'On To The Next One' Satanic Rumors by Shaheem Reid, MTV, January 13, 2010, and Jay-Z music video accused of being 'satanic' by Ann Lee, Metro (U.K.), 14th January, 2010. The rumors discussed here include allegations that rapper Jay-Z is a "Master Mason" and a member of the Illuminati, as well as a "Devil worshiper." For an example of these allegations that made it into Google News search, see Is Hip Hop CEO Jay-Z a Member of ‘The Illuminati,’ a Satanic Cult?! (Photos) by Elizabeth Malchow on HipHopRX, January 16th, 2010.
• Farrakhan Rails Against “Illuminati”; Praised by Venezuelan Consul by Richard Bartholomew, March 29, 2007. See also Minister Farrakhan addresses thousands across nation in lecture series by Nubian L. Muhammad, March 22, 2007, on Farrakhan's own website, and see also McCain Has His Own Farrakhan by Joe Conason, New York Observer, March 4, 2008.
• Too Weird for The Wire: How black Baltimore drug dealers are using white supremacist legal theories to confound the Feds by Kevin Carey, Washington Monthly, May/June/July 2008.
• The Sucker Punch of Right/Left Coalitions and Right Woos Left by Chip Berlet, about the influx of right wing ideologies into otherwise progressive political movements such as the anti-war movement.
• Austin, Texas: paranoid politics central by Amanda Marcotte, Guardian (U.K.), Friday 19 February 2010

Who do you think is paying me to post here, Casey?

OK BAN ME WE WILL ALL ME FREESPEACH FROM NOW ON!!!

These foreigners who are conspiracy theorists are funny.

"All debunkers are COMPLETE AND TOTAL WANKERS!!! IF YOU DID NOT HAVE A VESTED INERTEST IN THE FIRST PLACE YOU WOULDINT WAIST YOUR TIME TO DEBUNK SOMTHING YOU THOUGHT WAS STUPID!!!! GET A LIFE OR CONTINUE AND STILL GET PAID OFF THE CORUPRT GOVENMENT!!! ................ NOY EVERYONE IS STUPID AND BOUGHT BUY SPIN!!!! 316

NOT ALL OF US ARE DUNB YET!!! "

Just be quiet.