Conspiracy theories - the business model  
 
 
 



What is really happening in the world? Of course, for enlightenment, we cannot depend on the traditional press and their fake news. Our friend Mr Trump tells us that all the newspapers and media outlets are in the pockets of the super-rich (apart from Fox News obviously) and, obviously, these billionaires have their own agenda.  This is even more clear now when, thanks to the internet, we know that the super-rich are a part of the 'deep state', the group of characters that truly control the world - also known as the "Illuminati". There are those who pour scorn on such an idea. Fortunately though, there are others ready to defend the truth about this state within a state.

Despite the accusation that he is only a conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones, the famous American radio host and
owner of the websites InfoWars, NewsWars and Prison Planet, continues to convey the truth, with President Trump's explicit televised endorsement.  In addition to warning us against the conspiracy by the deep state against the present President, he also insists that this hidden government controls the climate and that multidimensional extraterrestrial demons are conquering the world. Which all sounds very reasonable. And, of course, amongst the demons are Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Alex Jones tells us that both of them really give off the smell of sulphur and that, even when surrounded by hundreds of people, it is only Barack Obama who is surrounded by flies. All the proof we need of his true demonic nature!

Obviously, though, telling us these truths costs a lot and therefore Alex Jones appeals for funds, with much success, to his listeners and those who read his websites. At the moment you can donate between 25 and 1000 dollars with a click on the "Donations" page. He says:

"In twenty years we have grown incredibly here at Infowars. Now we reach the next level. We are about to launch satellite syndicated TV shows all over North America and we need your help to achieve this. Please join us in this cause to free the minds of North Americans and donate what you can so that we can spread the word on an exponentially larger scale.”

He also sells goods on his sites that are linked to his message. And it's a message of the horror to come, when the third world war takes place, sponsored by the Illuminati. And this time it will be a nuclear war with more than just a couple of atomic bombs. From his site therefore you can buy a variety of food supplements and vitamins and even toothpaste (without fluoride of course). The products aren't perhaps advertised with the same aggressive tone as the rest of his site but, when you dig down, they do not disappoint.  There is a section dedicated to survival, with titles such as 'Nuclear and Biological', 'Emergency Radio', 'Outdoor Survival Tools', and 'Freeze dried”.  There is also 'Emergency Survival Food': here you have the choice of plastic boxes containing a balanced diet of freeze-dried foods. For a quantity sufficient for 72 hours after the nuclear war we are asked to pay 20 dollars and for an amount which would last for a year, 2 160 dollars, a reduced price compared to the usual one of 2 500 dollars. All products have a shelf life of 25 years, although making a claim under the 25 year guarantee could be a difficulty - if the difficulty only came to light after a nuclear war. And it does not indicate where non-radioactive water will come from to reconstitute the food.  Details!

He also says that the mass school shootings, including the 2012 attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School, which left 20 children dead, were actually a trick involving child actors. It was sponsored by the Obama administration to provide a pretext for introducing firmer restrictions on firearms. Given the incalculable benefit that Mr. Jones brings to the world, it is surprising therefore that Facebook, Apple, Spotify, Twitter and YouTube have now decided to banish him from its platforms. They cite a failure to follow their rules. Without doubt it is all a conspiracy against him by the Illuminati.  But it will limit not only the main source of truth on the internet, but also a considerable source of money for Mr. Jones - and this at a time when some parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook have sued him for libel. The trials will be before juries, and juries are known for their generosity when they decide in favour of a grieving parent!

We have not only Alex Jones who transmits the truth to a world hungry for that commodity. We also have Alex Wakefield, the former doctor who, a few years ago, published his research on the danger of contracting autism for children vaccinated with MMR vaccine (against mumps, measles and rubella). The General Medical Council in Great Britain decided that his research was so full of errors that even he he could not actually have believed the truth of his conclusions. So they removed his name from the medical register. It does not seem, however, that this has made much difference. He is now a hero of the 'antivax' world movement. These are the people who believe that vaccination is an attack on freedom of choice, something that is unjustifiable given the risk of the accompanying autism.

They believe that there are in fact non-contaminated vaccines which do not cause autism, but that these are reserved for the rich. In a population in which less than 95% of people are vaccinated, there is a strong risk of the rapid spread of the diseases we try to prevent. And unfortunately we now see this in action. There is an increase in the number of cases of measles in this country, and therefore in the number of deaths from the disease. But there are even more in Italy where the anti-vax movement has the support of the M5S political party.  The celebrity of the former doctor Wakefield has given him an adoring audience, ready to pay for the dissemination of his nonsense at conferences, by means of a film (pay per view) and in his books.


But the lie is not only spread in this obvious way. We see that Russian 'Trolls' support the film made by Wakefield, and not just in the chatrooms. They have posted on the internet, for example, a story that says that after the vaccinations of children in a Mexican village, 75% of those children died or went to hospital. This kind of disinformation however is not new. In 1983, some Russian agents planted a fake report in an Indian newspaper. It claimed that the AIDS virus had been developed by the US government.  It was made to hit African Americans and the gay community of the United States.  That this was a successful Russian strategy was confirmed by a survey in 2005. It found that almost half of the African Americans interviewed believed that HIV was "man-made".

Why is Russia acting this way? It seems that it sees this confusion as a political advantage. Not only when the government was communist, but even now under Putin, the government is working to destabilize the Western Democracy.  Obviously for a weak country economically, trying to weaken the influence of the most powerful 'enemy' on emerging countries is a very useful strategy. It means that they can have a burgeoning relationship with those countries and so use their relatively unregulated banking systems to launder money.  As usual - follow the money!

Paul Buckingham

August 2018

 
 
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