Conspiracy Theories, Skepticism, and Critical Thinking

Last week we discovered that an ancestor of Jonathan May’s was given a benefit by King Charles I, and no one in his family ever knew this. He then began to invest and set up charters for thousands of different businesses (?) in order to collect on it or something. He was, as he claims, already a successful businessman and this was just more money for him. We left off with his claim that, “ I discovered that a minute cartel controlled all banking policies worldwide, and that the provision or non-provision of ‘money’ was all controlling.” Because we just finished reading the Protocols inside this book, I have a certain expectation for what May is going to claim (hint: I think he’s going to blame the Jews), but I do have to suspend that. So far we know very little, and what we do know is very difficult to verify. This is largely because May likes to brag alot. He’s a very successful businessman, even though he has no education. He claims that he is known for finding things at good price, ...

No more Protocol numbers. We leave Cooper’s inclusion of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion for new writing. This chapter is titled “The Story of Jonathan May,” and I assumed that it would be Cooper reporting some conspiracy about this person. However, it’s not that at all: it’s a letter from May to Cooper. Rather, it’s a letter that May sent to five members of congress pleading his case. This is a 26-page long letter, and I almost feel bad for the congressional aide that had to read it, though it must have made for a good discussion over drinks. How Cooper acquired the letter is never explained. I don’t know if he was also sent a copy. My first complaint is that this is 26 pages long. I read, I read a lot. At my side gig I am known for the fact that on long breaks I sometimes have a book. My complaint isn’t the length because it’s too long for me to read. My complaint is that I want to read Cooper’s book, not an anthology of weird conspiracy documents he found on a BBS service back i...

The strangest thing about this post is that I do not know exactly how to write it. I’d always intended to cover this book—in fact, it was going to follow Behold a Pale Horse. However, the framing of this book within another book changes things because of the context. I had also known that the Protocols were in this book as well, but I assumed they were abridged in some fashion and not just plagiarized entirely. That changes things a little bit, but by that much. The first thing I want to say about it is that this is definitely a case of something I would like to call “the Mona Lisa Effect.” Think of the Mona Lisa. Ok, how big is that painting? In most people’s heads it looms large, but it’s about the size of a normal portrait (it’s actually 30 by 21), not tiny but not the wall covering monolith that we picture it because of its reputation. This is similar to Machiavelli’s “The Prince.” That book can be read in a few hours, it’s very short; but it has a reputation. The Protocols are li...

 Protocol 24 We come to the end of the book within a book. I’ll have thoughts on the entire thing and a summary next week, but we do still have to deal with this final protocol. “I pass now to the method of confirming the dynastic roots of King David to the last strata of the Earth .” This is one of those meaningless statements that sounds cool. Alex Jones does this all of the time; he goes on long rants about how he’s “for humanity” and it sounds really cool until you consider that it’s just vacuous in meaning. I’m sure Nilus worked really hard on this statement, but there’s nothing here. The elder is going to confirm the dynastic roots. Ok, that’s a sensible thing, but then he’s going to do so until the end of the Earth. I get the metaphor, but I’m not buying it. The Elder seems confused here. Is he taking over or is he ruling from the shadows? The first sentence makes me think that they are going to rule directly, but two paragraphs later he says, “ Certain members of the seed o...

Protocol 23 "That the peoples may become accustomed to obedience it is necessary to inculcate lessons of humility and therefore to reduce the production of articles of luxury." One of the biggest problems in the conspiracy world is that the conspiracy theorists seemingly want to lament the system that enforces a class system while at the same time not wanting to recommend any kind of system that would replace it. For example, present day conspiracy theorists seem to have an utter disdain for the capitalist system but they never dare criticize that because they've spent their entire lives demonizing Communism and Marxism. Someone like Bill Gates or George Soros should be their ideal because they are very wealthy. They've won capitalism, but instead they are demonized because they use their money in ways that conspiracy theorists don't like.  Similarly the Elder here is trying to tell us that humility can be taught if there are no items of luxury; but I can't se...