The Wild and Wacky Conspiracy World

I don’t think it’s immodest of me to suggest that, in the alternative news/conspiracy world, I have achieved at least some kind of celebrity. However, like entertainment celebrities, and the high schoolers who jockey for position within the ironclad social hierarchy system, I’m well aware of where I stand in that regard.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet a few of the conspiracy celebrities, talk with many more by phone or Skype, and communicate via email or Facebook messenger with countless numbers of them. Like people in society at large, they run the gamut from friendly and down to earth, to marginally sane, to possessing a bloated sense of their own importance.

I’ve reached out to many of these people, as potential guests for my new weekly radio program “I Protest.” https://tfrlive.com/iprotest/  I’ve already had some tremendous guests, like John Barbour, Gerald Celente, Cindy Sheehan, former Colorado Governor Richard Lamm, Jerome Corsi, actor Nick Mancuso, and Lana Wood, sister of Natalie Wood and an actress in her own right. All are  huge names whose fame extends far beyond the conspiracy world, but they are genuine, and have no qualms about communicating with the likes of me.

Several others I admire for various reasons, but who are considerably lower than the above names on any celebrity barometer, ignore me. I’ve emailed David Paulides, author of a series of intriguing Missing 411 books, several times. He has bragged about answering every email sent to him in more than one interview I’ve listened to, but he never responds to mine. Luke Rudkowski, the founder of We Are Change, is someone I think is doing great work. He has never replied to any Facebook messages or emails I’ve sent him.

Rob Dew, producer of Infowars, interviewed me on Infowars Nightly News four years ago, and raved about Hidden History. He even wrote a blurb for the paperback edition of the book. He stopped answering my emails a long time ago, and won’t even retweet links to my interviews. Speaking of the paperback edition, the guy who wrote the Foreword to that, Roger Stone, stopped answering my emails not long after Dew did. He kept saying he’d have me on his War Room segment of Alex Jones’s show, but never even gave me a prospective date.

Respectable “liberals” have really ignored my book Survival of the Richest. Barbara Ehrenreich, not exactly a household name, wrote a great book called Nickel and Dimed, which I quoted from extensively in my text, and was a natural for me to reach out to in promoting Survival. She has never once replied to my Facebook messages, or to posts about the book I’ve tagged her in. A much bigger name that is easily recognizable, Naomi Wolf, interviewed me, asked me to write an op-ed for her Daily Clout web site, wrote a blurb for the book, and will be writing a new Foreword to the paperback edition of Survival. Ironically, Naomi actually compared Survival with Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed in her blurb.

David Talbot founded Salon.com, which published the entire Introduction to Survival on its web site. I had communicated with him a few times about the JFK assassination, an interest we share. He gave me his sister Margaret Talbot’s email address- she seemed even more likely than David to be drawn to Survival. I emailed her three of four times, without the courtesy of a reply. David stopped answering my emails and Facebook messages as well. That doesn’t stop him from frequently ranting about the disparity of wealth on social media. He just won’t mention the most recent, and most detailed book ever written on the subject.

Speaking of Twitter, conspiracy celebrities often mimic their more well known brethren in the entertainment world, as they will usually only “follow” those they consider their “equals” or “betters” on the scale of success. It’s very high school-like behavior, and if it weren’t so sad it would be funny. Of course, getting someone with that kind of arrogance and conceit to retweet something, unless you are “above” them on the pecking order (in which case, of course, you wouldn’t stoop to asking them), is a difficult task. Try getting them to click “like” on a Facebook post, unless they consider you their “superior” in the conspiracy world.

Sometimes it isn’t even a question of a twisted social hierarchy. Jim Fetzer is perhaps the most difficult personality in the conspiracy world. I defended him over and over again, when he quickly wore out his welcome on JFK forum after JFK forum. He interviewed me years ago on his “The Real Deal” show, before it became much bigger. We talked about the Natalee Holloway case, and he sandbagged me during the interview, becoming suddenly antagonistic and debating me from a Wikipedia page. He has never once even acknowledged Hidden History or any of my other books.

Back in 2015, I was asked to be interviewed by Daniel Liszt, aka “Dark Journalist,” who was an early fan of Hidden History. It was a typical discussion for me, and afterward Daniel told me he thought it went really well. A month went by, then two, then six, and the interview never went up anywhere online. I grew tired of the excuses, and simply asked to be sent a copy so that at least my family and I could view it. Daniel stopped responding to my emails, and eventually deleted me as a Facebook friend. He gave no explanation, and my frustration increased as I noticed that his popularity was growing, with his videos now regularly drawing lots of views. As I explained to him, I don’t feel comfortable with video of me out there, which can be manipulated and twisted to suit an agenda. The JFK assassination and similar topics just seems to naturally draw difficult personalities.

Daniel Liszt epitomizes what we see all too often in the alternative media universe. He failed to understand my uneasiness over having a long video of myself out there, without even seeing or hearing it. He didn’t have the common decency to reply to my emails, or at least provide a rationale. High profile “journalists” can pretend to be “above” the likes of writers like me, and therefore routinely ignore my emails, but this was a political brethren who requested an interview from me.

Individuals unknown outside of the JFK assassination research community have somehow found my phone number and called me. Their messages are sometimes barely comprehensible; like so many “researchers,” they have their own confusing agendas. Others email me and ramble on about something that clearly means a great deal to them, but cannot be readily understood by anyone else, including me. They have emailed me manuscripts, which I try to read. Unlike some in the conspiracy world, I do answer these people, and have even talked to a few of them on the phone.

Cynthia McKinney, one of the most courageous congressional representatives this country has ever had, is much easier to contact than many self-absorbed “researchers” in the conspiracy world. Sean Stone, Oliver Stone’s son, is down to earth and will talk to everyone. So is Susan Olsen, who starred as Cindy on The Brady Bunch and is very vocal about her political beliefs. While researching my book on show business, I have had pleasant conversations with actors who appeared on television shows like Family Affair, Father Knows Best and The Waltons. I’ve spoken to members of wildly successful rock bands, and singing idol Bobby Rydell. Graham Parker, a severely underrated singer/composer, and one of my personal favorites, spoke to me for quite a while on Skype and always answers my emails. Even someone as big as Ron Paul was far more receptive to me than your average conspiracy world “star.”

Actress Lana Wood, sister of Natalie Wood, was much easier for me to contact than many conspiracy world celebrities. She gave me her phone number, and it was beyond surrealistic to spend a few late nights texting back and forth with her. Actress Sally Kirkland is also very approachable and answers emails and Facebook messages.

But Joseph McBride, who worked with Orson Welles, and has written a lot of books, including a privately published one about the JFK assassination, will not answer my emails or Facebook messages. He has had a prestigious career, but is “famous” to the public at large in only a very minimal way. He did respond to me once early on, when I suggested we trade autographed copies of our books. He kind of surprised me when he said he already had Hidden History, although he has never given his impressions of it to me or anywhere online.

I recognize that many of those inhabiting this world I spend so much time in do act as if they are as unbalanced as the establishment likes to suggest they are. One of the You Tube comments from an interview I did with Sarah Westall, alleged that I was a powerful Freemason. The astute commentator ferreted this information out, due to the fact I was wearing a “plad” shirt and a soccer ball was visible on the bookshelf behind me. Miles Mathis, another difficult online “star” in the alternative media world, once claimed both I and the late Dave McGowan were some kind of “spooks,” about whom nothing could be found online. He even claimed there were no photos of us. I urge anyone interested to google my name. You will find several pictures, and lots of information. Mathis doesn’t answer emails asking him to appear on my show, either.

Mathis, like other online commentators, feels I’m not “going far enough.” That I’m a “limited hangout” type of guy. This particularly comes into play whenever I’ve said positive things about Alex Jones or Ron Paul. If I don’t talk enough about Zionist control of the media, I’m covering up for “the Jews.”

There are lots of great people in the alternative world who do answer my emails and sometimes phone calls. Some of them have become good cyber friends. I treasure my friendship with John Barbour, and Billy Ray Valentine (host of “The Infinite Fringe,” whistle blower Heidi Weber, talk show hosts S.T. Patrick, Ella Felder, Sean from SGT Report, Dustin Nemos, Chuck Ochelli, Meria Heller, Richard Syrett, Jeff Rense, and Sarah Westall.

Now, I’m certain that if I were ever able to gain access to a truly mainstream media outlet, I would be blasted for other predictable reasons. I would be deemed a “wacko,” a “racist,” a “communist,” a “socialist,” an “anti-semite,” “paranoid,” and laughed off as a “conspiracy theorist.” But I don’t think I have to worry about that; our establishment press keeps restricting debate even further. There is no room on their television stations or their seldom-read newspapers and magazines for voices with my perspective.

The JFK assassination forums, the 9/11 forums, and popular sites like Godlike Productions and Lunatic Outpost are filled with combative, bombastic personalities. They each feel they have the one, true answer to everything. Everyone who doesn’t agree with them is a “disinfo agent,” much as mainstream media “journalists” label anyone who doesn’t buy their state-fueled propaganda to be a “wacko” or a “conspiracy theorist.” But they are also filled with brilliant insight from anonymous posters, which keeps me coming back.

While I love exposing historical lies and official corruption, sometimes I wonder how much easier it would be to write about mundane, noncontroversial topics. Cats. Food. Nonthreatening trivia. Professional advice giver.

But I’ve made my choice. One accepts what comes with sending forth those unwanted “tiny ripples of hope.”