Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
On this edition of Parallax Views, fake news and the rise of conspiracy theories like QAnon have become political hot-takes since the 2016 election of President Donald Trump and events like the January 6th, 2021 "Stop the Steal" riots on Capitol Hill. But disinformation and conspiracy theories that stretch far beyond the limits of credulity didn't begin in the 21st century. Case in point with the strange case of UFO hobbyist Paul Bennewitz. and what has become know to UFO enthusiasts as "The Bennewitz Affair". It's a story that doesn't necessarily point towards beings from another world, but rather the mix of deliberate disinformation on one hand and flat-out kookery on the other hand that may play a role in phenomena of Pizzagate and QAnon.
Adam Gorightly, author Saucers, Spooks, and Kooks: UFO Disinformation in the Age of Aquarius, and David Perkins, who wrote the forward to said book, join us on this edition of the program join us to unravel how disinformation campaign involving a special agent of United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) and others participated in a disinformation campaign against Bennewitz after the enthusiastic UFO hobbyist began attracting unwanted attention to Kirtland Air Force Base.
The saga of Paul Bennewitz, as you'll learn in this conversation, ended in tragedy. More precisely, Bennewitz was driven off a psychological cliff into madness that culminated in instiutionalization. But the story doesn't end there. As it turns out the fanciful stories fed to Bennewitz about malevolent extraterrestrial, government deals with an alien presence and it's cover-up, an underground base at Dulce, New Mexico, and more formed the foundation of modern UFO mythology, from cattle mutilations to Area 51, in its most conspiratorially-minded form (which, incidentally, often overlap a great deal with far-right wing "Patriot" and militia movements). Regardless of whether one believes in UFOs or not, what makes the Bennewitz Affair and the late 20th UFO Conspiracy subculture potentially interesting today is what it may be able to tell us about disinformation and the current crop of conspiracy theories like QAnon in the 21st century. All that and more on this edition of Parallax Views!
Criminology on Trump w/ Gregg Barak
BrexLit: The Problem of Englishness in Pre- and Post-Brexit Referendum Literature w/ Dulcie Everitt
The Universe is On Our Side: Restoring Faith in American Public Life w/ Bruce Ledewitz/Russia (& Ukraine) Lobbying & Influence-Peddling in D.C. w/ Ben Freeman & Nick Cleveland-Stout
The Stock Market, Inflation & the Crypto Crash w/ Mike Swanson/The Trouble With Passion: How Searching for Fulfillment at Work Fosters Inequality w/ Eric Cech
The Atlantic Realists: Empire and International Political Thought Between Germany and the United States w/ Matthew Specter/French Post-Election Analysis w/ Marlon Ettinger
Wall Street, the Supermob, and the CIA w/ Jonathan Marshall
PREVIEW: Failed State Update - Gabriel of Urantia Warns of the Apocalypse… But This Time We’re Afraid He Means It
The Supreme Court, Abortion, & ”Deeply-Rooted Tradition” w/ William Hogeland/Yemen & the Ceasefire w/ Nasser Arrabyee/Israel, Palestine, & the Question of Apartheid w/ Yumna Patel
Woke Capitalism: How Corporate Morality is Sabotaging Democracy w/ Carl Rhodes/The Podcaster’s Dilemma: Decolonizing Podcasters in the Era of Surveillance Capitalism w/ Nolan Higdon
Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor/Labor Struggle, MMT, and Resisting the ”Doom Pill” w/ Steve Grumbine
The Apocalypse and the End of History: Modern Jihad and the Crisis of Liberalism w/ Suzanne Schneider
Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders & Intellectuals Speak Out w/ Ramzy Baroud & Ilan Pappé
The Fighting Soul: On the Road With Bernie Sanders w/ Ari Rabin-Havt/The Global Financial Crisis, the Fed, & Quantitative Easing w/ Thomas Hoenig
The Al-Aqsa Mosque Uprising, Israel, and Palestine w/ Richard Silverstein
Attack of the 50 Ft CamGirl w/ Ivy Smith & Jim Wynorski
The Slow Erosion of Pax Americana w/ Doug Bandow/Ernst Jünger, The Human Cost of War, and the Global War on Terror w/ Casey Chalk
Santa Claus is Running for Congress w/ Santa Claus
MONARCH: A Novel w/ Candice Wiehle
The FBI, PATCON, and the Oklahoma City Bombing w/ Ken Silva
UN Report Alleges Apartheid in the Occupied Palestinian Territory w/ Michal Lynk
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