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!
The Gwangju Massacre and U.S. Complicity in the Tragedy w/ Tim Shorrock and In Jeong Kim
Climate Crisis Solutions, Greenwashing, and a Post-Capitalist Future w/ Dr. Ye Tao
Mysteries Remain Around Ghislaine Maxwell w/ Gabriella Lombardo
REPLAY: Anti-Boycott Laws Threaten Free Speech + U.S. Arms Enable Saudi Assault on Yemen (w/ Alan Leveritt; William Hartung)
A Critical Look at AIPAC and Its Recent Strategic Pivot w/ Grant F. Smith
Wall Street Journal‘s Saudi Shilling + Foreign Policy Chat w/ Jim Lobe/The $778 Billion Pentagon Budget w/ Stephen Semler
To Govern the Globe: World Orders and Catastrophic Change w/ Alfred W. McCoy
The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family w/ David Cay Johnston
FDR, Pearl Harbor, the McCollum Memo, and the Road to WWII Pt. 2 w/ Douglas P. Horne
FDR, Pearl Harbor, the McCollum Memo, and the Road to WWII Pt. 1 w/ Douglas P. Horne
U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal Negotiations in Vienna w/ Ryan Costello
Anti-Boycott Laws Threaten Free Speech + U.S. Arms Enable Saudi Assault on Yemen (w/ Alan Leveritt; William Hartung)
Vigilantism, Big Pharma, & the Opioid Epidemic Collide in PAINKILLER w/ Mark Savage and Bill Oberst, Jr.
Dark Money Network Pushing Pro-Saudi/UAE Policies w/ Eli Clifton
IMPROMPTU GHISLAINE MAXWELL TRIAL BRIEF w/ Marlon Ettinger
Revisiting the Siege at Ruby Ridge w/ Freddie DeBoer & C. Derick Varn
Climate Change, Nation-States, and The Greatest National Security Threat w/ Anatol Lieven
U.S. MidEast Policy Was Never About Democracy w/ Juan Cole/A ‘Play‘ Cold War? w/ Mike Swanson
The History of U.S. Resistance to War Profiteering w/ Hunter DeRensis
Vulture Capitalism & The Hijacking of America‘s Pandemic Response w/ Nina Burleigh
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