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 Israel/Palestine Conflict and The Specter of Meir Kahane w/ Yossi Gurvitz
The Impact of Sanctions on Human Rights w/ UN Special Rapporteur Dr. Alena Douhan
The D.C. Foreign Policy "Blob" and Its Discontents w/ Doug Bandow
U.S. Foreign Policy, Regime Change, and Afghanistan w/ Stephen Kinzer
Bill Gates, Intellectual Property, and the COVID Vaccine Supply Crisis w/ Alexander Zaitchik
The Havana Syndrome Controversy w/ Dr. Robert Bartholomew
A Post-Derek Chauvin Verdict Conversation w/ Irami Osei-Frimpong
The JFK Assassionation: On the Trail of Delusion?... Counterpoint w/ James DiEugenio
The JFK Assassination: On the Trail of Delusion? w/ Fred Litwin
SDNY Court Cases: Guo Wengwui, Ghislaine Maxwell, & Michael Avenatti w/ Matthew Russell Lee
An Update on Imprisoned Whistleblower Reality Winner w/ Brittany Winner, Reality's Sister
U.S.-China Relations, Diplomacy, and War w/ Amb. Chas Freeman
The Return of Barrett Brown!
The U.S. Military and the Toxic "Forever Chemicals" Scandal w/ David Bond
Public Intellectual: The Life of a Citizen Pilgrim w/ Richard Falk
The Lenin Plot: The Unknown Story of America's War Against Russia w/ Barnes Carr
Afghanistan and America's "Forever Wars" w/ Danny Sjursen
A Troma-tic! Chat w/ Lloyd Kaufman
Facing Our Global Crises & Maintaining Hope w/ Slavoj Zizek
Media, Iraq War Anniversary, Matt Gaetz, A Potential New Financial Crisis w/ Ken Silverstein
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