“The shock of discovering that most of the power in the world is held by ignorant and greedy people can really bum you out at first; but after you’ve lived with it a few decades, it becomes, like cancer and other plagues, just another problem that we will solve eventually if we keep working at it.”

Others:

“The Bible tells us to be like God, and then on page after page it describes God as a mass murderer. This may be the single most important key to the political behavior of Western Civilization.”

“Belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence.”

“If you think you know what the hell is going on, you’re probably full of shit.”

Centers around a hard-right fanatic, who turns out is a fan of Robert Anton Wilson, which is baffling to every degree.  He also decries “stealth jihadis” based on limited information but doesn’t seem to care whatsoever about fanatical Christians like Hagee, fanatical Jews who murdered Rabin in Israel, or even the fanatical edge in our own government who murdered hundreds of thousands in Iraq based on false intelligence.  So yeah, while fanatical Islam is a nightmare, saying that Pamela Gellar is one of the reasonable voices on the right pretty much defies debate.  But it’s still a fun debate to read.  Some great comments act as an epilogue:

On right wing Christianity:

Picture yourself as a Christian having dinner at Red Lobster, sitting there in your mixed fabric outfit, adjusting your reading glasses to better see the menu before reaching out to touch the hand of your menstruating wife.  You’ve just broken a series of biblical laws here, but you rationalize that the 3000 year old Book of Leviticus was sort of crazy, and that you’d have to be a nutcase to follow rules like that, even if they come from your holy book. After all, it said it’s perfectly fine to own slaves, and we don’t regard that as being civilized anymore (or sane, for that matter).  Neither do we stone adulterers anymore (if we did, the bulk of Right-wing evangelical ministers would meet with a gruesome end).

You see, the thing about old religious writings is while they may have a deep wisdom in them (somewhere, if you look hard enough), the truth is that they are loaded with crazy talk, even when they are claimed to be ‘the word of God’.

That’s an important truth to know, because it’s a universal truth.  Muslims are no different than Christians in turning a blind eye to the crazy talk in their religious writings.  Instead, they hold on to the things that still resonate today, the deep wisdom that speaks of peace and love, and they ignore the violent words just like Christians ignore the admonition to stone a man to death for being stubborn *because those asinine words are completely fucked up, and everyone knows that*, unless one is a Right-winger of either religion, clinging to hate that should’ve died out long ago.

This ancient crazy talk is the major source of what drives war today.  For example, Zionists use it to attempt to justify a ‘Right of Return’ after 2000 years when they won’t grant the same right of return to the people they drove off the land six decades ago.  The insanity of that and the continuing occupation of Palestine has pulled the US into a political/religious morass that, for all intents and purposes, now pretty much spans the globe.

The greater part of the Tea Party that you support is made up of Christians and Jews that cling to a lot of the crazy talk, rather than ignoring it like sane people do (and though I’m an atheist, I do count sane Christians and Jews among my friends, so I know this first hand).  I can understand your horror at the evangelical nature of Right-wing Muslims and their desire to push everyone to follow Koranic law, but there is something perversely envious on the part of Right-wing Christians who observe this, as they’d like to force us all to follow the rules of their crazy talk, but are less successful as Western society is generally more sophisticated and therefore, more immune to crazy talk.

Talking about the dangers of Sharia law or the threat of Islam is paranoid and psychotic, as manifested by the lack of military power in Islamic nations.  The US, (the last superpower on the planet) on the other hand, is in the midst of a crusade that has killed an unknowably large number of Muslims, wars fought in the midst of an undercurrent of anti-Islam crazy talk shouted non-stop by the likes of you and your “colleagues” (ick, as someone said earlier).

You charge the Leftists here as having lost their open-mindedness, whist you, Davis Swindle, have fallen into a Right-wing feedback look of continual self-reinforcement of every belligerent notion that pops up and every misguided fear.  Every radical statement by a Muslim outlier becomes a representative statement of Islam in the twisted worldview of your ilk, while parallel statements by extremist Christian pastors/priests/ Jewish rabbis are either blinkered out or adopted as gospel, with not the slightest awareness of hypocrisy.

On RAW:

I just wanted to comment on how disappointing a day it is that we are finally seeing people now using RAW’s theories on reality tunnels to justify holding your basic-run-of-the mill-asinine-reactionary right wing beliefs.

I guess it was inevitable, but it doesn’t make it any less pathetic looking.  It’s also indicative of this new culture of hackneyed blogger pundits that delude themselves into thinking they are writers, but have the literary instincts of autistic software programmer.  (OK, that one was aimed at Swindle.)

I think it’s fair to say most so called leftists here have enough disdain for religious fundamentalism that when it actually counted (and wasn’t just masturbatory barking like the right) they would not tolerate any legality of Sharia Law. Deep down most conservative pundits know this, but they lament leftists so called lack of fear mongering to justify they’re own cowardice, bigotry and general loudmouth asshole behavior.

In the coming years Islamic culture may make leaps and strides in becoming what we would call more progressive, enlightened, and democratic.  There may be a myriad of reasons for this.

However, one thing I can guarantee is that none of those reasons will have anything to do with the simplistic, uncreative , paranoid, ape-like zealousness of the current right wing ideology being espoused by reactionary robots like David Horowitz, and his flunkies, jerking themselves off in there own Oedipal filth.  (Anybody that’s seen Horowitz interviewed knows this dude’s running on daddy issues)

So Jesus Freaks, sorry to break it to you, but if you identify as a right wing christian the probability that your ideas will have any positive effect on the progress of our future society is pretty slim.

As far as RAW himself, anybody that followed his writing and statements after 9/11 up until his death knew that he retained what could be considered a “Chomsky like” leftism.  Remember “The War on Some Terrorism?”  Remember him saying something to the like that if the U.S. Government was consistent in trying to eradicate terrorism the first thing they would do is bomb the CIA headquarters at Langley?

Witty incendiary statements like these(which are to be revered in coming from such a counterculture saint as RAW) make people like Horowitz shit their pants and grab their pitchforks so they can espouse from their molehill how liberals are disintegrating American culture.

So, new rule:  If you’re going to use RAW as some kind of intellectual precedent…get some fucking creativity.  And if you’re going to question your “Leftist Realty Tunnel,” don’t replace it with a reality tunnel that excretes ideas that make you look like a third rate Ann Coulter.

Quantum Psychology- Robert Anton Wilson

Next, I’m going to take a look at:

Quantum Consciousness: The Guide to Experiencing Quantum Psychology – Stephen Wolinsky

In commercials for Domino’s Pizza, the chain’s employees wage a never ending battle against the Noid, a gremlin who delays deliveries and carries a gun that can turn a pizza ice cold. Many viewers are amused by the Noid, Domino’s says, but one of them took the advertising campaign personally. Last week Kenneth Noid, 22, walked into a Domino’s Pizza shop in Chamblee, Ga., with a .357 Magnum revolver and took two employees hostage. When police arrived, he demanded $100,000 in cash, a getaway car and a copy of The Widow’s Son, a 1985 novel about secret societies in an 18th century Parisian prison.

All Noid got was the pizza he ordered. After a five-hour siege, the two employees slipped away and Noid gave himself up. According to police, Noid has “psychological problems” and believes that he has an “ongoing dispute with Tom Monaghan,” the head of the Detroit-based Domino’s chain.

This is The Widow’s Son:

Just took a trip to Denver for the AWP conference – discussion revolved around how to promote a book.  Best way to sell books was determined that I could throw a copy of my novel at Sarah Palin at some public appearance, ala this:

How arrested would I be if I threw a book at a former Vice-Presidential candidate?  I’m not the book throwing type – nor do I want an American Taliban Fatwa on me ala Rushdie, which would be likely to happen.  What I need is a Noid character to chuck a book in Sarah Palin’s general direction.

RA Wilson calls some conspiracy theorists “adrenaline addicts.” Think that describes AJ. He wants there to be a conspiracy more than he wants there to be a solution. His stupid bullhorn is all about calling attention to himself, thereby making some reasonable questions about govt. seem like the product of the wacko fringe. Funny how the people who talk most about “liberty” are proto-fascists.

That led me to books by the person who runs the site, Laura Knight Jadczyk:

Signs of the Times, or SOTT.net, was launched on March 26, 2002 by Laura Knight-Jadczyk.

A historian and author of repute in her own right, Laura Knight-Jadczyk is the wife of renowned theoretical physicist, Arkadiusz Jadczyk, one of the world’s few living experts in hyperdimensional physics.

Since its early days when it was just a one-woman operation, SOTT.net has evolved into one of the leading news sites for those tired of the “news” that is “reported” by the mainstream media.

The original idea behind SOTT was to track what was going on socially and politically in terms of global energies in much the same way that a physicist attempts to track and measure more subtle energies – the theory being that society is like a macro-quantum system that follows certain laws of the Universe, and can be predicted in the same way that the quantum world can be statistically analyzed and predicted.

About her book, The Wave, she says,

I began writing the Wave Series and other articles as a way of collecting excerpts together in general subjects. As I did this, a truly extraordinary thing began to happen. The Cassiopaean Experiment had resulted in transmissions from myself in the future, and I realized that by doing the suggested research, by digging for the answers based on the clues given me, I was becoming myself in the future – a cosmic self. I began to see what I had been trying to convey to myself from this superconscious state. The years of experimental work had created a new circuit wherein it was possible to simply ask a question in my mind about the subject at hand, and the answer would flow through my fingers onto the keyboard. I was often as amazed at what came out as anyone.

As I’ve mentioned, this is the premise behind The American Book of the Dead – that I was channeling myself in the future. As I’ve also mentioned, I don’t actually believe I’ve done this because I think my writing of the novel was too self-conscious and self-reflective in the here and now. Interesting to think it’s possible – and who knows, maybe I did.

I’m hoping that the forums of Cassiopaea are not overrun with deranged teabaggers, as is the case with places like Godlike Productions and Above Top Secret.  I did a bit of digging and some accuse the group of being a cult.  Not surprising, given that Laura Knight Jadczyk claims to channel beings from Cassiopaea with sessions such as:

Q: (L) Are there alien bases on the Moon?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Who do the bases belong to?
A: Grays.
Q: (L) Was there ever at any time such a thing as mermaids?
A: No.
Q: (L) What is the origin of this legend?
A: Sailors delirium.
Q: (L) Are there alien bases on Mars?
A: Yes.
Q: (L) Whose?
A: Grays and Lizards.

More:

Q: (L) What procedure or technology do the Grays use to pass
through solid matter?
A: Transdimensional atomic rearrangement.
Q: (L) How do aliens transport themselves or others on beams of
light?
A: By electron focusing and previous answer.

Q: (V) Do I have an implant in my right ear?
A: Yes.
Q: (V) It has been going off a lot lately.
A: Caused by your interactions with these powerful channels.
Q: (V) What do you mean by powerful channels?
A: Laura and F***.
Q: (V) Are they Lizard implants?
A: Yes. Monitoring heavily lately.
Q: (V) When did I get the implants?
A: Age 3.

etc.

Is this group a cult? I don’t know. But I think “cult” is wielded in the same way as “conspiracy theory” – to automatically discredit an idea. Is this a singularly weird spiritual framework? No doubt. But a cult involves brainwashing, abuse of believers, and generally being holed up in the same place. Selling books is not quite the same thing.  If every strange spiritual practice is labeled a cult – even if it is led by someone with a propensity for high strangeness – this could tamp down people’s attempts at spiritual exploration.

No doubt someone who follows that road is “out there” but the question isn’t whether or not a channeler is actually channeling something real, the question is if the result is interesting. Same thing with UFOs – so much rides on “proof” but the important question is, What’s this all mean if it’s true. That there’s no hard proof doesn’t mean that issue’s been resolved.  A channeler may just be inventing fiction – but fiction isn’t a lie just because it’s made up.  Even if the channeler believes too strongly that they’re tapped into the real thing (as most channelers seem to) that doesn’t disregard everything they put to paper.  Fact is, we don’t know exactly where it’s coming from any more than we know where artistic inspiration comes from and what makes some artists tapped into something beyond themselves and some artists not.

And I’m no Icke-ite by any means – and Laura Knight Jadczyk subscribes to those sorts of ideas. But I do see a fundamental weirdness in how the world is devolving. As a friend wrote to me recently:

The whole situation is indeed so weird and crazy that even the most “absurd” explanations can seem plausible.

Profit? Doesn’t make sense, as you point out.

“Progress”? Nope.

Power? Over a despoiled ash heap?

Vampiric shape-shifting reptiles from outer space? … well… maybe…