Page 38 - 2018-02-15_june_july_2009.qxd

38 Conspiracy Theories

Conspiracy Theories astronauts who died in a fire while testing Thabo Mbeki once touted the theory, disputing
equipment for the first moon mission? They scientific claims that the virus originated in
were executed by the U.S. government, which Africa and accusing the U.S. government of
Continued from Page 37 feared they were about to disclose the truth. manufacturing the disease in military labs.
Far-fetched as the hoax theory may When she won the Nobel Peace Prize, Kenyan
Secret Societies Control the World seem, a 1999 Gallup poll showed that it's ecologist Wangari Maathai used the
comparatively durable: 6% of Americans said international spotlight to support that theory as
they thought the lunar landings were fake, and well. Others insist that the government
If you were really a member of the global élite,
you'd know this already: the world is ruled by a 5% said they were undecided. deliberately injected gay men with the virus
powerful, secretive few. Many of the rest of us during 1978 hepatitis-B experiments in New
peons have heard that in 2004 both candidates Jesus and Mary Magdalene York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Still
others point to Richard Nixon, who combined
for the White House were members of Yale
University's secretive Skull and Bones society, Jesus and Mary Magdalene might have been the U.S. Army's biowarfare department with the
many of whose members have risen to powerful married, or so says the Gospel of Philip. Sure, National Cancer Institute in 1971. Though the
positions. But Skull and Bones is small potatoes it's the basic plot of The Da Vinci Code (the co-discoverers of HIV — Dr. Robert Gallo of
compared with the mysterious cabals that thriller also wraps in conspiracy shibboleths like the National Cancer Institute and Dr. Luc
occupy virtually every seat of power, from the Opus Dei and the Knights Templar for good Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris —
corridors of government to the boardrooms of measure) — but the theory finds its basis in don't agree on its origins, most members of the
Wall Street. writings from the Gnostic Gospels, which were scientific community believe the virus jumped
Take the Illuminati, a sect said to have discovered in 1945 and whose authenticity from monkeys to humans some time during the
originated in 18th century Germany and which religious experts still dispute. In the Gospel of 1930s.
is allegedly responsible for the pyramid-and-eye Philip, Mary Magdalene, who is referred to as
symbol adorning the $1 bill: they intend to Jesus' koinonos, a Greek term for "companion" The Reptilian Elite
foment world wars to strengthen the argument or "partner," is depicted as being closer to Jesus
for the creation of a worldwide government than any other apostle. They are among us. Blood-drinking, flesh-
(which would, of course, be Satanic in nature). In an exchange between Peter and Mary, eating, shape-shifting extraterrestrial reptilian
Or consider the Freemasons, who tout their he admits to her that "the Saviour loved you humanoids with only one objective in their
group as the "oldest and largest worldwide above all other women" — a tense moment in cold-blooded little heads: to enslave the human
fraternity" and boast alumni like George the scripture that seems to portray the jealousy race. They are our leaders, our corporate
Washington. Some think that despite donating that the other apostles might have felt for Mary's executives, our beloved Oscar-winning actors
heaps of cash to charity, they're secretly plotting relationship with Jesus. The only other evidence and Grammy-winning singers, and they're
your undoing at Masonic temples across the used to support the theory is a mention of Jesus responsible for the Holocaust, the Oklahoma
world. Or maybe, some theorize, the guys kissing Mary often, but some say kissing was City bombings and the 9/11 attacks ... at least
pulling the strings aren't concealed in shadow at the custom and it was typical of Jesus to according to former BBC sports reporter David
all. They might be the intelligentsia on the practice it with those close to him. (Remember Icke, who became the poster human for the
Council on Foreign Relations, a cadre of policy Judas?) theory in 1998 after publishing his first book,
wonks who allegedly count their aims as The Biggest Secret, which contained interviews
publishing an erudite bimonthly journal and Holocaust Revisionism with two Brits who claimed members of the
establishing a unified world government — not royal family are nothing more than reptiles with
necessarily in that order. Despite overwhelming evidence and an crowns. (Picture Dracula meets Swamp Thing).
admission and apology from Germany decades The conspiracy theorist and New Age
The Moon Landings Were Faked ago, revisionists continue to claim that nearly 6 philosopher, who wore only turquoise for a time
million Jews were not killed by Nazis during the and insisted on being called Son of God-Head,
It's now been nearly five decades since Neil Holocaust. Iranian President Mahmoud says these "Annunaki" (the reptiles) have
Armstrong took his "giant leap for mankind" — Ahmadinejad, for one, has called the Holocaust controlled humankind since ancient times; they
if, that is, he ever set foot off this planet. a "myth" and suggested that Germany and other count among their number Queen Elizabeth,
Doubters say the U.S. government, desperate to European countries, rather than Palestine, George W. Bush, Henry Kissinger, Bill and
beat the Russians in the space race, faked the provide land for a Jewish state. Hillary Clinton and Bob Hope. Encroaching on
lunar landings, with Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin Unlike Ahmadinejad, most revisionists other conspiracy theorists' territory, Icke even
acting out their mission on a secret film set, do not deny that Jews were interned in prison claims that the lizards are behind secret
located (depending on the theory) either high in camps during World War II; rather, they argue societies like the Freemasons and the Illuminati.
the Hollywood Hills or deep within Area 51. that the number of deaths was greatly Since earning the dubious title of "paranoid of
With the photos and videos of the Apollo exaggerated. Gas chambers are a particular the decade" in the late 1990s, Icke has written
missions only available through NASA, there's sticking point: Holocaust deniers say they were several books on the topic, including his latest
no independent verification that the lunar purely a rumor or, if they indeed existed, were work, The David Icke Guide to the Global
landings were anything but a hoax. not powerful enough to kill — though evidence Conspiracy, while operating his own website —
The smoking gun? Film of Aldrin and history indicate otherwise. And the complete with merchandise and advertisements.
planting a waving American flag on the moon, photographs of emaciated and dying Jews? []
which critics say proves that he was not in Attorney Edgar J. Steele, a revisionist, says,
space. The flag's movement, they say, clearly "All those pictures of skinny people and bodies
shows the presence of wind, which is stacked like cordwood were actually of Czechs
impossible in a vacuum. NASA says Aldrin was and Poles and Germans [who] died of typhus,
twisting the flagpole to get the moon soil, which which was rampant in the camps."
caused the flag to move. (And never mind that
astronauts have brought back hundreds of The CIA and AIDS
independently verified moon rocks.) Theorists
have even suggested that filmmaker Stanley Since the Centers for Disease Control and
Kubrick may have helped NASA fake the first Prevention first reported the HIV/AIDS
lunar landing, given that his 1968 film 2001: A epidemic in 1981, rumors have persisted that
Space Odessey proves that the technology the deadly virus was created by the CIA to wipe
existed back then to artificially create a out homosexuals and African Americans. Even
spacelike set. And as for Virgil I. Grissom, today, the conspiracy theory has a number of
Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee — three high-profile believers. South African President