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| wackiest conspiracy theories: The World's Worst Conspiracies Mike Rothschild, 2019-10 |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Debunked! Richard Roeper, 2008-06 A breezy but fact-filled dissection of more than two dozen of the most popular urban legends and conspiracy theories of the 21st century. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Knowledge Goes Pop Clare Birchall, 2006-09-05 A voice on late night radio tells you that a fast food restaurant injects its food with drugs that make men impotent. A colleague asks if you think the FBI was in on 9/11. An alien abductee on the Internet claims extra-terrestrials have planted a microchip in her body. Julia Roberts in Porn Scandal shouts the front page of a gossip mag. A spiritual healer claims he can cure chronic fatigue syndrome with the energizing power of crystals . . . What do you believe? Knowledge Goes Pop examines the popular knowledges that saturate our everyday experience. We make this information and then it shapes the way we see the world. How valid is it when compared to official knowledge and why does such (mis)information cause so much institutional anxiety? This book examines the range of knowledge, from conspiracy theory to plain gossip, and its role and impact in our culture. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Awful Archives Jenny Rice, 2020-04-21 An exploration of exaggerated cases of conspiracy theories which helps to reveal why traditional modes of argument fail against unwarranted, unsound, or untrue evidence. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Them Jon Ronson, 2011-06-28 A wide variety of extremist groups -- Islamic fundamentalists, neo-Nazis -- share the oddly similar belief that a tiny shadowy elite rule the world from a secret room. In Them, journalist Jon Ronson has joined the extremists to track down the fabled secret room. As a journalist and a Jew, Ronson was often considered one of Them but he had no idea if their meetings actually took place. Was he just not invited? Them takes us across three continents and into the secret room. Along the way he meets Omar Bakri Mohammed, considered one of the most dangerous men in Great Britain, PR-savvy Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard Thom Robb, and the survivors of Ruby Ridge. He is chased by men in dark glasses and unmasked as a Jew in the middle of a Jihad training camp. In the forests of northern California he even witnesses CEOs and leading politicians -- like Dick Cheney and George Bush -- undertake a bizarre owl ritual. Ronson's investigations, by turns creepy and comical, reveal some alarming things about the looking-glass world of us and them. Them is a deep and fascinating look at the lives and minds of extremists. Are the extremists onto something? Or is Jon Ronson becoming one of them? |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Eurabia-paperback Bat Yeʼor, 2005 This book is about the transformation of Europe into Eurabia, a cultural and political appendage of the Arab/Muslim world. Eurabia is fundamentally anti-Christian, anti-Western, anti-American, and antisemitic. The institution responsible for this transformation, and that continues to propagate its ideological message, is the Euro-Arab Dialogue, developed by European and Arab politicians and intellectuals over the past thirty years.--From publisher description. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Fever City Tim Baker, 2016-05-10 “Puts a new twist on the Kennedy assassination . . . [a] remarkable first novel . . . delights in sex, hypocrisy and political conspiracy” (The Washington Post). If you took James Ellroy at his most imaginative and Oliver Stone at his most conspiratorial, and mixed them up in a supersized martini shaker, you would produce the vivid writing, explosive events, and irresistible entertainment of Fever City, a Shamus Award finalist. The story kicks off in 1960 Los Angeles, with the daring kidnapping of the child of one of America’s richest men. It then darts back and forth between a private detective’s urgent search for the child, the saga of a notorious hit man in the days leading to JFK’s assassination, and the modern-day story of a skeptical journalist researching the still-active conspiracy theories of the 1950s and ’60s, with the aim of debunking them. Just as the detective discovers that the kidnapping is a crime much larger than he imagined, and the hit man finds himself caught in a web that is astonishingly complex, the journalist discovers—to his horror, dismay, and even his jeopardy—that the conspiracy theories might well be true. “In this ambitious debut Baker gives us a bare-knuckle take on the president’s murder and adds two other plotlines, connecting them solidly with the equivalent of a jab-jab-cross combination.” —The New York Times Book Review “Hits you like a cannonball . . . A turbo-charged, beautifully written noir, Fever City is one of those mind-blowingly ambitious debuts that only comes along once in a great while.” —Stav Sherez, author of Eleven Days |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: A Lot of People Are Saying Nancy L. Rosenblum, Russell Muirhead, 2020-02-18 How the new conspiracists are undermining democracy—and what can be done about it Conspiracy theories are as old as politics. But conspiracists today have introduced something new—conspiracy without theory. And the new conspiracism has moved from the fringes to the heart of government with the election of Donald Trump. In A Lot of People Are Saying, Russell Muirhead and Nancy Rosenblum show how the new conspiracism differs from classic conspiracy theory, how it undermines democracy, and what needs to be done to resist it. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Paranoid Style in American Politics Richard Hofstadter, 2008-06-10 This timely reissue of Richard Hofstadter's classic work on the fringe groups that influence American electoral politics offers an invaluable perspective on contemporary domestic affairs.In The Paranoid Style in American Politics, acclaimed historian Richard Hofstadter examines the competing forces in American political discourse and how fringe groups can influence — and derail — the larger agendas of a political party. He investigates the politics of the irrational, shedding light on how the behavior of individuals can seem out of proportion with actual political issues, and how such behavior impacts larger groups. With such other classic essays as “Free Silver and the Mind of 'Coin' Harvey” and “What Happened to the Antitrust Movement?, ” The Paranoid Style in American Politics remains both a seminal text of political history and a vital analysis of the ways in which political groups function in the United States. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Straight-A Conspiracy Hunter Maats, Katie O'Brien, 2013-07-13 What if the only reason you aren't doing well in school is that you've been lied to about your own brain? For centuries, students worldwide have been tricked into making school more difficult, more stressful, and less successful than it needs to be. In reality, you already have the ability to make anything that you do in school easy. From writing essays to mastering any math concept to acing even your most difficult final exam, The Straight-A Conspiracy takes you through the simple, stress-free ways to conquer any class in school. The truth about straight-A's has been kept from you. It's time you knew about The Straight-A Conspiracy. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Death of Expertise Tom Nichols, 2017-02-01 Technology and increasing levels of education have exposed people to more information than ever before. These societal gains, however, have also helped fuel a surge in narcissistic and misguided intellectual egalitarianism that has crippled informed debates on any number of issues. Today, everyone knows everything: with only a quick trip through WebMD or Wikipedia, average citizens believe themselves to be on an equal intellectual footing with doctors and diplomats. All voices, even the most ridiculous, demand to be taken with equal seriousness, and any claim to the contrary is dismissed as undemocratic elitism. Tom Nichols' The Death of Expertise shows how this rejection of experts has occurred: the openness of the internet, the emergence of a customer satisfaction model in higher education, and the transformation of the news industry into a 24-hour entertainment machine, among other reasons. Paradoxically, the increasingly democratic dissemination of information, rather than producing an educated public, has instead created an army of ill-informed and angry citizens who denounce intellectual achievement. When ordinary citizens believe that no one knows more than anyone else, democratic institutions themselves are in danger of falling either to populism or to technocracy or, in the worst case, a combination of both. An update to the 2017breakout hit, the paperback edition of The Death of Expertise provides a new foreword to cover the alarming exacerbation of these trends in the aftermath of Donald Trump's election. Judging from events on the ground since it first published, The Death of Expertise issues a warning about the stability and survival of modern democracy in the Information Age that is even more important today. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories Jan-Willem van Prooijen, 2018 Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- Preface -- 1 Psychology of conspiracy theories -- 2 When do people believe conspiracy theories? -- 3 The architecture of belief -- 4 The social roots of conspiracy theories -- 5 Conspiracy theories and ideology -- 6 Explaining and reducing conspiracy theories -- Further reading -- Notes -- References |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Enchanted America J. Eric Oliver, Thomas J. Wood, 2018-09-18 America is in civic chaos, its politics rife with conspiracy theories and false information. Nationalism and authoritarianism are on the rise, while scientists, universities, and news organizations are viewed with increasing mistrust. Its citizens reject scientific evidence on climate change and vaccinations while embracing myths of impending apocalypse. And then there is Donald Trump, a presidential candidate who won the support of millions of conservative Christians despite having no moral or political convictions. What is going on? The answer, according to J. Eric Oliver and Thomas J. Wood, can be found in the most important force shaping American politics today: human intuition. Much of what seems to be irrational in American politics arises from the growing divide in how its citizens make sense of the world. On one side are rationalists. They use science and reason to understand reality. On the other side are intuitionists. They rely on gut feelings and instincts as their guide to the world. Intuitionists believe in ghosts and End Times prophecies. They embrace conspiracy theories, disbelieve experts, and distrust the media. They are stridently nationalistic and deeply authoritarian in their outlook. And they are the most enthusiastic supporters of Donald Trump. The primary reason why Trump captured the presidency was that he spoke about politics in a way that resonated with how Intuitionists perceive the world. The Intuitionist divide has also become a threat to the American way of life. A generation ago, intuitionists were dispersed across the political spectrum, when most Americans believed in both God and science. Today, intuitionism is ideologically tilted toward the political right. Modern conservatism has become an Intuitionist movement, defined by conspiracy theories, strident nationalism, and hostility to basic civic norms. Enchanted America is a clarion call to rationalists of all political persuasions to reach beyond the minority and speak to intuitionists in a way they understand. The values and principles that define American democracy are at stake. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Prime Number Conspiracy Thomas Lin, 2018-11-20 The Pulitzer Prize–winning magazine’s stories of mathematical explorations show that inspiration strikes haphazardly, revealing surprising solutions and exciting discoveries—with a foreword by James Gleick These stories from Quanta Magazine map the routes of mathematical exploration, showing readers how cutting-edge research is done, while illuminating the productive tension between conjecture and proof, theory and intuition. The stories show that, as James Gleick puts it in the foreword, “inspiration strikes willy-nilly.” One researcher thinks of quantum chaotic systems at a bus stop; another suddenly realizes a path to proving a theorem of number theory while in a friend's backyard; a statistician has a “bathroom sink epiphany” and discovers the key to solving the Gaussian correlation inequality. Readers of The Prime Number Conspiracy, says Quanta editor-in-chief Thomas Lin, are headed on “breathtaking intellectual journeys to the bleeding edge of discovery strapped to the narrative rocket of humanity's never-ending pursuit of knowledge.” Winner of the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, Quanta is the only popular publication that offers in-depth coverage of the latest breakthroughs in understanding our mathematical universe. It communicates mathematics by taking it seriously, wrestling with difficult concepts and clearly explaining them in a way that speaks to our innate curiosity about our world and ourselves. Readers of this volume will learn that prime numbers have decided preferences about the final digits of the primes that immediately follow them (the “conspiracy” of the title); consider whether math is the universal language of nature (allowing for “a unified theory of randomness”); discover surprising solutions (including a pentagon tiling proof that solves a century-old math problem); ponder the limits of computation; measure infinity; and explore the eternal question “Is mathematics good for you?” Contributors Ariel Bleicher, Robbert Dijkgraaf, Kevin Hartnett, Erica Klarreich, Thomas Lin, John Pavlus, Siobhan Roberts, Natalie Wolchover Copublished with Quanta Magazine |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: American Conspiracy Theories Joseph E. Uscinski, Joseph M. Parent, 2014 Conspiracies theories are some of the most striking features in the American political landscape: the Kennedy assassination, aliens at Roswell, subversion by Masons, Jews, Catholics, or communists, and modern movements like Birtherism and Trutherism. But what do we really know about conspiracy theories? Do they share general causes? Are they becoming more common? More dangerous? Who is targeted and why? Who are the conspiracy theorists? How has technology affected conspiracy theorising? This book offers the first century-long view of these issues. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Little Book of Conspiracy Theories Jamie King, 2024-08-08 The curious world of conspiracy theories is unbelievable and scarily believable in equal measure. The Little Book of Conspiracy Theories is an insight into this shocking and mysterious world. Discover how popular theories originated and took root, what they claim, and how the truth has been covered up with this introductory guide. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: History Decoded Brad Meltzer, 2013-10-22 It's an irresistible combination: Brad Meltzer, a born storyteller, counting down the world's most intriguing unsolved mysteries. And to make this richly illustrated book even richer, each chapter invites the reader along for an interactive experience through the addition of facsimile documents—the evidence! It's a treasure trove for conspiracy buffs, a Griffin and Sabine for history lovers. Adapted from Decoded, Meltzer’s hit show on the HISTORY network, History Decoded explores fascinating, unexplained questions. Is Fort Knox empty? Why was Hitler so intent on capturing the Roman “Spear of Destiny”? What’s the government hiding in Area 51? Where did the Confederacy’s $19 million in gold and silver go at the end of the Civil War? And did Lee Harvey Oswald really act alone? Meltzer sifts through the evidence; weighs competing theories; separates what we know to be true with what’s still—and perhaps forever—unproved or unprovable; and in the end, decodes the mystery, arriving at the most likely solution. Along the way we meet Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Nazi propagandists, and the real DB Cooper. A riveting adventure through the compelling world of mysteries and conspiracies. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: QAnon and Other Conspiracy Theories Kathryn Roberts, 2021-12-15 Anthology of curated essays addressing QAnon and conspiracy theories--why they begin, how they catch fire, and how they affect politics and society-- |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Suspicious Minds Rob Brotherton, 2017-01-03 Suspicious Minds decodes the psychology of why we all believe in conspiracy theories--some of us just hide it better than others. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: It Gets Worse: A Collection of Essays Shane Dawson, 2016-07-19 New York Times bestselling author Shane Dawson returns with another highly entertaining and uproariously funny essay collection, chronicling a mix of real life moments both extraordinary and mortifying, yet always full of heart. Shane Dawson shared some of his best and worst experiences in I Hate Myselfie, the critically acclaimed book that secured his place as a gifted humorist and keen observer of millennial culture. Fans felt as though they knew him after devouring the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, and Wall Street Journal bestseller. They were right… almost. In this new collection of original personal essays, Shane goes even deeper, sharing never-before-revealed stories from his life, giving readers a no-holds-barred look at moments both bizarre and relatable, from cult-like Christian after-school activities, dressing in drag, and losing his virginity, to hiring a psychic, clashes with celebrities, and coming to terms with his bisexuality. Every step of the way, Shane maintains his signature brand of humor, proving that even the toughest breaks can be funny when you learn to laugh at yourself. This is Let's Pretend This Never Happened and Running With Scissors for the millennial generation: an inspiring, intelligent, and brutally honest collection of true stories by a YouTube sensation-turned one of the freshest new voices out there. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Behold a Pale Horse William Cooper, 2012-04-11 Bill Cooper, former United States Naval Intelligence Briefing Team member, reveals information that remains hidden from the public eye. This information has been kept in Top Secret government files since the 1940s. His audiences hear the truth unfold as he writes about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the war on drugs, the Secret Government and UFOs. Bill is a lucid, rational and powerful speaker who intent is to inform and to empower his audience. Standing room only is normal. His presentation and information transcend partisan affiliations as he clearly addresses issues in a way that has a striking impact on listeners of all backgrounds and interests. He has spoken to many groups throughout the United States and has appeared regularly on many radio talk shows and on television. In 1988 Bill decided to talk due to events then taking place worldwide, events which he had seen plans for back in the early '70s. Since Bill has been talking, he has correctly predicted the lowering of the Iron Curtain, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the invasion of Panama. All Bill's predictions were on record well before the events occurred. Bill is not a psychic. His information comes from Top Secret documents that he read while with the Intelligence Briefing Team and from over 17 years of thorough research. Bill Cooper is the world's leading expert on UFOs. -- Billy Goodman, KVEG, Las Vegas. The onlt man in America who has all the pieces to the puzzle that has troubled so many for so long. -- Anthony Hilder, Radio Free America William Cooper may be one of America's greatest heros, and this story may be the biggest story in the history of the world. -- Mills Crenshaw, KTALK, Salt Lake City. Like it or not, everything is changing. The result will be the most wonderful experience in the history of man or the most horrible enslavement that you can imagine. Be active or abdicate, the future is in your hands. -- William Cooper, October 24, 1989. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Voodoo Histories David Aaronovitch, 2010-02-04 Meticulous in its research, forensic in its reasoning, robust in its argument, and often hilarious in its debunking... a highly entertaining rumble with the century's major conspiracy theorists and their theories. --John Lahr, National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Tennessee Williams From an award-winning journalist, a history so funny, so true, so scary, it's bound to be called a conspiracy. Our age is obsessed by the idea of conspiracy. We see it everywhere- from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, from the assassination of Kennedy to the death of Diana. In this age of terrorism we live in, the role of conspiracy is a serious one, one that can fuel radical or fringe elements to violence. For David Aaronovitch, there came a time when he started to see a pattern among these inflammatory theories. these theories used similarly murky methods with which to insinuate their claims: they linked themselves to the supposed conspiracies of the past (it happened then so it can happen now); they carefully manipulated their evidence to hide its holes; they relied on the authority of dubious academic sources. Most important, they elevated their believers to membership of an elite- a group of people able to see beyond lies to a higher reality. But why believe something that entails stretching the bounds of probability so far? In this entertaining and enlightening book, he examines why people believe conspiracy theories, and makes an argument for a true skepticism: one based on a thorough knowledge of history and a strong dose of common sense. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Storm Is Upon Us Mike Rothschild, 2021-06-22 I hope everyone reads this book. It has become such a crucial thing for all of us to understand. —Erin Burnett, CNN An ideal tour guide for your journey into the depths of the rabbit hole that is QAnon. It even shows you a glimmer of light at the exit. —Cullen Hoback, director of HBO's Q: Into the Storm Its messaging can seem cryptic, even nonsensical, yet for tens of thousands of people, it explains everything: What is QAnon, where did it come from, and is the Capitol insurgency a sign of where it’s going next? On October 5th, 2017, President Trump made a cryptic remark in the State Dining Room at a gathering of military officials. He said it felt like “the calm before the storm”—then refused to elaborate as puzzled journalists asked him to explain. But on the infamous message boards of 4chan, a mysterious poster going by “Q Clearance Patriot,” who claimed to be in “military intelligence,” began the elaboration on their own. In the days that followed, Q’s wild yarn explaining Trump's remarks began to rival the sinister intricacies of a Tom Clancy novel, while satisfying the deepest desires of MAGA-America. But did any of what Q predicted come to pass? No. Did that stop people from clinging to every word they were reading, expanding its mythology, and promoting it wider and wider? No. Why not? Who were these rapt listeners? How do they reconcile their worldview with the America they see around them? Why do their numbers keep growing? Mike Rothschild, a journalist specializing in conspiracy theories, has been collecting their stories for years, and through interviews with QAnon converts, apostates, and victims, as well as psychologists, sociologists, and academics, he is uniquely equipped to explain the movement and its followers. In The Storm Is Upon Us, he takes readers from the background conspiracies and cults that fed the Q phenomenon, to its embrace by right-wing media and Donald Trump, through the rending of families as loved ones became addicted to Q’s increasingly violent rhetoric, to the storming of the Capitol, and on. And as the phenomenon shows no sign of calming despite Trump’s loss of the presidency—with everyone from Baby Boomers to Millennial moms proving susceptible to its messaging—and politicians starting to openly espouse its ideology, Rothschild makes a compelling case that mocking the seeming madness of QAnon will get us nowhere. Rather, his impassioned reportage makes clear it's time to figure out what QAnon really is — because QAnon and its relentlessly dark theory of everything isn’t done yet. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: How to Survive Everything Ewan Morrison, 2022-03-29 A New York Times Editor’s Pick. Shortlisted for the Bookmark Festival Book of the Year and the McIlvanney Prize I wasn’t sure there could be a great pandemic novel. Here it is. Ian Rankin My name is Haley Cooper Crowe and I am in lockdown in a remote location I can’t tell you about. It’s five years after the pandemic, and for most people life has returned to normal—but not for Haley Cooper Crowe and her brother Ben. Children of divorce, they live with their mother, but their dad believes there’s a new, much deadlier virus spreading out of control, and that he can only save his kids by kidnapping them and hiding them in his remote prepper hideaway. Once confined to their off-grid “safe house”, Haley and Ben are completely cut off from civilisation. Will they make it out alive? How can they save their mother? How can they discover what’s happening on the outside? Propulsive, electrifying, tense, and often visceral and funny, How to Survive Everything is one teenage girl’s guide to navigating the imminent collapse of her world, family and sanity. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The World's Greatest Conspiracies Jonathan Vankin, John Whalen, 2010 A Pandora's Box of information is unleashed in this completely updated and expanded expos© which includes the Bilderberg Group and Bernie Madoff's £60-million Ponzi scandal, showing why conspiracy theorists believe Mr Madoff, who has received the lion's share of the blame, was part of a much larger conspiracy. The World's Greatest Conspiracies proves you just can't get away from hidden agendas, massive cover-ups and diabolically sinister plots. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion Sergei Nilus, Victor Emile Marsden, 2019-02-26 The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is almost certainly fiction, but its impact was not. Originating in Russia, it landed in the English-speaking world where it caused great consternation. Much is made of German anti-semitism, but there was fertile soil for The Protocols across Europe and even in America, thanks to Henry Ford and others. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: L. A. Woman Estevan Oriol, 2009 Estevan Oriol is hailed as the eye of the new wave Latino aesthetic. Coming up from the streets and the Hip Hop scene, his rough and ready images of his neighborhood homies caught the attention of major media and music players. Oriol has since been commissioned by Nike and Cadillac, as well as directing music videos for Eminem, Linkin Park, D12 and Xzibit. He began taking pictures of his neighborhood and low-rider culture and soon discovered his incredible talent for capturing raw street life. He is now one of the most sought after photographers in the urban community. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Conspiracy Theories Robin Ramsay, 2006-01-01 Conspiracy theories are all here, but not just lined up to be ridiculed and dismissed. For among the absurd conspiracy theories currently proliferating on the internet, there are nuggets of real research about real conspiracies waiting to be mined. Fully sourced and referenced, this book is a serious examination of a fascinating phenomenon. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Conspiracy Theories Jeffrey B. Webb, 2024-04-04 Provides a comprehensive guide to the history and current shape of conspiracy theories in American life, including the findings of research seeking to understand their origins, type, function, and widespread appeal. This all-in-one resource provides an accessible overview of conspiracy theories past and present in all their many forms. Taking an even-handed, scholarly approach, the book outlines the longer history of conspiracy theories, starting with Ancient Greece and Rome and continuing the story up to the present day, including analysis of 9/11, anti-vaccine, COVID, and QAnon theories. It surveys an array of current books and articles to try to understand why people believe in and act on outlandish and evidence-free conspiracy theories. Notably, this resource also outlines the problems created by untrue conspiracy theories in terms of their negative impact on public debate, trust in others, and efforts to nurture an informed and educated citizenry. Instead, many conspiracy claims have become sources of misinformation, cynicism, and polarization. This book will benefit anyone who seeks a pathway through our current epistemic crisis in which the lines between fact and fiction-and between truth and falsehood-have become blurred. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Skeptic's Guide to Conspiracies Monte Cook, 2009-09-18 Did the noble order of the Knights Templar guard a secret about Jesus’ birth? Was the moon landing faked in a Hollywood movie studio? Is the government keeping the remains of an alien spacecraft in the top-secret Area 51? Monte Cook takes a look at conspiracy theories—ranging from the historically complex to the seriously whacked out. With a disbelieving eye, he traces the history of some of the world's weirdest ideas and even includes a chart showing readers how to make up conspiracy theories for themselves. Scattered through the book are the paranoid notes of an anonymous reader who claims to know what's really going on. You can make up your own mind as to who's telling the truth! |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Is Elvis Alive? Gail Brewer-Giorgio, 1988 |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Chariots of the Gods Erich von Däniken, 1999 |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Sadistic Killers Carol Anne Davis, 2006-02-12 Acclaimed crime writer Carol Anne Davis explores the minds of sadistic killers: their childhoods, their growing pathology and horrific crimes. Knowing what some of these killers endured doesn’t even begin to excuse their crimes – but it does explain them. Davis delineates the different subgroups of sadists – for example, those who kill indiscriminately – in Britain, the US and Australia. There are also chapters on: • female sadists, who tend to be overlooked by the media. • consensual sadomasochism – including a rare interview with a well-known female practitioner, Lynn Paula Russell. • input from a psychologist who has helped rehabilitate some of Britain’s most violent men. Sadistic Killers is a compelling look at the formative influences of a sadist and at his or her crimes. Unflinching in detail but never gratuitous, this is an informative read with a hopeful ending. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Empire of Conspiracy Timothy Melley, 2016-12-01 Why, Timothy Melley asks, have paranoia and conspiracy theory become such prominent features of postwar American culture? In Empire of Conspiracy, Melley explores the recent growth of anxieties about thought-control, assassination, political indoctrination, stalking, surveillance, and corporate and government plots. At the heart of these developments, he believes, lies a widespread sense of crisis in the way Americans think about human autonomy and individuality. Nothing reveals this crisis more than the remarkably consistent form of expression that Melley calls agency panic—an intense fear that individuals can be shaped or controlled by powerful external forces. Drawing on a broad range of forms that manifest this fear—including fiction, film, television, sociology, political writing, self-help literature, and cultural theory—Melley provides a new understanding of the relation between postwar American literature, popular culture, and cultural theory. Empire of Conspiracy offers insightful new readings of texts ranging from Joseph Heller's Catch-22 to the Unabomber Manifesto, from Vance Packard's Hidden Persuaders to recent addiction discourse, and from the stalker novels of Margaret Atwood and Diane Johnson to the conspiracy fictions of Thomas Pynchon, William Burroughs, Don DeLillo, and Kathy Acker. Throughout, Melley finds recurrent anxieties about the power of large organizations to control human beings. These fears, he contends, indicate the continuing appeal of a form of individualism that is no longer wholly accurate or useful, but that still underpins a national fantasy of freedom from social control. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The Mammoth Book of Conspiracies Jon E. Lewis, 2012-02-16 Bang up to date with fresh cover-ups relating to Barack Obama, Michael Jackson and Afghanistan The 100 military, medical, religious, alien, intelligence, banking and historical cover-ups 'they' really don't want you to know about: The Military-Industrial Complex's fomentation of war with Iraq; the construction of concentration camps in the United States by FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency); the use of alien 'Foo Fighters' by the Nazis and the Japanese during the Second World War; the miracle natural drug suppressed by Big Pharma; the Israelis' responsibility for the bombing of USS Cole; the real reason why CERN broke down; the murder of Paul McCartney - and you didn't even know he was dead. Entertainingly written and closely documented, The Mammoth Book of Conspiracies uncovers the 100 most secret cover-ups in an accessible A-Z format. It covers 95 new conspiracies even more fiendish than those detailed in The Mammoth Book of Cover-Ups by the same author, and provides fresh revelations regarding the five furthest-reaching conspiracies in that book, including the assassination of JFK and 9/11. The book includes a full bibliography and introduction. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Handbook of Conspiracy Theory and Contemporary Religion Asbjørn Dyrendal, David G. Robertson, Egil Asprem, 2018-10-02 Conspiracy theories are a ubiquitous feature of our times. The Handbook of Conspiracy Theories and Contemporary Religion is the first reference work to offer a comprehensive, transnational overview of this phenomenon along with in-depth discussions of how conspiracy theories relate to religion(s). Bringing together experts from a wide range of disciplines, from psychology and philosophy to political science and the history of religions, the book sets the standard for the interdisciplinary study of religion and conspiracy theories. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: The World?s Strangest Forgotten Conspiracy Theories Conrad Bauer, 2015-11-23 Explore the World most astonishing and mystifying forgotten conspiracy theories. Not only are these possible cover-ups and controversial conspiracy theories fascinating, they will surprise you. Find out for yourself where the truth lies.Everyone has that one theory they're absolutely convinced is true. Occasionally, we all stray from the generally accepted facts and - when we're eventually proved right - it's an incredibly satisfying feeling. While these theories typically revolve around the mundane aspects of our day to day lives, there is the occasional theory that goes a little deeper. When we move away from the ordinary and towards the powerful, the influential, and the important, these theories begin to take on an additional level of significance. When you suspect that more than one person is involved and is perhaps trying to hide the truth, you've uncovered a conspiracy theory.But the idea of the conspiracy theory has, in recent years, taken on a negative perception. With many people quick to dismiss these theories as being strange, convoluted, and the product of people with too much time on their hands, they can often be one of the best ways to peel back the veil of miscomprehension and look closer as the actual facts in any kind of circumstance. While most people expect every conspiracy theory to link the Military Industrial Complex to the Illuminati, some are far simpler and far, far better supported by the facts.In this book, we will examine some of the forgotten theories. We will look closely at those theories that run closer to the reality of modern life. These will include some of the most important events of the last century and some seemingly more trivial theories. However, the key tenants of each case remain the same. In each, the theory suggests that there had been a deliberate attempt to cover up the truth by a collection of individuals working toward a hidden, sometimes sinister goal. Read on and find out more about the world's strangest forgotten conspiracy theories.Scroll back up and grab your copy now| |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Real Enemies Kathryn S. Olmsted, 2011-03-11 This timely book links the explosion of conspiracy theories about the U.S. government in recent years to the revelations of real government conspiracies. It traces anti-government theories from the birth of the modern state in World War I to the current war on terror. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Knowledge Goes Pop Clare Birchall, 2020-05-26 A voice on late night radio tells you that a fast food joint injects its food with drugs that make men impotent. A colleague asks if you think the FBI was in on 9/11. An alien abductee on the Internet claims extra-terrestrials have planted a microchip in her left buttock. 'Julia Roberts in Porn Scandal' shouts the front page of a gossip mag. A spiritual healer claims he can cure chronic fatigue syndrome with the energizing power of crystals . . . What do you believe? Knowledge Goes Pop examines the popular knowledges that saturate our everyday experience. We make this information and then it shapes the way we see the world. How valid is it when compared to official knowledge and why does such (mis)information cause so much institutional anxiety? Knowledge Goes Pop examines the range of knowledge, from conspiracy theory to plain gossip, and its role and impact in our culture. |
| wackiest conspiracy theories: Not Exactly Lying Andie Tucher, 2022-03-29 Winner, 2023 Columbia University Press Distinguished Book Award Winner, 2023 Frank Luther Mott / Kappa Tau Alpha Research Award Winner, 2023 Journalism Studies Division Book Award, International Communication Association Winner, 2023 History Book Award, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Long before the current preoccupation with “fake news,” American newspapers routinely ran stories that were not quite, strictly speaking, true. Today, a firm boundary between fact and fakery is a hallmark of journalistic practice, yet for many readers and publishers across more than three centuries, this distinction has seemed slippery or even irrelevant. From fibs about royal incest in America’s first newspaper to social-media-driven conspiracy theories surrounding Barack Obama’s birthplace, Andie Tucher explores how American audiences have argued over what’s real and what’s not—and why that matters for democracy. Early American journalism was characterized by a hodgepodge of straightforward reporting, partisan broadsides, humbug, tall tales, and embellishment. Around the start of the twentieth century, journalists who were determined to improve the reputation of their craft established professional norms and the goal of objectivity. However, Tucher argues, the creation of outward forms of factuality unleashed new opportunities for falsehood: News doesn’t have to be true as long as it looks true. Propaganda, disinformation, and advocacy—whether in print, on the radio, on television, or online—could be crafted to resemble the real thing. Dressed up in legitimate journalistic conventions, this “fake journalism” became inextricably bound up with right-wing politics, to the point where it has become an essential driver of political polarization. Shedding light on the long history of today’s disputes over disinformation, Not Exactly Lying is a timely consideration of what happens to public life when news is not exactly true. |
WACKIEST Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of WACKY is absurdly or amusingly eccentric or irrational. How to use wacky in a sentence.
WACKIEST definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
Here is a selection of the wackiest, starting with our 50 winner. What is the wackiest orchid you’ve encountered? The state has been one of the wackiest thinkers leading to radical technological …
Wackiest - definition of wackiest by The Free Dictionary
Define wackiest. wackiest synonyms, wackiest pronunciation, wackiest translation, English dictionary definition of wackiest. also whack·y adj. wack·i·er , wack·i·est also whack·i·er or …
wackiest: Explore its Definition & Usage | RedKiwi Words
The term 'wackiest' [ˈwæki] describes something that is unusual, amusing, and slightly crazy. It can refer to people, ideas, or situations, as in 'He has the wackiest sense of humor.' 'Wackiest' …
wackiest - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
This page was last edited on 9 January 2019, at 11:56. Definitions and other text are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
What does wackiest mean? - Definitions.net
Information and translations of wackiest in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web.
Wacky Definition & Meaning - YourDictionary
Erratic, eccentric, or irrational; zany. Crazy; silly. A wacky outfit. Alternative form of wacke. She kept telling herself she'd wake up from this wacky dream soon. The whole reason for the …
Wackiest synonyms - 281 Words and Phrases for Wackiest
Another way to say Wackiest? Synonyms for Wackiest (other words and phrases for Wackiest).
WACKIEST - Definition & Meaning - Reverso English Dictionary
Wackiest definition: most strange or unusual. Check meanings, examples, usage tips, pronunciation, domains, related words.
WACKY Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
See examples of WACKY used in a sentence.
WACKIEST Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of WACKY is absurdly or amusingly eccentric or irrational. How to use wacky in a sentence.
WACKIEST definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
Here is a selection of the wackiest, starting with our 50 winner. What is the wackiest orchid you’ve encountered? The state has been one of the wackiest thinkers leading to radical technological …
Wackiest - definition of wackiest by The Free Dictionary
Define wackiest. wackiest synonyms, wackiest pronunciation, wackiest translation, English dictionary definition of wackiest. also whack·y adj. wack·i·er , wack·i·est also whack·i·er or …
wackiest: Explore its Definition & Usage | RedKiwi Words
The term 'wackiest' [ˈwæki] describes something that is unusual, amusing, and slightly crazy. It can refer to people, ideas, or situations, as in 'He has the wackiest sense of humor.' 'Wackiest' is …
wackiest - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
This page was last edited on 9 January 2019, at 11:56. Definitions and other text are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
What does wackiest mean? - Definitions.net
Information and translations of wackiest in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web.
Wacky Definition & Meaning - YourDictionary
Erratic, eccentric, or irrational; zany. Crazy; silly. A wacky outfit. Alternative form of wacke. She kept telling herself she'd wake up from this wacky dream soon. The whole reason for the killings is just …
Wackiest synonyms - 281 Words and Phrases for Wackiest
Another way to say Wackiest? Synonyms for Wackiest (other words and phrases for Wackiest).
WACKIEST - Definition & Meaning - Reverso English Dictionary
Wackiest definition: most strange or unusual. Check meanings, examples, usage tips, pronunciation, domains, related words.
WACKY Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
See examples of WACKY used in a sentence.
