Today was to have been the premiere date for Hunting Atlantis, a new series from Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment in which volcanologist Jess Phoenix and genre novelist Stel Pavlou were to have explored various hypotheses for the location of Atlantis before deciding that Pavlou was right to tie Plato’s allegory to the alleged flooding of the Black Sea around 5000 BCE, despite matching none of the details of Plato’s fictitious story. The Discovery channel, fresh off purchasing Warner Media, pulled the show without explanation and replaced it with an extended episode of Expedition Unknown. Discovery pulled all references to the program from its website, and Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment does not list the show among its projects. Phoenix scrubbed the series from her social media feed. Discovery was still promoting the show just a couple of weeks ago. The change came swiftly enough that many major publications still listed the premiere episode in tonight’s TV listings. Hunting Atlantis generated controversy online after critics (myself included) pointed out that the Atlantis myth has long been used in support of colonialist, imperialist, and racist narrative, including the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the Anglo-American expansionist colonialism the Age of Empires, and Nazi searchers for the Aryan homeland. Pavlou also attracted attention for a series of tweets, now deleted, defending his views in intemperate language. Shot on location around the Mediterranean, Hunting Atlantis could not have been cheap to produce. But the optics of glorifying a narrative long used to support white supremacy also didn’t look great the same week that competing channels were honoring the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Hunting Atlantis, not least because they already spent the money to shoot the show. But for now, we should take the win. It’s one less front for science and reason to fight during the media’s period of UFO insanity. Speaking of which: After arguing for months that he should be taken seriously as an ex-government official blowing the whistle on UFO incursions, Lue Elizondo popped up in an advertisement for “4Bidden Disclosure,” a $200-a-head online discussion with Ancient Aliens stars Linda Moulton Howe, Nick Pope, and Richard Dolan; radio host Jimmy Church; and Billy Carson, who sells videos of himself discussing ancient astronauts, OOPARTS, remote viewing, and “how to raise millions of dollars for your business.” That last video series, incidentally, costs $220, which already tells you how to raise millions of dollars. Between Elizondo’s appearance at this circus and his recent guest spot on Josh Gates’s monster-hunting paranormal reality show Expedition X, where he attempted to hunt underwater aliens, alleging that there are secret underwater bases of unknown origin, it’s hard to take Elizondo seriously as a sober analyst of national security threats.
The mainstream media—here’s looking at you ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC, Fox News, New Yorker, Politico, etc.—need to stop whitewashing Elizondo’s ties to the entertainment industry and fairly present his circus act alongside his claims to secret UFO knowledge.
31 Comments
Citation: "the Atlantis myth has long been used in support of colonialist, imperialist, and racist narrative, including the Spanish conquest of the Americas, the Anglo-American expansionist colonialism the Age of Empires, and Nazi searchers for the Aryan homeland."
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Und so weiter
6/3/2021 01:05:36 pm
Genocide: The deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group. See:
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a) The Holocaust was -- so far -- a unique event.
Jim
6/5/2021 07:02:24 pm
Like fingerprints, all genocides are unique.
Doc Rock
6/7/2021 03:09:45 pm
This is a head scratcher. Mr. Franke takes issue with people for apparently asserting that the Holocaust was just one of many genocides but then provides a quote that discusses the Holocaust as "one genocide among many". Not even sure why this has come up here except as a failed face saving measure in light of the Rich Santorum claim debacle. But anyway, back to the adult table:
Doc Rock, too, seems to have difficulties to grasp the outstanding uniqueness of the Holocaust. Bizarre. Grotesque. The audience of this blog cannot be taken seriously.
Und so obvious
6/11/2021 07:33:10 am
The term holocaust is not unique to Europe of the 1940s. Various writers have used it in reference to event such as the destruction of countless indigenous societies in the New World, the Sub-saharan slave trade, and the Rape of Nanking.
Viceroy obvious
6/21/2021 10:54:32 am
You claimed that no one uses the term Afrodeutsch. When presented with multiple examples of the term being used on the internet, in film, in TV, and in print media you continued to argue.
Davy Crockett obvious
6/21/2021 07:12:23 pm
Making the same false claims over and over and continuing to defend these claims in the face of clear proof to the contrary would fall in the category of propoganda in the fluent English speaking world.
Ben Franklin obvious
6/24/2021 09:32:51 am
If you make the claim that no one does something or something never happened all it takes is one example to the contrary and you lose that argument. As you continue the argument and even more examples are produced you not only lose the argument but do so in embarrassing fashion. Taking the "presence" side of a presence vs. absence argument with you has been working perfectly for several people that have engaged with you. It will continue to work perfectly in the future.
PS: Just to add some facts.
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Donovan
6/8/2021 04:50:38 pm
Some Spanish writers did in fact use the Atlantis Myth to justify and legitimize Spanish colonial expansion and rule by the Spanish Crown in the western hemisphere. There is a nice summary of this topic in Fernandez Alabaladejo's article "Spanish Atlanteans: Crisis of Empire and Reconstruction of Spanish Monarchy, 1672-1740" published in Culture and History Digital Journal.
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Thank you Donovan for this valuable and true contribution. Yes, there had been Spanish authors legitimizing Spanish rule in America by Plato's Atlantis.
Donovan
6/11/2021 02:35:05 pm
Justification for something can occur before it happens, while it is happening, or after it has happened. The Spanish conquest of the western hemisphere started in 1492 and continued until circa-1770 when the empire finally reached its greatest extent in the Americas in terms of conquest and effective colonization. So the fact remains that the Myth was used to support Spanish actions and the legitimacy of their claims in the face of competing powers. The only issue is the degree to which it occurred not whether or not it occurred. You appeared to be asserting the latter in your initial comments.
Donovan: "So the fact remains that the Myth was used to support Spanish actions and the legitimacy of their claims in the face of competing powers."
Donovan
6/17/2021 11:22:50 am
There is no need for me to produce such a statement since Colavito made no such reference to specific written policy or specific parties involved. A moot point anyway since official policy and practice frequently diverged within the context of colonialism. Rather, Colavito noted that the myth has been used in support of "narrative" associated with colonialism and imperialism. As I indicated, support can come before, during or after an event or series of events. Support can come from many different quarters. The article that I cited clearly supports Colavito's assertion. I don't see any point in continuing the conversation since you are now arguing against points that Colavito did not even try to make.
Rackham
6/6/2021 10:27:26 pm
The question is if Atlantis myth was used for white supremacy at some point in history (a relatively short period must it be said, overlapping with the rise of nationalism and other trends), doesn't it means a major proportion of believers are automatically white supremacist? I certainly won't deny a few are, but most of them out there don't exactly make that assumption et generally believes it to simply be "cool hidden history". I'm getting tired of that "crime by association" mentally were a blanked of puritanism (it seems that nasty trend of Anglo-Saxon culture never dies) is put over as much people as possible. When I listen to podcats of nutjobs believing in that stuff, I'm always fascinated by their various and contradictory opinions, many clashing with the idea they are racists. I remember as kid, reading old books by Robert Charroux and Hancock, that I felt their conclusions were generally off the rail, but some elements made sense (well, upon a young mind they did!). I firmly believe behind the few oddball and vocal crackpots out there is a large crowd of people cherry picking what they want from these debunked theories. In a recent podcast, a believer was discussing how he loathes many ufologist and find the "Aliens did it" trope racist and disgusting... while embracing a flurry of conspiracy theories. My point? Most people find Atlantis cool and would love to believe a great civilisation once exist. Its tale of destruction due to its own hubris still resonate. In that sense, the Plato's cautionary tale still work even with all the junk added to it... and no need to sprinkle fascism on it.
Reply
6/7/2021 04:40:06 am
Thorwald C. Franke quickly pointed out how historically incorrect your comments are. Plato has not been used as a support for racism, but, not mentioned by you, is the fact that the Bible has given more succour to racism than any other document. Do you now call for the closing of churches?
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Jim
6/7/2021 01:54:22 pm
Trying to make a search for Atlantis out to be racist endeavour is s low swing. Why? The show sounded pretty darn interesting to me and now we all miss out.
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Jim
6/7/2021 03:02:09 pm
"Thorwald C. Franke quickly pointed out how historically incorrect your comments are. ,,,,"There is a little truth in the claim that National Socialists searched for Atlantis, but these were not "the Nazis" but only single Nazis with personal Atlantis beliefs,",, (T Franke)
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Jim,
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Jim
6/10/2021 09:04:00 pm
"is "Women write about comics" a premium source on the topic?"
Jim, so she is an archaeologist and an expert for ancient bones? Now, then she is not an expert for National Socialism. Thank you for clarifying this. Experts for National Socialism "dig" in archives, not in the earth.
Jim
6/11/2021 05:43:19 pm
"I hold a "diplom" in computer science, roughly corresponding to an MA in the Anglo-Saxon world"
Kent
6/12/2021 03:12:55 am
It's always great fun seeing Jim eff up. Jim.
kent
6/7/2021 10:37:31 pm
"What is all this talk about the Bible ?,,, big ol' red herring."
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AuthorI am an author and researcher focusing on pop culture, science, and history. Bylines: New Republic, Esquire, Slate, etc. There's more about me in the About Jason tab. Newsletters
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