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Journalist Describes Father's Path from "Ancient Aliens" to Q-Anon Obsession

5/23/2020

55 Comments

 
On the Narratively website, California college student and journalist Reed Ryley Grable provided a poignant and thought account of his father’s gradual slide into Q-Anon conspiracy madness. Grable describes his father’s growing paranoia and social isolation, and he talks eloquently about how his father’s strident conspiracy theory advocacy has alienated him from his family and his friends. While I am not particularly interested in Q-Anon conspiracies, I was neither shocked nor surprised to read Grable’s account of how Ancient Aliens served as a gateway drug leading his father from a nebulous interest in the mysterious and the bizarre to a raving world of online conspiracies.
We’ve seen this story play out over and over again. Every couple of years a writer produces a sad story with the same beats. In this one, Grable explains that his father was lonely all his life, that he was a huge fan of science fiction, and that he had been exposed to UFO mysteries and vague conspiracy theorizing when he was a teenager. Later, when his marriage failed, he lost custody of his kids and retreated into himself, spending more time with his sci-fi and UFO interests, until Ancient Aliens started to take over his life, gradually:
This fascination with aliens increased after the debut of the History network’s show Ancient Aliens. My parents divorced when I was 9, and whenever I’d visit my father’s house, he’d have hours of the show recorded. I’d watch episodes with him sometimes, and we’d talk about the possibility that aliens built the Egyptian pyramids, or whether there were giants buried in the Serpent Mound of Adams County, Ohio, or if Hindu texts contained references to an intergalactic battle held in Earth’s sky. At this point though, it was a casual interest for him. He still also watched NASCAR and the local news, and worked on his car or in the yard.
Grable describes his father’s interest as “casual,” but I can’t imagine having a stockpile of Ancient Aliens episodes on hand is quite casual, or that saying that he occasionally watched other things on TV is as exculpatory as Grable thinks. I watch Ancient Aliens professionally. I don’t have a stockpile of episodes, and I’m relieved if I only have to watch it one hour per week.
 
Now, to be fair, Grable’s timeline is a little confusing. He says his parents divorced when he was 9 and that he moved back in with his father ten years later, in 2016. Since Ancient Aliens did not debut as a regular series until 2010, and Grable says his father did not become a full-on conspiracy theorist until 2016, when he bought a new TV and upgraded his internet service so he could watch and consume more related content, I’m not sure that it follows that his 2006 divorce was the proximate cause of his 2016 conversion. It is also obvious that he could not have been a Q-Anon conspiracy theorist before Q-Anon debuted in October 2017. Therefore, he had to have already been into Ancient Aliens conspiracy theories before Q-Anon. Grabel reports that his father’s conspiracy obsession escalated in 2018, the first year of Q-Anon, resulting in hours-long monologues about all manner of conspiracies.
 
That said, the sequence of events makes plain that Ancient Aliens paved the way for Grable’s father to become interested in researching the show’s mysteries and conspiracies, which led, inevitably, to right-wing conspiracy theories. There is little surprise in this. Many current and former Ancient Aliens stars like David Wilcock, Richard Dolan, etc. offer pro-Trump commentary or, in Wilcock’s case, explicit Q-Anon conspiracies. Searching for ancient astronaut content on popular sites like YouTube easily leads viewers into extreme conspiracy theories, as YouTube admitted last year when they changed their algorithm after its promotion of extremist content came to light in the media.
 
Obviously, Ancient Aliens didn’t turn Grable’s father into a Q-Anon obsessive. But it served as the handmaiden, designed to lure in the vulnerable and to exploit sadness and discontent. Intentionally or not, by operating in the conspiracy world and highlighting “theories” also associated with extremist beliefs and personalities who operate in the darker corners of the conspiracy world, they can hardly be held blameless when they attract people who are vulnerable and usher them to the edge of the abyss.
55 Comments
Joe Scales
5/23/2020 09:02:51 am

"That said, the sequence of events makes plain that Ancient Aliens paved the way for Grable’s father to become interested in researching the show’s mysteries and conspiracies, which led, inevitably, to right-wing conspiracy theories."

Okay... let me get this straight. You just pick apart this guy's certainly biased reconstruction of his family deterioration... but then give him a pass because he's still saying what you want to hear. Have you learned nothing from all this? All these years?

Reply
Jim
5/23/2020 10:21:25 am

Okay... let me get this straight. You just pick apart Jason's conclusions of his this fellows family deterioration because a fellows recollections, some of which are from when he was 9 years old, are not spot on ?

Seems a little nitpicky to me.
Or perhaps you don't like criticisms of Q-Anon, which seems likely given your past comments.
I would ask you whether or not you believe/support Q-Anon ?

Reply
Joe Scales
5/24/2020 09:54:05 am

Jim's argument:

Jason writes a blog post that mentions Q Anon.
Joe makes a critical remark.
Joe is a member of Q Anon.

Thanks Jim. For the clarity.

Jim
5/24/2020 01:13:07 pm

Well Joe, since you have a long history of promoting conspiracy theories supporting Trump that has been documented multiple times by An Anonymous Nerd:

http://www.jasoncolavito.com/blog/jack-safratti-claims-ufos-are-time-machines-powered-by-metamaterials

And given your proclivity to freak out over the most trifling and well deserved of criticisms directed towards Trump, you now criticize Jason for hearing " what you want to hear" in regards to the wacko right wing Trump supporting Q-Anon.

What was it that Jason wanted to hear that you can show to be in error ?

Why are you defending Q Anon, a right wing Trump conspiracy theory wacko group of nutbars ?

While you twist my words to read "Joe is a member of Q Anon."
you know I never said that, although my question still stands, do you have an answer ?

"I would ask you whether or not you believe/support Q-Anon ?

Your criticism of Jason seems to indicate you you are partial and biased towards the Q Anon nonsense.
Given your history here Joe, it's a legit question.

Kent
5/24/2020 05:51:38 pm

James,

I suspect the problem is less the criticism than the tenuous, some would say delusional connections.

Joe Scales
5/25/2020 09:31:56 am

"Well Joe, since you have a long history of promoting conspiracy theories supporting Trump that has been documented multiple times by An Anonymous Nerd..."

Jim. That is a lie. And an ignorant one at that. I have never promoted a conspiracy theory on the site, nor have politicked in favor of any candidate. If you believe that pointing out ignorant politicking on this site, wholly one sided in its nature mind you, makes me a member of the opposition, then I cannot help your impression. But for the imbecility you support that would have you believe that I promote conspiracy theories? Well, you got my attention Jim, which is exactly what you craved. So given what could be unbearable isolation for you in these difficult times, I'll give you your fix.

Years ago our host pointed out that Shawn Henry made an unfounded conspiracy claim that Emelia Earhart was captured and killed by the Japanese government. Henry did so by using a misdated photo, as well as at least one doctored, reverse negative image to make a better photographic comparison (for her navigator). Now as I am apt to do, I wanted to find out more about this Shawn Henry. No cabal was needed. No urging from right wing media personalities. I just looked him up. The info is out there. He was the point man for CrowdStrike; the operation that determined that the Russians hacked the DNC server. Make of it what you will, is what I believe I told people.

That's it Jim. No conspiracy. Just facts that our host chose to ignore which the member you follow dishonestly portrayed numerous times on the site for purposes of pure ad hominem.
I would hope Jim, in these uncertain times, that perhaps you could find the better angels of your own nature, and not continue to propagate discord on this site. Otherwise, I do not wish to engage you further.

Jim
5/25/2020 02:23:21 pm

Joe, in your description of your post, (" that Shawn Henry made an unfounded conspiracy claim") did you fail to mention this part:

"When the DNC claimed they were "hacked" during the 2016 election, instead of engaging the FBI they contacted the president and CSO of CloudStrike, Shawn Henry to investigate. It was his firm's investigation that concluded the DNC had been hacked by "Russians", which was then bought by each and every subsequent review."

This Joe, is what you call promoting a conspiracy theory supporting Trump.

It's also an Informal fallacy,("bought by each and every subsequent review.") that which you are accusing me of elsewhere, any number of fallacies cover your comment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy#Informal_fallacy

"Argumentum ex silentio
An argument from silence features an unwarranted conclusion advanced based on the absence of data."

"Faulty generalization
A special subclass of the informal fallacies is the set of faulty generalizations, also known as inductive fallacies. Here the most important issue concerns inductive strength or methodology (for example, statistical inference). In the absence of sufficient evidence, drawing conclusions based on induction is unwarranted and fallacious."

"Hasty generalization
For instance, hasty generalization is making assumptions about a whole group or range of cases based on a sample that is inadequate (usually because it is atypical or just too small)."

----------------------------------------------

You attempt to discredit Shawn Henry and the entire U.S. Intelligence Community. by throwing in a straw man argument about Emelia Earhart.
It wasn't "bought" by anyone. It was independently confirmed by any number of sources including the CIA and others in the U.S. Intelligence Community.
By the way a strawman argument is another informal fallacy. you are just full of them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

"A straw man (or strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not presented by that opponent.[1] One who engages in this fallacy is said to be "attacking a straw man"."

-------------------------------------------------

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Committee_email_leak

"On December 9, 2016, the CIA told U.S. legislators that the U.S. Intelligence Community concluded Russia conducted operations during the 2016 U.S. election to prevent Hillary Clinton[11] from winning the presidency.[12] Multiple U.S intelligence agencies concluded people with direct ties to the Kremlin gave WikiLeaks hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee"

Stand Watie
5/25/2020 08:53:11 pm

Poor Joe Kent is desperate for a win.

As the late great Harry Carey said, if a blind hog roots long enough it will eventually find an acorn. Endeavor to persevere.

Joe Scales
5/26/2020 10:24:59 am

"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy#Informal_fallacy "

Sorry Jim, but it takes an education to recognize and apply informal fallacies. You don't just go to Wikipedia and go with the shotgun approach. Again, why I do not wish to engage with you in discourse Jim. It would take hours to root through your posts to sort through your errors in logic. Then you would come back anyway with even more googled nonsense; misapplied, of course. And no, this is not an argument. So you don't have to google more informal fallacies. It's goodbye Jim. Goodbye.

Joe Scales
5/26/2020 10:32:30 am

And in case anyone is paying attention, the author of the article which is the subject of this blog post showed up to deny that Ancient Aliens "inevitably" sent his father down the path to right wing conspiracy theories. As for Shawn Henry, his congressional testimony is available to read... but to sum it up for you, Russia was his best guess. Too bad they didn't ask him about Amelia Earhart while he was under oath...

Kent
5/23/2020 11:05:17 am

Someone recording a show they like is hardly probative of anything. A guy I know recorded the entire first five years of The Simpsons then decided it would always be available and stopped. I recorded the first three days of the First Gulf War. Nu?

I dunno. Does Ancient Aliens promulgate conspiracy theories or just ideas that are wrong? While we're blaming TV shows shouldn't we blame soap operas for the widespread abuse of Valium ("Mother's Little Helper") and other prescription drugs, the -utals, the -itals, the -onals in the 1960s?

Q-Anon, from the little I know about it, seems like performance art run amok (consider the apparent 4chan origin) or maybe it was always intended to escape into the wild and become self-assembling, self-modifying and self-reproducing. Strok, Page, Comey, and Rice have taught us that was at least one actual conspiracy.

The guy who shot up Comet Pizza caught a bad case of Jerusalem Syndrome as did the guy who shot the Congressman at the softball field. I'm more troubled by the two people who SET THEMSELVES ON FIRE outside the White House than Q-Anon.

Where would P.A.T. (People Against Trump) be if they couldn't point and say "Hey look! Conspiracy theories!"?

A wiser man than I once said "All conspiracy theories are true, even the contradictory ones."

Reply
Jim
5/23/2020 12:18:32 pm

"Where would P.A.T. (People Against Trump) be if they couldn't point and say "Hey look! Conspiracy theories!"?"

Well, thousands upon thousands of them wouldn't be dead.

Reply
Kent
5/23/2020 08:03:26 pm

"Where would P.A.T. (People Against Trump) be if they couldn't point and say "Hey look! Conspiracy theories!"?"

"Well, thousands upon thousands of them wouldn't be dead."

You're gonna have to 'splain that Lucy, er, James.

Who are these thousands of people who are now dead because they could point and say "Hey look! Conspiracy theories!" Or aren't dead because they couldn't say "Hey look! Conspiracy theories!" ?

Clarity, James. It's not too much to ask.

Sometimes I despair of you James, but I know you will buck yourself up with a brisk ankle-biting ad hominem. But while you're at it, 'spain.

Jim
5/24/2020 02:05:10 pm

It seems simple to me Kent, but if you need help understanding something so simple here ya go.
100,000 US citizens and counting are dead from covid 19 most could have been prevented by a modicum of competence from your president.

Many of these people who have died a horrible death knew Trump trafficked in Conspiracy theories.

There you go, simple huh ? Hard to believe you couldn't get that.

Kent
5/24/2020 07:41:53 pm

"Where would P.A.T. (People Against Trump) be if they couldn't point and say "Hey look! Conspiracy theories!"?"

"Well, thousands upon thousands of them wouldn't be dead."

James, James.

You say 100,000, I say 60,000. Whatever "side" you're on, the numbers have been cooked. If the racist Trump hadn't closed off air travel from China imagine how many lives would have been saved!

Proportional to population, Canada is doing just as badly. Maybe you should be tending your own garden, James.

Maybe because I don't have the "woolly-headed CODEC" I still don't understand how you think knowledge, non-knowledge, or imagination of conspiracies would have saved lives.

Are you also going to blame Trump for the 100,000 flu deaths in the U.S. in 1969?

"horrible deaths"??? Really? You've looked into this, in detail? Gather ye petticoats while ye may. My kingdom for a step-stool! James.

Paul
5/24/2020 09:39:11 pm

@Jim, not a particular fan of Trump but not a hater either. Have you seen the meme showing the top states for covid deaths? The top 10 blue showed about 70,000 deaths, the top 10 red showed about 12,000. Numbers may be a little off, going from memory. If the blues are so much more socially responsible, why the discrepancy? Oh, the populations of the two groups were comparable. Trump doesn’t control the actions of all people any more than he has control of this pesky pestilence. Sure, Trump says and does stupid things but what you are saying puts you in the Trump category.

Jim
5/25/2020 12:55:01 am

LOL,,, OK ,, sure Kent.

Jim
5/25/2020 10:50:19 am

Paul: "but what you are saying puts you in the Trump category."

Perhaps you could point to specific examples of me being in the Trump category rather than making a blanket statement ?

Where have I been wrong ?

Sure I rounded off yesterdays 99,300 death toll to 100,000, not exactly the same as Trump calling it the new hoax.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

As to red vs. blue states, I am not overly familiar with which ones are which but the virus doesn't respect politics nor political boundaries.
Where the virus got a foothold before actions were taken to stop the spread would undoubtedly be where the largest outbreaks would occur.
California for example was where the Federal gov. quarantined many of the earliest arrivals with known or suspected virus cases.
You can't really blame Governors from either party for not being prescient.
If you can show me legit data showing that red states prepared earlier and better than blue states have at 'er. Good luck.

Lets pretend I am from Missouri, the show me state.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
California:

It should be noted that the first known case of community transmission was in Solano County (Travis Air Force Base) where the CDC refused to test because the woman had no known exposure to the virus.

But hey, lets blame the democratics of California.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_in_California

"On January 29, the U.S. Department of State evacuated 195 of its employees, their families, and other U.S. citizens from Hubei Province aboard a chartered flight to March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County"

"On February 5, the U.S. evacuated 345 citizens from Hubei Province and took them to two air bases in California, Travis Air Force Base in Solano County and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, San Diego, to be quarantined for 14 day"

"On February 15, the government evacuated 338 U.S. nationals stranded aboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess, which had been held in quarantine in Yokohama, Japan.[78] Fourteen of those repatriated people were infected with the virus.[79] Five more nationals who were also reported as being infected were evacuated from the ship the following week, and were quarantined at Travis Air Force Base; several more cases among the evacuees were later confirmed"

Kent
5/25/2020 10:52:28 am

Oh James. It's troubling and at the same time does my heart good to see that after your ranting about Trump and QAnon you see the world through a Deep Kent conspiracy lens.

Except when obviously joking and the joke is in the alias du jour I only post under this name.

Jim
5/25/2020 12:08:39 pm

LOL Kent:,,, "You say 100,000, I say 60,000."

LOL Kent,,, "Proportional to population, Canada is doing just as badly. "

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries

Deaths per million pop.
US, 300
Can, 170

Total Cases per million pop.
US, 5112
Can. 2246

At this point Kent, with you tossing out complete fabrications, you have about as much credibility as Hutton Pulitzer, Frank Joseph, Scott Wolter et.al.

Kent
5/25/2020 06:56:42 pm

James. As I clearly pointed out earlier, whatever the source the numbers have been cooked.

"I THINK it was Covid..."
"Another Covid death!"

"I'd sure like to be paid that higher amount for filling out the form in a particular fashion!"
"Another Covid death!"

"He was in a car that drove into a tree and the driver had Covid."
"Another Covid death!"

Fabrication, thy name is not Kent. James.

Clete
5/23/2020 12:36:37 pm

It is stated that he also watched NASCAR. I also wondered why someone would spend time watching Cars drive in circles.

Reply
Joe Scales
5/27/2020 09:46:21 am

"I also wondered why someone would spend time watching Cars drive in circles."

The same reason they read the comments here. The appeal is in the wrecks...

Reply
orang
5/23/2020 01:01:54 pm

I'm surprised that you think Dolan is pro-Trump. He's smarter than that.

Reply
Paul
5/23/2020 03:45:33 pm

So, there is a liberal college kid in a deep blue state having some angst over his conservative old man that has sucked up some conspiracy kool aid. Not much new under the sun there. Alien in pickle juice, should be marketed......

Reply
Kent
5/23/2020 08:15:56 pm

IF we take Mr. Grable at his word, and by extension Jason, there are questions/problems.

I don't believe Mr. Grable's story is completely true. He claims to be a "literary journalist" (code for "I'm going to make stuff up") and further claims to be an itinerant journalist. Must be a very permissive school, but that's possible. Mr. Grable (again, if we accept his story at face value) fails to identify his father's schizophrenia, likely because in his [world]view, Q-Anon makes a better story. Dude, dimwitted college girls will always be out there, get your father an invite to Club 5150. He maintains but has been in need of medical intervention for years.

Reply
Reed
5/25/2020 02:18:11 am

Hi Kent!

I do think mental health plays a major factor, though I wouldn't say it's schizophrenia, but more so a mix of narcissism and paranoia. However, my dad smokes a lot of marijuana and was an alcoholic when he was younger, so that'll play a part as well. This isn't a story about mental health, though, it's about QAnon and how people that are struggling are susceptible to their thinking because they provide a promise for something better. My family and I have tried to help, but this group has a cult-like hold on him. It's difficult to reason with him that he needs the help.

And no, nothing in this story is made up.

Reply
Kent
5/25/2020 11:07:15 am

It's precisely a story about mental health but you buried the lede. He maintains but has been in need of medical intervention for years. Don't know that I would have done anything different in your place because it is after all kind of icky. Good luck to you and your father.

Reed
5/25/2020 01:36:59 am

Hello!

I wrote the article, and I'd like to make the influence of Ancient Aliens a little bit more clear. The show didn't directly influence his conspiratorial thinking, this was before. When I interviewed him, he referenced people in his past who would always make him doubt the reality of the world. This includes advancements in technology. One instance is where I include the bit about Vietnam veterans telling him "crazy shit," but I didn't include that what he told me is a buddy he worked with back in 2002 was a vet and told him the government had developed night vision technology that let people see into other dimensions while in Vietnam - which "revealed" another portal and people have been fighting aliens since.

It's all bullshit, but Ancient Aliens, because it has a national platform, gives validity to these claims and people become convinced. And a movement such as QAnon recognized that there are people susceptible to these outlandish ideologies and made their move.

As for the timeline, to keep it neat, short enough, and consistent, is difficult to do. To say it was exclusively Ancient Aliens influencing his thought pattern is wrong, because there are other factors even before I was born, but it certainly encouraged it. I never directly say that Ancient Aliens caused it. And I don't say he becomes a "full-on conspiracy theorist in 2016," I say that it develops into an obsession. He was always a conspiracy theorist.

Reply
Joe Scales
5/25/2020 09:40:44 am

Thanks for that Reed. So that makes it clear that Ancient Aliens did not "inevitably" lead to right-wing conspiracy theories in the case of your father. Won't stop our host though. He'll keep looking..

Reply
Joe Scales
5/26/2020 05:17:44 pm

Read it and weep Nerd:

"That said, the sequence of events makes plain that Ancient Aliens paved the way for Grable’s father to become interested in researching the show’s mysteries and conspiracies, which led, inevitably, to right-wing conspiracy theories"

An Anonymous Nerd
5/26/2020 12:27:49 pm

I didn't see where Mr. Colavito said you said that jumping from one to the other is inevitable. Perhaps I missed it?

I point this out because, as you have seen, the Fringe/Right figures who post here use your take to justify their fervent, sad defenses of their favorite Fringe/Right celebrities and their hurtful ideas. Sad, but true.

For me, in addition to the potential for Ancient Aliens and the like to legitimize things like this, it's also a case of intellectual erosion. The mainstreaming of this stuff (whether it's Ancient Aliens, Scott Wolter, President Trump, or Joe Rogan) seems to make the next level of it all-the-more-likely and all-the-less-noticeable when it arrives. Sooner or later the hole functionally impossible to climb out of.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Reply
Kent
5/26/2020 03:58:09 pm

"I didn't see where Mr. Colavito said you said that jumping from one to the other is inevitable."

Mr. Anonymous, I despair of you sometimes. Mr. Colavito didn't said and no one said that he "said that [Mr. Scales] said..." Mr. Colavito saided it himself:

"That said, the sequence of events makes plain that Ancient Aliens paved the way for Grable’s father to become interested in researching the show’s mysteries and conspiracies, which led, INEVITABLY, to right-wing conspiracy theories."

Mr. Scales's point, that the author of the piece gainsaided Mr. Colavito's wrenched interpretation, stands.

Fish, meet barrel.

An Anonymous Nerd
5/26/2020 07:38:25 pm

[Colavito quote here]

Thank you. I had missed that. Interesting.

[Fish, meet barrel. ]

Why the attitude by the way? It's not something you have to fight about. I had a question, you answered it, I said thank you. It makes you look stupid to fight about nothing.

I for one also will take quibble with the use of "inevitable," Whether Mr. Colavito meant it literally or as a rhetorical flourish I can't say, but it's obviously not accurate phrased that way.

Sadly the Right/Fringe can get away with such statements, and worse ones, but folks like Mr. Colavito and myself must be more careful.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Joe Scales
5/27/2020 09:55:52 am

"Why the attitude by the way?"

Perhaps it's your attitude. You often put yourself on Mr. Colavito's pedestal, like above:

"... but folks like Mr. Colavito and myself must be more careful."

Kinda like the numerous times you tell us that you, just like Mr. Colavito, has found that "special connection" between the two things you don't like. So given your own measure of yourself as it pertains to Mr. Colavito, I assume you've been published. Or are you maybe just a fan who sees themselves in the shoes of another. Either way, a bit of humility might work more in your favor in regard to positive relations on this board. I mean... even your signature is pretentious. Whereas your faculties shine less bright.

Reed
5/27/2020 02:04:45 pm

"Why the attitude by the way? It's not something you have to fight about. I had a question, you answered it, I said thank you. It makes you look stupid to fight about nothing"

Ya wtf is going on in the comment sections for this blogspot lol

Assurbanipal86
5/25/2020 06:29:42 am

Well this comment section sure is terrible.
Wouldn't have guessed this many Trumpers read Jason's blog.
Then again, many ancient aliens fans probably do?

I don't have a problem believing this story at all, as something similar is happening to my own father. Not QAnon, because we're not in the US, but other rightwing conspiracy theories.
(which is super odd, because he's always been quite socially conscious, voted social democrat his whole life. But he is a bit of a rusophile and Russia is not exactly lefty these days.)

Reply
Joe Scales
5/26/2020 10:37:29 am

"I don't have a problem believing this story at all, as something similar is happening to my own father."

Well, the author showed up to let us know that Jason took liberties with his conclusions to push his political perspective. And that's really the point. What you may see as supporting Trump is simply trying to keep our host from letting his politics unhinge his thinking. It leads to embarrassing stretches like we see here and gives the appearance of ignorance and sloppy methodology. Not a good look for a debunker.

Reply
Jim
5/26/2020 12:53:57 pm

Joe:

"Well, the author showed up to let us know that Jason took liberties with his conclusions to push his political perspective."

Well Joe, the author only posted two comments and I don't recall him saying that.
You on the other hand take a lot of liberties with what people say and try to to twist their words to fit your own agenda.

How many times have I had to point out that you have criticized Jason for things that he didn't even say, but that you made up by wrongly paraphrasing him ?

Joe Scales
5/26/2020 05:26:55 pm

" How many times have I had to point out that you have criticized Jason for things that he didn't even say, but that you made up by wrongly paraphrasing him ? "

Numerous times you've made such inaccurate and imbecilic charges; not realizing how synonyms work, as well as logical inferences. And that's the problem Jim You nip at my ankles constantly here, and often enough it boils down to your limited intellect. You simply cannot keep up and attempts to bring you up to speed are ineffectual.

If you want to disagree, that's fine Jim. Can you just state your position then and move on? Why must you make it personal Jim. For the life of me I've never understood the need for certain people online to hinder and pester others who want nothing to do with them.. You are just not an interesting person Jim. I don't want to know you. I don't want to interact with you. And how many times do I have to tell you before you see your sickness. Your toxicity.

Jim
5/26/2020 07:04:42 pm

Joe, Joe, Joe, after tossing a raft full of personal insults at me you make a plea to not make it personal ???
You're a hoot Joe !

I have a question for you that I am betting you cannot answer without using an Informal fallacy. Good luck Joe. The clock starts now.

Here is my question:

What did Reed say that was synonymous with:

"Jason took liberties with his conclusions to push his political perspective."

Tic toc Joe, and remember no Informal fallacies allowed.

Kent
5/26/2020 08:49:53 pm

Not to pile on (but who are we kidding?) he also really stridently doesn't understand that Congress has delegated regulatory authority to the BATFE in the same way it did to the FAA and the FCC and the FDA and the FTC. He does not accept that what he imagines to be the situation might not actually be the situation.

Keep in mind, this is the guy who said this site didn't have a Google search function and uses the phrase "low and behold".

"JIM
3/14/2020 03:47:34 pm
There is no " Google option on this site's search feature" Kentypoo."

Jim
5/27/2020 07:11:01 am

Kent, your continued Wolteresque misinterpretation of historic black letter law concerning gun control laws notwithstanding, I will admit to not knowing there was a google search on this site.

Joe Scales
5/27/2020 10:10:20 am

"Here is my question:

What did Reed say that was synonymous with..."

A perfect example Jim of why it's fruitless to engage you in discussion. You are limiting the scope of your query to "synonyms" when in this instance what eludes you are actually logical inferences. You see? I would have to correct each and every sentence you write to engage you... which ain't worth it Jim.

Please stop Jim. Please.

Jim
5/27/2020 11:24:38 am

How so Joe ?
Explain what Reed said that could be logically inferred to say that Jason was pushing his political perspective.

Reed didn't infer that, you made that up.

But thank you for responding to me using a Straw man argument which is an Informal fallacy.
I knew you couldn't answer without using an Informal fallacy, and you have proven me right.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

"A straw man (or strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy based on giving the impression of refuting an opponent's argument, while actually refuting an argument that was not presented by that opponent."

Kent
5/27/2020 12:26:14 pm

"your continued Wolteresque misinterpretation of historic black letter law concerning gun control laws notwithstanding"

Oh James. I've tried over and over to fix your continued Wolteresque denial of how the system works in the U.S.

"You in America now, m'bwoy!" - Fiddler

Congress makes laws. Those laws include a delegation of broad regulatory authority to the particular agency. The agency makes regulations. The regulations have the force of law and the agency is the arbiter of what the regulations mean. It's really that simple. Your choosing not to accept it doesn't change the facts.

"Kunta Kinte: You think I should have given up today when we were wrestling?

Wrestler: We were not wrestling. I was wrestling. You were charging and flying and landing."

Jim
5/27/2020 01:37:15 pm

Kent, your attempt to distract attention from the pickle you,,,er,,,Joe has put himself in is pitiful.

Kent
5/27/2020 04:14:56 pm

Just explaining the rules of the road down here James. Ever heard of the FAA, FCC, FDA, FTC? All well-known regulatory agencies, even to some of your people. You can stamp your feet and say "No! It's not true!" all you want but it doesn't make you right. James.

"JIM
3/14/2020 03:47:34 pm
There is no " Google option on this site's search feature" Kentypoo."

The mind wobbles.

Joe Scales
5/28/2020 11:17:00 am

That's funny. Jim asks a stupid question that shows he cannot follow simple induction and thinks he's got me in a pickle. Just as I told you Kent, that as soon as I put "informal fallacy" in quotes, Jim would go to google to mismanage them.

I remember Kent, when Jim was like our little brother... with downs syndrome. How cute he was then. Now he's so far gone he can no longer tell the difference between us. He's back on that conspiracy. Pity.

Jim
5/28/2020 01:12:58 pm

Lol Joe, still no explanation of how you managed to come up with:

"Well, the author showed up to let us know that Jason took liberties with his conclusions to push his political perspective."

From Reed's post:

"I wrote the article, and I'd like to make the influence of Ancient Aliens a little bit more clear. The show didn't directly influence his conspiratorial thinking, this was before. When I interviewed him, he referenced people in his past who would always make him doubt the reality of the world. This includes advancements in technology. One instance is where I include the bit about Vietnam veterans telling him "crazy shit," but I didn't include that what he told me is a buddy he worked with back in 2002 was a vet and told him the government had developed night vision technology that let people see into other dimensions while in Vietnam - which "revealed" another portal and people have been fighting aliens since.

It's all bullshit, but Ancient Aliens, because it has a national platform, gives validity to these claims and people become convinced. And a movement such as QAnon recognized that there are people susceptible to these outlandish ideologies and made their move.

As for the timeline, to keep it neat, short enough, and consistent, is difficult to do. To say it was exclusively Ancient Aliens influencing his thought pattern is wrong, because there are other factors even before I was born, but it certainly encouraged it. I never directly say that Ancient Aliens caused it. And I don't say he becomes a "full-on conspiracy theorist in 2016," I say that it develops into an obsession. He was always a conspiracy theorist."
------------------------------------------------------------------

If you could take a minute from you deflections, could you tell us what part of Reed's post leads you to believe he was saying that Jason took liberties with his conclusions to push his political perspective ?

You have posted deflection after deflection ad infinitum, yet still refuse to address the actual issue.

Good luck Joe, may the orange be with you.

Kent
5/28/2020 05:44:29 pm

Oh James. It's like The Sound of Music: How do you solve a problem like Jamesarrhea?

Jason: "That said, the sequence of events makes plain that Ancient Aliens paved the way for Grable’s father to become interested in researching the show’s mysteries and conspiracies, which led, inevitably, to right-wing conspiracy theories."

Reed: "The show didn't directly influence his conspiratorial thinking, this was before."

Jim
5/29/2020 12:06:36 am

Kent, the problem with your logic is that you seem to think that the two quotes you cited are mutually exclusive, they are not. They can co exist and both be true.
Had Jason said that it was solely Ancient Aliens that led to right-wing conspiracy theories, you might have a case, but he didn't. Jason knew it wasn't solely due to Ancient Aliens because he read the article by Reed. (did you?)

Reed:

"It's all bullshit, but Ancient Aliens, because it has a national platform, gives validity to these claims and people become convinced. And a movement such as QAnon recognized that there are people susceptible to these outlandish ideologies and made their move."

Also Reed:

" To say it was exclusively Ancient Aliens influencing his thought pattern is wrong, because there are other factors even before I was born, but it certainly encouraged it."

Jason:

"That said, the sequence of events makes plain that Ancient Aliens paved the way for Grable’s father to become interested in researching the show’s mysteries and conspiracies, which led, inevitably, to right-wing conspiracy theories."

I read that as Reed not disagreeing with Jason but agreeing that the show "paved the way for Grable’s father to become interested in researching the show’s mysteries and conspiracies, which led, inevitably, to right-wing conspiracy theories."

However you read it, Reed certainly does not say "Jason took liberties with his conclusions to push his political perspective."

That is all Joe's twisting things to give him an excuse to attack Jason's politics.
You know Joe, the guy who claims to be non partisan, yet only jumps into the fray with the merest hint of anything anti Trump.

Joe Scales
5/29/2020 10:12:34 am

Kent,
Logical inferences escape Jim, as well as interpretive license. And unless words are used exactly as written, Jim thinks he's got ya. He simply cannot make the jump from what Jason wrote, to what Reed wrote, to the inevitability that my initial impressions would carry the day. Well... it's actually that last bit that probably has him going. So again I'll ask him to stop, as I won't bother to engage him in another discussion well over his head. And no... I'm not Br'er Rabbit.

Nick Danger
5/26/2020 01:28:23 pm

Mr. Colavito,

In addition to your blog, I often frequent political blogs. I have noted in the past, to some amusement, the similarities between the tactics of far-right conspiracy-mongers, and the "true believers" who post on your website. It surprises me not at all, that Ancient Aliens should be a "gateway drug" to far-right conspiracies such as Q-Anon. In fact, I would be a bit surprised if it were not.

The lack of respect for knowledge and education, the bald assertion that their ignorance is more correct than another's facts, are common to both.

Reply
Hilda Hilpert
9/28/2020 01:12:23 pm

I watch Ancient Aliens sometimes, but then I watch Animal Planet, HGTV, FYI, and others. I've heard of Q-Anon, but haven't checked it out. That's how cults recruite members, through the desperate and gullible. I've got too much to do working two jobs to worry about dippy conspiracy theories. Now, is it possible that a few of them might acuatlly be true, maybe. Most of it is hokum anywayBut the theory the government doesn't tell us the truth about any aliens her, well everyone knows that.

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    • Television Reviews >
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    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
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          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
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