Legends of the Lost with Megan Fox dropped like a rock in the Nielsen ratings for its second outing this week. Tuesday’s episode, which featured Fox meeting with alternative history icon Graham Hancock and identifying Stonehenge as a prehistoric hospital, bagged just 325,000 viewers, down from 429,000 last week. The miserable ratings secured the show 121st place in the Tuesday ratings race, behind NatGeo’s Life Below clip show special, Animal Planet’s Lone Star Law, Motor Trend TV’s Bitchin’ Rides, and even Travel’s own 9 PM rerun of Expedition Unknown, which 90,000 more people watched than Fox’s 8 PM show, and its 11 PM rerun of Monster Encounters, which 50,000 more people watched. The miserable ratings for Fox’s show contrast markedly with the extraordinary outpouring of media coverage for Fox, which extended to dozens more stories this week. All told, many times the number of viewers for the show have been exposed to Fox’s bad ideas and the corrosive fantasy of alternative history through media coverage of Fox’s unwatched show than the show itself has reached. As a result, this means that mainstream journalists are directly responsible for carrying alternative history’s water and purposely choosing to give a platform to Fox’s bizarre ideas about history where the ratings show the public is not otherwise interested in hearing about it. That is the power of the media’s bias for sensationalism and celebrity—agenda-setting in the face of facts. This is really neither here nor there, but on a somewhat related note, I thought it was interesting enough to mention. Inner Traditions is one of the biggest independent book publishers specializing in fringe history and quack science books. I’ve reviewed dozens of their titles, not one of which has been worth reading. But in reviewing their catalog for the spring publishing cycle, I was struck by the marked decline in ancient astronaut, lost civilization, Bible giant, and other fringe history books in favor of a much larger contingent of tomes on chakras, astrology, and mystical healing. I can’t say that it’s part of a larger trend, but given the clockwork regularity with which they have put out books about Atlantis, ancient astronauts, and giants, it is a marked change. I’d love to think that the change came about because they realized how many of their authors, like Frank Joseph, are current or former Nazis and racists, or sympathizers of the same. But I am not so naïve at to think they actually care about that, except insofar as it can create bad publicity in a time when white nationalism is on the rise. According to the catalog, there are still more than a few bonkers history titles coming out this spring. Here are the lowlights:
Jesse James and the Lost Templar Treasure: Secret Diaries, Coded Maps, and the Knights of the Golden Circle isn’t due out until July but is sure to be the only one of these books I’m looking forward to reading. It’s the most batshit crazy of them all. In fact, I want to share the full description of the book because it is such a testament to everything wrong with History Channel-style pseudo-historiography: The author explains how Jesse James faked his death and lived out his final years under the name James L. Courtney. He uncovers James’ affiliation with the Knights of the Golden Circle, a secret society that buried Confederate gold across the United States, and shows how the hidden treasures coded into James’ maps were not affiliated with the KGC but with the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, and the treasure of the Temple Mount. Using sacred geometry, gematria, and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life symbol, the author explains the encoded map technique used by the Freemasons to hide and later recover treasures, an esoteric template known as the “Veil”. He shows how the Veil template con-firms the locations of Jesse James’ recovered treasures in Texas as well as other suspected treasure locations, such as the Oak Island Money Pit and Victorio Peak in New Mexico. The Knights of the Golden Circle didn’t just “bury Confederate gold.” They actively worked to undermine American democracy, promoted white supremacy, and hoped to create a slave empire ringing the Caribbean to be led by Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. Naturally we have another book celebrating the glory of bygone racists who are somehow blessed with the secrets of God.
36 Comments
Question
12/14/2018 09:09:11 am
Hey Jason, I have simple question. Why do you bash ancient astronauts idea although it was created by credible scientists? The creators during 50's/60's were: Matest Agrest, Carl Sagan, Iosif Shklovsky, Hermann Oberth, Henri Lhote, Morris Jessup, Wladimir Avinsky, Aleksander Kondratov, Thomas Gold and Francis Crick? Is that because the most popular 'ancient aliens guys' are Daniken and Sitchin who were not a credible scientists and made many mistakes? Daniken wrote first book in 1968, almost decade after ancient astronaut idea was created by these scientists.
Reply
Life In The Universe
12/14/2018 10:29:10 am
Life in the universe only exists on Planet Earth, the product of accidental chance.
Reply
RECTIFY THE MISTAKE
12/14/2018 10:34:34 am
Travelling faster than the speed of light would disable the ability NOT to crash into suns and planets and other physical objects in outer space.
Jockobadger
12/14/2018 12:03:15 pm
I don't even know where to start with this one...….
V
12/14/2018 12:28:45 pm
"Life in the universe only exists on Planet Earth, the product of accidental chance."
Life In The Universe
12/14/2018 01:00:51 pm
Scientists had to re-write the textbooks following the launching of Voyager I and II during the 1970s. They got a lot of their theories wrong.
Faster than the speed of light
12/14/2018 01:11:31 pm
https://www.quora.com/How-will-spacecraft-avoid-hitting-asteroids-when-traveling-at-light-speed-or-faster
Jockobadger
12/14/2018 02:43:50 pm
Just hold on one minute here, Mr. Life in the Universe!
V
12/15/2018 01:24:53 am
"Scientists had to re-write the textbooks following the launching of Voyager I and II during the 1970s. They got a lot of their theories wrong."
Geack
12/14/2018 10:54:26 am
@Question,
Reply
Life In The Universe
12/14/2018 04:41:41 pm
Except that the believers regard basic common sense as a "paradigm shift".....
An Anonymous Nerd
12/14/2018 09:10:48 pm
Ok let's see here....Speaking for myself not for Mr. Colavito. The gist of it is that every piece of evidence an ancient aliens person uses to support that position is better-explained in some earth-bound way. Believing the ancient aliens fantasy requires one to have an ignorance of the ancient cultures the person thinks he or she is explaining. The same goes for Atlantis, Nephilim, or any other similar theory that says "normal humans couldn't do this."
Reply
An Anonymous Nerd
12/15/2018 01:58:53 pm
And before I forget again, in terms of founding the ancient astronaut fantasy, we can't forget about HP Lovecraft. (How could I post here and forget about Lovecraft, even for a day or so!) Who definitely was not a scientist.
An Anonymous Nerd
12/14/2018 09:18:01 pm
Oh: The questions about whether or not aliens exist someplace or could possibly have gotten here already, or if they have, are not relevant to the ancient aliens fantasy: That fantasy posts much more specific claims, based on evidence that, when it isn't entirely made up, simply fails to say what its proponents would have us think.
Reply
Theory and belief
12/15/2018 12:36:22 am
Sagan was never a believer, He only theorised.
Accumulated Wisdom
12/15/2018 12:56:42 am
Ladies, Gentlemen, Instigator Trolls,
Reply
Jim Davis
12/14/2018 10:08:58 am
"The miserable ratings for Fox’s show contrast markedly with the extraordinary outpouring of media coverage for Fox, which extended to dozens more stories this week."
Reply
12/14/2018 06:19:25 pm
It's a slow period. Like I said in my first review of the show, if the media didn't pay so much attention to it, I probably wouldn't have even covered it. There isn't a lot going on right now in fringe archaeology to compete with it, so I work with what I have.
Reply
Accumulated Wisdom
12/15/2018 02:51:27 am
Actually, Mr. Colavito has a point. "Sex sells"...Right. Some dude thought he could make money by objectifying Ms. Fox. Which as Mr. Colavito has repeatedly pointed out, has failed miserably. This is actually brilliant piece of social commentary.
Joe Scales
12/15/2018 09:31:17 am
"Some dude thought he could make money by objectifying Ms. Fox."
A theoretical consideration:
Reply
American Cool "Disco" Dan
12/15/2018 11:01:54 pm
"E.P. GRONDINE
Reply
Joe Scales
12/14/2018 08:13:10 pm
"Jesse James and the Lost Templar Treasure: Secret Diaries, Coded Maps, and the Knights of the Golden Circle isn’t due out until July but is sure to be the only one of these books I’m looking forward to reading. It’s the most batshit crazy of them all."
Reply
Jim
12/14/2018 10:25:17 pm
I'm not sure "Batshit crazy" is a strong enough descriptor for some of this stuff anymore.
Reply
Accumulated Wisdom
12/16/2018 10:37:16 am
Crop Circles, in my opinion, is one of the best cover stories ever conceived. They started as simple circles with some anomalies present. "They had to be created from someone in the dky." Someone cried out, "ALIENS DID IT!" .Inspiring folks to channel their inner Stan Herd, and became anonymous crop artists. People soon forgot the simple circle. Due to negative publicity, and nutty people, if found, not reported. Of course those anomalies from the original simple circles can be faked. There is another possibility.
Reply
Joe Scales
12/16/2018 11:46:30 am
"IF...someone has a satellite capable of emitting a rotating microwave beam... occasionally needing a test...a simple crop circle might be the result. Or...
Reply
An Anonymous Nerd
12/16/2018 04:01:17 pm
We know ropes and boards exist, we know their properties as relates to making crop circles, we know they have been used to make crop circles. There's no real need to suggest a "rotating microwave beam," at all. There's only 3 Google hits for that as an exact phrase, all of which appear at first blush to be refer to the beams being used as a scanning technology. Not making crop circles.
Reply
Accumulated Wisdom
12/16/2018 06:23:19 pm
Note to self: Ropes and boards do not account for, nor do they cause documented effects within early circles in crops and dust.(heating/bursting) Long before the anonymous Stan Herd wannabes got involved. Made same speculation in different forum several years back. Boards and rope, or death from above? ⚡
Reply
An Anonymous Nerd
12/16/2018 06:48:27 pm
Here's the "microwave" theory being discussed, and here is a crop circle maker debunking it.
Accumulated Wisdom
12/18/2018 03:34:59 pm
Note to self. Been reading fringe material for 39 of my 44 years of existence. Ever since seeing a daylight UFO with grandparents and Aunt & Uncle at age 5. NO ONE is capable of Googling my imagination, thoughts, or ideas. Damn, Son...You were considering this stuff during High School football practice in 89. Imagining a rotating microwave laser fired from a space based platform.
Joe Scales
12/18/2018 08:52:15 pm
So what you're saying is that at forty-four years of age, you're just as ignorant and gullible as you were at age five.
Kal
12/16/2018 04:34:57 pm
The Drake Equation and the Fermi Paradox are testable hypothesis in science. It is highly likely that the first two points on those data are proven. The first is, is there life? Well, Earth has life on it, so yes. There is life. The second relates to how common life is, planets around stars follow, and we have detected planets around stars, where they could be habitable. It is only hypothesis at this point if they are.
Reply
An Anonymous Nerd
12/16/2018 07:26:12 pm
Most of this stuff, having to do with the potential existence of alien cultures and life generally, has nothing to do with the ancient aliens fantasy. This fantasy asserts (paraphrasing the great definition used for the film "Ancient Aliens Debunked) that aliens have visited earth in the ancient past, made contact with humans, were responsible for many of humanity's ancient achievements, and that ancient records, legends, and sites have evidence of that contact.
Reply
American Cool "Disco" Dan
12/16/2018 07:39:10 pm
And we already have "sublight travel" and there is no "question of gravity" to solve. Accelerate at one G, decelerate at one G, indistinguishable from normal Earth gravity.
Reply
Kal
12/16/2018 08:31:47 pm
Science fiction fantasy posits that if we can figure out how to manipulate gravity, mass, and motion, an circumvent physics somehow (seems like magic now), warp drive, wormholes, unlimited resources, we can build FTL ships and the stars can be visited.
Reply
Doc Rock
12/17/2018 05:41:34 pm
Hidden confederate gold, hidden jay hawker gold, hidden plantation owner gold, hidden Union gold, hidden prominent Yankee farmer gold. I guess that during the civil war pretty much everyone had a croaker sack full of gold buried somewhere.
Reply
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
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
Enter your email below to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my latest projects, blog posts, and activities, and subscribe to Culture & Curiosities, my Substack newsletter.
Categories
All
Terms & ConditionsPlease read all applicable terms and conditions before posting a comment on this blog. Posting a comment constitutes your agreement to abide by the terms and conditions linked herein.
Archives
November 2024
|