More on Anti-Semitism and Nazi Apologetics on H2 and the History Channel

8/4/2014

Before we begin today, I’d like to direct your attention to my July 30 blog post about alien anal probes. Robert Shaeffer has called to my attention a 1965 report about Barney Hill receiving an anal probe, and I have updated my post accordingly. Now, I’d like to spend some time discussing some European anti-Semitic material that directly impacts my discussion this past weekend of the anti-Semitic conspiracy book that was cited approvingly on Giorgio Tsoukalos’s In Search of Aliens.

I’ll start with an easy one since there is an English version (apparently more than one) of Jan Van Helsing’s anti-Semitic conspiracy book Secret Societies (1993). Here is what Van Helsing had to say about the spacecraft that the Nazis supposedly captured in 1936, which Giorgio Tsoukalos cited on In Search of Aliens on Friday. I take this from the version appearing on Archive.org:

Beside the “THULE-GESELLSCHAFT” (Thule Society), which will be described in detail later, there was another secret order in the Third Reich, the “VRIL-GESELLSCHAFT”. This was mainly occupied with the building of UFOs. They had, next to Viktor Schauberger and Dr. W.O. Schumann, also Schriever, Habermohl, Miethe, Epp and Belluzo working for them, whose developments were greatly accelerated after – according to them – an “extraterrestrial” saucer went down in the Black Forest in 1936 and was hardly damaged. After having scrupulously studied the drive and having joined the findings to the already enormous body of knowledge of the “Vril-Gesellschaft” about implosion and anti-gravity, they started to build their own prototypes.

[…]

According to Herbert G. Dorsey and other researchers, they had, besides the construction plans the Vril-Gesellschaft had received through telepathic contact with extraterrestrials, a non-terrestrial saucer that had crashed in the Black Forest in 1936 and whose undamaged drive had proved a great help to the Germans. But there is practically no proof of that, and no living eye witnesses are known.

Even Van Helsing doubts the material Tsoukalos cites to his book as established fact!

Now the question is whether Tsoukalos means us to take his endorsement of Van Helsing’s tepid report of a 1936 saucer crash as an endorsement of Van Helsing’s other claims, or whether Tsoukalos’s staff simply did a keyword search for the 1936 saucer myth and went with the first thing they found.

In the rest of the book Van Helsing goes on to ascribe a vast conspiracy to members of “the Zionist community” and to the Jewish Rothschild banking family—all material that seems to have been carefully recycled by Jim Marrs in his Our Occulted History and recent work based on that book. But Van Helsing filters his anti-Semitic rant through a conspiracy run by Templars, Cistercians, Illuminati, and Freemasons to hide the “truth” about Jesus—clear Scott Wolter territory, except for when it turns anti-Semitic by alleging that the Templars and their descendants hold that the God of the Hebrews was Satan and the Jews the sons of the Devil. Thus, in Van Helsing’s view, there layers upon layers in the battle between Satan and Jesus. The book approvingly cites the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and reproduces them. Here he talks of the Protocols and Jews:

It is an absolute fact that the Protocols are of Jewish origin. […] Again, don’t just swallow what the (mostly Jewish) mass-media is telling you. Get yourself some history books and the Encyclopaedia Judaica and get your knowledge yourself through your own research. […] To bring it down to the point: the race with the most “anti-Semitic” attitude is probably the modern Jew himself.

Van Helsing does not believe Jews are Semites because he sees original flavor Judaism as having been taken over by impure non-Hebraic fake Jews who are responsible for turning the faith evil. Van Helsing, to be fair, does say that he has no intention of inciting animus against Jews as a “race” but rather intends to explain the “belief system” of the Jews that made Hitler, Benjamin Franklin, and others want to “hunt down the Jews.”

Wherever they went, the Mosaic or Talmudic Jews became legendary for their crookedness and their diabolical ingenuity in taking advantage of those with whom they come in contact. They were both feared and despised. As a direct result of their chicanery they were expelled from one nation after another.

I think you get the idea. I wonder if Tsoukalos really wants to go down that path. He does like to go on about the special relationship between the Jews and extraterrestrials, but he doesn’t usually present this as evil.

Let’s move on from outright anti-Semitic fringe writing to more subtle forms of anti-Semitic craziness.

A German blogger named Michael Schmalenstroer posted praise for my review of Tsoukalos’s seemingly pro-Nazi outing celebrating the wonders of Nazi science and serious scholarship of Jan Van Helsing. “Jason Colavito treats these broadcasts with incredible energy, takes a close look behind the scenes of these shows, and diligently disassembles the theories presented therein.” I am translating as best I can from the German; I hope I have captured the sense of his German well enough here and below.

However, I’m not linking to his post to praise myself but rather to point to information Schmalenstroer presented on a figure who appeared on History’s UFO Hunters to discuss the Nazi Bell time machine, the subject of Tsoukalos’s show last week. Schmalenstroer misidentifies the show on which the conspiracy theorist appeared as Ancient Aliens, but it’s easy enough to confuse all of History/H2’s various conspiracy programs.

Dr. Axel Stoll was a geologist (according to German Wikipedia) or a geophysicist (according to UFO Hunters) in the former communist East Germany, and his doctorate was classified because it contained geological information the communist government considered sensitive. Stoll died last week, and now that it is no longer libelous to say so, observers such as Schmalenstroer are convinced that in his final years Stoll was mentally ill. He became famous in Germany after 2004 when his rambling, incoherent lectures on fringe history, Nazi science, and UFOs went viral on YouTube. Some of these lectures came from the Neuschwabenland Conference, a meeting of right-wing Germans that Stoll helped to organize. The video clip above depicts Stoll as rambling, somewhat incoherent, and ready to tell people what they wanted to hear, no matter how ridiculous.

Stoll, who often cited Helena Blavatsky and Erich von Däniken as sources for his claims, became a laughingstock for his ridiculous statements, some of which were collected on a website devoted to his crazy claims. I translate here a few of them as best I am able:

“The decisive factor is the length of women’s hair as transmitter and receiver. But the woman’s hair, you have to understand, is magnetic, and has a different magnetic field.”
“The velociraptors (...) had their own language, and from them probably originate the Reptilians.”
“What are the pyramids—who knows? Key energy!”
“This is secret Templar knowledge.”
“Darwin—Jew ... clearly. Therefore, biology is contaminated. Einstein—Jew ... Physics is contaminated. I can go on through the whole structure (of science).”

Sadly, these “crazy” claims are also fringe culture’s hot topics, and also episodes of Ancient Aliens, except perhaps for the magnetic hair.

According to Schmalenstroer:

No one really took Stoll seriously—he was so popular because all of his stuff was so completely crazy. It was clearly right-wing esoteric stuff and pseudoscience, taken seriously by no one. The case of Stoll is obviously one of mentally illness, for which the world made fun of him. The truly amazing thing is that Stoll managed to appear as an expert in a broadcast on the History Channel! […] If an American history station interviews a German madman as an absolute expert, then you should definitely take a closer look. It appears that the greater part of History’s programs have taken refuge in Dadaism and fill their quota with bullshit.

It’s always good to get an international perspective on these things!

Stoll held so many conspiracy beliefs that I can’t outline them all. He denied the moon landing (because Nazis already live there!) and thought chemtrails were poisonous. He believed in a hollow earth and the Shaver Mystery, ancient astronauts and the concept of earth as a prison planet. He thought the pyramids were used to communicate with space aliens, and that the Aryan race was descended from aliens from Aldebaran and therefore had a special connection to space that manifested in Nazi flying saucers—one of which took Nikola Tesla on a trip to Pluto! (I’m not sure that the similarity to the plot of H. P. Lovecraft’s Whisperer in Darkness is entirely coincidental.)

The German version of Wikipedia asserts that Stoll also held anti-Semitic views, like his claims about so-called Jewish science quoted above. He was also an apologist for the Second and Third Reichs: “In my first book, High Technology in the Third Reich, I […] eviscerated the Allies’ lies against the German Empire.” Oh, and by the way: He’s also a Templar conspiracy believer! “I enjoy the Templars’ protection and the protection of the National Security Agency!”

That puts him in perfect company with Giorgio Tsoukalos’s endorsement of Jan van Helsing and Scott F. Wolter’s endorsement of racist ex-Nazi historian Jacques de Mahieu, not to mention frequent History and H2 guest Jim Marrs, who spouts anti-Semitic claims about the Jewish stranglehold over world finance all on his own. History/H2 seems to really like anti-Semitic and racist writers, particularly if they have a streak of crazy. The danger is not that these figures will actually say something anti-Semitic on TV, but rather that legitimizing them as authorities by using them as experts on TV will lead viewers who are primed by History/H2 to accept their claims as true to their anti-Semitic work, and thus to accepting anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi conspiracies.

And remember: Jan Van Helsing says that it isn’t racist or anti-Semitic as long as you are only “attacking the basic Talmudic philosophy which motivates many Jews, like the Rothschilds.” I guess that’s why Jim Marrs gets to stay on TV and publish with a major New York publishing house (HarperCollins).

133 Comments

666

8/4/2014 06:58:19 am

Anti-Semitic conspiracies were created out of the fact that Jews did not do manual labour - Jews did not do manual labour because they were prohibited. Out of this Jews had to exist from doing non-manual work. it's straightforward.

Steve StC

8/4/2014 03:26:54 pm

I wonder if I'm the only one who has trouble seeing how a recent tweet by Jason has anything to do with Xenoarchaeology, Jason's purported goal for this website -
"Utah teacher fired because boss thought homophones had something to do with "gay sex."

By the way, angry acolytes, Jason has embedded all his tweets on his blog pages, so he clearly thinks there's a relationship between his tweets and his blog posts.

Now, please leap to his defense with your illogical arguments.
You first, "Only Me."

Only Me

8/4/2014 03:33:39 pm

I'll wait until you make an intelligent, non-attention whoring comment.

Zach

8/4/2014 04:05:11 pm

@ Steve StC

Jason has a right to say what he wants on his twitter like anybody else. He has a right to have his twitter feed on his own website like anybody else. And nobody said his Twitter feed has to be related to his site. He made his website for a reason, to promote his type of work, make a living, and expose the con men that bring us back to a dark age type of thinking in regards to the historical record. His twitter feed doesn't have to be that so suck it up. You don't like what he says? Big deal. Suck it up, be a big boy, and ignore it like any mature adult would. Also last time I checked, he tweeted something that people should know about - that a person who is the head of a school, an institution of education, due to his own ignorance and prejudices abused his power and fired one of his own staff who did not deserve losing her job and possibly only means of income because of it. So what do you have to say to that? Or are you afraid to say what's really on your mind because your afraid to let people know who you really are due to your own prejudices?

Cathleen Anderson

8/4/2014 04:33:14 pm

Jason is not the only one who has shared that article. Anyone stupid enough to not know what a homophone is has absolutely no business being involved in teaching language.

That guys boss should be fired for incompetence and downright stupidity.

steve stc

8/4/2014 04:37:46 pm

Jason likes to hide behind his mask of political independent. He's not. And his political views, his hard-left-leaning social views, color his vommit-tary… er… commentary. Don't like what I say, "Zach"? Suck it up, be a big boy and ignore it.

8/4/2014 04:44:10 pm

@ Steve StC

Sorry, I couldn't understand what you said cause I don't speak douchebag.

Clint Knapp

8/4/2014 05:00:50 pm

So, it's completely inexcusable for a professional author and editor to share a story about an educator's failure to recognize literary terminology?

Come on, Steve. Tell us more. Did you find your Jesus gene yet? Does it sparkle?

8/4/2014 05:04:47 pm

What would Jesus do? Would he approve of Scott Wolter hanging out with this crowd?

https://www.stormfront.org/forum/t25432/

The Umpire

8/5/2014 07:05:03 am

Steve StClair strikes out again!

Gregor

8/4/2014 08:23:42 am

...and it all sells like hotcakes.

StrongStyleFiction

8/4/2014 08:32:54 am

You know if tomorrow you posted a crazy conspiracy theory that both History and H2 were secretly programmed by time traveling Nazis, I just might believe you.

8/4/2014 08:48:29 am

Van Helsing's statements concerning the Jews become even more duplicitous in his later works, summarized by Goorick-Clarke as follows:

"he denies the charge of anti-Semitism, claiming Jewish friends and colleagues, before making the disingenuous distinction between Semitic Hebrews and Ashkenazi Jews or Khazars, who are his real antagonists... He then reprints several pages of Dr. Johannes Pohl’s vicious translation of the Talmud that was published by the Nazi Party in 1943 as anti-Semitic propaganda. On the Protocols, Helsing simply denies that their authenticity is an important issue: they exist and they are being applied."

"Ashkenazi Jews" are basically the Jewis population of Europe, who were the primary target of the Nazi "Final Solution". Khazars are a Medieval state in what is now southern Russia, whose ruling class was indeed dominated by Jews. They are represented as the enemies of the Slavic people in Russian nationalistic historiography. In fact, contemporary Russian anti-Semites often uses Khazars as evidence for the appropriateness of their stance.

And, to reiterate my point from the Bell thread, the mythology endorsed by Axel Stoll (regardless of his mental capacity) and popularized by Jan Van Helsing is essentially the mythology of dangerous Neo-Nazi cultists. The same onese responsible for popularizing the "black sun" rune as a replacement for the Nazi swastika, the use of which as a political symbol is banned in Germany.

The stories of Antarctic saucer bases, Nordic Aldebaranian extraterrestrials and vril-powered time travel have their origins in the fantasies of the former SS officer Wilhelm Landig and the notorious Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel.

Jan Van Helsing's more famous works come at the heels of and largely repeat the work of the leaders of Tempelhofgesellschaft (later Freundeskreis) - an Apocalyptic Neo-Nazi cult, which believes that the Nazis have a standing army in subterranean Antarctic bases, which, together with its Aldebaranean allies will establish Aryan dominion over earth by defeating the Illuminati (i.e., Jewish) world order.

Turning a blind eye to all this is completely unacceptable on the part of H2 and A&E.

8/4/2014 09:04:08 am

None of this is difficult to discover. Not only was Goodrick-Clarke's Black Sun published over a decade ago, but even those whose research is restricted to superficial googling cannot fail to stumble across enough of this stuff unless they deliberately ignore it.

Regardless of whether Tsoukalos is personally aware of the true nature of his sources, History/H2 production staff as a whole have no plausible deniability.

8/4/2014 09:22:55 am

Sadly, I don't think "plausible deniability" ever factors into it. Obviously its reprehensible material... but people who *actually believe this stuff* are still allowed (at least inside the US) to hold their own rallies, marches, speeches, etc. It's fundamental to the 1st Amendment (or, at least, such are their frequent claims).

Folks like Baer (if she is actually involved), H2 and A&E have so many work-arounds and lame duck excuses that none of this would ever stick. All they'd have to do is claim that it's "just entertainment", or "not on the level of, say, NOVA", or some other insipid, half-hearted response and all this junk would just float away.

Even if they did acknowledge that there was questionable material - *and* agreed that they were somehow responsible for the thoughts and words of others - they'd feign outrage to placate the more riotous crowds, swear they're going to "set them straight!", maybe farm the show off to a different channel / time for a while... and go right on making money hand over fist.

The trouble - at least as I can see it - is that while academia has a relatively strong self-governing system in place.. there's absolutely no way (or, really, even a desire) for "dangerous ideas" to be corralled or otherwise "shamed". Sure there's libel or slander... and a handful of "special interest groups" who have the time & money to chase after particularly egregious examples... but that's what? 10% of the total? Maybe?

-sigh- I dunno, it's a giant quagmire of vexation... and it seems like even if you do try to "do the right thing", you end up just playing into their idiotic "see? the jews are out to get me!!" conspiratorial bullshit (only to turn around and have the general public say "yeah, but his books are a good read, don't you think?!").

8/4/2014 09:26:43 am

I don't mean plausible deniability legally speaking. I mean plausible deniability in face of such public accusations.

They may choose to ignore them, of course. But I'm becoming more and more convinced that if public is made aware of the basic facts, this could become a serious liability for the TV people involved.

8/4/2014 09:30:36 am

There are precedents of arguably much more popular radio and television programs getting axed in face of accusaions like this. Even if they are often repackaged after the storm has died down, it at least gets people to be more careful.

And if A&E ends up compelled to check their pseudohistory projects for blatant anti-Semitism it should at the very least eliminate some of their most "exciting" sources and maybe even lead to greater overall quality control.

8/4/2014 09:36:11 am

Oh I'm with you 100% - I'd love to see them burned for this... I just don't know of any way it'd stick long enough for it to happen (or that they'd ever have the moral fortitude to admit they were wrong). Where's Buzz Aldrin when you need him? FACES NEED PUNCHING!!

8/4/2014 09:47:04 am

I think it could be worth it for someone to send out feelers to Jewish advocacy groups, making sure they are made aware that:
(1) the bits of Neo-Nazi literature used by the AA crowd are not incidental, but part of the major overarching narrative in contemporary Neo-Nazi mythology,
(2) by repeating the claims of Neo-Nazi apologists the AA crowd is directing their gullible viewership straight toward contemporary Neo-Nazi propaganda,
(3) the claims they repeat are repeated without condemnation or even acknowledgement of their sources (the same tactic extremist groups use to lure in recruits),
(4) the claims they repeat are themselves direct adaptations of the works of such Neo-Nazi luminaries as Wilhelm Landig and Ernst Zundel.
If the case is presented clearly and thoroughly, that is bound to get at least some people to pay attention.

bkd69

8/4/2014 09:03:03 am

I seem to recall Hoagland, or one of the other early 90's UFO guys, simply reprint the Protocols in one chapter of his book, with the preface of substituting 'sheeple' for 'gentiles,' and something suitably conspiratorial for 'jews.'

spookyparadigm

8/4/2014 02:42:41 pm

I think you're thinking of Bill Cooper's book Behold a Pale Horse.

Josef Karpinovic

8/4/2014 09:57:13 am

It would be incredibly satisfying to see this pathetic bird-haired clown and his moronic H2 pals accidentally hang themselves with this crypto-nazi nonsense. Perfectly fitting punishment for not only cynically shoveling heaps of bullshit onto a credulous public for profit, but also not even taking the tiny bit of trouble to understand what it is they're promoting. On prime time television. Incredible. Keep up the bad work, ya'll.

8/4/2014 10:05:23 am

I bet there are gullible people reading Van Helsing litreally right this moment. And coming to the conclusion that Hitler may not have been such a bad guy after all...

...because Tsoukalos directed their attention there.

8/4/2014 10:19:00 am

Yeah, ya know, if Giorgio talked about it, it must be ok, right? I really do hope that this comes to the attention of Jewish advocate groups, it would make my whole decade to see these scumbags get burned for pushing this poison. The whole AA/cable pseudohistory thing is morally offensive enough as it is, since they're just cynically doing even MORE to dumb down an already problematically dumb populace, but, to bring this neo-nazi stuff into it...I mean, for Christ's sake. This just beats all, the carelessness is absolutely astounding.

8/4/2014 10:27:16 am

And, to reiterate, it's not Neo-Nazis who also happen to be UFO enthusiasts. It's Neo-Nazis who seek to win converts by claiming that the Nazis received advanced technology from their extraterrestrial ancestors because said ancestors wanted to help the Aryans restore their rightful dominance over inferior races.

The writings Tsoukalos and co. use to help boost their ratings are the same writings that inspire marginalized European youths to commit hate crimes against Jews and visible minorities.

8/4/2014 10:40:28 am

I wonder what would happen if someone took to posting such notices on the facebook pages of Tsoukalos, et. al in the spirit of pyromania. Obviously facebook feeds are easy to edit / clip, but it's also a place where "fans" of the show flock to... who knows? Some of them might actually have enough of a conscience to step back when they find out Tsoukalos's sunset-inspired reflections are nursing an IV-drip of anti-semitism.

I still feel reluctant on defaulting to "get the Anti-Defamation league on 'em!", if only because it's the same methodology the US has taken towards drugs. Instead of trying to reduce (or remove) the market demand for narcotics (or fringe-level, NAZI-flavored bigotry)... they just try to stem the tsunami of importation....with buckets, no less.

In other words, as long as there's a market for such doe-eyed racism in sheep's clothing, I don't see it going away... and as much as I want to believe they could be forced to do the right thing...they haven't had so much as a hiccup thus far (despite rampant objectification, pseudo-religious insanity, cultural discrimination, etc.).

8/4/2014 10:54:27 am

It won't change the nature of humanity, of course.But, like I said above, if this gets A&E to monitor their paleoastronautic herd to make sure they don't wander into Naziland, that alone would raise the intellectual standard of their product.

8/4/2014 11:02:47 am

It would, and I suppose every bit counts (as much as I'd prefer an idealized fiery reckoning).

8/4/2014 10:45:51 am

I'm just shocked at the total carelessness involved, because I truly believe that Giorgio and company have no understanding of what they're promoting here, probably are too busy getting fake tans and hair plugs to comprehend it anyway. Not very bright people to begin with. They're used to just skating around on whatever recycled bullshit their writers scrape off the floor of the internet, and figure that however silly it may be, it's basically harmless, bat-boy tabloid fare. Not this time. All those network resources at their disposal, and NO ONE catches that they're basically spewing nazi propaganda here? It beggars belief.

8/4/2014 10:58:36 am

"Bullshit" constitutes the vast majority of what A&E and Discovery Communications air these days (hence my belly laugh on a previous post when BANFF referred to Discovery as the "#1 Nonfiction Channel").

Not related to the subject matter at hand... but another popular show - "Call of the Wildman" - was recently found to be not only entirely scripted (not a surprise, it *is* "reality tv"), but:

1. The animals caught were animals already in captivity, held by the film crew and artificially planted so that the main star could then "capture" them... again.

2. The host / main star has been operating without a license for something like a year now, and is legally barred from doing the kinds of things the show airs (and apparently, will continue to air) every week.

3. The show was investigated for animal cruelty and found guilty of multiple violations.

So the show was pulled, right? Surely Animal Planet wouldn't support a show that has been found guilty of animal cruelty, violating endangered species legislation, and operates in clear violation of state & federal regulations?

Nah, it'll be back with the new season (not joking) later this month.

Point is... as Jason (I'm pretty sure?) mentioned months ago in another post, there's practically a culture of "don't give a shit, just put a show together and get it on the air" in modern tv programming that even those working in the industry recognize (but are - presumably - powerless to correct). And, as noted above, there's good reason why you see this junk aired by History / H2 / Whomever, but it's always created / edited / concocted by some no-name "production company". Bad stuff? Offensive? Legally questionable? <hack> There, bad guys gone! Come give A&E / Discovery a big ol' hug! We totally weren't funding every single thing those mean people were doing!

8/4/2014 11:05:50 am

On the other hand, even Genn Beck had to take heavy losses because he got in too deep with anti-Semitic conspiracies. And Glenn Beck was way more of an asset than Tsoukalos et al. could ever hope to be.

Walt

8/4/2014 11:21:47 am

You sound just like the people who think Pawn Stars and American Pickers should be charged with the crime of "fraud" since they're soft-scripted and arranged in advance.

As always, I'm having a tough time understanding why people here have expectations about TV shows. It should be clear by now that it's a problem with your expectations, not the shows.

I'd suggest everyone just stop watching alien and UFO shows, or at least stop obsessing over it. If you watch and discuss it, you're helping to keep it on the air. Don't feed the trolls, so to speak.

8/4/2014 11:32:53 am

That's what many said about Hitler...

(Not that Tsoukalos could ever do that much damage... But your reasoning is problematic...)

8/4/2014 11:46:03 am

No, your logic is bit flawed. Hitler was a criminal. Giorgio is a fruity TV host who's never encouraged anyone to commit a crime, as far as we know. And, as Jason has said, he doesn't even seem to have his own beliefs. He comes off as more of a tour guide to the AAT.

I just find it odd that professing one's belief in non-existent aliens and UFOs is perfectly fine, but basing those delusional beliefs on racist ideas is somehow way over the line.

8/4/2014 11:47:47 am

@Walt

So, the problem is US? Your post is so wrong you're as dense as Mjolnir. The answer is not to pass through singing the "if you don't like it, don't watch it" tune.. a tune that was old the first time it was sung.

You may be just another one who thinks we should all sit back and say nothing about the bullshit these cable channels churn out, but, the way I look at it... when the channels start providing free service, then I'll keep quiet. But as long as I'm paying X dollars a month, I'll call bullshit, bullshit... and Ancient Aliens/In Search of Aliens are bullshit.

8/4/2014 11:48:51 am

Walt, I never said Tsoukalos is a criminal. He isn't. He's just an idiot.

The point is that just because we find something ridiculous, doesn't mean there aren't people who are eager to buy it, making the world a worse place in the process.

8/4/2014 12:01:15 pm

Only Me, that puts you in "but I wanna feed the trolls for valid reasons" camp. That's fine, but not productive in the long run. The bullshit doesn't stop. In fact, it usually gets louder since there's interest.

8/4/2014 12:06:52 pm

So what is the answer, Walt? If we confront the problem, it's unproductive, and if we ignore it, it doesn't stop.

What's the solution?

8/4/2014 12:20:30 pm

It would stop and be cancelled if nobody paid any attention.

8/4/2014 12:28:18 pm

Well unfortunately even if we did stop paying attention other people will still pay attention to it. That's the real problem. This show appeals to people who lack the education, and critical thinking that real scientists and historians use in their methods. And that's something people lack, and it is necessary to help people understand this. That's why it is necessary to talk about this.

8/4/2014 12:47:58 pm

You've contradicted yourself, Walt. You said, "The bullshit doesn't stop." Now you're saying, if it's ignored, "It would stop and be cancelled if nobody paid any attention."

8/4/2014 12:50:28 pm

Theoretically, that'd be great, Zach. Of course, that's another "feed the trolls" argument. Somebody may believe what the troll is spewing so it should be corrected. That's a noble goal.

But, as a "don't feed the trolls" guy, I think you're wasting your time.

8/4/2014 12:53:33 pm

Only Me, I didn't contradict myself. I said feeding the trolls isn't productive because it won't stop the bullshit. It was 2 sentences, which may have thrown you.

8/4/2014 01:03:18 pm

And apparently, asking for a workable solution short-circuited your brain, Walt.

Ignoring pseudoscience doesn't work, or haven't you been reading Jason's multiple articles discussing how none of these ideas ever fade away? You can hope they'll die, but they keep being resurrected by successive generations of snake oil salesmen.

8/4/2014 01:14:29 pm

@ Only Me

And that's why we need more guys like Jason, as these new generations of snake oil salesman come and go. And not just that, but we need Jason and people like him to get as much exposure as they can get, so they can drown out the drivel and bring reason and logic back to these mainstream cable channels of so-called "science" and " history."

8/4/2014 01:14:39 pm

Then didn't you just prove that these discussions are a waste of time? All I'm saying is this blog and these discussions will do absolutely nothing to convince people not to believe in ancient aliens or UFOs. Moreover, basing delusional beliefs on racist ideas is no worse than holding the delusional beliefs to begin with. And finally, being obsessed with a tabloid TV show about aliens to the point of never missing an episode isn't healthy, whatever the reason. Those are all perfectly valid opinions, so much so that I'd be hard-pressed to find anybody, outside of this blog, who doesn't agree.

8/4/2014 01:50:49 pm

If anything, YOU proved that discussions with YOU are a waste of time.

I agree your opinions are perfectly valid. That doesn't mean I agree *with* them...which is also perfectly valid.

8/4/2014 02:52:16 pm

As Jason has noted in previous posts, he gets an upsurge in search hits when an episode these shows air.

People are clearly searching for more information. And they're almost certainly not going to academic archaeology. In some cases because they don't trust it. But in most cases, the answers require more work.

More specifically, matching the BS that the tv shows peddle to real answers isn't necessarily easy. Let's say EVD goes on about Pumapunku. Your average google isn't going to necessarily go the number of steps that tells them that Pumapunku is a part of the site of Tiwanaku, and then to applicable material that tells them what Tiwanaku is all about. I teach freshmen (and others) in college, and I've seen a lot of what passes for "research" = the second google hit (the first google hit is wiki, and they've had it unfortunately drilled into their heads not to use wiki, whereas I encourage them to use wiki as a start, just not the end).

That's part of what I try to teach them, but that's not going to be the case for a lot of people.

If academic archaeology want's to follow Walt's "ignore it and it, well it won't go away but you get to ignore it and I guess that doesn't have consequences" advice, then it is up to people like Jason to actually provide answers to the questions being prompted by mass media, which gets a hell of a lot more eyes than anything else.

PS: If you don't think students watch the basic cable channel shows, and at least initially get curious about the claims, think again.

8/4/2014 03:14:13 pm

Walt, I don't agree. I say "Only Me" should keep watching and venting his anger. His blood pressure will keep rising and eventually his head will explode. Then we'll have one less angry acolyte commenting on Jason's hate blog.

Jason, nice how you managed to shoe-horn SW into this blog post. It's important for your rankings on that SW phrase, isn't it?

The award for the most intelligent sentence ever written in the comments of this hate blog goes to Walt - "And finally, being obsessed with a tabloid TV show about aliens to the point of never missing an episode isn't healthy, whatever the reason."

Substitute "aliens" for SW or AU, same difference. You people obsesses about something you hate.

8/4/2014 03:44:58 pm

God help me, I LOL'd something fierce. Thanks for proving the internet has the ability to turn sane people into ranting fools!

8/4/2014 04:07:48 pm

Steve StC, a word of advice: This is a really bad thread in which to be ranting about Jason being a hate blogger.

Steve stc

8/4/2014 04:40:53 pm

Thank you acolytes. Right on time.

8/4/2014 04:41:07 pm

@ EP

Lmao Yeah this guy isn't exactly doing anything for his case now, is he? Also...one reference to his friend (that wasn't even insulting at all) is what got his panties in a bunch? You know this makes me wonder if we should send an a message to an official email of the actual Steve St. Clair and ask him if this is really him...I would certainly love to hear if says if this troll on Jason's blog really is him...

8/4/2014 05:07:37 pm

Thanks to Steve StC, I dug this up:

https://www.stormfront.org/forum/t25432/

Scott Wolter used to hang out with the Barnes Review Holocaust deniers before he went mainstream.

8/4/2014 11:01:57 am

The more I'm looking into it, the more it's becoming clear that the people behind the esoteric Nazism are literally the same people who got the Holocaust denialist ball rolling.

As for Van Helsing, here's what hey says in Secret Societies:

"How does “weapons of mass destruction”, “mad-man Saddam”, “Peoples Power” and “HOLOCAUST” hit you now? Have the “trainers” (handlers) repeat it enough and you will accept the lie and place your own life on the line to defend it. The TRAINERS DO NOT put their lives on the line nor that of their children – check this one out as well, please."

(Keep in mind that Van Helsing cannot come out and say "Holocaust didin't happen" without risking going to prison.)

8/4/2014 11:05:57 am

I've walked the gravel at Dachau. He makes me sick.

8/4/2014 11:12:39 am

I don't know if you read my rants in the Bell thread, but Van Helsing's publisher is registered in an offshore zone in order to escape prosecution in Europe under hate speech laws.

Also, Ernst Zundel, the man who put Nazi UFOs in Antacrtica on the map in the English speaking world, just recently got out of prison in Germany, after having been extradited by Canada because Canada considers him a threat to national security.

8/4/2014 11:18:19 am

I remember the comment about offshore protection... I think I missed the one about forced extradition. Of course, from my (admittedly limited) exposure to crime & punishment in Germany, he probably lived as good a life as many in Canada (or the US, for that matter) during his "incarceration".

I can only imagine what he did (besides, you know, being a Neo-NAZI $%*@) to warrant 'enemy of the State' status.

8/4/2014 11:30:43 am

He did a LOT of Neo-Nazi shit! Like, he was probably the most important publisher and distributor of Neo-Nazi literature in North America during his heyday.

He claims that he would have stuck to Nazi UFOs, but was compelled to reply to "libelous" accusations of genocide directed at the Nazis.

Oh, and the lady who introduced him to denialism, Savitri Devi, was one of the most important post-WW2 Nazi activists. She also believed that Hitler was the Last Avatar of Hindu mythology.

8/4/2014 11:38:42 am

...ugh.

8/4/2014 11:55:32 am

She also nourished a lot of the rest of the nonsense we hear from Tsoukalos, Wolter and the rest. Here is a semi-random passage from her works:

"Well did Rudolf von Sebottendorf, founder of the famous Thule Gesellschaft that prepared the way for the triumph of National Socialism, well did he, I say, owe a lot to his visits to India, and his contacts with Hindus conscious of their Hyperborean traditions?... The gods – the “shining ones” whose “days” were years of half sunshine and half darkness – were just perfect types of Aryan humanity: the hyperboreans of far-away Thule, the ones whom the twentieth century great Indian scholar, Tilak, mentions in his book The Arctic Home in the Vedas."

Thule Society, Hyperboreans, ancient Aryan "gods", esoteric roots of Nazism... and that's just two consecutive paragraphs!

8/4/2014 12:02:34 pm

Reading that excerpt hurt my eyes.

M. Schmalenstroer link

8/4/2014 10:49:28 am

Yes, you translated my german correctly. Thank you for the mention.

8/4/2014 11:41:26 am

Concerning Van Helsing's disavowal of anti-Semitism, here's something else he says:

"Also what happened in the Third Reich is not necessarily related to “anti-Semitism”, it had to do with “anti-Khazarism” and “anti-Talmudism” (especially the “Mosaic Law”) which will be answered correctly by any SS-member (if still alive)."

In other words, "I'm not an anti-Semite, since on the Jewish question I share the position of the Third Reich and its heroic champions from the SS!"

8/4/2014 11:49:44 am

I love that he qualifies his statement with "if still alive". Obviously that's the most contentious part of the claim! Who believes in talking to ghosts?!

Repeated from yesterday's blog comments, because it bears repeating:

"...and it helps us avoid making totally stupid statements."

And yeah... though I would have probably gone further in paraphrasing his fucking idiotic claim, namely: "I'm not anti-semitic! The Third Reich was just trying to rescue the noble, Aryan Semites from the debased influence of the Jews and the extra-Jewy versions of Jewish law!"

It's enough to make your eyes cross from frustration, if not outright anger.

8/4/2014 12:01:35 pm

Basically, it comes down to this. Either Tsoukalos must admit he doesn't bother reading his sources or doing anything to check them, or he must admit that he read a book that is vicious Neo-Nazi propaganda and didn't think it's worth at least mentioning it to warn his audience.

Dave Lewis

8/4/2014 11:43:44 am

I wonder if any of the executives at A&E are Jewish?

8/4/2014 11:46:26 am

Gotta be. The media is dominated by the Jews. I read it in a book by that guy Tsoukalos keeps mentioning :)

8/4/2014 11:57:49 am

Actual quotes from Tsoukalos's facebook feed:

"Giorgio is the coolest scientist ...
Just his spin on stuff I GUARENTEE will make a new generation look at things in a different way .
Science is COOL...
No more plastic pocket protectors and slide rules..."

"Giorgio, you're shows so far have proven to be well produced, researched and ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL! I'm your fan for life."

"I need to remember to set it up on the DVR. The kids love watching this stuff. My older sons science fair project was based off of ancient aliens."

"This show helps me with my alien stuff research. It's my addiction. I can't help it. I loved alien info since I was 4yrs old."

"The Atlantis episode is exactly what I thought the city was. A huge ship. Smart!"

8/4/2014 12:00:26 pm

The thread just went full retard. You never let the thread go full retard.

8/4/2014 12:10:06 pm

@OnlyMe

Some men just want to watch the world burn.

8/4/2014 12:11:18 pm

These people are the reason we need safety instructions on basic household products. They shouldn't be allowed near anti-Semitic propaganda without proper supervision.

8/4/2014 12:17:49 pm

@ Only Me and Gregor

What is this, 2008?

8/4/2014 12:21:43 pm

Tsoukalos's Actual Facebook Feed, Round 2:

"An easier way to find the answers is to study the most valid alien contact case our planet has had recently: The "Billy Meier" case."

"Just go to Ireland, Scotland, and New Zealand....that's the aboriginal connection. We built the first UFO's right here on earth. Of course these things have been happening for aeons"

"Atlantis is my favorite place. I'm writing a gay romance series taking place on and off of Atlantis. I believe the entire race may have been from the Pleiades area of space. i will def watch this."

"Just like with any other trend in our society to drive change and conversation we are being induced subliminally to welcome and accept the topic of ancient aliens intervention. The topic of aliens and UFO has been around for a while but always at a ridicule and sci-fi level. Shows like Ancient Aliens on H2 taking this topic seriously full of archaeological data and scientific narrative is a perfect way to attract a more mainstream audience who feared the aliens and UFO topic as a new science. Thank you Giorgio, Jason and all others involved for doing this. Many like myself since young ages questioned the bible and other books for "missing" part of the story, you helped satisfy much of our hunger for answers. I still would love a show specifically about Jesus as the ultimate hybrid and Mary his mother as the most famous never accepted case of alien abduction and its connection to the Sumerian Enlil and Enki. Is Jesus the son of what the bible called the "serpent" since his social views of the world are not the way the Old Testament Jewish god depicted? I truly believe the old and New Testament are also describing two different gods in the same way the Epic of Gilgamesh did. Thanks for giving us this space. [XXXXXXXXX] in Salt Lake City."

" From what I was told by superiors while I served Atlantis is Antarctica. If you read plato's description the "Island" sat in the middle of the worlds ocean, look at the globe , there is only one land mass that fits this identifying character, the powers that be , believe our Earth has flipped it's poles more than just a few times, causing mass extinctions, and unimaginable changes in Earths topography."

" I now have a whole new interest in reading about historical events and text, you and the others have opened the door to new ideas and adventures for those of us who have always been in doubt of the lessons we were taught both in school and for me in church. Thank you and please keep sharing exciting new possibilities!"

"Hey Giorgio hey man I find it hard to believe thathat mainstream scientists are so. Narrow minded that they are blind to the fact that something verry odd is going on.now aswell as in the past! It reminds me of the three monkees that do the hear no see no speak no evil. Love the show! Anyway man keep kicking out episodes cuz Ancient Alien, lO"

8/4/2014 12:28:52 pm

@Zach

I wish - then I'd have time to carve "NO FATE" into a picnic table so you could find it and realize that there's still time to change the future, before August 29th, 2010 when FringeNet becomes self-aware and launches weapons of mass delusion at its targets in Academia, knowing the reprisal will destroy its competition in the 8-10pm Friday night slot...

8/4/2014 12:34:09 pm

I just want to point out that in one of the posts Gregor quoted a person who appears to be a former member of the armed forces speaks of his superiors feeding him a line that sounds like it was taken straight from Neo-Nazi literature.

Even if none of them is sympatheitc to their ideology, isn't this at least a cause for concern?

8/4/2014 12:55:53 pm

@EP

Not according to some posters who've been to this forum.

8/4/2014 12:57:50 pm

Just ignore those posters if they prove too thick to get through to :)

8/4/2014 03:17:09 pm

Wow Jason,

Your hate blog attracts the most wonderful people.

8/4/2014 03:47:41 pm

Oh, irony! Steve knows you not!

8/4/2014 04:42:39 pm

Oh cleverness! "Only Me" knows you not!

But arrogance? That's another matter altogether!

8/4/2014 05:03:21 pm

Steve StC, did you know that Scott Wolter has Stormfront's seal of approval?

https://www.stormfront.org/forum/t25432/

Who knew Holocaust deniers were into pseudoarchaeology?

8/4/2014 05:09:25 pm

I don't know what you are trying to say, Steve, sorry. It probably made sense in your head.

8/4/2014 11:57:27 am

i liked this quote...

" If an American history station interviews a German madman as an absolute expert, then you should definitely take a closer look. It appears that the greater part of History’s programs have taken refuge in Dadaism and fill their quota with bullshit."

i feel that my Gonzo descends into Dadaism... but i am a stylist

8/4/2014 01:15:42 pm

I just wanted to quote this because it's a key source of Van Helsing's brand of insanity and because of the bit about expressing history in terms of mythology:

"is it not true that National Socialism has brought to life once more—and how brilliantly!—those eternal Aryan ideals of perfection (beginning with physical perfection) that have been the ideals of Greece ever since the Aryan race settled there—ever since the victory of Hyperborean Apollo over the Python, to express history in terms of mythology? Rest assured, I shall never sacrifice the eternal to the transient, the racial values to the narrowly, conventionally national ones... I shall always be on our side—on the Führer’s side—whatever might happen."

8/4/2014 01:18:41 pm

From Tsoukalos's Twitter:

"If anything, become self-taught. Like me. RT @buffalobil_Cody What do I need to major in to do what u do when I grow up? #InSearchOfAliens"

... self ... taught

8/4/2014 01:46:34 pm

A glowing endorsement of Jason's alma mater if ever there was one...

8/4/2014 01:27:38 pm

I sent an email to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles referencing this post on the blog.

8/4/2014 01:29:37 pm

We should celebrate this by throwing more evidence into the thread.

8/4/2014 02:16:33 pm

Here is an ealy-1990s documentary called "UFO - Secrets of the Third Reich". Credited as screenwriters are Jürgen-Ratthofer and Ettl - they of the Neo-Nazi Apocalyptic cult Tempelhofgesellschaft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ7YyLg_ewU

Compare their content to Jan Van Helsing's (in the original or in Goodrick-Clarke's summary). Also, compare it to what the AA crowd's been saying. Who knows?- Maybe they've even used some of their footage... Maybe they even have credited them...

(One of their guests is J. J. Hurtak, whom you may know from the American UFO circuit.)

8/4/2014 02:34:30 pm

This might be off-topic but I just saw this on the troll doll's twitter:

"1990, Switzerland. RT @kenm77 @AncientAliens @HISTORY When and where did you 1st meet @vonDaeniken? #AncientAliens @More2History"

Gary

8/4/2014 03:21:32 pm

And here's a guy who claims that Ancient Aliens is a Jewish conspiracy:
https://fitzinfo.wordpress.com/tag/ancient-aliens/

8/4/2014 03:51:46 pm

Jan Van Helsing's real name is Jan Udo Holey. One of the books he published under his real name is "Die Akte Jan van Helsing" (so meta!).

On pp. 181-182 of that book, he describes how he attended the 1996 UFO Congress in Zurich, Switzerland. First of all, he bemoans how everyone was out to get Norbert Jurgen-Ratthofer, who was at the same congress. Van Helsing's tone suggests the two were quite close.

More interestingly, guess who ELSE was at the same congress? If you guessed Erich von Daniken, you are correct! The following needs to be taken with a grain of salt, since as we all know Jan Van Helsing is a lying piece of shit. But here's his story.

Von Daniken, apparently, became really embarrassed when the journalists raised uncomfortable questions about his attitudes with regard to the views of the Nazi UFO cultists. According to Van Helsing, he became red-faced and angry, becan screaming and insulting Jurgen-Ratthofer, then stormed off or "ran away".

Van Helsing, however, asserts that he and von Daniken share an acquaintance, who'd been to Egypt with von Daniken. This mutual acquaintance insists that von Daniken is a Nazi UFO believer.

Oh, and all the references to the Jews in this book are blacked out. (How meta!)

Also, lol @ this:

http://www.literature-map.com/erich+von+d-e4niken.html

Rev. Phil Gotsch

8/4/2014 05:20:22 pm

"Alien Anal Probes" … ???

"ALIEN … ANAL … PROBES" … ???

Have they recently legalized some recreational substance thus far not well publicized … ???

What … ???

8/4/2014 06:00:49 pm

Shoot no, Phil! Apparently, a super-advanced, off-world life form, having mastered FTL stellar travel, came all the way to Earth to perform colonoscopies.

I'm guessing that's how they say, "Hi."...like shaking hands...or maybe not.

BillUSA

8/5/2014 07:36:58 am

Since I'm without medical insurance and in my 50's, perhaps I should have EVD dial up a UFO pilot and have him land in my back yard to examine my back....well, you get the idea.

8/5/2014 10:12:07 am

Hey … !!! I think you're onto something there …

I am willing to bet something (though not much) … that the original patent for "Preparation H" is registered by a space alien whose home planet is … [ drum roll ] … given as … "Uranus" … !!!

8/5/2014 11:11:17 am

Careful, Phil. He might not like being the (ahem) butt of your jokes. Remember, resistance is futile.

8/5/2014 01:50:03 pm

LOL …
Perhaps "resistance is futile … " … but this Earthling refuses to be "ass-imilated" …

8/6/2014 08:11:30 am

With my luck, the UFO pilot would be a rookie who took a wrong turn. He'll ask "Is this the way to Uranus?" to which I would reply; "Only if you have a degree."

8/5/2014 08:02:35 am

Dear Reverend,

Are you friends with anyone ELSE on this list:

https://www.stormfront.org/forum/t25432/

8/5/2014 07:21:58 am

I just sent a note to the Anti Defamation League national headquarters.

8/5/2014 08:00:56 am

According to this 2005 German Ministry of the Interrior publication, Jan Van Helsing is the "pioneering and best known esoteric right-wing extremist".

http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/download/broschuere-2005-11-argumentationsmuster-im-rechtsextremistischen-antisemitismus.pdf

He is a major cause of concern for the government because they credit him with the main role in the resurgence of esoteric Neo-Nazism, which has led to the spread of anti-Semitic ideas among people not normally exposed to them.

8/5/2014 09:25:43 am

Von Dankien's hypocrisy on the Nazi question is staggering. He is no stranger to argument ad Hitlerum - whenever he needs it to attack an opponent. In "The Twilight of the Gods", for instance, he goes to work on Hans Horbinger for his ties with the Nazis. Von Daniken is outraged:

"One of the reasons for this deafening silence is a friend of Adolf Hitler and well-known antisemite named Hans Horbiger... Hitler believed in Horbiger and supported him publicly. They also met many times. Hitler listened avidly to Horbiger's lectures... Thanks to Horbiger's World Ice Theory and the racist Nazi philosophies of that time, Puma Punku has been scandalously ignored in the modern archaeological literature... Hans Horbiger, propagator of the World Ice Theory, was known as a Nazi sympathizer and hated Jews..."

But when his protege Tsoukalos gives air to "racist Nazi philosophies" of OUR time, von Daniken's righteous anger is nowhere to be found.

8/5/2014 10:31:06 am

Near the beginning of the episode, who does Tsoukalos call “the diabolical minds” while discussing Nazi Germany and Hitler’s desire to rule the world? Not Hitler or the Nazi leadership, but the German scientists who were brought to America after the end of the war.

And at around 13:30 (right after showing some SS documents), they show stock footage of a scroll written in Hebrew, but refer to it as “ancient Hindu texts” concerning vimanas. This is not only sloppy and offensive, but bound to raise additional eyebrows in this context.

Also:
“Looks like it was made of concrete.” [while camera shows brickwork]
“This place was never close to the frontline.” [while standing at an SS facility located east of Berlin]

8/5/2014 11:16:18 am

Should we start pointing out the errors in each episode, like CinemaSins on Youtube does for movies? Maybe that would make watching this stuff actually entertaining.

8/5/2014 11:27:44 am

I'm not sure I could take it - even half of this junk is enough to push me straight to "enraged".

8/5/2014 03:27:41 pm

It would be really funny to satirize it mystery science theatre style. Or better yet, get James Rolfe, or the crew over at That Guy With the Glasses to review it. Now that would be entertaining.

8/5/2014 11:26:28 am

More top-notch "research" from Prometheus Entertainment.

Regarding the usage of "diabolical", it makes me wonder if his grasp of English is as good as it ought to be... that is, actual word definitions, rather than popular usage. "Diabolical", as I'm sure you're meaning to draw attention to, means "belonging to or so evil as to recall the Devil". In "every day" (incorrect) vernacular, though, it might as well be "ingenious" or "clever".

Another similar term I see misused is "pandemonium" - most invoke it to create a sense of "madcap" or "chaotic", when it literally means "of all demons" (the 'capitol' of Hell, according to John Milton).

In any case, just another example of laziness and idiocy on all concerned.

8/5/2014 11:31:20 am

The uses you mention are legitimate (if one is speaking figuratively, as I'm sure Tsoukalos was). What's problematic is that he speaks this way about German scientists, not about the Nazis. Scientists - especially if they work for America! - are "diabolical". Hitler and his followers... well... eh...

8/5/2014 11:45:19 am

I strongly disagree regarding "legitimate", even with figurative language - especially with one who prides himself on multilingual fluency.

I must have missed this exchange (I came in about halfway), so I don't know the exact context... meaning I don't know if it would have been odd to suddenly mention Hitler et. al. specifically, instead of just the scientists (many of whom *were* NAZI party members, if not "true believers"). What's more, strictly for the sake of argumentation one could claim that while Hitler's desires clearly drove many of the policies of the Third Reich, it was the substantial intellectual, industrial and scientific resources at his command (willingly or not) that made such things possible.

Obviously I don't agree with such a sentiment, but it's an argument that could be made.

8/5/2014 11:56:07 am

That's just it. The scientists working on Nazi weapon programs were a mixed bag of political allegiances. Some were completely apolitical and really just wanted to be able to conduct research. (Unethical? Probably. But that doesn't make them "diabolical", only "merely human".)

And you may disagree all you like, but - as someone who "prides himself on multilingual fluency" (and who has been helping edit his professors' manuscripts since he was a sophomore) - I tell you that the uses you mention are completely acceptable in most contexts. In fact, the orignal literal senses of these words are hardly ever in play.

Jason Colavito link

8/5/2014 12:09:17 pm

While the choice of adjective was odd, in context he was trying to refer to the negative impact of the weapons systems they developed, specifically the "evil" a person would need to think up new ways to kill people on an industrial scale.

8/5/2014 11:32:23 am

I used to watch shows twice to write a review, but that takes too much time. Now I spend so much time typing that I sometimes miss the visuals that fly by quickly while I'm staring at the screen. Of course they decided that Hebrew was Sanskrit--it's all just foreign squiggles, right?

8/5/2014 11:39:21 am

It means whoever was in charge of editing it didn't recognize Hebrew and ended up putting it into the worst possible context, given everything else we've been talking about.

8/5/2014 11:49:32 am

@Jason

And that's giving them the benefit of the doubt and not assuming they were trying to imply that Hebrew faith & culture was somehow "borrowed" from Hinduism. I mean, the Ancient of Days is basically just Shiva, right? -sigh-

8/5/2014 12:31:07 pm

This is particularly absurd because later, at around 18:20, they DO show a book in Sanskrit... Double facepalm...

8/5/2014 01:42:54 pm

Yet another example of mind boggling ignorance and insensitivity. At some point it is said, while a picture of Eistein is on the screen, “Germany invented relativity.” Let’s count the ways in which this statement is wrong:

1. Relativity (assuming we mean Einstein's of relativity) was discovered, not invented.
2. Theory of relativity is the not work of one person or one nation, but of an international community of scientists.
3. Mosts importantly, Einstein studied and did his important early work in Switzerland, whose naturalized citizen he was. As a Jew, he was forced to remain in America when the Nazis came to power in Germany, where his books were now being burned.

Of course, no mention of the fact that Einstein - a Jewish Swiss-American - was an enemy of the Nazis. (As were thousands of German scientists, whose exile and extermination did so much to hurt the Nazi war effort). But that wouldn’t be on message when we are supposed to be impressed by secret Nazi uber-weapons. Germany invented relativity!

8/5/2014 03:32:18 pm

"Yesterday I tune into MEET THE PRESS and as the show progressed, my mouth became more and more agape, NOT being able to believe what unfolded in front of EVERYONES eyes. I was at a loss for words. Today, I'm BEYOND stoked to see that I wasn't the only one who was shocked to the core about what transpired on LIVE television yesterday. In case you missed it, please check out the 2 links below to form your own opinion. Shame on you David Gregory, shame on you. What a spineless and misguided man you are. And "IM ABOUT AS LIBERAL AS THEY COME." Glen Greenwald THANK YOU for standing up for yourself and EVERY investigative journalist in the world. May you, Edward Snowden and Julian Assange lead the way."

I particularly emphasized where Tsoukalos said "IM ABOUT AS LIBERAL AS THEY COME. " I posted this tweet he made on TwitLonger on June 24, 2013 because of the claim he made, but also to show the context of what he said in. The hypocrisy in this post is both mind-boggling and disturbing on so many levels.

8/5/2014 11:47:39 pm

It's interesting that Tsoukalos, who has never made a secret about being politically very liberal, works so closely with Erich von Daniken, who is notorious for his extreme conservatism. It must make for an interesting dinner party when they try to decide the aliens' position on women's rights.

That said, Tsoukalos is a throwback to the earliest ancient astronaut writers, like Pauwels & Bergier and Robert Charroux, who were (at least in the 1960s) socialists, and Peter Kolosimo, who was a communist. Von Daniken explicitly wanted to move ancient astronauts into the conservative camp, and this is one reason ancient astronautics gradually merged with paranoid right-wing conspiracy culture. Tsoukalos, except for his occasional ignorant reference to anti-Semitic literature, isn't really part of all that, at least not explicitly.

8/6/2014 06:27:25 am

Earliest ancient astronaut theorists were Soviet "cosmists", with the earliest clear published discussion dating from 1930. At that time, it was already grounded in treating ancient myths as factual reports of contact with aliens.

In 1930, the popular journal Voprosy Znania (Questions of Knowledge) published a letter from someone identified only as “Subscriber 41912”, along with three responses to it. The full translation of the parts of the letter reproduced in Voprosy Znania:

“If interplanetary voyages are at all possible, if Earth is not the cultural center of the entire universe, and if there are more advanced cultures on other planets, then why have the inhabitants of other planets still not visited Earth? [...] (1) Earth is not the very cultural center of the universe, (2) the inhabitants of other worlds have not visited Earth, [therefore] (3) interplanetary transit is impossible.”

The respondents were Tsiolkovsky and two other prominent Russian space flight enthusiasts, popular science writers Yakov Perelman and Nikolai Rynin. Rynin says that ancient legends of humans being visited by unearthly creatures “may contain a grain of truth” and refers the readers to his multi-volume work on the science and history of space travel where such legends from around the world are catalogued. (It includes, if I'm not mistaken, a version of the technologically advanced Atlantis conflated with the myth of ancient Indian cities being destroyed by weapons of mass destruction.)

8/6/2014 06:29:54 am

It's all a communist plot!

8/6/2014 06:35:28 am

Pretty much. In all seriousness, the Russians of that period bear a lot more responsibility than anyone else for contemporary esotericism and pseudoscience. Theosophy, "Fourth Way", new chronology, ancient aliens, catastrophism, and a bunch of junk physics and biology. (To say nothing of their political "contributions".)

8/6/2014 06:38:05 am

Oh, and we should never forget to include Ayn Rand in that list :)

8/6/2014 10:04:03 am

Okay, you lost me. How does Ayn Rand fit into Russian influence on ancient astronautics?

8/6/2014 10:08:06 am

Not ancient astronautics specifically, but "esotericism and pseudoscience". She fits in by having been born and (somewhat) educated in Russia. Ayn Rand is not her real name :)

8/6/2014 10:10:14 am

Yeah, I knew about her nationality, just not the part about pseudoscience. Thanks!

8/6/2014 10:12:14 am

Broadly construed - read her nonfiction. Better yet, don't and take my word for it :)

8/6/2014 10:18:01 am

If you've heard of the game BioShock, then I think you'll recognize the character of Andrew Ryan (also Russian) as the embodiment of Rand's ideals...and what happens when they're taken to they're logical conclusion. Because of this game, I kinda get what you're saying:)

8/13/2014 03:51:07 am

Actually you are being unfair to Ayn Rand. she liked Science.
she liked the idea of a new process for steel improving on
what we now have. her Reardon Steel. she was not into UFO
reports. the burning of textbooks and books in general that
the Nazis in the 1930s did in Germany is something she was
shocked by. the fact of the matter is, she was 100% behind
the idea of progress, universal education and science. she
felt that geniuses are often misunderstood. actually she was
more confident about our ability to utilize science to improve
the basic human animal that Thomas Hobbes ever was. she
would have forgiven Jason's wooly- minded Humanism becuz
he does not have a deceptiveness at all like Ellsworth Toohey.

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How to rule Souls THE FOUNTAINHEAD

"What do you want Ellsworth ?"

"Power, Petey. I want to rule. Like my spiritual predecessors. But I’m luckier than they were. I inherited the fruit of their efforts and I shall be the one who’ll see the great dream made real. I see it all around me today. I recognise it. I don’t like it. I didn’t expect to like it. Enjoyment is not my destiny. I shall find such satisfaction as my capacity permits. I shall rule."

"Whom...?"

"You. The world. It’s only a matter of discovering the lever. If you learn how to rule one single man’s soul, you can get the rest of mankind. It’s the soul, Peter, the soul. Not whips or swords or fire or guns. That’s why the Caesars, the attilas, the Napoleons were fools and did not last. We will. The soul, Peter, is that which can’t be ruled. It must be broken. Drive a wedge in, get your fingers on it – and the man is yours. You won’t need a whip – he’ll bring it to you and ask to be whipped. Set him in reverse – and his own mechanism will do your work for you. Use him against himself. Want to know how it’s done? See if I ever lied to you. See if you haven’t heard all this for years, but didn’t want to hear, and the fault is yours, not mine.

There are many ways. Here’s one. Make man feel small. Make him feel guilty. Kill his aspiration and his integrity. That’s difficult. The worst among you gropes for an idol in his own twisted way. Kill integrity by internal corruption. Use it against himself. Direct it towards a goal destructive of all integrity. Preach selflessness. Tell man that altruism is the ideal. Not a single one has ever reached it and not a single one ever will. His every living instinct screams against it. But don’t you see what you accomplish ? Man realises that he’s incapable of what he’s accepted as the noblest virtue - and it gives him a sense of guilt, of sin, of his own basic unworthiness. Since the supreme ideal is beyond his grasp, he gives up eventually all ideals, all aspiration, all sense of his personal value. He feels himself obliged to preach what he can’t practice. But one can’t be good halfway or honest approximately. To preserve one’s integrity is a hard battle. Why preserve that which one knows to be corrupt already? His soul gives up its self respect. You’ve got him. He’ll obey. He’ll be glad to obey – because he can’t trust himself, he feels uncertain, he feels unclean. That’s one way.

Here’s another. Kill man’s sense of values. Kill his capacity to recognise greatness or to achieve it. Great men can’t be ruled. We don’t want any great men. Don’t deny conception of greatness. Destroy it from within. The great is the rare, the difficult, the exceptional. Set up standards of achievement open to all, to the least, to the most inept – and you stop the impetus to effort in men, great or small. You stop all incentive to improvement, to excellence, to perfection. Laugh at Roark and hold Peter Keating as a great architect. You’ve destroyed architecture. Build Lois Cook and you’ve destroyed literature. Hail Ike and you’ve destroyed the theatre. Glorify Lancelot Clankey and you’ve destroyed the press. Don’t set out to raze all shrines – you’ll frighten men, Enshrine mediocrity - and the shrines are razed.

Then there’s another way. Kill by laughter. Laughter is an instrument of human joy. Learn to use it as a weapon of destruction. Turn it into a sneer. It’s simple. Tell them to laugh at everything. Tell them that a sense of humour is an unlimited virtue. Don't let anything remain sacred in a man’s soul – and his soul won’t be sacred to him. Kill reverence and you’ve killed the hero in man. One doesn’t reverence with a giggle. He’ll obey and he’ll set no limits to obedience – anything goes – nothing is too serious.

Here’s another way. This is most important. Don't allow men to be happy. Happiness is

8/13/2014 03:54:17 am

Happiness is self-contained and self-sufficient. Happy men have no time and no use for you. Happy men are free men. So kill their joy in living. Take away from them what they want. Make them think that the mere thought of a personal desire is evil. Bring them to a state where saying ‘I want’ is no longer a natural right, but a shameful admission. Altruism is of great help in this. Unhappy men will come to you. They’ll need you. They’ll come for consolation, for support, for escape. Nature allows no vacuum. Empty man’s soul – and the space is yours to fill.

I don’t see why you should look so shocked, Peter. This is the oldest one of all. Look back at history. Look at any great system of ethics, from the Orient up. Didn’t they all preach the sacrifice of personal joy ? Under all the complications of verbiage, haven’t they all had a single leitmotif: sacrifice, renunciation, self-denial ? Haven’t you been able to catch their theme song – ‘Give up, give up, give up, give up’ ? Look at the moral atmosphere of today. Everything enjoyable, from cigarettes to sex to ambition to the profit motive, is considered depraved or sinful. Just prove that a thing makes men happy and you’ve damned it. That’s how far we’ve come. We’ve tied happiness to guilt. And we’ve got mankind by the throat.

Throw your first born into a sacrificial furnace – lie on a bed of nails – go into the desert to mortify the flesh – don’t dance – don't go to the movies on Sunday – don't try to get rich – don’t smoke – don’t drink. It’s all the same line. The great line. Fools don’t think that taboos of this nature are just nonsense. Something left over, old-fashioned. But there’s always a purpose in nonsense. Don’t bother to examine a folly – ask yourself only what it accomplishes. Every system of ethics that preached sacrifice grew into a world power and ruled millions of men.

Of course, you must dress them up. You must tell people they’ll achieve a superior kind of happiness by giving up everything that makes them happy. You don't have to be too clear about it. Use big vague words. ‘Universal Harmony’ – ‘Eternal Spirit’ – ‘Divine Purpose’ – ‘Nirvana’ - ‘Paradise’ – ‘Racial Supremacy’ – ‘the Dictatorship of the Proletariat.’ Internal corruption, Peter. That’s the oldest one of all. The farce has been going on for centuries and men still fall for it.

Yet the test should be so simple: just listen to any prophet and if you hear him speak of sacrifice – run. Run faster than from a plague. It stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there’s someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master. But if you ever hear a man telling you that you must be happy, that it’s your natural right, that your first duty is to yourself – that will be the man who has nothing to gain from you. But let him come and you’ll scream your empty heads off, howling that he’s a selfish monster. So the racket is safe for many, many centuries.

But here you might have noticed something. I said, ‘It stands to reason’. Do you see ? Men have a weapon against you. Reason. So you must be very sure to take it away from them. Cut the props from under it. But be careful. Don’t deny outright. Never deny anything outright, you give your hand away. Don’t say reason is evil – though some have gone that far and with astonishing success. Just say that reason is limited. That there’s something above it. What ? You don’t have to be too clear about it either. The field’s inexhaustible. ‘Instinct’ – ‘Feeling’ – ‘Revelation’ – ‘Divine Intuition’ – ‘Dialectic Materialism’. If you get caught at some crucial point and somebody tells you that your doctrine doesn’t make sense – you’re ready for him. You tell him there’s something above sense. That here he must not try to think, he must feel. He must believe. Suspend reason and you play it deuces wild. Anything goes in any manner you wish whenever you need it. You’ve got him. Can you rule a thinking man ? We don’t want any thinking men."

Keating had sat down on the floor, by the side of the dresser. He did not want to abandon the dresser; he felt safer, leaning against it.

"Peter, you’ve heard all this. You’ve seen me practising it for ten years. You see it being practised all over the world. Why are you disgusted ? You have no right to sit there and stare at

8/13/2014 03:56:52 am

You have no right to sit there and stare at me with the virtuous superiority of being shocked. You’re in on it. You’ve taken your share and you’ve got to go along. You’re afraid to see where it’s leading. I’m not. I’ll tell you.

The world of the future. The world I want. A world of obedience and of unity. A world where the thought of each man will not be his own, but an attempt to guess the thought of the next neighbour who’ll have no thought – and so on, Peter, around the globe. Since all must agree with all. A world where no man will hold a desire for himself, but will direct all his efforts to satisfy the desires of his neighbour who’ll have no desires except to satisfy the desires of the next neighbour, who’ll have no desires – around the globe, Peter. Since all must serve all. A world in which man will not work for so innocent an incentive as money, but for that headless monster – prestige. The approval of his fellows – their good opinion – the opinion of men who’ll be allowed to hold no opinion. An octopus, all tentacles and no brain.

Judgement, Peter ! Not judgement, but public polls. An average drawn upon zeroes – since no individuality will be permitted. A world with its motor cut off and a single heart, pumped by hand. My hand – and the hands of a few, a very few other men like me. Those who know what makes you tick – you great, wonderful average, you who have not risen in fury when we called you the average, the little, the common, you who’ve liked and accepted these names. You’ll sit enthroned and enshrined, you, the little people, the absolute ruler to make all past rulers squirm with envy, the absolute, the unlimited, God and Prophet and King combined. Vox populi. The average, the common, the general.

Do you know the proper antonym for Ego ? Bromide, Peter. The rule of the bromide. But even the trite has to be organised by someone at some time. We’ll do the organising. Vox dei. We’ll enjoy unlimited submission – from men who’ve learned nothing except to submit. We’ll call it ‘to serve’. We’ll give out medals for service. You’ll fall over one another in a scramble to see who can submit better and more. There will be no other distinction to seek. No other form of personal achievement.

Can you see Howard Roark in this picture ? No ? Then don’t waste time on foolish questions. Everything that can’t be ruled, must go. And if freaks persist in being born occasionally, they will not survive beyond their twelfth year. When their brain begins to function, it will feel the pressure and it will explode. The pressure gauged to a vacuum. Do you know the fate of deep-sea creatures brought out to sunlight? So much for future Roarks. The rest of you will smile and obey. Have you noticed that the imbecile always smiles ? Man’s first frown is the first touch of God on his forehead. The touch of thought. But we’ll have neither God nor thought. Only voting by smiles. Automatic levers – all saying yes...

Now if you were a little more intelligent, you’d ask: What of us, the rulers ? What of me, Ellsworth Monkton Toohey ? And I’d say, Yes, you’re right. I’ll achieve no more than you will. I’ll have no purpose save to keep you contended. To lie, to flatter you, to praise you, to inflate your vanity. To make speeches about the people and the common good. Peter, my poor old friend, I’m the most selfless man you’ve ever known. I have less independence than you, whom I just forced to sell your soul. You’ve used people at least for the sake of what you could get from them for yourself. I want nothing for myself. I use people for the sake of what I can do to them. It’s my only function and satisfaction. I have no private purpose. I want power. I want my world of the future. Let all live for all. Let all sacrifice and none profit. Let all suffer and none enjoy. Let progress stop. Let all stagnate. There’s equality in stagnation. All subjugated to the will of all. Universal slavery – without even the dignity of a master. Slavery to slavery. A great circle – and a total equality. The world of the future."

"Ellsworth... you’re..."

"Insane ? Afraid to say it ? There you sit and the world’s written all over you, your last hope. Insane ? Look around you. Pick up any newspaper and read the headlines. Isn’t it coming ? Isn’t it here ? Every single thing I told you ? Isn’t Europe swallowed already and we’re stumbling on to follow ? Everything I said is contained in a single word – collectivism. And isn’t that the god of our century. To act together. To think – together. To feel – together. To unite, to agree, to obey. To obey, to serve, to sacrifice. Divide and conquer – first. But t

8/13/2014 04:00:26 am

To obey, to serve, to sacrifice. Divide and conquer – first. But then, unite and rule. We’ve discovered that one last. Remember the Roman Emperor who said he wished humanity had a single neck so he could cut it ? People have laughed at him for centuries. But we’ll have the last laugh. We’ve accomplished what he couldn’t accomplish. We’ve taught men to unite. This makes one neck ready for one leash. We found the magic word. Collectivism.

Look at Europe, you fool. Can’t you see past the guff and recognise the essence ? One country is dedicated to the proposition that man has no rights, that the collective is all. The individual held as evil, the mass – as God. No motive and no virtue permitted – except that of service to the proletariat.

That’s one version. Here’s another. A country dedicated to the proposition that man has no rights, that the State is all. The individual held as evil, the race – as God. No motive and no virtue permitted – except that of service to the race. Am I raving or is this the harsh reality of two continents already ? If you’re sick of one version, we push you in the other. We’ve fixed the coin. Heads – collectivism. Tails – collectivism. Give up your soul to a council – or give it up to a leader. But give it up, give it up, give it up. Offer poison as food and poison as antidote. Go fancy on the trimmings, but hang on to the main objective. Give the fools a chance, let them have their fun – but don’t forget the only purpose you have to accomplish. Kill the individual. Kill man’s soul. The rest will follow automatically."

(Ellsworth Toohey, speaking to Peter Keating in "The Fountainhead")