My Forthcoming Print Articles; Plus: Gaia TV Makes Me an Offer I Can Refuse

​I have some good news to share today. My critical review of alt-right philosopher Jason Reza Jorjani’s Prometheus and Atlas is about to be published in The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature & Culture. The Autumn 2017 edition, which was supposed to have been published last fall, has finally come back from the printers and will be in your favorite academic library and electronic database in the next few weeks. I have some more good news, too: My article providing a historical overview of Rothschild conspiracy theories has been accepted for publication by Britain’s All About History magazine and will be appearing in an upcoming issue this spring. It’s a major feature with a 2,500-word article and two supplementary info-boxes with 1,000+ words of additional information. 

​As though to remind me why such articles are necessary, news came yesterday that rightwing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of InfoWars, who has endorsed or promoted conspiracies related to international bankers, Bible giants, demons, and space aliens, claims that Pres. Donald Trump has repeatedly attempted to call him for advice during the course of his presidency. Jones said on his show this week that he and Trump are in frequent contact, but that he hasn’t spoken to the president in recent months because he doesn’t wake early enough to take the president’s calls made during his 8 to 11 A.M. “executive time.”
 
“I’ve missed his call. Media wants a story,” Jones said, according to a Newsweek transcript. “There it is. I’ve missed the president’s call three times in the last few months. I just gotta get up early in the morning because that’s when the calls come in, in his executive time. That’s what Trump does all day.”
 
The White House did not confirm the story.
 
Jones has frequently recycled Rothschild conspiracy theories, arguing at various times that the Jewish banking family created the Federal Reserve and manipulate world events and finances for nefarious ends. After realizing that his claims unleashed an anti-Semitic genie that turned on Donald Trump, whom anti-Semites bashed as a “Rothschild creation” backed by Jewish collaborators like son-in-law Jared Kushner, Jones posted to his official YouTube Channel a video in which he disputes the idea that the Rothschilds are behind Trump, whom Jones sees as an anti-globalist, anti-banker “king of prosperity.” 

​It’s frightening to think that centuries-old anti-Semitic conspiracies aren’t just back in fashion but are being whispered into the ear of the president of the United States.
 
Meanwhile, Jones is finding that there are some limits to how far radical conspiracy theories can take you, even in this age of unreason. According to CNN, Jones has been shopping around a book proposal for a 120,000-word volume on Jones’s “philosophy” that Jones claims will be an instant classic that will be a must-read for generations. The agent who sent out the proposal, representing Jones’s writing partner, so-called “pick-up artist” Neil Strauss, suffered embarrassment when his agency, United Talent Agency, disavowed the agent’s actions and announced that the submission had been unauthorized. No U.S. publisher would admit to having interest in Jones’s book.
 
I’m sure that won’t stop some opportunist from trying to profit off Jones’s infamy, but it does look like recent events have made it a little harder for conspiracy theorists and propagandists to get an automatic payday.
 
Finally today, late yesterday Gaia TV contacted me to ask if I would be willing to fly to an undisclosed location for a one-hour interview and then return to Albany at the conclusion of the hour. As most of you know, Gaia TV is an online subscription service specializing in ancient astronaut, occult, and fringe content. They employ the likes of David Wilcock, who endorses the vile Pizzagate conspiracy and blames the Jewish Rothschild family for attempting to assassinate him, and Erich von Däniken, who has made a number of transphobic and Islamophobic statements in recent years. Gaia promotes false content and exploited a taxidermy human mummy by teasing months of speculation about whether it was a space alien. I’m not sure anyone ever did find out who that poor dead person was.
 
Anyway, I can’t say that I see much upside to taking off an entire day and spending three-quarters of it traveling, without pay, so Gaia can interview me on a biased program for their fringe ancient astronaut output, which no one but paying fringe viewers will see. Supporting their sinister programming would seem to have no upside for me and only give cover to them as they continue to promote falsehoods and lies in the name of profit. I told them as much.