JASON COLAVITO
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean >
      • Jimmy Excerpt
      • Jimmy in the Media
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
      • James Dean, The Human Ashtray
      • James Dean and Marlon Brando
      • The Curse of James Dean's Porsche
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
        • Volume 23 Archive
        • Volume 24 Archive
        • Volume 25 Archive
        • Volume 26 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
      • Ancient Apocalypse
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Eridu Genesis
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Resurrection of Marduk
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Atlantis as Biblical History
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Atlantis and Nimrod
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and Hanno's Periplus
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
          • Amazing New Light (Hoax)
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • History of Paleontology
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • America Known to the Ancients
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Remarkable Discoveries Within the Sphinx (Hoax)
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • The Shaver Mystery >
          • Lovecraft and the Deros
          • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • CIA Search for the Ark of the Covenant
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • The Fall of the Sky
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Poltergeist UFOs
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search

The Politics of Alternative History

11/7/2013

57 Comments

 
A frequent complaint I’ve received over the past nine months or so is that it is inappropriate of me to mix into my discussion of ancient astronauts and alternative history anything smacking of either politics or contemporary implications for the claims alternative history proponents make. On one hand, I understand the desire to isolate historical studies from modern political controversies, but on the other hand I find it impossible to divorce the two since alternative history is born of politics and speaks to political discontent. I believe that restricting discussion to purely mechanical issues of what facts alternative historians faked, or which quotations they got wrong, or how ancient sites could really have been built impoverishes our understanding of the underlying meanings and motives behind fabricated history.

This process is in evidence from the very dawn of modern alternative history movements—and even before, back at least to the time when the priests of Marduk rewrote the Mesopotamian creation myth to place the Babylon’s god in the center of events in place of Enlil, transforming and altering what had heretofore been the established history of creation. Make no mistake, this was an act of politics as much as religion.

In the eighteenth century and nineteenth century, the alternative theory of the lost white race of the Mound Builders, eventually canonized as Mormonism, emerged essentially as a political act, placing white American securely on the American continent by first providing justification for the suppression of Native American “interlopers” and by secondly providing a fictive “white” history of America independent from that of Britain. While today many prefer to ignore the political implications of the Mound Builder myth, they were not lost on U.S. government officials like Pres. Andrew Jackson, who discussed these political implications in a speech delivered to Congress, as well as future presidents William Henry Harrison and Abraham Lincoln, who both embraced the idea that ancient white tribes and/or biblical giants once roamed America, uniquely descending ancestral and divine blessings onto the Republic.

Such a relationship between politics and alternative history is relatively uncontroversial when sequestered deeply enough in the past that it no longer has a clear effect on modern political controversies.

This continued in the nineteenth century. Alexander Hislop’s painfully influential Two Babylons, which posited a millennia-old global pagan cult masquerading as the Catholic Church, was part of the anti-Catholic hysteria of nineteenth century politics, just as the anti-Freemason conspiracies originated in the political paranoia of the American and French Revolutionary eras.

Thomas Sinclair explicitly stated in 1892 that he advocated the alternative history claim that Henry Sinclair had discovered America in the 1300s because it could be used to create a less welcoming environment for Italian immigrants, whom he viewed as Latin interlopers using Columbus to justify the mongrelizing of Anglo-American white populations.

The father of Atlantis and lost civilization nonsense, Ignatius Donnelly, was a U.S. congressman and held several other government posts. His promotion of Atlantis as the true Aryan homeland during an age dominated by imperialism supported the politically-motivated idea that “Aryan” peoples once ruled the world and therefore had the political right to reign over the non-Aryan peoples again.

The Victorian British adopted the idea of lost white civilizations to help impose Britain’s imperium across the British Empire. Most directly, this took the form of denying that black Africans constructed Great Zimbabwe, and the idea of “white” construction of the site remained an officially-sanctioned government lie down to the end of white-ruled Rhodesia in 1980, a lie specifically designed to prevent black Africans from getting the idea that they had a powerful past that might contribute to a powerful future.

The Nazis promoted the most notorious version of these claims, advocating a lost Aryan homeland and sending archaeologists around the world to manufacture proof of it in order to justify German claims to lands across Europe and around the world, as well as to support the notion of Aryan racial superiority. I hope it is not controversial (except perhaps to Scott Wolter, who argued that at least one Nazi sympathizer did crackerjack research into white colonization of the Americas) to say that this distortion of history existed in service of ideology.

As we move forward in time, the political nature of alternative history starts to become more troublesome for many observers because these politics begin to directly impinge on political ideas and controversies that directly affect them. Somehow recent alternative history no longer has anything to do with politics or society and is now simply an “open-minded” way of looking at the truth. The facts, however, belie this.

We know that the United States government worked to create fake UFO sightings to mess with the Soviets, and the Soviet government actively and officially promoted the fiction of ancient astronauts for a time in a concerted effort to undermine Western religious beliefs. These Soviet propaganda efforts spilled over into the West, where leftist sympathizers adopted them. Foremost among them were Jacques Bergier (a Russian émigré) and Louis Pauwels, whose ur-text for the ancient astronaut movement and historical conspiracy theories, Morning of the Magicians, derived much of its ancient astronaut material from Soviet sources. At the time of writing, Pauwels and Bergier were actively promoting New Age counterculture socialism, though Pauwels eventually became a conservative, renewed his Catholic faith, and denounced Morning and its offshoots as “paganism.”

By contrast, Erich von Däniken has always been a political conservative and was unabashed in asserting that his ancient astronaut theory could be used as a tool to promote conservatism and defeat socialism. He wrote a letter to then-U.S. president Gerald Ford in 1976, which I obtained from the National Archives last year, in which he explained this in detail:

…Western Europe seems to be penetrated nowadays by leftist blockheads. The press of the countries surrounding my neutral native country Switzerland is dominated by socialist dreamers. The big masses do not realize the ins and outs of our today’s situation and are blindly falling to the big deception.

I have asked myself again and again: what is there that we can set over against the cummunist/socialist [sic] ideology? How can we inspire a young generation and at the same time demonstrate to them sense for solidarity and creditable performance leading to success? And this national [sic] with an international effect?


Von Däniken advocated manned space travel as the solution, and he hoped that ancient astronauts would help inspire the youth to embrace the West and reject communism. These feelings remained evident in his work down to the present. Recently, in Twilight of the Gods, von Däniken expressed contempt for a number of political views and policies associated with liberals, including women’s equality and climate change. In his view, the aliens serve as semi-divine enforcers of tradition, demanding that humans conform to a conservative agenda laid down in holy books or face nuclear annihilation and/or anal probing.

In Scott Wolter’s new book, Akhenaten to the Founding Fathers, he explicitly states that his interest in a global super-cult venerating the sacred feminine and living in harmony with the environment stems from his political beliefs in feminism, the dangers of overpopulation, and his concern that current government policies are leading to the depletion of natural resources. Therefore, by finding a super-society that had successfully solved these problems in the past, he could effect change in the present.

Most noticeably, fundamentalist creationists have married their revision of the historical record to a political agenda that stretches into areas beyond science. In a slightly different arena, Raël has not been shy about injecting the Raëlian ancient astronaut cult into everything from international relations to the debate over human cloning.

Now, obviously, not every hack with a book deal is explicitly trying to influence political debates or change government policies. In fact, many probably have never given a moment’s thought to the political origins or impact of the ideas they advocate. I’m fairly certain, for example, that David Childress doesn’t view his work as having any broader meaning beyond serving as a mass of entertaining secondhand anecdotes.

The point, however, is that it isn’t possible to simply divorce alternative history claims from the political contexts in which they emerge and participate.

57 Comments
titus pullo
11/7/2013 05:49:22 am

Jason,

As someone somewhat new to your site, I found this to be the most insightful short blog on human nature I've read in years. History (the explaining of human actions) is subject based on human interests. Yes we can all agree on an event taking place but the context of it is more about how the person commenting on it views the event in their world view. My opinion is the fact human actions are so individual driven and in many cases not repeatable (same person can react differently to same situation over time), that most social science is at best generalizations. Certainly macro economics is more akin to astrology than a predictive science. Not surprised each generation internalizes the past in the way that allows it to rationalize their view and morals...is history bunk? Maybe....

Reply
The Other J.
11/7/2013 06:42:08 am

Your collecting all of these examples in one post shows me something else:

In the past you've noted how the ancient aliens set are in effect forging a new kind of religion, with aliens becoming a supplement for the traditional monotheistic god.

But religion, and even denominations within religions, is often a sublimation of tribal concerns. Scratch the surface, and you can discover how a religion also serves as a kind of tribal socio-political Rorschach test.

What you've laid out here is pretty much the same thing -- alternative history as a tribal socio-political Rorschach test. And the way that it mirrors the religious Rorschach test -- where X=god/aliens/ancient unknown race, and X is then used to justify one's belief in Y when one doesn't have a strong enough argument for Y -- seems to support your argument that belief in ancient aliens is mirroring the structure of a religion, if not becoming one.

Reply
Only Me
11/7/2013 07:35:01 am

What we are witnessing is a shift on the macro level toward what has already been accomplished on the micro level...aliens as a supplement or alternative to established religion. The above mentioned Raëlian cult and the cult-like following of Billy Meier are but two examples. And, speaking for myself, I'd rather face nuclear annihilation AND anal probing over those choices.

Reply
Gunn
11/7/2013 10:39:25 am

"...or face nuclear annihilation and/or anal probing."

I couldn't help noticing that there is an unintended improper sequence of events here. Can there be a nuclear annihilation and then an anal probing? Or should it be an anal probing, followed by a nuclear annihilation? (That's what I was thinking.)

Jason Colavito link
11/7/2013 10:42:30 am

I was just making a humorous point about the bizarre claims for what aliens allegedly want to do to us. I purposely put them in an unusual order to emphasize the wide-ranging and often silly nature of claims for the aliens' plans.

titus pullo
11/8/2013 02:51:39 am

on the anal probing..I would avoid New Mexico, the cops there seem to be a little bit too focused on that..if you have read the recent article on that poor guy they thought had drugs in his behind..

Gunn
11/7/2013 10:32:01 am

Scientology comes to mind; a religion with aliens at the top as a final surprise one pays dearly for. (Talking about the cash, not the crappy after-effects of being deceived.)

Reply
Scott Hamilton
11/7/2013 07:09:18 am

I'd very much like to read some of the pre-1960 Soviet material. I have a pretty good collection of 50s flying saucer books, but while they often poke towards the idea ancient flying saucers, but always shy away from intervention. The Soviet material would provide an interesting snapshot of how intervention theory developed.

Reply
Erik G
11/7/2013 08:17:58 am

Jason -- what exactly do you mean by 'alternative history'? Do Graham Robb's speculations about the Celts in 'The Ancient Paths' fall into this category? Or, for example, certain current academic hypotheses that the Germanic 'invasions' of the Roman Empire were not invasions as such but long-term relatively peaceful infiltrations? If someone argues that an aspect of orthodox history is incorrect, does that make him or her an 'alternative historian'? Our interpretations of historical events have often been revised in the past and will continue to be revised in future as new evidence comes to light. But until such revisions become accepted, do they constitute 'alternative histories'?

I guess that 'alternative history' as used here tends to indicate history involving aliens and Atlanteans and all manner of fringe beliefs. I do wish a better term could be utilised -- 'fringe history' perhaps?

History has almost always been fabricated, sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes because of cultural short-sightedness, and often because of politics. Roman writers and historians often faked histories for both political and cultural reasons. Many of their statements are still accepted today. But if I challenge such statements in my own research, does that make me an 'alternative historian'?

Reply
The Other J.
11/7/2013 09:11:39 am

I take your point -- "alternative history" is a bit of a slippery term. At least in the way it's been used here, I think it refers to people who refuse to accept the establish methodologies of history as a discipline, often while attacking the discipline and academia as a whole. They then attempt to replace historical accounts with their own versions of history while actively rejecting already-existing historical accounts out of hand and the methodologies that result in what we would recognize as actual historical scholarship (peer review, proper documentation, primary research, attempting to anticipate and address counter-arguments within their own work rather than avoiding them and then attacking those who identify those counter-arguments in the public sphere, etc.). So I think it's more about approach and methods than it is about differing takes on historical events; if there were no differing takes on historical events, there wouldn't be a discipline of history, just stenographers.

Say you have a challenge to a Roman writer's account of history. That's great. If you can present your challenge through a solid case built on evidence that clearly backs up your argument and does not depend on special pleading in order to get around possible counter-arguments, and you've used primary sources where you could and documented your sources properly (i.e. not Google Translate and Wikipedia), then you're probably on the right track. If you can show that you've engaged some of the scholarship that also addresses the Roman account you're challenging, then you've also shown that you've done your due diligence -- you've shown that you checked first to see if someone else already had a similar challenge, or has an argument that might present a problem for your challenge. That also shows the reader that because you've engaged in what others had to say about it, you're actually interested in the topic and not just your own voice. You establish trust that way, rather than coming off as a demagogue.

So "alternative" in this sense would be sort of the Bizarro World of history as it's come to be recognized as a discipline. But fringe history could also be a functional term, and I've also heard it called parapolitics (ugh). But that's my understanding of "alternative history," at least as it's used on this site. But I've also heard it used that way by supporters of such alternative history as well. It's about approach and methods, not just having an alternative idea.

Reply
Varika
11/7/2013 10:15:27 am

TECHNICALLY, yes, until revisions become accepted--that is, supported by enough evidence to pass muster--they are "alternative history." However, this blog isn't about academic hypotheses based on research that meets rigorous standards and is documented so that other researchers can check for themselves. This blog is about those alternative tales that can't even reliably be called hypotheses, much less theories, and are based on poor scholarship, unreliable SECONDARY sources, lack of documentation, and conspiracy-mongering. If you presented a book about Germanic invasions of the Roman Empire that was based on a single book written in 1874 that didn't cite its primary sources, you'd be in the latter category. If you presented a well thought-out book about Germanic invasions of the Roman Empire that cited writings from the time period, current and past archeological evidence, AND books from the 1870s that DID cite their primary material, you would probably receive one of those "Look, this is so cool" articles that Jason does periodically, instead.

Though if you look back a few days, Graham Robb's new book was in fact featured. (http://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2013/11/new-book-claims-celtic-settlements-followed-solar-paths.html) It's unfortunate in that Jason has had to base his preliminary article on reviews rather than the book itself, but you mentioned it here, so I thought I'd point out that right now, yes, it's being treated as "alternative history" and approached critically, inasmuch as possible from secondhand sources. I'd really LIKE to see a more in-depth review of the book itself instead of reviews of the book, I admit.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
11/7/2013 10:20:18 am

Anyone who wants to buy me a copy is free to do so! I'm maxed out on my book budget for the year.

Varika
11/7/2013 12:12:40 pm

I would, Jason, but I can guarantee you that my resources are slimmer than yours, unfortunately. I was only trying to admit to the shortcomings with the previous article, as you did in the article itself. It's said sort of in the tone of, "I'd LIKE to, but I don't really EXPECT to anytime soon." Mostly because you're generally pretty awesome about actually getting the source if you can manage it, already.

Jason Colavito link
11/7/2013 10:18:50 am

That's an excellent question, and it gets to a demarcation problem. I have fallen to using "alternative history" as a catch-all mostly for those who reject the entire historical paradigm on slim to no evidence. Thus fringe topics like Atlantis, aliens, global cult conspiracies, and so on fall under the label but specific, limited challenges to established ideas do not. I'll admit that it's not very precise and it's a little like the Supreme Court definition of pornography: "I know it when I see it." That said, most alternative historians and/or alternative archaeologists use those labels themselves, from which I have borrowed them. It was, I believe, what Hancock and Bauval called themselves back in the late 1990s.

It becomes somewhat cumbersome to be more specific: "methodologically unsound amateur historians who reject mainstream paradigms on limited evidence"!

Reply
Erik G
11/8/2013 03:08:24 am

To Jason, The Other J, and Varika -- Thank you for your comments. These are much appreciated. I quite agree that hypotheses must be tested and proven in a rigorous manner before they can be adjudged correct or, at the very least, deemed feasible. Strangely enough, the Roman period, both Republican and Imperial, is filled with inconsistencies -- the Romans and their various political factions were masters of propaganda. The current invasion/infiltration hypotheses are largely centered on archaeological evidence -- Roman writings of the time are not necessarily trustworthy -- and on subsequent events.

Romans of the late Republic and early Empire tended to denigrate and/or demonize other nations and cultures. Post-Alexandrian Greeks were deemed effeminate and untrustworthy; Egyptians were drunken sybarites; Anatolians and Syrians were degenerate; Celts were ignorant savages; and German tribes were even worse. The Romans considered their culture supreme; all others were unworthy.

This from the people who utilized the best of these other cultures and passed them off as their own, such as, inter alia, mail and helmets and four-pronged saddles from the Celts, the stabbing sword from the Spanish, and, possibly, road construction from the Gauls. In the days of the early Republic, Romans used Greek armor and weapons and were almost identical to the Greeks themselves, thanks to the influence of Greek settlements in Southern Italy. It was only later that military tactics evolved to become purely Roman. But Romans were never comfortable with cavalry, and the latter comprised Gallic or German auxilliaries until well into the late Imperial period.

All of this makes me (and others) doubt the absolute veracity of Roman writings, which is why I welcome Graham Robb's speculations about the Celts and their possible achievements. For example, Julius Caesar's troops moved extremely rapidly across Gaul, an amazing feat, but something that might just be explained by the existence of an already established road network. The Gauls had terrified the Romans for centuries -- and Caesar had no intention of glorifying Gallic culture in his History. I doubt whether we shall ever know the true nature of the Druids, but the manner in which the Romans vilified them certainly indicates they were a force to be reckoned with.

And so we see, even here, how politics warps historical truth -- but that, to me, makes the study of history fascinating.

That Hancock and Bauval may have called themselves 'alternative historians' could have been innocent in itself, but this appellation gives them a presumed gravitas they do not deserve. This is why I have a problem with 'alternative history'. I much prefer 'fringe', as it applies in 'fringe science' (nutty theories) and 'fringe politics' (kooks and crazies and rabble-rousers), or something similar.

My two cents' worth. Thank you again.

The Other J.
11/8/2013 04:47:33 am

Erik G, I was thinking of the untrustworthiness of some historical accounts after I posted my initial response, particularly how Caesar propagandized the Gauls into demons to help garner political power. That would seem to make some primary sources difficult to work with.

But there are a few ways to deal with that sort of thing, which again are part of the academic toolbox. First, there's comparing the original source under consideration to other available texts (censuses, sale records, etc.). Do they support each other, or are there discrepancies? I've had first-hand experience with that kind of research when working on Yeats; through letters, an original edition of a literary magazine he published poems in, and publication records of another text, I was able to show that a particular claim he made that was also supported by his friends and accepted uncritically by scholars was not realy the case, and I was able to show what the case actually was.

Second, there's hard archaeological evidence to consider -- does it back up the primary written account, or challenge it? Take who built the pyramids; the standard line from the bible for the longest time, it seemed, was the pyramids were built by slaves, in particular Jewish slaves. Except the hieroglyphs suggested something different, that they were built by Egyptian work gangs. Eventually the settlements of these gangs were discovered on the outskirts of where the pyramids are located, and the archaeological record uncovered there shows that they weren't slaves and weren't Jewish.

Third, there's applying regular old textual analysis like a literary scholar to the argument to see if the logic supports its own claims. A good recent example of this might be Joseph Atwill's recent book "Caesar's Messiah" that claims that Christianity was a Roman invention used to subjugate Palestinian Jews in revolt and make them easier to control by the Roman empire. The argument lays the literary creation of Jesus at the feet of Josephus, who allegedly forged a fake prophetic figure via the gospels (but was actually Titus Caesar in disguise) that would fulfill Jewish prophecy in order to bring Palestine under control and "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's." Heavy argument, and there isn't an easy way to find counter-evidence in other primary texts or archaeological evidence that would directly challenge the claim. But it doesn't quite pass the smell test.

This gets fun, and shows where logic and counter-claims come into play through careful reading:

- The Romans had more to worry about from the Gauls than the Jews at that time, so why create a fake religion to subjugate one people but not the bigger threat?

- There were dozens of Jewish sects at the time with differing opinions on what the messiah would be like, so which one does Josephus choose? Fake the wrong messiah, and you risk bringing down the derision of the other sects, which wouldn't really help pacify people.

- The canonical gospels just barely agree on a similar sequence of events, and are written in different styles with different purposes in mind -- did Josephus produce all of them, and why make a body of work that was so difficult to reconcile if your aim is to pacify a population?

- Besides, the canonical gospels were established long after Josephus died. Did the Nicean council just know which of the available texts were Josephus's and push those over the others? If they already knew which texts they wanted, why have the council in the first place?

- And you still have to account for Paul's writings, which if you accept the standard dating methods, appeared 20 years before the first Gospel and well before any Jewish revolts requiring a fake religion to pacify them. Did Josephus write that as well?

- The Christian texts were written in Greek, which was used by the Romans in Palestine and by Jewish elites, and tells its followers that they don't have to follow Jewish law. Is that how you pacify a people and put down a rebellion, by using the language of their superiors to tell them to rebel?

- Christianity never really caught on in Judea; it became more potent among Jews in diaspora and Jewish-leaning gentiles. Again, if it was a plot to subjugate Jews in revolt in Palestine, that backfired.

So in that case, the available counter-arguments are sufficient to show the alternative history proposed isn't consistent, and the texts its based on entail enough internal contradictions to discount the argument. Job done.

Thane
11/8/2013 10:19:27 am

The History as a rigorous discipline is relatively new. I would suggest that anything written while paid for by a patron or dedicated to someone rich and powerful, especially prior to the 17th century when more of a scientific method was applied to the history discipline, is probably tainted and can't be taken entirely at face value. It would need to be interpreted in the context of who the patron was (or to whom it was dedicated) and what the historian was trying to achieve. Was it merely a paycheck? Was it to influence the powerful person to a course of action? These things are hard to determine and so, we look at other contemporaneous records and other histories of the same topic and apply, one hopes, logical analysis and keep the speculation to reasonable and thoughtful levels.

Varika
11/7/2013 08:58:18 am

Certainly you should not stop including the politics in the blog! It's the same reason why kids don't tend to understand the foundation of the American nation; the teacher focuses so much on the dates and order of events, the kids don't understand that this was an inevitable chain on the basis of the events that came before it. How can throwing crate after crate of tea into the Boston Harbor make ANY sense at all, if you don't understand that the taxes on tea had been raised outrageously, along with other harsh and punitive taxes being inflicted, and all without any say in it at all? If you KNOW about the politics, then you understand it as early American "Occupy Wall Street." And how can you understand why not having any say in the taxes was so abhorrent if you don't understand that the Colonies had been largely self-governed for a couple hundred years by then--with local representative governments? And how can you understand why the sudden change from England if you don't understand that the ENGLISH government was engaged in a power struggle between king and parliament, and the Colonies were one of the battlegrounds?

History is ALWAYS about politics. The two are entirely impossible to untangle. Therefore, by definition, alternative history is about politics. If you don't understand the chain of politics from past through present, you can't untangle the claims and actually understand them. And then you're just floundering blind, and you can't engage in any critical thinking about them, because you don't have enough information to go by.

Reply
charlie
11/7/2013 10:56:03 am

Jason,
Excellent post today sir. Brilliant actually in my opinion. Bravo!
Once again, this is your blog/web site. What you decide to post is your decision, not mine or that of any other reader of the site/blog. If you want to put topics up for a vote, fine, if that is your choice, so be it. Your site/blog, your posts, not mine, I just come here to read and perhaps to learn. So far, I feel that I have learned much from your site. I have used various references you provide at the top of the page and often follow links in your posts as well. Thank you for all that you do.
As to the politics you include at times, well, I have not been offended by any of it, nor do I think you will offend me. I enlisted in the Marines in 1968, shows how dumb I can be or was, so maybe not offending me is a rather difficult thing to do. Maybe I am not smart enough to know when I have been offended, but I disagree, as I DO know when I have been offended.
What I am saying, in my usual round-about way, is you can post anything you want on your blog. I have been to some blogs and web sites that post absolute garbage, as far as I know, those sites are still up and running, I don't return to sites/blogs that I think are junk. Your site is among a very few I visit and read every day.
Please do continue and keep up your excellent work.
Change when YOU want to, not until then.

Reply
Gunn
11/7/2013 11:16:07 am

"...don't have enough information to go by."

Your summation is accurate, as there never seems to be enough information. And the information has to be judged for accuracy. Some information is valuable, and some is garbage. The experts sort it out. Some inaccurate information is superfluous and open while some accurate information is barely seen. Then there is a flux, whereby truth tries to percolate up to the top, as cream though, not as slag. New tidbits come as puzzle pieces, now changing paradigms, slowly.

Always, in the end, we don't have enough information to go by...so we fill in the gaps with speculation, some of it alternative to the established record. Alternative thinkers try to make things fit when they don't seem to fit. Sometimes, rarely, it works, such as with the Viking/Newfoundland discoveries.

There is a place for alternative thinking, if it's not too far out. It can be our friend, not always a negative. I like to consider human history, but not alien nonsense. One is an illusion, the other is not, requiring more and more information.

Yes, correct history is having correct information, and we don't have enough of it, so we all keep seeking... and in different directions. I guess these alternative thinkers are the explorers, not the homesteaders, but both are wanted and needed.

We need to look beyond the hill of history already manifest in front of us, and at least make an attempt to see what's behind it. Something is there, waiting to be better understood with fresh, accurate information.

Reply
Varika
11/7/2013 12:32:26 pm

Some "alternative thinkers" are the explorers. Most are just the "sit at home and brag about things that never happened"-ers, the "I wasn't really there but this is what would have happened if I had been"-ers. The "Grandpa, shut up, you don't know what you're talking about" -ers.

The point I was trying to make is that without an explanation of the politics involved, you don't HAVE "accurate information," Gunn, fresh OR stale. Without having information about the politics involved, you are at a distinct disadvantage in deciding whether that "alternative thinker" is an explorer with intriguing ideas...or the local bar braggart spouting off crap he overheard somewhere and didn't even begin to understand.

Reply
Gunn
11/7/2013 03:45:41 pm

You must be right again, because there's no explanation of the politics involved in the KRS, and we don't have much accurate information, either, in part because of that. We know vaguely the identification of the men and why they came, and that there was a tragedy while camped out and fishing, but little else, other than they knew where they were, geographically. Politics weren't explained.

By the way, I had a sudden realization a short while ago that a few of the stoneholes I found the other day are completely filled up with soil, which makes me wonder whether or not there may be a suitable carbon dating sample at the bottom of one. This situation is different in that no other stoneholes I know of are filled with soil. I'm just now alternatively speculating that if the stoneholes date back several hundred years, maybe a hole filled up and left a carbon dating sample, not 600 or 700 hundred years ago, but more than a few hundred, which would at least put the stoneholes back before the 1800's immigration period, making them meaningful in some way. If the French were eliminated as the source, the earlier Scandinavians would be the most likely candidates. I may pursue this idea of having soil tested from the bottom of a hole. Anything once living could help, such as an acorn, or a grasshopper?

I'm hoping my alternative history thinking may evolve into real history findings. One can always hope, and I don't think I'll die any earlier if I'm wrong. Whether an issue is alternative history or real history is sometimes in the eye of the beholder, until it is proven or disproven. I believe I see something other people don't see, and it will be a challenge for me in the upcoming future just to get a "professional" to check into what the stoneholes I found could mean. Maybe I can get the State Archaeologist to help, but I kind of doubt it. I emailed several luminaries and heard nothing back. Maybe folks are too shocked about what my find may mean to answer, but it's more likely apathy.

I'll do my best to get some more information about this new stonehole find, but it may be a while. I'm also looking into hiring a forensic geologist to do an approximate age determination on the holes, if possible, using advanced microscopic techniques. The stoneholes didn't get there by themselves, appearing very old, some of them filled with soil and covered with moss.

What were we talking about...?

Varika
11/8/2013 12:52:58 pm

What we DO have, Gunn, is the sociopolitical information about the time and place in which the stone was uncovered--immigrant population faced with a not particularly welcoming "mainstream" culture, and suddenly this stone that just HAPPENS to claim that the cultural ancestors of the immigrant population were there well before the "mainstream" population? It rather significantly reduces the level of reliability of the stone itself. What evidence there is to support the stone's purported story is strong enough for you to believe in it. It's not strong enough to overcome that lack of reliability for me, as much as I might LIKE for it to be true. For you, the KRS is "an explorer." For me, it's "local bar crap." I don't see us meeting in the middle without something a WHOLE lot more convincing than holes in the ground. Maybe a hole with nine bodies in it, for instance. Or nine holes with one body each, even.

Gunn link
11/8/2013 01:36:25 pm

Uh, well, we don't need no stinkin' bodies!

I was hoping science might work, and I suggested a few ways of reaching some scientific conclusions. Of course, this is all speculative until proven. So far, I can't think of a better hypothesis for what these stoneholes represent. I will acknowledge that the concept is bold, but these many stoneholes were very laboriously made, by hand, and obviously, even to the naked eye, are very old. The problem for me will be for the right people to find out about what I've discovered. Right now, my best hope to convince anyone that this site represents medieval Scandinavian habitation, is to be able to provide reliable carbon dating proof, followed by extreme microscope work results. I am faith based, but also science based.

Though I disagree with the idea of comparing a buried runestone with above-ground tombstones for age analysis (Wolter), I think it would be constructive to compare above-ground stonehole carvings with tombstones, for age comparisons. I believe we will find a result showing the stoneholes at this site to be several hundred years old, but this is only a guess based on logic.

Thanks for your comments. They make me think harder....

Thane
11/7/2013 12:34:17 pm

Jason,

I think the only objection to any mention of politics has more to do with the sweeping use of terms than the fact that all interpretations of history (or of anything) is colored by politics and current social mores and needs to be analyzed in the context of its time.

Not all liberals, conservatives, evangelicals, etc.... believe the most fringe or "highly speculative" views of some who either self-identify or who others assign to certain categories.

In addition, while there may be some racists who have embraced certain theories, not everyone who is open to those theories are racist or do so because of animus to anyone. And if they do embrace something because they want to think better of a group of people does not mean that they WANT and DESIRE to think less of an alternate group....even if the net result is that one group is considered superior than another.

Some words are more heavily burdened with "meaning" than they may have been previously due to our highly polarize and overly-sensitive culture of the day.

Reply
Varika
11/7/2013 01:34:56 pm

Thane, in order for one group to consider themselves superior, they must, BY DEFINITION, consider at least one other group INferior. You sound like someone who has embraced some of these ideas and is now horribly uncomfortable with someone pointing out that there is bigotry involved. Now, obviously, I'm not in your head to know if this is true or not, but I can tell you that's how you're coming across right now.

The problem is that if a theory has an underlying racist BASIS, then people who later on choose to believe it are in fact indulging in racism WITHOUT REALIZING IT. Therefore, it needs to be pointed out so they can reassess and decide for themselves if what they want to believe has transcended its roots (as I believe zombies have) or if maybe this is something they want to discard (like the whole "Native Americans were too stupid to do anything before white dudes showed up" concept). It's not a matter of sweeping cess-pit bigotry, in most cases; believing some of these ideas doesn't turn you into a neo-Nazi KKK member. It's a matter of "everyday" bigotry, little things that don't necessarily matter one at a time, but when they add up, make a miserable and unfair picture.

Reply
Thane
11/7/2013 03:31:44 pm

There is always some level of group identification. Most groups, if not all, consider themselves superior to other groups especially rival groups. We see this in the fan base of sports all the time. There are those in one group that may come to hate or find a need to denigrate the other team and/or its fan base but the vast majority don't attach a negative (as in hostile) feeling against the rival group or a visceral need denigrate the rival team.

Racism is a very loaded term in our culture and I think often over applied. The same thing with catch-all labels in general. I know they are short cuts but in today's world, they have such baggage attached to them that you can no longer assume that if you say "liberal" that everyone agrees with your specific meaning of that label. Same with "Conservative", "Evangelical" , etc...

As for Racism and Racist,I hesitate to use the terms unless it is clear there is animus. I am not denying there is racism in the world, I just don't think entire groups of people should be tared by that brush. The fact tha,t to you I come across as perhaps a racist because I don't think the label should be as easily used as it is used is indicative of the slippery slope easy use of such loaded terms lead.

>>The problem is that if a theory has an underlying racist BASIS, then people who later on choose to believe it are in fact indulging in racism WITHOUT REALIZING IT. <<

True, there are theories that may have been created by someone (academic or not) who is racist (i.e. with an animus to the group they describe as inferior and not in it's more benign interpretation of group identification and preference) but it doesn't follow that the theory is wrong.. just that it started from "a wrong place." It also doesn't mean that people that accept the factual evidence supporting the theory are racist even if the originator was racist.

Conversely, there may be theories devised in good faith that others co-opted and applied racist interpretations to it. It doesn't make the theory a racist theory because some people misuse it or misrepresent it.

I realize that it may seem like I am splitting hairs but I honestly believe it's become too easy to toss the term around. I also think that there is a knee jerk reaction to ascribe the modern definition, which is very negative, to other eras and to those whose theories which aren't aligned with current cultural mores.

It's not racist to point out that Western civilization developed technologies unseen in other civilizations or advanced some technologies beyond what the originating civilization was able to do.

However it is racist to claim that the reason that is the case is that members of Western civilization are smarter and peoples of other cultures are dumber.

There is a difference.

Some may believe that St. Brendan voyaged to the new world not because they are racist and think white men superior to the American natives but that they believe that it was technically possible for him to do it and think St. Brendan was a really neat guy and that such an adventure is truly praise worthy.

For the record, I don't think he made such a journey and the tale is more allegorical than anything else. I just used it as an example.

I understand that not everything is so black and white (no pun intended). Maybe I am a bit of a Pollyanna when it comes to these things but I rather give people the benefit of the doubt until there is proof otherwise.

Jason does a great job reaching the roots of the many alternatives theories and AAT beliefs and just by reading his blog posts, and the comments by people such as yourself, II continually learn new things.

I hope that better explains my position.

Thane
11/7/2013 03:39:07 pm

One other thing, Varika, I do agree that the facts about the origin of theories and any biases held by the theorists should be discussed and made available so that people can have a better understanding and make informed decisions about what they will believe. It also allows them to do their own research and fact checking.

Everyone has a bias for good or ill.

Gunn
11/7/2013 04:12:15 pm

People would be foolish to compare racial human intelligence against another people bent more on survival than developing new technologies. What made stone age peoples different from one another across the globe? Opportunity. Why did some advance faster than others? Again, natural resources, opportunity, time to think of something besides surviving. And then, some migrate and start almost over again. How is anyone able to say one race is smarter than another, when there is a staggering difference between the rates of advancements in different cultures, depending on past opportunities? And of course intelligence is defined in different ways. The Native Americans were more intelligent about how to survive in the wilderness than the first white people to come, for example.

Thane
11/7/2013 04:48:21 pm

Yes, Gunn, agreed. There are many reasons for disparate development and adoption of technologies from resources availability to cultural preferences.

Paul Cargile
11/7/2013 11:26:50 pm

As a humorous aside: Isn't one group of people who decide there shouldn't be racists imposing their own superiority over those they identify as inferior racists? Aren't these people also expressing bigotry against people they deem unenlightened?

Thane
11/8/2013 01:27:17 am

@Paul....

It's the human condition, isn't it? There will always be winners and losers. Someone(s) somewhere will always set themselves up as the arbiter of what is good and should be praised and what is bad and should be damned.



Varika
11/8/2013 12:42:24 pm

Just a quick note, Thane--I did not say or even mean that you appear to be racist. I said--and meant--that you appear to be uncomfortable with some ideas that you embrace being racist. It has been my experience that people who are truly racist aren't particularly uncomfortable with it, but people who don't want to be racist and yet still find certain racist ideas comforting are. In short, I meant that you come across as someone who doesn't want to think about something because he might have to change his mind about it if he did.

Additionally, when I speak of racist theories, I don't mean "theories that were created by racists," I mean "theories that were formulated with the specific and express purpose of stealing cultural achievements from one civilization to advance the supposed superiority of another civilization." To quote you, "There is a difference."

Thane
11/8/2013 12:53:52 pm

Hi Varika

I appreciate that you didn't mean to suggest I might be racist though that is how your post was interpreted. I, however, accept your disclaimer.

I am surprised at your interpretation of my post. I apparently didn't phrase my position about not rushing to judgement and vilifying/inditing entire groups due to what some fringe person or person believes well. Honestly, I don't see how my post indicates that I am reluctant to change my mind based on new information or deeper analysis. But be that as it may. That is your interpretation but is incorrect.

>>Additionally, when I speak of racist theories, I don't mean "theories that were created by racists," I mean "theories that were formulated with the specific and express purpose of stealing cultural achievements from one civilization to advance the supposed superiority of another civilization." To quote you, "There is a difference."<<

Agreed. Such theories don't deserve the respect of calling them theories. They should be called what they are, crap.

titus pullo
11/8/2013 03:05:37 am

Great posts..I've learned quite a lot on this chain.

With history there is the "what"..say the last Punic War, formation of America and so on and then the "why"...this is where things get difficult. If you ask "experts" why things occurred the answer can change over time. Even contempery "historians" can be wrong...take a look at political races..once one party wins we hear "why" but within a year or two that "why" is called into question. Why does one company do better than another? I've worked in corporate world for a long time, introducing new products and even the CEOs of firms really don't know why things worked or not..sure they get detailed "analysis" but in the end its human subjectivity to decide which of the many "forces" were the drivers to the "what". Why were the Romans so successful at building an republic? Their land wasn't great to grow wheat on, they were smaller....and so on. If you asked the Romans they might say this or that but would it have been true? Americans like to think we are a superpower because of "exceptionalism"..what the hell is that? One might say America became a prosperous due to its limited govt and belief in natural rights, another might say because of natural resources and no major competition...

Reply
Thane
11/8/2013 10:05:35 am

Hi Titus

Let's not forget that even the actual "whys" are lost in the histories written by the people actually involved depending on when they recorded their recollections and how they want history to remember them. I could point to both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson who both lived so long that they outlived many of their contemporaries and so when they wrote their histories, they were pretty sure there would be few left who would contradict their telling. In the meanwhile, Alexander Hamilton dies young and suddenly before he could arrange his papers and write his history. The result? The Adams and Jefferson views of Hamilton and they were no friends of his. Churchill's history of the Second World War has been criticized by some for what they see as his self-aggrandizement in his view of the war and his role in it.

As for American Exceptionalism, it refers to the lack of class structure in the United States that allows for anyone, regardless of the circumstances of his birth could rise to the heights of success through hard work and diligence. In comparison with Europe which was/is stratified and call conscious, the US is a true meritocracy. That is what Alexis de Tocqueville meant when he called The US exceptional.

Reply
Thane
11/8/2013 10:21:43 am

Class, not call, conscious

titus pullo
11/8/2013 03:16:21 am

Now that I'm between conference calls I might as well ask you all a question I've had for a long time..the term prehistory I guess means before the historical record. I know a little of the theories of how humans have three superficial races (Sub Sahara, Indo-European, and Oriental). I hope I'm not using politically incorrect terms. But I've read about the supposed common indo-european language and the origin in the caucassus. So is the theory that modern man walked out of Africa into the middle east and central asia and from there developed superficial differences based on where they went? Then after interacting, you get the mixes you see say in southeast asia, oceania and so on. Why did indo-europeans develop characteristics different than say chinese? Are we talking about environmental factors that impacted very small groups before they exapnded west and east? This topic seems to be so sensitive v due to racism in the past..but there obviously was some sort of localized differences in humans..related to our path out of Africa if that is the birthplace of modern man (I read some theories that modern man evolved in central asia).

Reply
The Other J.
11/8/2013 05:39:48 am

You're on the right track, but of course it's a bit more complicated. I'm no geneticist, but I've done a little bit of research into this subject and took part in a DNA study, so I'll offer what I can.

First, start with the genetic diversity in Africa -- it's incredible. I've heard it put this way before: There is more genetic diversity between two Sub-Saharan males living in neighboring villages than there is between you and me, or you and a Filipino, or you and one of those Sub-Saharan African males. And it looks like there were multiple excursions out of Africa, so that's a good deal of genetic diversity that was brought out to seed the rest of the planet.

The superficial differences are a result of those different migrations (different genetic pools), adaptations to climatic pressures, and intermixing. The climatic pressures appear to be key to those superficial differences. For instance, as people migrated north, they were exposed to less and less sunlight, which meant their skin produced less and less Vitamin D -- which breaks down into two hormones necessary for bone development and neurological function. Lighter skin could absorb more sunlight than darker skin, and thus became healthier and that trait was selected for. People born with lighter skin, even a shade lighter, would produce more Vitamin D, be healthier, and be more likely to pass on their genes (which included that trait for lighter skin). That trait for lighter skin is also a mutation, which makes all white people mutants.

Of course it's not consistent -- Inuit people didn't develop lighter skin. But their diet is rich in Vitamin D through what they can hunt from the sea, so that selective pressure wasn't as much of an issue for them.

This can happen both ways, of course; years ago the BBC reported a study done in India, where a very dark population of people in Southern India were shown to be descended from a much lighter-skinned population in Northern India (and it didn't take all that long -- only a handful of generations before the climatic selective pressures took effect).

Other seemingly Caucasian traits aren't so exclusive, like blond hair. Although it comes from a different gene expression, there are also people born with blond hair among Australian Aborigines, people of Vanuatu, Fijians, etc. For a while, it was believed their blond hair showed evidence of prior European colonization, but that's just not the case -- it's a separate genetic expression from European blond hair.

The superficial differences are also a lot less stark than they might at first appear. If you were to walk from Moscow to Korea, people wouldn't just switch from Caucasoid to Mongoloid once you crossed a particular border -- the physical features change very gradually, and show minor difference on top of minor difference. The same goes if you walked from Ethiopia over to Yemen and then up through the Arabian Peninsula.

Plus people were intermixing for a long time back; mummies have been found in the Tarim Basin of China that are up to 4,000 years old and seem to show Caucasian features, but that far predate East-West contact. National Geographic did some work on these mummies, including DNA testing, and found that the mummies there were as diverse as people in Manhattan today, and despite the seeming European features, they shared DNA with people who still live in the region today (Uighur), from the Himalayas, and from India.

It's a big grab-bag out of a relatively limited gene pool outside of Africa, and appearances can be deceiving.

Reply
Gary
11/8/2013 01:16:37 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that the Inuit's ancestors moved to the far north long after the northern European's ancestors, by thousands of years, so perhaps there has just not been enough time for them to make the change.

The Other J.
11/8/2013 02:43:41 pm

Gary, I think the Indian population study proved that with the right climatic pressures, the superficial changes can happen relatively quickly -- in the hundreds of years, not thousands. But you get the same sort of thing with other northern populations who hunted in the sea.

Vitamin D seems to be the key, and if there's enough of it available in the diet, there's no selective pressure favoring people born with a mutated gene giving them lighter skin. Darker-skinned people in Vitamin D-rich zones of northern climates would be just as healthy and just as likely to pass on their genes as the mutants.

Gary
11/9/2013 01:15:54 am

Well, that makes sense to me on a personal level. Perhaps my ancestors didn't have enough fish in their diets because I have pale skin and I'm at risk for skin cancer (which I have had). I have to avoid the sun and take vitamin D supplements to compensate.

B L
11/8/2013 03:27:43 am

Go ahead and mention the political agenda of the various alternate historians that you critique. But, do so only when those alternate historians are open and public about the political agendas they are trying to push.

You overstep when you begin to critique the political agendas rather than the pseudo facts presented in their narratives. Your own view of political right and wrong gets in the way here.

Save the sarcasm for the poorly researched historical connections these people try to pass off on the uneducated. Facts are inarguable. However, opinion, including your own, can be argued forever. When you apply the same heavy sarcasm to the political opinions of others you undermine yourself and come off like a pompous elitist.

Reply
B L
11/8/2013 04:01:18 am

Further, I think you sometimes give too much credit to some of these alternate historians and alien lovers when you try to deduce a hidden political agenda in their narratives.

Many of these jerks don't really buy into what they are saying. They are just trying to maintain premier status in their niche markets. Selling stupid books and making self-aggrandizing appearances on lame shows like Ancient Aliens are the primary objectives here.

Even if a political agenda is outright claimed by the alternate historian, the agenda is there often only to support the fake story rather than the other way around. If these people are too dumb to do even rudimentary research on the subjects they claim authority on, then I refuse to believe they are intelligent enough to be maneuvering to subvert national politics with an agenda of some kind.

Reply
The Other J.
11/8/2013 04:57:34 am

Let's take your point to its obvious conclusion: Even if David Icke isn't Antisemitic, does that mean his lizard people claims aren't Antisemitic even though they're modeled on anti-Semitic propaganda like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? And even if he doesn't see the Antisemitism involved, does that make his work any less problematic if others see in it reasons to justify Antisemitism?

To me, that's the larger issue here -- the unintended consequences. The progenitors of these theories can be as dumb as they want to be, but they can't control how their audience will interpret their work or what they'll do with it. There's no need to be irresponsible about where your sources come from and how they're employed.

B L
11/8/2013 05:39:03 am

The Other J.:

Unintended consequences are not unique to the progenation of dumb theories.

Neither you, nor I, nor Jason's blog will ever cure any real person who is truly influenced by the antisemitic leanings of some imaginary lizard-person race.




The Other J.
11/8/2013 05:42:46 am

So does that mean unintended consequences should just be ignored? I can't do anything about the flu viruses my wife brings home from the school she teaches at, but that doesn't mean I won't take extra care to wash my hands more during flu season. Again, there's no need to be irresponsible or to just bury your head in the sand.

B L
11/8/2013 05:44:41 am

The human personality is dynamic. It constantly changes. People who buy in to Scott Wolter's fancies at this moment in time will change their own opinion as they start down the path on their own journey into research. Their own research will contradict what Wolter has told them. Unintended consequences of the progenation of dumb theories can just as likely lead to a good outcome.

The Other J.
11/8/2013 06:27:43 am

I'm going to just agree to disagree here. I don't has as much faith that people following Wolter's work will do as much research into it as Jason, or half the people who came upon Jason's website in trying to figure out what Wolter was on about. Jason's occasional posts about the hate mail he receives when H2 repeats episodes would suggest the opposite is the case, and I'm quite sure many of those hate-mailers wouldn't have come to the opinions about European origins of everything Native American if it weren't for Wolter.

Only Me
11/8/2013 06:34:37 am

"I'm quite sure many of those hate-mailers wouldn't have come to the opinions about European origins of everything Native American if it weren't for Wolter."

Agreed. I do believe, however, that a good number of them would have eventually jumped toward the AA bandwagon, due to a similar mindset between both groups. Wolter just managed to scoop those individuals from the population that finds either alternative view more acceptable than established fact.

B L
11/8/2013 08:01:07 am

I agree that we disagree. I am not a student of history. My talents gravitate elsewhere. In fact, I really had no interest in history at all. I came across Holy Grail in America by accident when it first aired and was instantly intrigued. It made me want to hear more of what Wolter had to say. If you've watched the show then you know the first hour is an introduction to all of the artifacts: the Kensington Runestone, the Spirit Pond stones, the Newport Tower, etc. Nothing to argue about here; they all exist, right? The second half of the show is where the craziness starts, but it happens so slowly and calculatedly that the average viewer doesn't understand it is happening. I picked up Wolter's books. To a non-historian like me they wove a pretty entertaining story, and the story made me hungry. Wolter only had the two books at the time, so I was forced to go elsewhere for further information. It took about 15 minutes outside of Wolter's world before I knew that he was seriously misguided. I can laugh at him (and myself) now.

Speaking for myself only, it is much more of a leap to buy into ancient aliens. At least with Wolter you have physical matter that at first glance supports his ideas (the KRS, Newport Tower, Spirit Pond Stones, etc.). With ancient aliens you've got nothing but some ancient rock carvings from long lost cultures that can resemble virtually anything depending on what you're drinking at the time.

I don't think you can lump the two groups together. Is there cross-over? Sure, but straight-up alternate history people have a better chance of saving themselves than the ancient alien believers in my opinion. You are making a mistake when you view these people as stupid or ignorant. Many if not most are just misinformed. They are too busy putting food on the table, paying the heating bills, and living outside of the academic world to read further. It doesn't mean they won't become informed later on.

Academic elitism is just as unattractive as the occult racism that many of the followers of this blog seem to find everywhere they look.

B L
11/8/2013 09:00:11 am

I would also point out that hate mail such as Jason receives doesn't come exclusively from the uneducated masses, Other J. I will remind you of the shameful treatment Jim Egan endured when he respectfully entered this very forum to explain his ideas. He seems like a lovely man. Disagree with the ideas, debate the ideas, but why hate the man? If engaging in such behavior is evidence of one's ignorance and lack of education then there are several supporters of Jason's who chime in regularly here on this blog that would be surprised to know how stupid they are.

The Other J.
11/8/2013 11:19:57 am

I'm not sure I follow you here:

First I think we're dealing with a few different things here -- being misinformed and willfully remaining misinformed. And I think you can lump the alternative history people with the ancient aliens people, at least in terms of dealing with a topic that is based on speculation with little to no evidence and mountains of counter-evidence. I also think there are two levels at play here: The progenitors and the audience.

As for calling anyone stupid or ignorant, you seem to think I'm calling the audience stupid, and I did no such thing. I said "The progenitors of these theories can be as dumb as they want to be," and that's a different thing all together. Besides, those are two different things; stupid suggests the incapacity to learn, while ignorant just means you don't have awareness of something. And I don't get the academic elitism crack at all. More on that later.

A misinformed person who wants to learn about a subject won't dismiss academic work out of hand as elite. It's there in the public sphere and isn't kept hidden, but it may take a little work to get through because it's thorough and careful and slow. The progenitors do a disservice when they ignore and often denigrate any academic work (like John Anthony West calling Egyptologists hackademics, as if the just sit in an office dreaming of fanciful theories and don't ever do any real research). That's at least dishonest on their part because they're actively ignoring and avoiding counter-arguments and countervailing evidence. The progenitors in this case are willingly remaining misinformed, and knowingly passing on that information as truth. If we did science and police work the way they do, where you select data to match your theory, we'd be living in a much less functional world.

The audience is in a different place from the progenitors, and will often enter these topics misinformed. Of course most only have limited time to look into the subjects -- few will be inclined to do the extra research you did, especially if they're entertained by the ideas and find they somehow stroke their ego a bit in a good way. But just because it makes someone feel good to think Scottish Templars taught the Indians how to live doesn't make it okay. That's why outlets have emerged where people challenge those claims.

But just because those challenges may come from a more academically-informed perspective doesn't make them elitist -- quite the opposite; they're reaching out to make available information that counters bad ideas. What's elitist is to dismiss those perspectives with a wave of the hand -- "Academics? Whatever." What's elitist is to put secret information behind paywalls, like Michael Tsarion or Jordan Maxwell who'll bang on about how he knows what certain symbols actually mean, but won't freaking come out and say it (that always makes me grind my teeth). What's elitist is to dismiss the challenge of knowledge as something for lesser people. Academia isn't a kabalistic priesthood bent on protecting secret knowledge; if that was the case, there wouldn't be public libraries. But aggressively dismissing them like Wolter, Maxwell, Von Daniken, etc. do is not only dishonest, it also shows their own disdain for their audience, because they assume not enough of them will bother to look into the veracity of their claims to really hurt their bottom line. What they're doing is demagoguery, not truth-seeking.

I don't begrudge the busy person who doesn't take the extra step that you did. But in the same vein, you can't begrudge others who do the same and make that information publicly available, often for free. A real seeker of knowledge will try to take it all in, and will accept the presentation of new knowledge with a skeptical eye, not a cynical one.

So maybe the majority of Wolter's audience will end up doing their own research and come around to your enlightened view. But if they do happen to come across countervailing evidence and strong counter-arguments, and instead of considering them just get angry, that's a problem. Jason's occasional updates on mail he receives suggests there's probably as many getting angry with him as there are who decide to dive into the available information.

(As for Jim Egan, I didn't participate in any of that, so A.) I wont' say anything about it, and B.) I don't know if we can claim that just because someone is on this site and attacks someone's person instead of the person's ideas is necessarily evidence of academic elitism. I haven't seen the CV's of the commenters here, and can only vouch for a few. But personal attacks isn't a common practice in the academic discourse I've come across.)

Only Me
11/8/2013 09:48:32 am

I hear you, BL. I try not to label anyone ignorant or stupid, until they are presented with compelling evidence that overturns their pet theory...and refuse to consider that evidence as equally valid. Yes, alternate historians have the benefit of physical objects. That means that their speculation can be falsified. But if it is proven false, and they still remain adamant, at that point, they are ignorant/stupid, because they choose to be. With AAT, it's unfalsifiable....but the evidence they present can be weighed. I come to the same conclusion if their evidence is found lacking, and they choose to press forward.

As to the invective, I speak for no one but myself. I try to avoid it, if possible, but it's *hard* when the argument of the opposition lowers itself to personal attacks. Both sides are guilty of the behavior, though.

I do lump both groups together, because, as I said before, it's the same mindset. The only difference is their flavor of Kool-Aid. For some, it's aliens; for others, it's a conspiracy to bury "the truth". I've said before, I think it's because they are not satisfied with a mundane world, where it's up to us to create something memorable, noteworthy and grand. Unfortunately, this dissatisfaction stretches across established lines, ignoring educational, financial, religious and racial boundaries.

Reply
B L
11/8/2013 02:12:10 pm

Thank you, Only Me and Other J., for engaging in the conversation and for keeping it civil.

P.S. The Other J., a couple of those unintended consequences of that flu your wife exposed you to?.....Now, due to your exposure, you never have to worry about being infected by that strain again, and.....because of the three days of work you missed due to illness, you are the only employee at work that cannot be suspected of the massive theft that occurred while you were gone. Because of this you earn the promotion, raise, and company car that everyone else was competing for. :)

Reply
Heidi Carter
11/10/2013 07:37:30 am

I come from a non traditional religious background although I was raised Baptist and rejected it at 18. So non traditional appropriations of various forms of myth making is a interest of mine. I also happen to love history, and so facts do matter but as a massage therapist, who has gained my bread and butter from the ideology of responsive rebuttals to modernism, I do question the hard line approach to debunking. Personally, when I see alternative health promoters like GAIAM TV and Massagewarehouse.com advertising the likes of David Icke and catering to this segment of the alternative minded commons, I just try to walk away and ignore it as best I can. Truth be told, I don't think that there is enough of a critical mass of people in the alternative wellness community to be able to recycle some of the utopian projects associated with alternative history. And yes, to call it utopian rather than post modern, is a matter of choice and an attempt on my part, to let people with different views do their thing while I do mine.

Reply
Christine (Justina) Erikson link
11/10/2013 08:30:49 am

The Nicene Council didn't push any set of documents, the issue of canon was not even on the table. The Gospels etc. were already established in use as received by bishops from the bishops who received them from The Apostles to judge by writings from the second and third centuries.

The Gospels do not "barely agree," there was a limit of space available to write on in those days, and there were different incidents that were similar (the Sermon on the Mount and the similar but shorter Sermon on the Plain for instance) and some stories are told in part in one Gospel and fleshed out in more detail in another. St. Luke's is the only one which is chronological, Luke being a scientifically minded physician and therefore with a sense of the importance of sequence, and in Acts he says his Gospel was presented "in order" so is the most sequential and historical, while the others are not unhistorical just not entirely sequencial. All are for edification, but Luke's is a history.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Blog
    Picture

    Author

    I 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.

    Become a Patron!
    Tweets by JasonColavito
    Picture

    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
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative History
    Alternative History
    America Unearthed
    Ancient Aliens
    Ancient Astronauts
    Ancient History
    Ancient Texts
    Ancient Texts
    Archaeology
    Atlantis
    Conspiracies
    Giants
    Habsburgs
    Horror
    King Arthur
    Knights Templar
    Lovecraft
    Mythology
    Occult
    Popular Culture
    Popular Culture
    Projects
    Pyramids
    Racism
    Science
    Skepticism
    Ufos
    Weird Old Art
    Weird Things
    White Nationalism

    Terms & Conditions

    Please 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

    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    RSS Feed

Picture
Home  |  Blog  |  Books  | Contact  |  About Jason | Terms & Conditions
© 2010-2025 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean >
      • Jimmy Excerpt
      • Jimmy in the Media
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
      • James Dean, The Human Ashtray
      • James Dean and Marlon Brando
      • The Curse of James Dean's Porsche
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
        • Volume 23 Archive
        • Volume 24 Archive
        • Volume 25 Archive
        • Volume 26 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
      • Ancient Apocalypse
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Eridu Genesis
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Resurrection of Marduk
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Atlantis as Biblical History
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Atlantis and Nimrod
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and Hanno's Periplus
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
          • Amazing New Light (Hoax)
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • History of Paleontology
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • America Known to the Ancients
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Remarkable Discoveries Within the Sphinx (Hoax)
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • The Shaver Mystery >
          • Lovecraft and the Deros
          • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • CIA Search for the Ark of the Covenant
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • The Fall of the Sky
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Poltergeist UFOs
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search