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Articles

INTIMATIONS OF PERSECUTION

Jason Colavito
2001/2003


Alternative authors believe they are under constant attack from mysterious
forces seeking to destroy their work. I examine the use of conspiracy
theories as a device to draw readers into alternative works.




Notes
  • This article first appeared on my old website, Lost Civilizations Uncovered, in 2001.
  • This version is slightly modified from the original to incorporate a 2003 update and to update time references.


In 1950, Russian researcher Immanuel Velikovsky burst onto the scene with fantastic claims that the origins of civilization, mythology and humanity could be found in the stars. His works, including Worlds in Collision, painted a picture of a universe in flux, where a comet that would someday become the planet Venus bounced around the galaxy and inspired many of humanity's enduring myths, including the Flood of Noah, which Velikovsky believed the passing planet Venus caused. Velikovsky's work earned the ire of the scientific establishment, but the Russian researcher did not care. He had already labelled himself a "heretic" who stood in opposition to the scientific establishment. Henry H. Bauer writes in Beyond Velikovsky (1984):

Quote
"By this self-definition, opposition to his views was naturally to be expected, so when it came, Velikovsky was able -- quite logically, granted his premise -- to maintain that, just as he had forecast, the dogmatic establishment wished to suppress him. Thus Velikovsky turned the criticisms of his work into an argument in his favor; the reviewers who attempted to point to various errors had already been branded dogmatists."
Throughout the course of the pseudoscientific revolution of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the presumed or pretended threat of persecution formed the conspiratorial backbone of works dealing with so-called "alternative history." Almost without exception, alternative authors have felt that a vast conspiracy is at foot to prevent them from revealing the sacred truth to their readers.

In 1969, Swiss author Erich von Däniken released his magnum opus, Chariots of the Gods, in which he postulated that in the remote past extraterrestrials had descended to earth and bequeathed civilization to the mentally inferior humanoids then dangling from trees in the primordial jungle. On the very first page of the book, von Däniken informs his readers that he will shortly become the victim of persecution for his attempt to provide them with the truth: "It took courage to write this book, and it will take courage to read it."

Here von Däniken brings the reader into his world of conspiracy, for the reader, by reading, has joined the author in fighting the mysterious forces of darkness and orthodoxy: "Because its theories and proofs do not fit into the mosaic of traditional archaeology, constructed so laboriously and firmly cemented down, scholars will call it nonsense and put it on the Index of those books which are better left unmentioned."

This, in turn, provides thrill for the reader, who feels that he or she is being fed "forbidden" knowledge or timeless secrets that the supposed authorities do not want them to know. This visceral connection between reader and writer serves to solidify the bond forged by reading the alternative history, and it helps to persuade readers that the alternative historian is not only correct, but in fact is a martyr for the reader's benefit. In turn, this particular form of literary technique is highly effective at compelling readers to pick up the newest volume by their favorite author to follow his or her (but usually his) quest to fight the system. Von Däniken has now written twenty-five books.

Similarly, an author who built on von Däniken's thesis, Robert Temple, also is plagued by conspiracies that seem to follow him everywhere with the intent of stopping his work. In his 1998 revision of The Sirius Mystery, in which the author claims ancient extraterrestrials from the Sirius star system gave civilization to mankind, Temple tells his readers:

Chariots of the Gods
Quote
"[T]he sad part of the aftermath of The Sirius Mystery was the extreme and virulent hostility towards me by certain security agencies, most notably the American ones. . . On several occasions I was targeted in ways so extreme that they seemed to me hysterical beyond all belief. I am certain that false information was entered into my security files to blacken my reputation."

Of course, one must ask what "security files" Temple refers to, but he provides no answer. It seems that he is referring to the files that the FBI kept on celebrities and other notables under the directorship of J. Edgar Hoover (and may still keep today). These files collected news clippings, intelligence reports and (especially) hearsay and rumor, much of which was false. But Temple would have no way of knowing what is in his file unless he specifically requested a copy of it. If he had done so, he would know the information in the file and be able to provide examples of "false information." This he has not done, despite feeling self-important enough to warrant "security files."

Furthering his conspiracy theory, Temple claims "I was blackballed even in some organizations which seem to me so harmless that I still cannot understand it." He says that the London Foreign Press Association denied his press pass because a man "whom I do not wish to identify, had certain connections in Washington, if you take my meaning." Oddly, one would assume that the best way to expose and end this harassment would be to identify the persons involved that they might explain themselves. Of course, to do so would be to subject Temple's assertions to verification. It seems, on the basis of what Temple has written, that it is he, not the "conspirators," who has something to hide.

Temple believes himself and his work to be so true, so mind-blowing that British Intelligence (M15), the CIA and the Soviet Union conspired together to stop him: "It may seem ironical that although the American CIA persecuted me for so many years, I lay much of the blame for this with the Soviet Union, acting through their agents, the Aldrich Ames types." He further claims that NASA has put out a program of anti-Temple propaganda, and that the BBC was plagued by calls from America threatening them if they let Temple on television.

Through all of this alleged persecution, Temple never considered that the reason so many were opposed to his ideas was not a government conspiracy but simply that they were wrong. Perhaps it is only a coincidence that at the same time he was writing, the anti-government conspiracy program The X-Files had reached its peak, the alleged government coverup of an alien landing at Roswell, NM had reached its 50th anniversary, and readers were desperate to be let in on the "forbidden knowledge" that their governments supposedly kept hidden.

Fingerprints of the Gods
Government conspiracies also abound in the world of alternative historian Graham Hancock, author of the best-seller Fingerprints of the Gods, which argued for a lost civilization 12,000 years ago. In his 1998 opus The Mars Mystery, Hancock asserted, through the common pseudoscientific technique of talking of feelings or asking questions to avoid making potentially libelous statements of fact, that NASA was part of a long-lived and malevolent plot to hide the truth of extraterrestrial monument on Mars: "To be perfectly honest, we will always have a lingering suspicion that there could be something dark and dreadful going on behind the scenes, something much bigger, and much more awful, that a mere conspiracy."

Hancock does not say what that "bigger... more awful" thing is, only that it is conspiring to keep his valiant readers from truly understanding the hidden history of the human race. Hancock says that when he selects his evidence, he chooses only what sounds good, and he says on his website that "another criticism is that I use innuendo to make my case. Of course I do -- innuendo and anything else that works." Therefore, no evidence of a conspiracy is required, only a feeling that a conspiracy exists. This is enough to make it into print, and enough to make readers believe that they are privy to special revelation.

Hancock, like Velikovsky before him, equates his work with an act of heroism, akin to when Galileo confronted the Catholic Inquisition with evidence that the earth is round: "To this day I am astonished by the response that Fingerprints [of the Gods] has generated amongst orthodox academics and their supporters. Some reacted with intense horror, like devout Catholics affronted by an act of blasphemy."

By equating science with religion, Hancock can effectively claim that he is merely providing "radical alternative ideas" in one sentence and a "worthwhile new scientific theory" two sentences later. For by claiming that science is only another belief system, any claim can be seen as equally true.

Hancock's frequent coauthor, Orion Mystery (1994) author and Mars Mystery coauthor Robert Bauval, similarly believes that a conspiracy is directed against him. In 2003, he took to the internet to claim that a disorganized conspiracy has been hounding him and his writing partners since he first released his theories in the form of the popular 1994 book. Bauval sees enemies everywhere, including the BBC, the National Geographic Society, and internet users and readers:

Quote
Eventually an uncoordinated campaign and pulling-ranks began to be seen [as] aimed against us, with CSICOP agents and science editors of journals and newspapers unleashing, on the one hand, systematic attacks and, on the other hand, forming a wall of fire to stop our work [from] entering the academic and scientific arena. [...] Perhaps more disturbing to all this is the bizarre cottage industry of 'critics' and 'debunkers' that have spawned on the Internet. The Web has provided a gigantic public forum that knows no boundaries or limitations. There were even Website[s] that devoted themselves entirely to 'debunking' our theories and work, with some of its members reaching the point of frenzied obsession. (post since removed from Bauval's website)

Of course, it might just be that these professionals and web writers weighed Bauval's evidence and found it wanting, like cold fusion or extraterrestrial ancestors. But, as we saw with Robert Temple and others, the rejection of one's idea seems to imply that there is a conspiracy against it rather than it is wrong.

This same stew of conspiracies and resentment of science allowed a generation of Afrocentrists to promulgate ideas that all the civilizations of mankind came first and foremost from an African base, namely Egypt. Specifically, Afrocentrist Ivan van Sertima put forward a 1976 theory that Mesoamerica was an Egyptian colony. In their 1997 refutation, Garbriel Haslip-Viera, Bernard Ortiz de Montellano and Warren Barbour write: "The Afrocentrists share with cult archaeologists what [archaeologist J.R.] Cole calls 'intimations of persecution.' They allege a conspiracy by the Establishment to conceal the truth, which they claim that they are trying to reveal."

By positioning themselves as the exposers of truth, the cult archaeologists or pseudoscientists transform opposition to their self-admitted radical or outrageous hypotheses into confirmation of their validity. For what they see as the religion of science would only attack their ideas if they were true and dangerous to the faith. As a result, the alternative historians of today continue a process that Immanuel Velikovsky began in the 1950s, when the self-professed "heretic" used the anger of real scientists to shore up his unproved ideas. However, it is the reading public that suffers from the conspiracies swirling in the heads of alternative authors.



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      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
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      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
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    • Television Reviews >
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      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
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    • 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
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        • 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
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