PoliticsFascinating interview with Richard Heene's former assistant:
But he was motivated by theories I thought were far-fetched. Like Reptilians -- the idea there are alien beings that walk among us and are shape shifters, able to resemble human beings and running the upper echelon of our government. Somehow a secret government has covered all this up since the U.S. was established, and the only way to get the truth out there was to use the mainstream media to raise Richard to a status of celebrity, so he could communicate with the masses.
As the weeks progressed, his theories got more and more extreme and paranoid. A lot of it surrounded 2012, and the possibility of there being an apocalyptic moment. Richard likes to talk a lot about the possibility of the Sun erupting in a large-scale solar flare that wipes out the Earth. It got to the point where he was really pressing me, saying we're running out of time, we're running out of time, the end of the world is coming. And we have to take necessary precautions to make sure that we're not among the majority that's going to be killed.
These are not atypical beliefs among a certain set of "seekers." Basically their world-view is constrained by their own imagination, their psychological needs, as well as particular factors of social pressure and expectation. They concentrate in certain towns and regions, such as Sedona, Arizona. We'll be hearing a lot about 2012 in the next few years.
Comments
What's weird is that the Mayan calendar has no prophecies related to an apocalypse for 2012. The figure is notable just because it's when their calendar system resets. About as significant as having your odometer roll over.
Posted by: Clark | October 18, 2009 5:03 PM
I have a niece who lives by the 2012 prophecy. She went from a talented girl with a future to a angry 28 year old convenience store clerk with a GED.
Posted by: John Emerson | October 18, 2009 6:00 PM
Well, this particular paranoid fantasy seems a combination of cheesy 80s SF like "V" and "They Live".
Clearly, we just need to sick Rowdy Roddy Piper on these lizard people, and make sure he's out of bubble gum. In a pinch Nature Boy Ric Flair could substitute.
I expect we can look forward to paranoia based on Battlestar Galactica in 20 years, and some sort of Matrix-based doomsday cult should pop up any day now.
Posted by: bob | October 18, 2009 7:12 PM
Nice, Bob. Come to think of it, the concepts of "Agents" and "Cylons" both seem ready-built for use by paranoid schizophreniacs.
Funny that a man afraid of animal-people would name his son "Falcon".
Posted by: Mike Keesey | October 18, 2009 7:26 PM
That excerpt sounds a lot like the premise of the TV series Roswell.
Posted by: OneSTDV | October 18, 2009 7:47 PM
Oh no. Now the secret is out. I don't think Heene is going to live much longer.
Posted by: Joshua Zelinsky | October 18, 2009 7:50 PM
My theory: hominid evolution is a series of genocidal confrontations between Old Man and New Man. This has hardwired us to see class conflict as inter-species conflict: looking up we see "vampires" "lizard people" "aliens" etc. Looking down we see "zombies" "beastmen" "ogres" etc.
Posted by: Paul Jones | October 18, 2009 8:53 PM
The worst thing is that the media keeps referring to Heene as a scientist.
Apparently anyone who calls themselves a scientist is even if they have no education or experience - much like calling oneself a Christian.
Posted by: Rob Jase | October 19, 2009 8:22 AM
"and some sort of Matrix-based doomsday cult should pop up any day now."
I don't know about "doomsday", however, there is already a religious movement of Matrixism or The path of the One.
Posted by: Glenn Allen Nolen | October 19, 2009 12:21 PM
""and some sort of Matrix-based doomsday cult should pop up any day now."
It's a gnostic belief system. It has popped up before.
The Lizard meme is a sort of antisemitism, there's even a Lizard blood libel - they drink the blood of blonde blue eyed children ( yes, specifically).
"This has hardwired us to see class conflict as inter-species conflict: looking up we see "vampires" "lizard people" "aliens" etc. Looking down we see "zombies" "beastmen" "ogres" etc."
This is a form of human tribalism alright. In America race predominates, in England class does. The classes have never really mixed in England, and there is a clear fear of the underclass amongst the middle classes and upper classes, and a hatred directed back in return. But it exists everywhere. After all classes who( which?) never intermarry are not all that distinguishable from tribes, or ethnic groups.
Posted by: eoin | October 20, 2009 12:31 PM