No Xmas For John Keys

 Cammy & Jonno

PM John Key has been under much criticism recently from opposition parties and journalists for abusing the integrity of his positions as both Prime Minister and Minister of Intelligence. This is in relation to a report into SIS activities which upheld claims made in Nicky Hager’s Dirty Politics book that, a few years back, senior staffers in the PMs office instructed right-wing blogger Cameron Slater to make Official Information Act inquiries to the SIS to gain access to information on the parliamentary activities of then-Labour leader Phil Goff that could be used to publically embarrass Goff through Slater’s blog Whaleoil, as was indeed the case (representative news story here). In other words, Key has been accused of being a participant in a National party conspiracy against the Labour party, undertaken through what should be the politically neutral environment of Parliament.  A few thoughts related to this:

1 – a good example of the fact that real conspiratorial activity is likely to be on a comparatively small scale (e.g. 3 or so people here) and to be of a relatively banal nature (e.g. making an opposition MP look like a liar and an incompetent). This is in contrast to the standard conspiracist mindset that typifies conspiracies as operating on spectacularly grand scales (e.g. the Illuminati manipulating most significant political events around the world over the last few centuries as part of their scheme for total global control) and through events of great drama or historical import (e.g. assassinations, implementing radical legislation etc.).  

2 – an indication of the important role played by investigative journalism in helping expose political activity that can be considered conspiratorial/corrupt, and a reminder that this role is one that many conspiracy theorists appropriate as a legitimating framework for their own ideologically-motivated conspiracism (e.g. the wretched Ian Wishart and Investigate magazine)

3 – an example of how digital media like blogs are used as realpolitik weapons of character assassination in a heavily mediated political environment in which appearances and surface impressions are ever-more important (e.g. Boorstin’s ‘pseudo-events). This has arguably superseded the physical assassination/deposition of political opponents as the historical norm of realpolitik conspiracism (e.g. Congolese president Lumumba in the 1960s, the overthrow of Mossadegh in 1950s Iran, JFK if you don’t accept the ‘lone gunman’ hypothesis).

Music trivia note: post title inspired by 'No Xmas For John Quays' by The Fall from the Live At The Witch Trials album (1978), following example of TV3 news editor who played it as soundbed for footage of Key

I Like Icke!

David Icke is a conspiracy culture phenomenon – proselytiser of a superconspiracy worldview which revolves around a premise (reptilian shapeshifters reprazent!) that is outre even by the established standards of conspiracism (at least the usual suspects – Masons, Jews, Communists etc. – were still regarded as human rather than interdimensional aliens). Yet he’s managed to overcome the embarrassment of being seen on TV in a turquoise jumpsuit and parlay this worldview into a successful career as professional conspiracy theorist, touring the globe performing his conspiracist roadshow to large audiences (see image above). 

Cue the question posed by the likes of sociologists, journalists, and other conspiracy theorists envious at Icke’s cultural profile and (presumably) financial success – what is the appeal of Icke and his ideas to significant portions of the public? 

Since a book could be written all of the factors that feed into Ickean conspiracism (hint to publishers and grant holders: I'm available) I’ll merely relate an encounter with a fellow citizen I had recently that was quite illuminating in this regard. For several years I’ve worked a shift or two at Hamilton’s main second-hand bookstore to supplement study and teaching. This job has proved to be particularly interesting in relation to studying conspiracy culture, as quite a few customers have come in interested in conspiracy-related subjects, giving a bit of first-hand insight into conspiracism in the wider NZ community.  Last weekend a young woman came in looking for a couple of things – one of which was “anything by David Icke?” 

We didn’t have anything - Icke’s books occasionally come into the store, but don’t stay on the shelves very long (another indicator of his popularity) – but, given that she didn’t fit the usual profile of people interested in conspiracy subjects e.g. older white males who give off a generally antisocial or starry-eyed vibe, I said I was interested in why she liked Icke and got chatting on the subject. 

Her first response was that she related to Icke's core New Age premise that we humans are trapped in a lower state of vibration that can be changed if we find out more about how the world operates (i.e. finding out that our potential for spiritual development is being suppressed by spiritual baddies like the reptilian shapeshifters). When I mentioned the ‘reptilian shapeshifters’ in a sceptical tone, she said she found it a bit far out but was prepared to keep an open mind. She also mentioned Icke’s theory from his recent books that the moon is a giant hologram or whatever that is designed to broadcast bad vibes from Saturn and keep us all in our lower vibrational place.  When I asked her how she became aware and interested in Icke, she stated that she got into him by looking up online material on Illuminati control of the music industry, an Ickean theme that has become the basis of a whole little online subculture with inherent viral appeal to the facebook generations (look up the likes of the ‘Vigilant Citizen’ if you must…)

So, to make massive extrapolations from a brief conversation with a stranger in the best scholarly traditions:

 - the mainstreaming of the Illuminati as an online ‘meme’  amongst the kids was, in this woman’s case, the ‘gateway’ to getting into the conspiratorial ‘hard stuff’ i.e. Icke’s 900-page books.

 -  the spiritual themes of Icke’s worldview – his articulation of the Gnostic vision at the heart of much New Age thought, that our current reality is a negative one that can be transcended through spiritual knowledge - were what the woman was responding to on a personal/emotional level, rather than the egregiousness of the reptilian shapeshifters. In other words, Icke’s worldview wasn’t seen by the woman as totally negative and paranoid as might be assumed with most conspiracy theories, but containing a positive and profound spiritual message at its core which resonated with her for whatever reasons.

 - the postmodern legacy of epistemological relativism – that no knowledge system is necessarily more ‘right’ than another – is reflected in the woman’s ‘open mind’ towards concepts such as reptilian shapeshifters and the moon as an artificially constructed transmitter of negative energy, which reflect science fiction more than anything approximating science fact.

It may also be of note that the other book she was after, along with the works of Icke, was popular finance staple Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.  Perhaps a case of Kiyosaki’s secular endorsements of material prosperity aligning with Icke’s New Age vision of spiritual enlightenment in a fashion familiar from such horrors as the book and movement that was The Secret from a few years back (remember that? Oh, you’d forgotten. And now I’ve reminded you. Sorry.) Or me making connections in the spirit of hermeneutic excess typical of both conspiracy theorists and cultural studies scholarship…