FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| BOOKS Everything is Under Control: Conspiracies,
Cults, and Cover-ups Unbeknownst to most, the world ended July 5 at 7:45 a.m. That was the party line for the (spoof?) cult Church of the Subgenius, though what they've been up to since then I haven't the foggiest. If they're anything like the Jehovah's Witnesses, a misdiagnosed apocalypse probably won't slow down the membership drive. The Church of the Subgenius is only one of the many odd organizations, individuals and instances which make up Robert Anton Wilson's latest, Everything is Under Control: Conspiracies, Cults, and Cover-ups. Wilson is an old hand at the conspiracy theory game, as those who are familiar with his fictional (?) Illuminatus trilogy can attest. Everybody I know who has read his biographical look at the not-so-coincidental coincidences of life, Cosmic Trigger, tells me the oddest periods in their lives happened concurrently with their reading of it. Well, if his latest doesn't make you look differently at the world, you're one of the blessed few who have read Foucault's Pendulum and fully understood it. This A-Z compendium features most of the major conspiracy theories making the rounds as well as a large number of lesser-known players in the shadow theatre. All the regulars are here - Freemasons, Rosicrucians, OTO, CIA, KGB, P2 and, of course, UFOs. The U.S. government plays a major part in the festivities - did you know that in 1966 the U.S. military infected the New York subway with a bacillus they claimed was harmless? Another interesting tidbit is that somewhere between 48 per cent and 57 per cent of all U.S. presidents are related. There is a great deal of criticism of "recovered memories," be they of UFO abduction, Satanists, or perverted elders. There are also the conspiracy theories one might wish were as kooky as the rest - the ideas of Noam Chomsky, for example. This is a perfect book to browse through over time, as opposed to reading straight through from cover to cover - paranoia is best served in small doses. |