Does the Illuminati exist?

The Illuminati: capstone of the pyramid of world power, a secret cabal that has been running all visible governments of all counties for possibly thousands of years, its plan to bring about a New World Order wherein the entire human race will be enslaved. Is it real?

For A: “If I admit I’ve rejected Islam, I’ll be executed.”

An agnostic from a Muslim background, living in Saudi Arabia, asks for advice.

Farewell, David Icke

I’ve been watching David Icke’s latest marathon video presentation, entitled The Lion Sleeps No More, and it’s the straw the breaks the camel’s back for me. But first, I have to acknowledge Icke as the man who helped me to hit the ground running at a time in my life (just shy of three years ago) when I was confused and depressed by my inability to make either Christianity or atheism work effectively in my life – a struggle that had been ongoing for almost two decades.

If I could trace the hinge on which my life started to change for the better, it’s the opening chapter of Icke’s book I Am Me, I Am Free, entitled “The Bewildered Herd.” Not a fantastic book by any means, but it presented spirituality as something that could be learned through reason and intuition (as opposed to “The word of God says …”). It helped me to see through all the self-hate perpetuated by religion, and it brought about a lot of self-healing in my life. Credit where credit is due. But …

The more I read Icke’s books, the more the cracks began to appear. I kept wanting a repeat of the emotional high I got with the first one, and sure enough, I found some inspiration, but I also started to see another side to David Icke, and right now it’s the only side I can see.

Icke places a high degree of confidence in “witness” testimony that can’t be verified, even when these witnesses say the craziest things. A prime case is Arizona Wilder, one of the main sources for Icke’s assertion that there are reptilian shapeshifters among us – people who look human but aren’t. When these witnesses dish out dirt on other famous people (again without evidence), Icke simply repeats these claims as if they are true. As such, he becomes nothing more than a rumour-trafficker and a character assassin.

He uses credible theories like Michael Talbot’s holographic universe hypothesis to back up his outlandish claims about shapeshifting. When examined carefully, the theory doesn’t even remotely allow for the kind of possibilities that Icke suggests.

Worst of all is the paranoid conspiracy angle that he has incorporated into his worldview. In Icke’s world, there has been an “Illuminati” running the world from the shadows hundreds or thousands of years. They’re planning a New World Order. Chemicals in food, vaccines, mobile phone radiation, television entertainment, are all part of a coordinated plan to dumb down the human population, so that they will be easier to control. And the evidence for this? Icke simply says, “Join the dots and you see it.” Well, I join the dots and all I see is a wild theory that can’t be backed up.

So I’m watching The Lion Sleeps No More, and Icke doing his usual rumour-trafficking, and failing to back up his claims. One very telling moment is when he starts to talk about “Confessions of a Satanist,” and he opens by saying that he can’t prove the authenticity of the document, but he then talks for ten minutes about it as if it’s completely genuine. In fact, the whole segment on Satanism was like tabloid trash (and I do know a thing or two about Satanism). So, the segment finishes, and I’m thinking, “What can I actually take from this?” And the answer was nothing. Meanwhile the audience is clapping and cheering, feeling very enlightened.

And this is where I feel a sense of dread, because Icke’s style is like that of an Evangelical preacher. Although he talks about peace and love, he is essentially militarising these people – as defenders of pure fantasy. Imagine me wearing my inverted pentagram pendant to a David Icke meeting. All his followers will see is a guy who rapes children and drinks their blood, creating negative energy that opens an interdimensional doorway for the reptilians gods to interface with our reality. FFS!

The bottom line is: I’m done. The David Icke experience has gone from sweet to intolerably bitter. Here’s a parting shot of my complete David Icke collection (1990-2007), sitting on my bookshelf for the last time before I list most of them on eBay.

Idealism versus pragmatism

Idealism is fine in principle, but when life throws you a curve-ball and forces you to deal with a harsh reality by bending a little, can you afford you keep your idealism?

Solving the population crisis (but you won’t like the method)

How would you feel if the government introduced a law that only permitted couples to bear one child? Think carefully before you answer. At what ultimate cost do we demand our basic freedoms?

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