Marianna in Conspiracyland

A BBC Radio Show Review

The long unawaited new show on Radio 4 by Marianna Spring has landed. Marianna in Conspiracyland is really a self-explanatory title. The eponymous Mzzzzzzz Spring goes on a tour of various places meeting conspiracy theorists and reporting on our activities and events. She begins in Totnes, that Devon town famous for alternative lifestyles. A division has emerged between the traditional liberal hippy crowd and those drawn there by "disinformation and hate!" "At the extreme end" Marianna believes some people in Conspiracyland would commit terrible crimes motivated by our beliefs. One of the things that unites us is The Light newspaper, of which I am a proud and avid reader. I manage to distribute a few by putting them in the Metro box on an Oxford bus, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2023/02/oxford-freedom-protest-alt-tech.html. Marianna says reading The Light is like "reading another language". In that case she probably doesn't drink in Wetherspoons much, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2022/11/wetherspoons-downsizes.html. The former mayor of Totnes, Ben Piper, has been regularly harassed on the street as a result of his support of the coronavirus lockdown. I personally would never advocate for any kind of unlawful assault on another person, but Mr Piper must understand that he has collaborated with an act of brutality against the people of his town by a dictatorial central government. He probably thinks that he had their best interests at heart, but what he did was wrong; and he must be held accountable which means people are going to challenge him. It was not long before the tired old anti-Semitism accusation was wheeled out; in episode one indeed, along with the UK's QAnon supporters, see here for more details: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2022/08/pr-portal.html. Piper and his friend Georgina also opposed the appearance of Carl Benjamin (Sargon of Akkad) at a public meeting in Totnes. Anti-Semitism is a slur so regularly used to silence conspiratologists that is it an abominable cliché, and it is applied unfairly in almost every case, see here for details: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2017/06/jews.html. A big part of Marianna's evidence against The Light is that it is used to publicise real anti-Semites; but, as Darren Nesbitt rightly says, this is an example of the guilt by association fallacy. Sometimes we all examine research and information from people we don't agree with, sometimes even radically oppose. This is normal scholarship. It is a very dishonest and spiteful smear to attack the Conspirasphere in this way. The rule is so obviously applied very selectively. For example, a few years ago Noel Ignatiev died, an American author who was an outspoken an unapologetic anti-white racist. He once said: "Make no mistake about it! We intend to keep bashing the dead white males, and the live ones, and the females too; until the social construct known as 'the white race' is destroyed! Not 'deconstructed' but destroyed." There have been attempts to redeem Ignatiev by finding other quotes by him where he says things like: "When we say we want to abolish the white race, we do not mean we want to exterminate people with fair skin...", but in my view this is a false and deliberately unrealistic disclaimer. By every definition under the relevant United Nations convention, what Ignatiev did was incitement to commit genocide. Yet when he died in 2019 all kinds of mainstream media publications put up obituaries about him; some of them were far from critical. Is Marianna going to approach the editor of the New York Times or Slate and make the same criticism?... If you want to read The Light, see:

https://thelightpaper.co.uk

. I do not apologize for recommending it.

Several people from inside the Conspirasphere have made the mistake of talking to Marianna Spring. I have not heard much of their side of the story, but no doubt they are complaining about the way they were portrayed by the BBC, as if they had any reason to expect better. The person I really resonated with is Natalie, a concerned citizen who is moved to tears by the plight of the world. Like her, I feel very passionate about what I do; I've dedicated my life to it. This rebellion against the New World Order is not confined to Britain. Other countries have their own movements. Marianna highlights the one in Germany, but there are far more developed ones in other nations, especially the United States and Ireland, which she hardly mentioned, except for brief derogatory jabs. In later episodes the series calms down a bit. Marianna gets down off her high horse and becomes more rational. She speaks to some psychologists like Prof. Karen Douglas, somebody I have met and had discussions with, for example see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2018/09/prof-karen-douglas-at-greenwich-sitp.html. These social scientists have spent a lot of times analyzing people like me who have the beliefs we do; however they do so from the foundational perspective that these are groundless ideas. There is no reality behind them; we are simply deluded. They see this as a social, cultural and psychological phenomenon. "Anomalous psychology" is a buzzword I've heard many times relating to this subject. Could it be instead that the beliefs we have are based on reality? We are actually mentally healthy people who have come across genuine information that is distorted and suppressed by mainstream culture. Our response, therefore, is a completely natural and sane one in that situation. I am the only conspiracy theorist in my family. My daughter is fairly sympathetic, but my mother, father, brother and grandparents have poured scorn on my ideas. Unlike some of the people in the programme, my relationship with my nuclear family has survived. The way I have managed to cope with this situation is not to discuss it with them. I have not expressed a conspiratorial opinion to them for over fifteen years. I know some readers might accuse me of hypocrisy and deception; that may be so, but it is the method I have chosen, being in my family which nobody else can understand. In the final episode Marianna interviews George Monbiot, or who Alex Jones calls "Lord Mon-bee-ott! A spindly little twit!" What Monbiot says is very worrying. He is a staunch believer in anthropogenic climate change and has several times expressed the "need!" to "deal!" with "climate change deniers!", but it appears he has become more radical since I last heard about him. He compares conspiracy theories to the fascist movements from early in the last century and sees the resistance to the Covid 19 lockdown as entryism for the "far right!" into alternative lifestyle communities. He describes this as the "worst themes in human history!" and "most dangerous movements in the current political moment!" He has a dismal and hopeless vision for the future: "It's hard to see this ending well... It is one of the most dangerous forces on earth." The unspoken subtext is that such a grave peril justifies virtually any action to silence and unperson people like me. Marianna agrees and says: "I've felt the hate of the movement first hand." However, perhaps this online abuse feeds her agenda in some way. If it didn't, why did she block me, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/05/blocked-by-marianna-spring.html, a polite and reasonable critic, and let the trolls run amuck? I advise against anybody posting rude messages on social media to another person. As Sargon of Akkad says: "If you're going to do that you might as well just send them money." I fear for the effect this radio show will have on people unfamiliar with the real Conspiracyland, who have not heard the other side of the story. What government measures would they support in order to destroy us?  Marianna in Conspiracyland can be heard on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds, see: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001n20m.

See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/05/free-merthyr-tydfil-one.html.

And: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/political-correctness-portal.html.

And: http://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/02/coronavirus-portal.html.

(This article is too hot for Blogger and will only be posted on HPANWO Free)