I think it is just being reported more, organizing with support groups forming due to the internet and other new technologies. I can't help but recall the open

I think it is just being reported more, organizing with support groups forming due to the internet and other new technologies. I can't help but recall the opening to the 1997 movie 'Conspiracy Theory' with Mel Gibson. This is pre-9/11, so there must have been enough whiff of the zeitgeist to make it then into a mainstream movie. That sort of lends evidence to my position that this is common to heavily populated urban areas where the disenfranchised can go unnoticed, and it is not a new phenomenon or necessarily growing more; it's just more visible. I worked in the B. Dalton bookstore on 8th Street in the Village in NYC back in the 80s. One of the clerks was really into conspiracy theories and other fringe occult and alternate lifestyle stuff. He would throw me a book either self-published, or from an obscure publisher about many things like the U.S. government using Orgone energy guns to control the public and weather [1]. These texts were always similar to real academic publications - footnotes, bibliographies, photos, graphs - they were very fun to read! He also turned me on to the book 'The Holy Blood And The Holy Grail' published 21 years before Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code', and before learning of the plagiarism lawsuit, it seemed like a fictionalized account of the book. Of course Dan Brown created a story outside of just the conspiracy theory premise [2]. Another was 'Spear of Destiny' published 1973 about the history and occult powers of the storied spear used to pierce Jesus Christ's side [3] I also used to go with my bookstore buddy to visit some squatters living in the East Village. I'd listen to all of the theories about mind control, tainted water, secret cable TV brainwashing messages, and on and on. Great fun, really, but there were some truly neurotic people in the bunch. But then again, also some real rational people just living an alternate lifestyle. I can relate to being the participant-observer in my life's adventures. I guess its part of ethnography formally. But then again, this was the time of the conspiracy-driven, weird film 'Videodrome' by David Cronenberg. I really need to get hold of a copy, and still see how it compares to how much I enjoyed it back then [4]. Just to see the video cassette inserted into James Woods' stomach! 'Call me, call me any, anytime' - Blondie [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgone [2] https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/mar/28/danbrown.books https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/mar/28/danbrown.books [3] https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8111347M/Spear_of_Destiny https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8111347M/Spear_of_Destiny [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Videodrome