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What was a wonderful pre-apocalyptic buzz guilty pleasure back in the 90s is now the sad precursor to MAGA. Why are people so utterly stupid? But, for real, I

What was a wonderful pre-apocalyptic buzz guilty pleasure back in the 90s is now the sad precursor to MAGA. Why are people so utterly stupid? But, for real, I was in the theater next to Art Bell when he watched Contact. And you know how much he loved that movie. That said, the night the satellite feed was cut after the supposed Area 51 worker called in and said everything about the aliens was real was to die for.

api 5y ago
That was back before the fringe was, like everything else in our culture, politically weaponized. It was largely apolitical back then, or if there were politics it was 90s libertarianism of a sort that seems shockingly sane today. Much of the audience and I think Bell himself were pretty skeptical too. It was about having fun and exploring wild possibilities, like a radio version of the old Amazing Stories pulp serials.
- varelse 5y ago
  No he hated Bill Clinton and he said so many times. It wasn't the beat you to death with a hammer if you disagree with me because you hate America kind of politics but it was always there if you asked him and I actually did to his face because, you know, sitting next to him in the theater and all that.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  This is back before the fringe were 1) named the big bad of the media, and 2) networking with each other on the internet. The fringe believed the same stuff they do now (in broad strokes) and was just as large as it is now. As a collector of John Birch and Communist blacklist material, none of this is new. Look up Eustace Mullins. edit: or for the mystic, Savitri Devi.
  - api 5y ago
    The fringe I remember wasn’t the same as what you remember but the fringe is very heterodox by definition. If you want lefty conspiracies look up Mae Brussel and Dave Emory. Lefty and righty conspiracy theories tend to mix freely in the wild. This soup of weirdness thing is one characteristic of the true fringe. Maybe there was a previous era of weaponization in the 50s. The time I recall was the post Cold War 90s. The current weaponization started after 9/11 with transparent Saudi money in the “truther” movement and then went into high gear when the Trump team got into it.
    - varelse 5y ago
      Recurrent subjects on his show were things like The Cosmic Watergate, MJ-12, and all sorts of other slashfic derived from the Roswell crash, whatever that actually was. Real-life events like the satellite feed getting cut while on the air, the government stopping an Area 51 lawsuit on the grounds that Area 51 did not officially exist, and hilariously fake found footage kept spraying lighter fluid on the fire to keep it from burning out. But, IMO, none of it was as crazy as the QAnon folk expecting JFK Jr to show up in Dealey Plaza last week. I mean I choose to believe there's life out there myself, I'm just skeptical that we're worth more than a single disappointing visit.

api 5y ago

That was back before the fringe was, like everything else in our culture, politically weaponized. It was largely apolitical back then, or if there were politics it was 90s libertarianism of a sort that seems shockingly sane today. Much of the audience and I think Bell himself were pretty skeptical too. It was about having fun and exploring wild possibilities, like a radio version of the old Amazing Stories pulp serials.

varelse 5y ago
No he hated Bill Clinton and he said so many times. It wasn't the beat you to death with a hammer if you disagree with me because you hate America kind of politics but it was always there if you asked him and I actually did to his face because, you know, sitting next to him in the theater and all that.
pessimizer 5y ago
This is back before the fringe were 1) named the big bad of the media, and 2) networking with each other on the internet. The fringe believed the same stuff they do now (in broad strokes) and was just as large as it is now. As a collector of John Birch and Communist blacklist material, none of this is new. Look up Eustace Mullins. edit: or for the mystic, Savitri Devi.
- api 5y ago
  The fringe I remember wasn’t the same as what you remember but the fringe is very heterodox by definition. If you want lefty conspiracies look up Mae Brussel and Dave Emory. Lefty and righty conspiracy theories tend to mix freely in the wild. This soup of weirdness thing is one characteristic of the true fringe. Maybe there was a previous era of weaponization in the 50s. The time I recall was the post Cold War 90s. The current weaponization started after 9/11 with transparent Saudi money in the “truther” movement and then went into high gear when the Trump team got into it.
  - varelse 5y ago
    Recurrent subjects on his show were things like The Cosmic Watergate, MJ-12, and all sorts of other slashfic derived from the Roswell crash, whatever that actually was. Real-life events like the satellite feed getting cut while on the air, the government stopping an Area 51 lawsuit on the grounds that Area 51 did not officially exist, and hilariously fake found footage kept spraying lighter fluid on the fire to keep it from burning out. But, IMO, none of it was as crazy as the QAnon folk expecting JFK Jr to show up in Dealey Plaza last week. I mean I choose to believe there's life out there myself, I'm just skeptical that we're worth more than a single disappointing visit.