RIP Number 6

Patrick McGoohan (1928-2009)
A man who became famous for being repeatedly captured by a weather balloon.

I feel really sad about this. The Prisoner was indubitably one of the coolest shows ever to be on television. Surreal, hip, campy and gorgeous to look at, it was the beginning of my love affair with 1960's spy shows, none of which ever lived up to The Prisoner.

McGoohan was really old, and I guess these things just sort of happen. Still, I am saddened by the passing of Number Six, who in all 17 episodes, always furrowed his brow so magnificently, never stopped trying to escape, and finally, never gave Number Two the "information" he so lusted for.

AMC has the whole series online for our streaming pleasure. I would say that I highly recommend it, but that would be a lie. The Prisoner is mandatory viewing.

I am not a number, I am a free man!

British Comedy

One of the great parts of being raised by the ex-hippie, intellectual, liberal bourgeoisie is the presence of British comedy in childhood.

Some kids watched Looney Tunes, I watched Monty Python's Flying Circus. The great thing about Python is that it's funny when you're a little kid, and keeps getting funnier as you get older. Take the philosophers football match, for instance, when I was younger, I thought it was funny that guys in suits and togas were playing sport. Now that I've read some of their works, it's still funny that guys in suits and togas are playing sport, but now I get the actual joke.

Absolutely Fabulous, Father Ted...now I know that most English tv sucks, just like tv everywhere, but those exports are brilliant. This past summer I discovered the Mighty Boosh, which is also marvellous.

Recently, I thought I found a new favorite, when I saw this video:

Hilarious, no? And done in that lovely, dry English way where you're not sure if they're serious or if they're kidding.

Upon doing more research on this man, David Icke, that thin line between comedic genius and batshittery blurred. Apparently, Icke is serious. He's a well known conspiracy theorist who believes that:

1. the world is run by a secret shadowy elite called the Illuminati
2. the Illuminati is actually made up of a race of reptilian humanoid shape-shifters from the Draco Galaxy who engage in Satanic rituals of human sacrifice (including the ritual murder and vampirism of blonde haired, blue eyed children)
3. notable members of the Draconians include: the Windsor family, the Bush family, Hilary Clinton and Kris Kristofferson

among other things...

Ha! What a nutter! A harmless old fool, screaming and yelling about a bunch of nonsense for our amusement. Or is he?

There has been a great deal of controversy over Icke, not because he's taking the old Illuminati conspiracy and injecting it with the plot of V, but rather because his conspiracy is tinged with anti-semitism.

To quote the short documentary The Secret Rulers of the World: David Icke, the Lizards and the Jews, "When David Icke says 'lizards,' does he mean lizards or does he mean Jews?"

I can understand the argument that Icke is an anti-semite. First of all, the Illuminati are supposed to include media moguls and bankers-- Jews. Additionally, he has made some references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Second of all, the Draconian "Satanic rituals" are creepily similar to the old accusations of Jewish Blood Libel (see the cult of William of Norwich for a good example). Finally, there is supposed to be some sort of a connection between reptiles and Jews in the iconography of anti-semitism.

I don't think I have to say that one doesn't necessarily have to be an anti-semite to use anti-semitic imagery or tactics in getting your point across. For example, was F. W. Murnau an anti-semite? Heavens no! Is his film Nosferatu tinged with anti-semitic imagery? Absolutely. Why? Because it's a horror film, and the shit that people made up to make the Jews seem scarier is effective in scaring people. Also, anti-semitism reinforces their horrific nature. And of course, there is something to be said for the idea that making a vampire who comes into town buying land and infecting everyone with the plague Jewish looking could definitely enhance his creep-factor for an angry, empoverished, Weimar-era audience.

Well then, let's take a look at Icke's audience. People into conspiracy theories are usually white, Protestant, male, paranoid and religious. Why do they think something is wrong in the world? Because things aren't going well for them. We're talking working-class people whose jobs have been taken away. Who took the jobs away? Someone evil and priviledged.

Every culture has it. The heavily religious Christians have Satan and his minions. Old hippies and anyone else who's smoked/drugged themselves into paranoia has The Man. America has Muslim countries. Muslim countries have America. The Jews have, well, actually, we're so paranoid that we think EVERYONE is out to get us: Christians, Muslims, Neo-Nazis (are actually out to get us), blacks, Asians, Scientologists, the French, the English, the Spanish, the Italians, the Palestinians, Indians, Canadians, Eskimos, Samoans, Hawaiians, Germans, Swedes, Philipinos, Southerners, Midwesterners, hicks, Atheists, and even other Jews.

There is something to be said for the Illuminati/New World Order kind of thinking. No, I'm not saying that the world is run by a table of shadowy elites. But things they use as proof are valid criticisms of the system. In a democracy such as the United States of America, is it right that all of our presidents have been rich, white, male Protestants (except for Kennedy, who was a rich, white, male Catholic)? Is it right that policy in Washington gets decided in order to benefit these rich fucks and their friends? No. The elite conspiracy isn't shadowy, and it's not really a conspiracy, it's a result of capitalism gone awry.

While I respect David Icke for trying to shake people out of their complacency, this sort of conspiracy theory isn't the way to do it. Superadvanced, evil lizard aliens have been running the world for thousands of years can scare people, it can make people think, and heaven knows it can sell a shitload of books, but when you get down to it, it doesn't leave any room for progress or action. If the world is really run by these lizards or Jews or Masons or whatever, then there's nothing anyone can do to make things better. Icke claims to open eyes, but once people's eyes are "open," what can they do? They can pray to protect themselves and their families from reptilian attack, they can perpetuate Icke's ideology and help him sell more books, they can set out on their own "opening" more eyes, or they can say "well, that explains things," and go back to their humdrum complacent lives.

The same kinds of people are elected president every election, not because of a conspiracy of bankers or lizards who decide it is so, but because the people who have the means and encouragement to run for office are generally white, Protestant males! And that's not a conspiracy, it's a complicated problem that needs to be addressed.

But before I go, I would like to address my initial question: is David Icke a comedian, a heretic, a prophet, a nutjob or just an opportunist? I'm not sure. I don't know if he's serious about this, or if he's just doing it to make a pretty penny. I don't even know if he's doing good, by shaking people (or "sheeple," as he would say) out of complacent acceptance of the way the world works, or if he's doing harm, by providing an answer that, like the religions he so criticizes, comforts people just because it is an answer, while taking away any hope for change.

David Icke can say as much as he wants about whatever he wants. I only hope that he uses his wide audience and reptile story (which could easily be used by skeptics as a very good metaphor) as a catalyst for progress. We may not agree on the reasons, but Icke and I agree that the world's distribution of power needs some rethinking. Comedian, opportunist, or prophet, I am somehow glad that this man is out there. Optimist that I am, I somehow feel as though he will, at the very least, get people thinking.