As I posted way back when this thread began I had read some of Icke's The Biggest Secret and he lost me on the whole reptillian thing. Seeing that this thread has a few people I have become acquainted with either personally or through their writings in the forum and respect as thoughtful and intelligent individuals making sensible if opposing analysis it has encouraged me to have another look at Icke's work. So yeah I have actually learned something.
There is nothing worse than a skeptic, not because thay like examine and deconstruct seemingly everything but because people that label themselves skeptics and join skeptic organisations are no more open minded or open to considering alternative facts or theories than 'christians' or 'devotees'. They are people that have already committed themselves to a distinct theology which invalidates any claim to being the free and enlightened intellectuals that many skeptics like to present themselves as being. The mantra of skeptics is "show me the proof" but they have a tendency to ignore that there are issues on which they commonly poo poo any attempt at contradiction which they are not able to prove without resorting to placing a lot of faith in sources that are open to just as much imaginative fiction and motives to support a particular agenda. For example on the moon landing skeptics will point to the video which hoaxers believe has been faked. Neither side was actually there, even those with the access to the most powerful telescopes in the world have said they could not see the astronauts up there (apparently they were on the other side). There is numerous scientific evidence that it is not possible to get to the moon. Personally I don't have particularly strong views or dedication to the subject, but I accept that it is impossible to travel through the layer of radiation with suits that amounted to little more than tinfoil and I say well if they could do it then why don't they do it again? In every documentary I have seen that allows both sides to have their say the only rebuttal has been to cast aspersions onto the mental faculties of hoax believers.
Skeptics are not immune to glossing over possible alternatives or structuring their truths to fit the expectations of a particular audience. Likewise they are not immune from being accepted and held up as authorative simply because the facts they present are within the comfort zones of individuals who desire validation for particular beliefs.
David Icke is certainly on the extreme side of conspiracy theorists, but skeptics are the other end of the spectrum. I think that most who find their way to this forum have experienced, or at the very least are wary of the personal dangers and impediments of totalitarian theology and fanaticism. I am sure that there are skeptic cults out there recruiting bright eyed luddities assured of the fact that they hold the absolute truth and feeling superior to the rest of the ignorami (the skeptical equivalent of demons) which are no less harmful than any other cult out there. Most also seem to accept that we should look at who is telling us something before we decide if they are worth listening to, and what their gain is from making others believe it.
Icke was a former professional soccer player forced into retirement and then sports announcer who ventured into politics for the Bristish Greens Party. He was expelled from the Greens for anti-semitism, neo-fascism and the reptile theories. His personal history besides the point that he himself admits to being diagnosed as a paranoid schitzophrenic shows signs of God delusions - he developed an interest in New Age theology "dressed in turquoise, and began to call himself the "son of godhead", covering up less appealing elements of his history as he developed more of a following (such as being a Holocaust denier in his self published book '...and the truth shall set you free') and appears to have serious symptoms of guru-itis
On March 27, 1991 Icke held a press conference to announce: "I am a channel for the Christ spirit. The title was given to me very recently by the Godhead
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David Icke is not alone. He is a small industry in a large and lucrative market of often well-to do New Age boomers. He has several web sites, an e-magazine, his own publishing house, and at least 9 books and 4 videotapes to his credit. He is constantly on the road, touring North America, Europe, Australia, South Africa, the Pyramids, and elsewhere. In the last five years he has spoken in Vancouver as many times, and across Canada he can turn out substantial audiences. His organizers claim he had 1,000 people out to hear him at his last gig in Vancouver, and he hopes to fill the Vogue Theatre on March 19. It's a large milieu that can afford the hefty prices Icke charges - up to $67 to attend a lecture, forty to fifty dollars for videotapes - and that generates a sizeable income for Icke and his message of conspiracism, fear and hate.
To organize all this, Icke has developed an international network of people who work with him and for him. They book the dates, churn out the posters and press releases, do the advance work, pick him up at the airport, get him to the hotel, introduce him, and get him back to his flight on time. They also show clearly why David Icke is a dangerous man, because they underscore his politics in an unmistakable way.
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www.publiceye.org]
Just because he does not appear to recruit anyone it is possible that Icke is shrewd enough to have realised that open recruitment and organisation is the easiest means to target criticism and undermine a cult, (a tactic that has been employed to some level of success with Science of Identity whose frequent response to criticism is to claim that they are infact not a religion). Anthony Robbins (that self help guy with the scary teeth) has been accussed of running a cult or at the very least whipping up a cult-like following - the only criteria really is to make your own brand of something people can believe in.
There is much talk from Icke about expanding consciousness and finding peace "But one incredibly intriguing aspect of David's presentation is his soulution... He says we are all powerful spiritual beings capable of waking up and transcending this control through focusing on love. , And that the time to do that is right now... " There are talks by Icke on this level here: [
www.newsforthesoul.com] Seems very krishna-esque to me.
I would agree with Rama that Icke's books are not total garbage and that there would be some information of value contained in them, if only because they offer some direction, through the listed sources and references, to examine alternative schools of thought for one's self, but surely there are more stable and proven sources to draw from. As he has pointed out Alex Jones is very good.