This week’s Jesus and Mo strip, called scheme, has the three boys in a car (Moses has joined them so the Abrahamic Brothers can quarantine together). Mo has apologized to Jesus for doubting he was Jewish (see last week’s strip), but then makes matters worse by drawing a distinction between conspiratorial Jews and Rothschild Zionists.
The strip also came with a note: “If you haven’t heard of David Icke, you’re lucky. We’ll take a rest from antisemitism next week.” I had heard of Icke, and he’s worst sort of anti-Semite: a conspiracy theorist who thinks that Jews are alien, lizard-like beings. (He used to be a sports broadcaster). Here’s a precis of Icke’s views from Wikipedia:
Icke believes that the universe is made up of “vibrational” energy and consists of an infinite number of dimensions that share the same space. He claims that an inter-dimensional race of reptilian beings called the Archons (or Anunnaki) have hijacked the earth, and that a genetically modified human–Archon hybrid race of shape-shifting reptilians known as the Babylonian Brotherhood, the Illuminati, or the “elite“, manipulate global events to help keep humans in constant fear. Thus, the Archons can feed off the “negative energy” this creates.
The “shape-shifting reptilians” are clearly supposed to be Jews. So it goes.
“… David Icke, you’re lucky. “
Oh… is that wit to suggest the pronunciation? If so, that’s an interesting combination of rhyme and … the other thing…
His name is usually pronounced to rhyme with ‘like’.
The incredible thing is not that Icke exists, insane though he sounds. It’s that he seems to have a following of some sort. People care about him! That is incredible — at least, to me, who still keep some tiny bit of hope for humanity. (For a while, at least.)
Yeah, it’s quite remarkable he’s got people who take his ideas seriously.
Though I suppose it’s possible that rather than have any actual believers in his pan-dimensional lizard-men, what he really has is a bunch of more run-of-the-mill Nazis and anti-Semites who promote him as a useful idiot.
I remember once reading an article claiming that among Icke’s “true believers” it’s generally understood that his intergalactic lizard-people are actually code for Jews. He just cloaks the target of his ravings to avoid any uncomfortable legal consequences that might arise if he were to be open about his racism. I have no idea if this is true, but if you read “Jews” for “Illuminati” in any of his diatribes you’re left with a fairly standard list of anti-Semitic tropes.
I hear you, though when you consider the number of followers each of the three characters of the strip has long been able to claim, I suppose it shouldn’t be all that surprising. It is discouraging.
In his early career in the media he was a broadcaster of the most vanilla variety, reporting on various minor sports and also appearing on breakfast tv. After leaving the BBC he was briefly a spokesperson for the UK Green Party (which it should be stressed does not espouse views that are evenly remotely aligned with Icke’s current expressed views). Since then he has rapidly become increasingly weird in his publicly expressed beliefs.
His views are “weird”? I think you meant “insane”.
I was not intending to downplay how radically divorced from reality they are.
I keep – what a prat! The Rothschilds produced some fine scientists particularly the wonderful Miriam, the great flea expert. They also gave us the Tring part of the NHM…
I keep was this bloody phone for Icke!
Small world! I knew a flea expert waaay back, and through him I kept seeing papers about this or that flea species, and a large # of them were identified as having been described by someone named Rothschild.
You might like the book “Fleas, Flukes, and Cuckoos” by Miriam Rothschild and Theresa Clay, about parasites of birds. It’s old (my copy is one I inadvertently kept after my PhD advisor, W.D. Hamilton, lent it to me) but is still in print, and used copies are pretty widely available.
Sounds interesting. Glad you posted the title. I’m going to look for it.
Miriam Rothschild was a very remarkable woman. In addition to her substantial scientific contributions she was also a strong advocate for nature conservation with a particular interest in the loss of wildflower meadows from the British countryside and what could be done to address the problem. An obituary can be found here http://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/jan/22/guardianobituaries.obituaries
Icke was a professional footballer before becoming a journalist. He was actually quite a promising goalkeeper and played for Hereford United for two seasons, initially in the English 4th division and winning promotion to the 3rd division. It was only because of pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis of the knees that he had to retire from the game aged only 21.
It was all downhill from there.
Lizards are paradigms of creatures that lack empathy. In that sense, I think the White House has been taken over by lizard-people.
This is terribly unfair to lizards.
Strange how Ickes’ delusion is so parallel to a number of dystopian sci fi books and movies about alien overlords hidden among us. One being the movie They Live, which is surprisingly not a terrible movie.
Not intending to defend Ickes (don’t know anything about him), but the whole Archon thing is a gnostic trope that goes back into antiquity. You can find this stuff in Origen and before 3rd Century C.E.
I think C.S. Lewis believed in a version of it, which is reflected in his science fiction series.
As far as the lizard people, I don’t know that is ancient in pedigree, but the whole Illuminati conspiracy theory business is at least 18th century. I know people like to go straight to the Jews in this day and age, but you can’t rule out the Freemasons (at least in Catholic/Orthodox countries) or the psychiatrists (for our Scientologists) or the British (if the LaRouche people are being straight).
The real litmus test for Ickes might be whether Cecil Rhodes was part of the cosmic reptile shape shifters.
What I find interesting in these narratives is the overarching form remains the same, and you just plug different groups of people into the form. Also interesting is that this pattern of thinking is common in paranoid schizophrenics and stimulant abusers, so there may be something truly neurological in nature about it. But I don’t think its evidence of insanity, because many non-insane people entertain these notions seriously (even if they may be misguided).
One does wonder about the kind of brain that generates beliefs from the smallest rumors.
It is as if they are tragically unable to defend themselves against delusional thoughts and the barest of rumors.
I had a conversation with someone online who was convinced of vast secret government installations on the moon, and he had collected many pictures from online to prove it. It turns out there is a small band of fellow believers who flog this particular conspiracy.
So the evidence is all based on seeing telescope photographs of boulders sitting in lunar craters (the boulders were govern’t buildings), and sometimes these boulders had left a meandering trail of tracks because they rolled (of course then those are giant machines moving around on the moon).
How does Mr Icke explain that he has exposed the secret conspiracy of the inter-dimensional race of reptilian beings called the Archons – yet he still lives?
It’s a bit late to bump him off after the reveal; the time to act was before he exposed them.