Why Texe?
Why Me?

The Interview:
1 2 3
4 5 6
Secret Footnotes!

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Afterward

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Why You Should Laugh
Why You Shouldn't Laugh

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Is Texe Anti-Semitic?

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You know how many people still use feet and inches? Officially, I mean? And do you know how freaking hard it is to find a web-based temperature converter that doesn't use applets, or convert from angstroms to furlong-fortnights? I was going to figure it out by hand, but forget it. It's about 18 degrees Celsius, and that's close enough.

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Flashpoint was the newletter of Living Truth Ministries. In January 1999 it turned into Power of Prophecy, but it's still the same. Go here to sign up for it. Always a lot of fun, or worrying, or both.

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With a lower-case l, because there are several varieties of this beast. In the U.S., it's used, more or less seriously, as an insult. In Canada, it's the name of a political party -- the ruling one right now, as it happens. You'll occasionally find people up here talking about "small-l liberals," but more often you hear mention of "small-c conservatives" -- because again, it is a political persuasion as well as the name of a political party. Not nearly as serious an epithet as "liberal" in the U.S., though. An interesting difference, don't you think?

An excellent example of the use of this epithet ("[...] Liberal [= Socialists = Conspiracy]") can be found here (see point 6), courtesy of www.greaterthings.com. Counterpoint: The Militia Watchdog 'Nuff said.

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There used to be a link at the bottom of this page about how Texe had accused them of being a tool of the New World Order's plans to implant everyone with computer chips (they make implantable medical sensors). It's gone now, which is a shame; I thought it exhibited a great sense of humour on the part of the company. Back.

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

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From "Devil Companies, Devil Products, Devil Logos?", Flashpoint, December 1997:

Just a Coincidence?

Are the shapes of these logos just coincidences? The corporations mentioned above [Lucent Technologies, Reebok International, Honeywell and its subsidiary Lucifer Manufacturing, Oracle, Lucifer Lighting Company, Mircrosoft, Apple, Proctor and Gamble, America Online, Saturn, Nabisco, Shell, Texaco, and Disney], and others who have adopted equally questionable marks and logos, would almost certainly deny that their logos are either pagan, occultic or New Age. It may be that the corporate leadership is, in fact, innocently sunaware of the esoteric, sometimes hidden, meanings of these symbols. Moerover, it must be admitted that a given symbol can have a multiplicity of meanings. Therefore, we make no railing accusations against these companies and their products.

But regardless, we do know for sure that Satan, the temporal "god of this world" (II Corinthians 4:4), can be expected to plant his symbols of evil throughout the globe in the last days. He is the father of liars, the blasphemous one, the dragon and serpent. I am convinced that Satan and his agents are very busy these days, conditioning men's minds and programming their senses with stunningly effective visual magic and sorcery.

Our argument, our battle, is not with the corporations of this world. Our struggle is with higher powers. Our holy campaign is against "spiritual wickedness in high places." What we see in many of today's company logos and emblems is no doubt a prime manifestation of spiritual wickedness in high places.

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Now this is interesting. Is Mr. Marrs hinting that he came up with Moon Goddess Barbie? Reading the next paragraph, it would appear not. Still, an interesting thought, don't you think?

Incidentally, I half suspected that Moon Goddess Barbie was just an urban legend. But it's not. Bizarre.

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This is a perfect example of background that I'm familiar with, and that I didn't try to explain. The good folks at Endtime magazine sent me a free copy of their July/August '97 issue, which had a great deal of copy about this. Essentially, they place Gorbachev and The Gorbachev Foundation/USA (headquartered at the Presidio in San Francisco) at the forefront of the UN's move to harmonise religions. (What the hell is a "Presidio", anyway?)

For the last fifty years or so, the Soviet Union has figured heavily in eschatological scenarios of the Christian right; the sudden demise of communism has thrown a lot of them for a loop (no pun intended). It's hardly surprising, then, that many insist that either it's all a trick, or that Gorbachev will end up being either the Antichrist, one of his dupes, or at least a forerunner.

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Hilary looked at her secretary uncertainly. Surely she couldn't have meant that last remark. Here? In the office? On the desk? But that would mean...

It was the last coherent thought she was to have that night.

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Actually, it's Customs Canada who are in charge of protecting us from foreign corruption arriving by mail (among other methods, of course). As well as keeping out Texe's books (I haven't actually checked that out, so throw in an "allegedly" there), they've also sent back material from The Church of the SubGenius and books ordered by Little Sisters, a Vancouver gay and lesbian bookstore. In fact, what with all the legal battles fought by the wonderful people at Little Sisters, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Texe owes them a great deal of thanks.

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Organized "extremism," as judged by today's standards, made its appearance early in the young United States. Before the first third of the nineteenth century was over, one well-organized "right-wing" group was in existence. This was the Anti-Masonic movement, which eventually reorganized as a political party and in 1830 staged America's first national convention.

As is often the case, these extremists were, no doubt, responding to what they regarded as extremism. The Masonic lodge was a secret fraternal organization. Its meetings were private and its rituals, involving elaborate handshakes, passwords, oaths, and ceremonies, themselves aroused suspicion. Most importantly, it was in the interest of the Masonic lodge to seek members from among the social elite, i.e., physicians, lawyers, businessmen, and military officers. Consequently, and perhaps for good reason, the Masons were regarded as a secret society with powers far beyond their numbers, and, consequently inimical to any kind of democratic process.

As early as 1828, nativist themes colored the rhetoric of new parties offering to cleanse and protect the land. The curious phenomenon of the anti-Masonic movement is a case in point. The anti-Masonic party emerged from the welter of hysteria and speculation following the abduction and presumed murder of William Morgan, an itinerant stonemason in Batavia, New York. Morgan's effort to establish a Masonic lodge had been thwarted, and he announced the publication of a book exposing the "secrets of the order." Morgan's Illustrations of Masonry by One of the Fraternity Who Has Devoted Thirty Years to the Subject was a literary failure, but the author's disappearance proved a political sensation. Several investigations were launched, and a flock of tracts and broadsides flowed off the presses of those whose fear and suspicion of secret societies now had immediate focus. Opposition developed to Masons running for any and all public offices. Two shrewd young western New Yorkers destined to become powerful party figures, editor Thurlow Weed of Rochester and lawyer William H. Seard of Auburn, helped convert the inchoate feelings of anger into a new political instrument.

Here is one of Jack Chick's famous tracts, this one about how Masons go to hell. Don't forget to sign up for the catalog while you're there. A slightly more sophisticated approach can be found here. (But watch out for the dirty words!) And here you'll find the American Resistance Movement's ( remember them?) characterisation of Masonry as "systematic brainwashing of Christians."

Look here for a Mason's lengthy (>100k) rebuttal of anti-Masonic charges.

Incidentally, my dad's a Mason. And his dad's a Shriner.

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Canada's lesser contribution to the mythos of the American right.

Though Texe refers to "Driscoll", I believe that Robert O'Driscoll is the man that he is referring to. A professor for twenty-eight years at St Michael's College at the University of Toronto, O'Driscoll seemed to have an awakening late in life. Leaving behind a career as a respected Celtic scholar, he authored or edited a number of books, now out of print, on Canada's place in the global conspiracy: New World Order: Corruption in Canada and The Throne of the Anti-Christ (co-written with D. Griffin). Perhaps his most interesting assertion was that the Free Trade Agreement between Canada and the United States, long an object of suspicion in more mainstream Canadian politics, actually was the result of a conspiracy to destroy Canada. He briefly came to the notice of anti-racist activists in Canada for his none-too-subtle assertions that Jews were plotting against good white folk.

Robert O'Driscoll died of a heart attack on Februay 29, 1996.

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What caused the rapid decline in [Ku Klux] Klan membership and influence in the late 1960s? The FBI is responsible for the most part. FBI Counterintelligence Program (COINTELPRO) activities against the Klan and other extreme right groups have received only a fraction of the attention as such actions against the extreme left.[...]

Whatever the ethical issues involved, the simple fact is that the FBI's COINTELPRO campaign against the KKK was probably the most significant factor in its decline (aside from vigorous prosecution of actual KKK crimes, which is another matter altogether). Most Americans would rejoice that the FBI was largely successful and that an unquestionably violence-prone movement was at least partially derailed by whatever means necessary. On the other hand, most COINTELPRO operations, whether against left or right, were not directed at violent or even illegal acts, but rather against legal actions -- publication and public speaking -- of a radical protest movement.

Another fine quote from pages 399 and 401 of Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe (op cit). No, Texe is not the KKK, even if he is probably anti-Semitic. I have yet to hear of Texe organizing a cross-burning, for example.

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I've never understood people's willingness to take predictions of the end of the world seriously. Check out The Pursuit of the Millenium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages by Norman Cohn to see just five hundred years (roughly) of this sort of behaviour. (I have to admit, though, I got bored about two-thirds of the way through. It's all the freaking same: "No, really, this time it really is the end of the world! Trust me!" Drunkard's logic, if you ask me: If the last twelve women have turned down your offer of sex, you must be due for some luck with the next one.)

Another good book to get is The Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Ronald L. Numbers and Jonathan M. Butler. It's a fascinating look at "The Great Disappointment," the biggest date-setting disaster in American Christian history -- one that led (indirectly) to the present-day Branch Davidians.

Finally, check out Texe's own flirtation with date-setting. A long read, but...well, just read it.

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And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his inequity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not away from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou has delivered thy soul.

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He's got a point, you know.

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Canada's greater contribution to the mythos of the American right.

Maurice Strong came to the attention of folk like Texe when he organised the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Someone like this, they thought, couldn't just be a concerned citizen. No, he must be something more. (Typically, Texe says he's "just a small man." Dammit, aren't we a world class nation?) Even on the left, though, there are some who are very suspicious of Maurice Strong.

Just as an aside, Canadians don't seem to be too interested in wondering what the conspiracy plans for Canada itself. There are a couple exceptions, though, which can be seen here.

Robert O'Driscoll, of course, is Canada's lesser contribution to the mythos of the American right.

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1-800-234-9673. But since you're probably using the phone to connect with your ISP, why not just click here to sign up for his newsletter? It's fun...it's free...it's fundamentalist. And how often do you hear that?

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I do hope I didn't lose anyone with this technical term.

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In actuality, the goodbyes went on for another two repetitions before Mr Marrs hung up. I have a hard time ending a phone call.

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