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Conspiracy Theories: A Guide to the World's Most Intriguing Mysteries

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There is a wide variety of alternative history conspiracy books to choose from; however, these seven are a little more robust in terms of reliability and evidence. It is arguably worthwhile reading an alternative view of history and then making up your own mind, instead of just accepting the official version as fact. There is much evidence that, at least in some cases, official versions of events are not as they seem. And authors such as Bernays, Fuller and Epperson give a good reason as to why this is the case.

The interviews with Johnson himself that punctuate the book are genuinely intriguing, and not just for Dorries’s ability to somehow capture him sounding more thoughtful and statesmanlike than any previous interviewer. They’re interspersed with long, dramatic conversations between Dorries and various unnamed sources who all seemingly share her thesis, several of whom have a habit of speaking like characters in a bad spy novel. The one codenamed Moneypenny, who she hints could be a spook, fascinated me. Over the years, I’ve admittedly met only a handful of MI5 or MI6 types, but none said things like “for the first time ever, there is a man waiting in the wings who is connected to the money network of the world, and of course they hate it when the plan doesn’t go to plan”. You long for a proper explanation of how Johnson managed to hire so many people who hated him, or even why they hated him so much if he really was the man Dorries describes. Instead, we get Moneypenny’s analysis that Johnson never realised what the plotters were doing because “it’s the big picture for him, always … he was obsessed about delivering on his manifesto promises”, which suggests she isn’t destined for a long intelligence career.The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.” Terry Bollea, meanwhile, comes off as very sympathetic and vulnerable in this tale. Sure, he was rich and famous. But he was also busted up after years of pro wrestling. His marriage went to hell, his wife ran off with a younger man and took most of his assets, his son was in prison, and when he went to his best friend's house for comfort and support, his best friend's wife essentially seduced him, and unknown to Bollea, the two of them were taping every encounter.

A highly readable overview of conspiracy theories: how we create them, why we fall for them, how to spot them, why the internet has empowered them hideously. Enter GamerGate and the culture wars and then the 2016 election, and the judgment against Gawker became fraught with implications that went well beyond the politics of outing and whether or not it's okay to publish someone's sex video without their consent. But when it was revealed that billionaire Peter Thiel was behind Hogan's lawsuit, essentially providing infinite funds in a deliberate effort to destroy Gawker, opinion turned. Thiel was not beloved by the media, and the fact that he was a libertarian, and later a Trump supporter, cast the case in a new light for many. Now it was a story about a vengeful billionaire crushing the freedom of the press for hurting his feelings. Vice-president Lyndon Baines Johnson takes the presidential oath of office in Dallas, Texas, two hours after Kennedy was shot. Photograph: ReutersMany people have opinions about the case based entirely on what they think of the principals. When Bollea aka "Hulk Hogan" first won his lawsuit against Gawker, public opinion was generally in his favor. The trial had shown amply that Gawker didn't care in the slightest about truth or journalistic ethics. They would publish anything without regard for the impact on its subjects. The rich and famous were favorite targets, and everyone enjoyed the schadenfreude of seeing yet another celebrity being humiliated. Worse, they operated on the principal that they were essentially untouchable. "Never start a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel" - they relied on strong First Amendment protections coupled with the fact that even for a rich celebrity, taking on a multimillion-dollar media empire was doomed to be a losing fight.

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