Review of: PARANOIA: The Conspiracy Reader, Volume 1
By G. T. Goodale
The masthead of every issue PARANOIA magazine had a tongue in cheek disclaimer, a warning, a childproof device that instructed the editorial philosophy that ensued in each and every issue: "We don't knowingly print disinformation, but sometimes it's hard to tell." What that meant, to quote one of the two pillars of the magazine Joan D'Arc, their only editorial preconception was "if the article is internally consistent, and sourced".(1) And well written, and informed, and interesting. Containing hidden or forgotten historical detail and or the suppression of same. The collective amnesia around recent events. UFOs, mad science, pyramids with eyes. Weirdness. You know; defenders of faiths forgotten and the faiths made up, iconoclasts of all shapes and sizes. Where creationists and alienists could coexist in the same three-staple quarterly with great cover art - sometimes seemingly just for the weirdness attached but for the most part in fairly sober, straight forward and serious transposition. Parallax viewing for the masses. Edited. And sourced: The rub and bane of so much of what passes in loose leaf as conspiracy theorem and alternative history and lest we forget, the hard bound 'advanced' reassuring tomes of the court historian and a fluffy press.
Brought together by Al Hidell and Joan D'Arc, PARANOIA was made issue after hard wrought issue into an important lasting source of hard and soft research material and reference. That will last forever. Come hell. And high water. (Which has happened before apparently. I read about it somewhere. In PARANOIA probably). Together with some of the wackiest fun stuff you've ever read you'll also get the grim; interviews like the one in this first issue with a Rod MacKenzie. Not a fun story.(2) Unless you think being part of the support crew(s) in the assassination of JFK as fun. This source that D'Arc has discovered may prove to be as important as a Richard Case Nagell or a Marita Lorenz in setting the background and players in Dallas in the days before during and after the killing. (3-4-5)
Some who have more invested in favored scenarios than in new information may be contrary to what is revealed but I feel it is more than outweighed by the near anecdotal revelations about the common cause that brought about the spycraft and criminal activity in the Plaza, this common threat they saw in the back of Jack Kennedys head. Not to mention the details. Specific details. Anyone with any passing knowledge or understanding of the deep politics and mechanics of the assassination will find the interview confirming, illustrative, an open window in a otherwise smoke filled room.
In this new paperback format a stubborn tradition is kept alive; that stubborn contrary notion that we, collectively, have been and are still being lied to. The reasons for the lies, the lies upon lies, well, that's what PARANOIA tries to be about. It is and always will be a repository of finely ground, well-baked detail. And the half baked too, because not all the chickens have come home to roost. Because not all the details are in just yet. And because I'd rather know than not know, as a general rule, a rule the fine editorial team at PARANOIA sticks to, I'll keep reading.
All this (and more) is now a nicely sized squareback edition that has everything the magazine had sans the ads. And without the distressing waste of unsold printings destroyed by retailers. Where and what the dear reader takes from it, well, as Ben Franklin said; "A republic, if you can keep it." And your mind, if you don't lose it. The PARANOIA READER Volume 1 may just keep you sane. I'm taking my copy to the next Tri-Annual 3rd Thursday of the 3rd month meeting of the Tin Foil Hat Society. First in my chapter to own one.
(1) http://psiopradio.com/2010/04/25/psiop-radio-podcast-112-100425-wguests-paranoia-magazine-editors-joan-darc-and-al-hidell/
(2) The Men That Don't Fit In; Joan D'Arc Interviews JFK Witness, Roderick A MacKenzie III. PARANOIA The Conspiracy Reader, Volume 1 2010, page 73
(3) THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, Dick Russel 1992
(4) MARITA, Marita Lorenz and Ted Schwarz 1993
(5) PLAUSIBLE DENIAL, Mark Lane 1991, page 2 to 310
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