Uh-huh.
Charlie Brooker writes today about a new TV station crammed full of conspiracy theories, Edge Media TV, which broadcasts
programmes with titles like Question Everything and Hidden Agenda, and a talkshow called Esoteria, which according to the host is “a SHOW, not a PROGRAMME - we aim to SHOW you alternative viewpoints rather than PROGRAM you to accept a particular point of view”. He must be proud of that bit of mind-expanding wordplay because he repeats it quite a lot. A bit like he’s programming you, actually.
On the surface, Edge Media TV appears to be a harmless, new-agey type of channel. It talks of Stonehenge, The Knights Templar, crystal healing, acupuncture, vitamin supplements and various silly King Arthur-type conspiracies. More worrying are offering like 9/11: In Plane Site, a poor man’s version of Loose Change, complete with vouyeristc clips of 9/11 and some of the most ludicrous claims imaginable.
Edge Media TV is packaged not as entertainment but as a real alternative. They occasionally show disclaimers that the views of the programmes are not necessarily the views of the channel, but I’m not convinced.
Brooker writes:
If you enjoyed this post, why not subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter? You might also consider making a donation to the Counterknowledge.com fighting fund.Conspiracy theorists need to believe their viewpoints are being suppressed, rather than, say, assessed and dismissed as ropey and ludicrous. Which makes a channel devoted to spreading these viewpoints a bit of a paradox. If “the system” was even 1% as efficient and sinister as they believe, their station wouldn’t exist.
Click here to sign up for free RSS updates.
Download the free 
Join 
13 responses
It’s mostly disinformation. To understand what disinformation and how it works try researching Common Purpose on the interwebs.
See?
Your drowning in bullshit about giant lizards and Bavarian Illuminati and the New World Order. Any closer to the truth? Does it all seem crazy?
Thinking and knowing are actually quite hard.
Good spot, R.P. I was going to write about this, but you beat me to it.
Charlie Brooker has a way with words, and has already got up the noses of the 9/11 ‘truthers’. He hits the nail on the head with this comment:
‘The other day I tuned in to Eerie Investigations, in which the host, a strangely simpering woman with Eerie Investigations printed on her T-shirt, conducted vox-pop interviews with people at an anti-ID card rally. There are a thousand valid reasons for opposing ID cards and questioning everything the government does, but instead both the host and her interviewees spent most of their time talking about how we’re all going to have microchips planted in our heads as part of the New World Order (which, naturally, orchestrated the 9/11 attacks), intermittently breaking from this theme to dismiss the general public as idiotic, docile sheep with such towering self-assurance it made you actively wonder whether labouring under a fascist police state in which government computers monitored your dreams and doled out electric shocks each time you had a subversive thought would be preferable to living in freedom alongside these massive wankers.’
Aside from the invective, he has a point to make about the conspiracy cranks, notably the 9/11 denialists who describe the broad mass of the populace as ’sheeple’. It’s more comforting for these kooks to assume that their failure to make any progress despite 7 years of effort has more to do with the innate stupidity of the vast majority of the human race (but not them, naturally). Otherwise they might have to ask whether their failure is more to do with anyone having an ounce of common sense rejecting their lies about 9/11, not to mention the sheer flimsiness of their arguments about the September 2001 attacks being an ‘inside job’.
I suspect that, deep down, ‘truthers’ are seriously misanthropic.
Question Everything! Oh, except the conspiracy bullshit. That’s real. Really.
*sigh*
“Conspiracy theorists need to believe their viewpoints are being suppressed, rather than, say, assessed and dismissed as ropey and ludicrous.” - I disagree with Brooker. Firstly, he makes the usual unfounded innuendo that “conspiracy theorists” have some psychological desire to find conspiracies. Secondly and perhaps not too surprising, is his opinion that conspiracy claims should be. prima facie, judged to be “ludicrous”, without any investigation of the evidence. I hope Brooker is never selected for jury service. He may need to be informed that the inchoate offence of conspiracy forms a major part of English criminal law.
Political conspiracies have existed as fact and been exposed throughout history - the Gunpowder plot, Watergate, Iran-Contra. The more recent attempt by Blair and Bush to co-ordinate faked evidence of Iraqi WMDs may, in hindsight, be considered a criminal conspiracy on an international scale.
Unfortunately, “conspiracy” has, somehow, become lumped together with the dubious powers of healing crystals and odd new agey prophecies. There are also clearly a lot of snake oil salespersons making a fast buck off touting dubious products. But we should be cautious about throwing the baby out with the bath water.
I couldn’t care less about the Knights Templar etc etc etc but I really do doubt the ability of the MSM to initiate and investigate fully when they seem to have made their minds up already. One could argue that Brooker’s position of pre-determination on the entire gamut of alleged conspiracies is in itself contraknowledge. What research or investgation has he done? Or, as I suspect, is he just trying to look smart and knowing among his Grauniad media mates?
“Your drowning in bullshit about giant lizards and Bavarian Illuminati and the New World Order. Any closer to the truth? Does it all seem crazy?”
Er….not really…..mostly anti globalist stuff…..opposition seems to be politically driven.
The Illuminati/lizard/icke connection is really only used in defense of Common Purpose by discrediting their opposition by association.
Maybe Icke is a servant of the global masters???????
http://freeyourmind-hiddentruths.blogspot.com/
My favourite Edge Media moment is David Shayler’s announcement of the current identity of the Devil: a middle-aged professional paranoiac from Totnes called Ian Crane, who has helpfully posted the footage on Youtube.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=orfSNlbeJ4M
Shayler spent a lot of time in Totnes a couple of years ago shortly before delaring in Glastonbury that he is the Messiah. He was the star of the show at several twoofer events here and elsewhere, organised by Crane. It seems there has been a parting of the ways.
I once saw Shayler peering into a Totnes butcher’s shop window. Who knows what signs and wonders were vouchsafed to him among the sausages? Lest I be accused of mocking the afflicted, I’ll just point out that Crane and the rest of them follow essentially the same procedure for discovering the ‘hidden knowledge’ they then package and sell to the gullible/stupid. Find some juicy-sounding factoids, fancifully string them together, and artfully arrange them in the window of the nutbar emporium.
visit free your mind for more info
http://freeyourmind-hiddentruths.blogspot.com/
I think Youtube has become a favorite place for Truthers to spread their innane propaganda- I particulalry like the Truther youtube posters who delete all comments from people who are critical of the Truther theories- This proves how Truthers cannot debate the issue. Since they reject facts, they have nothing to support their theories. I like the one how they explain away the lack of whistleblowers or leaks from the teams of people who they claim planted explosive in the WTC, by saying those people were probrolly shot. Since they have zero proof these people ever existed, they certianly can’t prove these phantoms were shot! Truthers twist it around and say the burden is on the critics to prove they didn’t exist. Truthers disgust me, but on some levels they amuse me, in that it’s fascinating to watch people abandon logic when they try to defend a position, and just make things up as they go along.
This channel could be potentially rather dangerous.
There seems to be a fair amount of interesting content, but you’d better have the old ‘BS detector’ switched on to filter out the rubbish.
Ironic though, that its aired over Rupert Murdoch’s network….The acclaimed trumpeter of the neocon NWO and all that …..So much for supressed knowledge.
The alternative is listen to the Jew media spread their lies about 9/11, and deny Jew involvement in the coverup. No thanks.
I prefer sites where people are not afraid to reveal the politically incorrect TRUTH about who was behind the attacks in JEW York, Washington and PA on September 11
Brooker’s article is spot on.
If any of the new wave of conspiracy theorists were correct in their arrogant assumption that we are all brainwashed by a higher power, one of two things would have happened -
1. They would all be arrested, imprisoned or shot.
2. The NWO would have stopped all media coverage of them.
Given that youtube and the TV networks are supposed to be run by the Illuminati, these media outlets appear incredibly friendly towards critics of their organisation. Youtube features literally thousands of videos sceaming ‘911 WAS AN INSIDE JOB!’
Of course, the conspiracy theorists will turn around and say ‘but that’s what THEY want you to think’, which is a get out clause for everything. They are paranoid, obsessive, arrogant and boring.
i prefer to do my own thinking and checking of facts ,i have a brain and i use it(unlike a lot of people it seems who have left a comment here) i listen to both sides of an argument, i check my facts and come to an informed conclussion. you will notice in the various media how so called conspiracy theorists are constantly being attached to the elvis is alive and the obama is a lizard brigade ,so called journalists who have no interest in the truth trying to ridicule and attack the people who only want the truth to be told, this is the most common method used by the media(we cant argue the true facts because they might just gave a better more acurate argument so instead we try to discredit them as fools who believe elvis is still alive)and sadly some people are taken in by not thinking for them selves. a story came out of the us government giving syphilis to people and leaving them untreted and they died(they wanted to see the effects the disease would have if left untreated) this was proven true, as of this date swine flu has killed only 400 worldwide(yet the us government is talking about forced vaccination against this pandemic and trying to inject us with untested and out of date drugs(by the way they gave the drug companies immunity in case of deaths from the drug or serious side effects, so no case can be brought against them should people die from the vaccine)worldwide the regular flu kills around 100000 a year and no one is forced to take a vaccine ,swine flu has killed only 400 and apparently we have a pandemic. all the people who saw jfk shot by the grassy knoll were either called liars they had mental problems or were completly ommited from the warren report(because their evidence was not what the warren commision and the government wanted people to hear,they wanted 1 shooter lee harvey oswald) 3 dallas police men witnessed the finding of the rifle he was said to have used and made reports of a different rifle being found(not the oswald rifle)witness statements put oswald no where near the sixth floor between 12.00 midday and 12.30 the time of the shooting ,but these people were either ommited from the warren commision or their statments were changed to alter the time scale(in order to make it look as tho oswald had the time he needed to do the shooting)all facts and can be checked and proven to be true if people care to look. any proper(so called conspiracy theorist) will have provable facts to back up there arguments and if they dont they wont speculate on them.go and check things out about jfk and 9/11 etc and use your mind and decide for your self.and no i dont believe elvis is alive and that obama is a lizard,the truth is out there if we care to look. to sin by silence when we should protest makes cowards out of man(ella wheeler wilcox). and finally osama bin laden the man they say was behind 9/11 the most wanted man in the world and number 1 on the fbi most wanted list,no where on the fbi most wanted does it say he is wanted for any crime relating to 9/11 and when questioned on this they said its because there is no credible evidence against him. check it out its true.open your minds and think for yourself unlike some of the people above .