Among the exploiters were "The Times" of London which
promptly published a serialized book by Time magazine
reports. Britain's TV networks, led by Live TV,
capitalized on comments made by al-Fayed's father to the
"Mirror" alleging foul play.
But there is more to conspiracy theories than mass
psychology. It is also big business. Voluntary associations
such as the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society are
past their heyday. But they still gross many millions of
dollars a year.
The monthly "Fortean Times" is the leading brand in
"strange phenomena and experiences, curiosities,
prodigies and portents". It is widely available on both
sides of the Atlantic. In its 29 years of existence it has
covered the bizarre, the macabre, and the ominous with
panache and open-mindedness.
It is named after Charles Fort who compiled unexplained
mysteries from the scientific literature of his age (he died
in 1932). He published four bestsellers in his lifetime and
lived to see "Fortean societies" established in many
countries.
A 12 months subscription to "Fortean Times" costs c. $45.
With a circulation of 60,000, the magazine was able to
spin off "Fortean Television" - a TV show on Britain's
Channel Four. Its reputation was further enhanced when it
was credited with inspiring the TV hit series X-Files and
The Sixth Sense.
"Lobster Magazine" - a bi-annual publication - is more
modest at $15 a year. It is far more "academic" looking
and it sells CD ROM compilations of its articles at
between $80 (for individuals) and $160 (for institutions
and organizations) a piece. It also makes back copies of its
issues available.
Its editor, Robin Ramsay, said in a lecture delivered to the
"Unconvention 96", organized by the "Fortean Times":
"Conspiracy theories certainly are sexy at the moment ...
I've been contacted by five or six TV companies in the
past six months - two last week - all interested in making
programmes about conspiracy theories. I even got a call
from the Big Breakfast Show, from a researcher who had
no idea who I was, asking me if I'd like to appear on it ...
These days we've got conspiracy theories everywhere; and
about almost everything".
But these two publications are the tip of a gigantic and
ever-growing iceberg. "Fortean Times" reviews, month in
and month out, books, PC games, movies, and software
concerned with its subject matter. There is an average of 8
items per issue with a median price of $20 per item.
There are more than 186,600 Web sites dedicated to
conspiracy theories in Google's database of 3 billion
pages. The "conspiracy theories" category in the Open
Directory Project, a Web directory edited by volunteers,
contains hundreds of entries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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