Consider the computer game "Majestic" by Electronic
Arts. It is an interactive and immersive game, suffused
with the penumbral and the surreal. It is a Web
reincarnation of the borderlands and the twilight zone -
centered around a nefarious and lethal government
conspiracy. It invades the players' reality - the game
leaves them mysterious messages and "tips" by phone,
fax, instant messaging, and e-mail. A typical round lasts 6
months and costs $10 a month.
Neil Young, the game's 31-years old, British-born,
producer told Salon.com recently:
"... The concept of blurring the lines between fact and
fiction, specifically around conspiracies. I found myself
on a Web site for the conspiracy theory radio show by Art
Bell ... the Internet is such a fabulous medium to blur
those lines between fact and fiction and conspiracy,
because you begin to make connections between things.
It's a natural human reaction - we connect these dots
around our fears. Especially on the Internet, which is so
conspiracy-friendly. That was what was so interesting
about the game; you couldn't tell whether the sites you
were visiting were Majestic-created or normal Web
sites..".
Majestic creates almost 30 primary Web sites per episode.
It has dozens of "bio" sites and hundreds of Web sites
created by fans and linked to the main conspiracy threads.
The imaginary gaming firm at the core of its plots,
"Amin-X", has often been confused with the real thing. It
even won the E3 Critics Award for best original product...
Conspiracy theories have pervaded every facet of our
modern life. A.H. Barbee describes in "Making Money
the Telefunding Way" (published on the Web site of the
Institute for First Amendment Studies) how conspiracy
theorists make use of non-profit "para-churches".
They deploy television, radio, and direct mail to raise
billions of dollars from their followers through
"telefunding". Under section 170 of the IRS code, they are
tax-exempt and not obliged even to report their income.
The Federal Trade commission estimates that 10% of the
$143 billion donated to charity each year may be solicited
fraudulently.
Lawyers represent victims of the Gulf Syndrome for hefty
sums. Agencies in the USA debug bodies - they "remove"
brain "implants" clandestinely placed by the CIA during
the Cold War. They charge thousands of dollars a pop.
Cranks and whackos - many of them religious
fundamentalists - use inexpensive desktop publishing
technology to issue scaremongering newsletters
(remember Mel Gibson in the movie "Conspiracy
Theory"?).
Tabloids and talk shows - the only source of information
for nine tenths of the American population - propagate
these "news". Museums - the UFO museum in New
Mexico or the Kennedy Assassination museum in Dallas,
for instance - immortalize them. Memorabilia are sold
through auction sites and auction houses for thousands of
dollars an item.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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