This (http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=53210) alternative knowledge thread reminds me of the old joke about alternative comedy - it's the alternative TO comedy.
So as an alternative to the alternative knowledge, here are two REALLY interesting episodes of Jon Ronson's BBC Radio series Jon Ronson On. In the first he meets a woman injured in the 7/7 bombings who was harassed by truthers who think she doesn't exist. And in the second he follows lead conspiracy theorist David Shayler's very sadly collapsing mental health.
http://www.jonronson.com/Jon_Ronson_Uncontrolable_responses.mp3
http://www.jonronson.com/Jon_Ronson_On_Wrong_type_madness.mp3
Thanks for those links Ali...I listened to both and found them very worthwhile...
The first was quite funny in both a laugh-out-loud and also a shake-your-head kind of way.
The second started out as amusing and soon got into some quite dark and scary places indeed. I was actually starting to go down a mental checklist of my own psyche while listening, worried about what category I myself might fall into: I think I'm kinda safe-ish, but it was disturbing to see how suddenly someone can reach the tipping point into madness even though the internal problem leading up to that point evolved very gradually over many years.
Cheers again! And I shall be listening to more from Mr. Ronson.
Jon Ronson also has books out; "Them" is a nice read.
I'm taking out this post as it is no longer applicable to this thread. Also it might have been a bit inappropriate in content. I apologize.
Since this thread could do with even more Jon Ronson, he made a short series on conspiracies for Channel 4 in the UK. At one point he gets chased by the Bilderberg Group, but I think this one about David Icke is very surprising:
[embed=640,360]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBMw2QErYzs[/embed]
In terms of the psychology of conspiracy theorists, David Icke is an interesting contrast with David Shayler. While Shayler went from being a seemingly credible MI5 source to someone claiming to be Jesus, David Icke began as a laughing stock and has carried on regardless.
It's remarkable how not crazy Icke seems considering his outlandish beliefs. I think he must be like medieval saints - people who experienced something like a psychotic episode, but somehow rationalised it as a life-altering revelation.
Jon Ronson is (((Welsh))) though, so let's keep that in mind...