Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael
Society & Culture
On this edition of Parallax Views, Mike Rothschild, a journalist specializing in the topic of right-wing conspiracy culture, joins us to discuss his new book Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories. A follow-up of sorts to his previous book The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything, Jewish Space Lasers delves into the history of virulently antisemitic conspiracy theories concerning the wealthy Rothschild banking family and the popularity of those theories within the American right-wing and it's media ecosystem. How did the Rothschilds become public enemy No. 1 of the fringe right in America? How does the Rothschild conspiracy theory feed into conspiracy theories about George Soros and Black Rock's Larry Fink? And how has the Rothchild conspiracy theory crept from the dark corners of the fringe right into, in many ways, the mainstream of U.S. conservatism? Hopefully this conversation will help answer all of those questions and more!
And no, Mike is not related to the famed financial family.
In the course of our conversation we'll discuss the history of Rothschild conspiracy theories going back to the era of Napolean and Waterloo, the lucrative grift of antisemitic conspiracy theory peddling, the John Birch Society and Gary Allen's None Dare Call It Conspiracy, the modernist poet Ezra Pound and how his protege Eustace Mullins created an antisemitic narrative around the formation of the Federal Reserve (and how well-known figures like Glenn Beck have picked up on this particular conspiracy theory), the Mormon conspiracy theorist Cleon Skousen and his influence on the American right-wing, David Icke's reptilian conspiracy theories and the New Age/Wellness connection to antisemitic conspiracism, Marjorie Taylor Green's conspiracy theory about the Rothschilds and weather modification, Bill Cooper's UFO conspiracy tome Behold a Pale Horse and the strange hoax known as Quiet Weapons for Silent Wars: An Introductory Programming Manual which claimed to be a top secret document, the Rothschilds and Zionism, Cold War anti-communism and antisemitism, the 1930s movie House of Rothschild starring horror icon Boris Karloff and Hollywood's WWII-era reluctance to alienate Nazi Germany, Nazi propaganda films like The Eternal Jew and Die Rothschilds (aka The Rothschilds' Shares in Waterloo), how antisemitic conspiracy theories distract from truly addressing issues like wealth inequality, the role American evangelist and 700 Club host Pat Robertson had in promulgating Rothschild conspiracy theories, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, and much, much more.
Netanyahu’s Doctrine, Attacks on the Press, and Embrace of Elon Musk + Israeli Left vs. International Left w/ Haaretz Contributor Etan Nechin
Israel-Hamas Hostage/Prisoner Swap, Israel Administrative Detention for Palestinian Prisoners, From the River to the Sea Debate, and Related Issues w/ Louis Fishman
Terror in the Mind of God, Or: Religious Violence from Hamas to the Messianic Israeli Settler Movement w/ Prof. Mark Juergensmeyer
Armenians Under Threat in Jerusalem + Spyware and the Lebanese Security State w/ Anas Ambri
The Gaza War, the Question of Genocide, and Israel’s Messianic Far-Right Golem w/ Prof. Omer Bartov
The Gaza War, Militarism & the Rise of the Right in the U.S. & Israel, & the ADL w/ Jeet Heer
Argentina’s President-Elect Javier Milei’s Hawkish Foreign Policy w/ Eldar Mamedov
The Horror! The Horror! A Film Fanatic’s Obsession With the Cinema of the Macabre w/ Dennis Daniel
Armenians Under Threat from Israeli Settler Extremists in Jerusalem w/ Prof. Bedross Der Matossian
Beyond the Genocide Debate: Permanent Security Logic & the Gaza War w/ Dirk Moses/The ”Were the Nazis Better Than Hamas?” Discourse is Distorting Holocaust History w/ Waitman Beorn
The UN, the Gaza War, Protest, International Law, and the Beginning of the PalCast w/ Helena Cobban
Two Jewish Perspectives on American Jewish Political Discourse Before & Since October 7th, Antisemitism, & Israel/Palestine w/ Prof. Dov Waxman & JTA’s Ron Kampeas
Ariel Sharon’s Ghost Haunts Gaza w/ Geoffrey Aronson/Gaza, Permanent War, & U.S. Foreign Policy w/ Paul R. Pillar
The Potential Coming War in the South Caucasus, Israel’s Arming of Azerbaijan, and the Corruption of U.S. Foreign Policy by Lobbies w/ James W. Carden
Israel’s Strategic Culture and Its Failing + Israeli Information Warfare w/ Dr. Andreas Krieg
Negotiating with Hamas, the Quest for Peace, & More w/ Israeli Hostage Negotiator Gershon Baskin/The Enduring Global Disorder & Qatar’s Potential Role in Postwar Gaza w/ Jason Pack
The Longstanding Hostilities Between the United Nations & Israel w/ Ian Williams
The Israeli Covert Op Project Butterfly and the October 7th Intelligence Failure w/ James Bamford
The Postwar Future of Gaza Is Likely Dystopian w/ Prof. Nathan J. Brown
Israel/Palestine and the Joint Arab League-OIC Summit on Gaza in Riyadh w/ James M. Dorsey
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