Conspiracy theory checklist

[venta]

I'm reading "The Search for the Grail", a book which could well contain a lot of rubbish.

So far, the checklist for conspiracy theory goes as follows:

Page 2 - First mention of King Arthur (since it's on the grail, I'm prepared to cut them a certain amount of slack there...)
Page 4 - first occurrence of the phrase "seems too close a comparison to be mere coincidence"
Page 4 - First mention of Kinghts Templar (Hurray!)
Page 7 - First citing of Geoffrey of Monmouth in support of a theory
Page 13 - First occurrence of 2 consecutive paragraphs blatantly contradicting each other (always a good sign, this)

Plus, of course, the usual crop of arguments ex silentia and leaps of deduction.

Looking good so far :)

Comments

You can play at home too !

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Score points if the following turn up:

* Rosicrucians (10pts)
* Sangréal (5pts)
* Order of the Realm of Sion (10pts)
* Other gospels [Mary, Philip, Thomas, Egyptians and Mary Magdalene] (2pts each)
* Alexandria (12pts - raised to 18pts for mention of at least one text which appeared in the library there)
* Scroll of Jasher (20pts)
* Aliens (30pts)
* Elvis (45pts)

Re: You can play at home too !

[venta.livejournal.com]

You missed out

* the Merovigninan (spelling optional) dynasty (10)
* Rennes-le-Chateau (15)
* the Bavarian Illuminati (2)
* pyramids (20)

Shall we write the I-Spy a Conspiracy?

Re: You can play at home too !

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Ooh, yes. And shame on me for missing Rennes-le-Chateau since I have in fact read The Tomb of God.

I was most amused by it, actually. So much so that one of the Easter Eggs in my DPhil thesis is a Binary Decision Diagram with more than a little sacred geometry in it.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

Is that good old Graham Phillips? I love Graham Phillips.

Yup :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

It certainly is - I've not heard of the guy before. Is he reliably conspirate ? Is he up to Graham Hancock standards ?

Re: Yup :)

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

Oh, he's great. He's Andy Collins' best mate, the person he did all the Seventh Sword stuff with all those years ago, the co-founder of the Psychic Questing movement. He always seems like such a nice guy. This year at the psychic questing conference he was saying how strange it was that whatever he quested for he always seemed to find it just down the road froom his house...

Have a look at his website for examples: http://grahamsphillips.users.btopenworld.com/

Oh *him*

[venta.livejournal.com]

I hadn't registered the name properly.

According to the front of this book, he has a book called "The Shakespeare Conspiracy". Do you know anything about this ? Seems like a bit of a departure from canon, which intrigues me...

Re: Oh *him*

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

I do: I read it a long time ago, and can't remember much. I believe my copy is currently in Amanda Rick and Conall's bathroom. I have a feeling he decided Shakespeare was a spy, like Marlow, and that's why there's not much evidence about him.

[ealuscerwen.livejournal.com]

I'm horrified to relate that, if I'm identifying the book correctly, he mentions Godfrey of Bouillon.

I'll just go away and shudder at the thought of yet another person reading rather than burning that book - it really upsets me.

Eal.

Oh dear...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Is it just the sloppy nature of the writing/research that upsets you, or is it going to get more offensive in a big way ?

*worried now*

I know nothing of this author...

[ieyasu.livejournal.com]

...but I dearly want to play.

Sometimes I think people were born with more knowledge of conspiracy theory than I have. Heck, I can't even remember the name of that David Ike (did I get it right?) chap who thinks the world is run by snake people.

Any chance you might loan it to me over the holidays? I already have snake people in Shalazar, and I could use some new inspiration.

I can do much better than that :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

... you can, of course, borrow it when I've finished.

However, I have, available for immediate borrowing, "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", one of the most dubious conspiracy theory books every written.

It scores quite a lot of points on the bateleur scale, contains some beatifully glaring basic errors, tried to pass itself off as scholarly, and is offensive to at least one major religion.

Re: I can do much better than that :)

[ieyasu.livejournal.com]

That's an offer I can't refuse. When can I pick it up?

Of course, if it's before Saturday you might be responsible for me failing to get into law school. Then again, I have to do something to relax over the next few days, and just sitting around my flat smoking a pipe would be bad for my health...

[venta.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Rot your brain or your lungs. Your choice :)

Baba for last orders tomorrow ?

(Anyone else Oxford-based reading this ? Fancy meeting up for a drink ?)

Considering how today went...

[ieyasu.livejournal.com]

Last orders today would be more appropriate. But last orders tomorrow wouldn't be bad, since I've decided to be sober on Friday night.

Blech. Bad mock exam.

May I recommend...

[lanfykins.livejournal.com]

www.davidicke.com?

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

As Kate will tell you, I am the true descendant of Jesus Christ via the Rennes-le-Chateau mob.

If the book doesn't mention me, it can't be that well researched.