2020-02-01_Fortean_Times

CIVILWARCRIES
Therhetoricofthealt-rightandthepatriot
movement regularlyadoptsavague
bellicosity that hints at thepotential for civil
war, or amilitarised patriotic response to
government (or Deep State) activity. This
aggressive defensiveness has always been
partofthe American politicalscene,soit’s
hardlyasurprisethat the language ofwar
has infected parts of the Conspirasphere
fairly frequently.The notion that some core
set of principles is underattack and needs
to be defended at all costs is implied in
conspiracistthinking.
Butrecently,the warrhetorichas
beenrampedupanotc horsix, and the
vague timelines and targets have begun
to coalesceintosomething muchmore
specific and worryinglytangible. This is not
unprecedented(have alook at the kind of
vitriol bandied about in the 1930s; there
wasaclear sense of imminentupheaval,
and asimmeringcertainty that civilwar was
about to breakout) butitisaswarlike, or
more so,than at anytimeinthe recent past.
The collectivetriggerfingerofthe patriot
communityisitchy and twitchy.
Thecoming year seems to have taken
on an alarming apocalyptic significance for
some sections ofthe altright, and the main
focusoftheir concerns is the immediate
future of DonaldTrump. His impending
impeachment hearing,and the prospects for
his re-election campaign,havepersuaded
manyconspiraciststhat 2020 willbethe
year whenthingscome toahead. The signs
aretherefor those witheyestosee them.
Aleading voice in the rumours-of-war
chorus is MikeAdams, akathe Health
Ranger.Adams has madeacareer out
of apungent,and peculiarly American,
mixofalternativemedicine ,wholefoods,
survivalistparaphernalia,Big Pharmaand
BigGovernment conspiracies and, more
recently,cheerleadingfor an imminent
internecinewarinacountry so politically
polarised that the prospect ofcivil conflict

isalltooplausible,andperhapsnotjustto

thoseontheconspiracistright.Andlikeany

competentprophetofdoominanageof

listicles,hehasprovidedchecklistsofsigns

that the big day is here.

Trump winningre-election is of course

one of those signs, but so isTrump losing

the election (in which case the Democrats

will emerge in full gun-grabbingrevenge for

fouryearsofillusorypatriotfreedom).Trump

being impeached (the Democrat coup finally

accomplished)isatrigger,and so isTrump

survivingthe impeachment hearings (the

Democrat coup will need to be tweaked to

include assassination).Acasual observer

mightconcludethat Mr Adamsishedging

his apocalyptic bets here; butheprovides

arguments for each possible outcome,and

thereisakind of logictowhat he says.

Perhaps the most outwardly plausible

trigger forconflictis amajor ‘grid-down’

event: power outages,breakdown in

electronic paymentsystems,lackof

food stamps leadingto popularriots.

An accidental grid-down situation would

certainly be volatile and dangerous; but

Adamsismore concernedwithplanned

events,suchasthe governorofCalifornia,

Gavin Newsom,plottingtode-power the

state’s major cities so that Californiacan

be “invadedand occupied by Communist

Chinesetroops”. Or traitorslikeMichael

Bloomberg turning off the coal-fired power

stations and plungingthe countryintothe

hell that isagreeneconomy,where youwill

be forcedto“wipeyour ass with ferns while

prayingtoGaia”.

Adams is by no means alone in predicting

big bad thingsfor the comingyear;the

ominous rumble ofwarcan be heardacross

the Conspirasphere.And nowthat Qisback

(the dust havingfinally settledon 8-Chan’s

recent troubles)and Trump-oriented

conspiracism is centre stageagain, ‘the

stormiscoming’ mayfeel less likeanoff-

the-cuffTrumpismand morelikeamartial

messagefrom the top.

FT389 5

THEC NSPIRASPHERE

Forget theTwitter hysteria aboutWWIII, saysNOELROONEY,it’sanother Amrican civilwarwe

should beworrying about –atleast according torumblingsfromthe Conspirasphere

FESTIVE

SURPRISES

Strange

stowaways in

Christmas trees

PAGE

TWILIGHT

CHILDREN

The bizarre

case of the

Turpin family

PAGE

THEFACE-

HUGGERFISH

Or is it really a

new species of

sea anenome?

PAGE

SAVOU I H A LIN S

FROMAROUNDTHEWORLD

NEW DINOSAURFOUND

HIDINGIN PLAINSIGHT IN

SOUTH AFRICAN MUSEUM

Guardian, 5Aug 2019.

Firetruck-driving

elf in RFS battleover

scarecrow incident

Sydney MorningHerald, 10Aug2018.

MIGRATING RUSSIAN

EAGLESRUN UPHUGE

DATA ROAMINGCHARGES

BBC News, 25 Oct2019.

Angus man who tried

to fly drone into

Perth prisonclaimed

Romanian circus

stole his chihuahua

Dundee Courier, 25 Oct 2019.

ANTSINFLORIDA

COLLECT THE SKULLS

OF OTHER ANTSTO

DECORATETHEIR NESTS

Newsweek, 16 Nov 2018.

Big foot is found...

in Hull

Sun,28 Sept 2019.

EXTR XTRA!

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