Learning From a Controversial Conspiracy Theorist

David Icke

I had vague memories of Icke being made to appear ridiculous back in the late 1990s for claiming that the British royal family were secretly reptiles. I thought he was languishing in the hell reserved for celebrities who make fools of themselves. I was wrong. Icke has become a phenomenon.

Describing Icke as simply a writer and public speaker doesn’t really do him justice. He says that online giants Google, Facebook and Twitter are “merely manipulating the population to silence itself”. But he and the people he works with are expert online marketers.

Icke was happy to grant my request for an interview. The deal was that he would record answers to my questions and send me the audio. I thought this was to make sure I didn’t misrepresent him. Icke was a journalist and has good reason not to trust the media.

But when I started sniffing around on Icke’s website, I realized there was more to it than that. I noticed a link to a video titled “David Icke answers questions from the Hungarian media” uploaded to YouTube on October 8, around the time I received the audio. I am “the Hungarian media”.

In just three days, the video had been viewed 18,275 times and received 302 comments. Before we get into speculating why Icke enjoys such support, please allow me to offer a brief biography.

Enormous Power

I’ll freely admit that I’m basing this on Icke’s Wikipedia entry. One of the good things about encountering Icke is that it’s made me conscious of my need to be transparent. After all, as “the Hungarian media”, I have enormous power and the obligation to wield this for the good of all humankind.

Icke was a professional soccer goalkeeper who became a British TV sports presenter. In 1990, when he was working for the BBC and also a spokesman for the Green Party, he was apparently told by a psychic that he’d been placed on Earth for a purpose and would start to receive messages from the spirit world.

Announcing that he was a “Son of the Godhead”, Icke predicted that Earth would soon be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. When he repeated this on national TV, he became a laughing stock.

Since then, Icke has written book after book. He’s developed his conspiracy theories, which include endorsing the notorious and vile anti-Semitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This led to his then publisher refusing to work with him any longer. Now self-published, he’s been translated into 11 languages.

Icke’s lectures around the world often sell out. Advance publicity for the “Everything You Need To Know” tour promises that he’ll speak for four hours. Icke’s stamina is not in question. But what does he actually believe?

Good Vibrations

According to his Wikipedia entry, “at the heart of Icke’s theories lies the idea that the universe is made up of ‘vibrational’ energy, and consists of an infinite number of dimensions that share the same space”. So far, so New Age.

Icke also believes that “an inter-dimensional race of reptilian beings called the Archons (or Anunnaki), have hijacked the Earth, and that a genetically modified human/Archon hybrid race of shape-shifting reptilians, also known as the ‘Babylonian Brotherhood’, the Illuminati, or the ‘elite’, manipulate global events to keep humans in a constant state of fear, so the Archons can feed off the ‘negative energy’.” The only way to save ourselves is to wake up to the truth, whatever that is, and fill our hearts with love.

More recently, Icke’s beliefs have expanded to take in the idea that Silicon Valley is, as he put it in an answer to one of my questions, a “devil’s playground”. Here, “The same corporations that are just the most advanced surveillance operation in known human history… [are] at the cutting edge of the artificial intelligence agenda. To hijack the human mind with AI.”

I’d suggest that here you have the essence of Icke’s appeal. The New Age aspects of his belief system appeal to people like me and super-smart comedian, actor, writer, activist and semi-guru Russell Brand. Brand told The Guardian newspaper he thinks Icke is great, “though he loses me when it comes to the lizards”.

The “inter-dimensional race of reptilian beings” bit brings in the kind of person who would swallow Scientology whole. And the anti-tech, pro-freedom of speech angle is designed to press a button for those of us who loath our obeisance to the Googles of this world.
Unfortunately, Icke’s broad appeal has led a surprising number of media commentators to regard him as a harmless eccentric. He is not. Nor are many of his supporters.

Now, you might be wondering when I’m going to get to the interview. I’m not. This is not a cop-out or a sinister plot to silence Icke. It took me several tedious hours to transcribe Icke’s answers to my questions. Apart from references to 9/11, the U.S. Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the devils of the Internet, he didn’t say anything remotely controversial. Sadly.

To listen to Icke’s answers to my questions go to www.davidicke.com and look for “David Icke answers questions from the Hungarian media”. He’s in Budapest on October 19, but it seems that the only way you can find out where he’s speaking is if you book a ticket. I wonder why.