Thread Creep (in this case, an expression subject to whatever interpretation you might want to put on it):—

Beloved Hated Guest, I sympathize with your view—which is to say that I have sympathy for anyone who holds the kind of views you do—because it appears that you have joined the ranks of those folks who can only be described as " The Terminally Bewildered."

My father was a health professional in a field which, at the time, was at odds with the Medical profession. It has since been grudgingly accepted as valid by those who used to consider it quackery. But as a result, my father was the recipient of many bulletins and newsletters from persons and organizations that assumed he would be open to their dire warnings about their particular Conspiracy du Jour. The following are some examples:

1. Unbeknownst to the world at large—except, of course, for the fellow putting out the newsletter—John D. Rockefeller (and when he died, the entire Rockefeller family) owns all the major corporations in the world, and he is just waiting his chance to enslave us all so that he will no longer have to pay anybody wages. What should we do about it? He had no answers to that. He just wanted an outlet for his hatred of the Rockefellers, and he wanted everybody else to hate them, too.
2. The Illuminati, of course, was one of the more popular groups who were going to take over the world.
3. However, they would have to compete with the Masons, who also had dibs on the planet.
4. The Zionists (proof: the Protocols of the Elders of Zion) were in there pitchin'.
5. But they would have to contend with the Catholics. Were you aware that when John F. Kennedy became President, the Pope started digging a tunnel under the Atlantic to use as an invasion route for the Vatican Guard so they could, with Kennedy's help, stage a coup, take over the United States, and force everybody to become Catholic? Oh, yeah! The newsletters said so!
6. One that was not supposed to be a danger to the world came from the planet Venus, our nearest neighbor in space. The Venusians had a base for their UFOs near Mt. Shasta, and there, in a secret hideaway under the mountain, the reincarnation of Jesus had just taken place, born by a young woman who had Immaculately Conceived. At the proper time, Jesus would make his presence known, and the Millenium would begin. But since "the moneyed interests" would try to crucify Him again, the Venusians (referred to in the Bible as "angels") would use their phasers and photon torpedoes (or whatever) to enforce the benign will of Jesus on the peoples of the earth—for their own good. But not to worry. All would be Heavenly, except for those who resisted and would be sent to Hell.
7. Did you know that the earth is hollow and that an entire civilization lives inside? The entrances to the Hollow Earth are at the North and South poles. True. We got another newsletter that said so.

You seem to fall into the "World Government and black helicopter" category. I've heard this kind of stuff all my life. It all has the same general thrust and the same hysterical tone.

Now, I'm quite sure there are people who want to take over the world. Alexander the Great was an early success story. Various Roman emperors were well practiced and quite good at it. Then came Attila the Hun. More recently, there was Napoleon, more recently still was Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. There number is legion.

Currently, we seem to have George W. Bush. What he and Ashcroft and the rest of the cabal are doing is pretty obvious to anyone who takes the time to look behind the news a bit (unfortunately, not as many as there should be in what is supposed to be an "informed electorate"), and this is bad enough without coming up with every imaginary scenario you run across on some website somewhere. These websites are merely more recent equivalents of the newsletters that clogged our mailbox.

In the current context, I consider these alarums you keep spreading through these threads to be like the ink emitted by a squid. It clouds the water and obscures the nature of the danger that actually is there.

Hated Guest, O best beloved, two plus two is four, not twenty-two.

Don Firth