Des Griffin belongs to that group of people who attempt to
synthesize all things loon, from Alex Jones to David Barton,
one of those people who determinedly take the crazy point of view on absolutely
every issue that comes their way. Thus, Griffin is a religious fundamentalist
as well as a conspiracy theorist, and central to his output are several books
trying to link the government to the New World Order,
the Rothshchilds' Illuminati Agenda, as well as Freemasonry and “world banks”, complete with fundamentalist paranoia and hysteria. He also
edits the Midnight Messenger Newspaper and writes for Conspiracy Nation.
Griffin seems to be heavily influenced by the writings of
the legendary conspiracy theorist William Carr, and believes, essentially, that
the Rothschild and Rockefeller families run the world behind the scenes (the
“Fourth Reich”). Since these “Satanically-inspired” families control everything
anyways, the idea that the US is a democracy is false. Due to his rants on
alleged Zionist conspiracies the Anti-Defamation League has judged his writings
to be anti-Semitic, a stance that may partially be reflected in Griffin’s
defense of David Irving (Griffin’s own rant is here).
He is also a 9/11 truther,
of course. You can read the introduction to his newsletter here (it avoids random capitalization, at least, but that’s as far as it gets in
terms of credibility) to get an impression of how his mind functions. Of course
Griffin portrays himself as an ardent seeker of truth and documentation; the
idea of psychological biases being a potential challenge during such research, and how such biases may lead
to selective use of evidence and double standards, has apparently never
occurred to him.
Jack Chick has on occasions relied on Griffin’s research, which lends it a sort of
anti-authority.
Diagnosis: Classical madman, and an excellent example of the
depth of lunatic conspiracies an otherwise probably intelligent fellow can end
up in by failing to know the basic rules of inquiry and use of evidence.
Since the H's are coming up, I have some loons that are worth an entry:
ReplyDeleteI would have included JB Handley of Age of Autism but I've noticed that he already has an entry here. I'll just note that his screeds have made it onto whale.to, so he's now a confirmed member of the Loon Legion
John Hawkins of Right Wing News, whose screeds demonstrate just how much staunch partisanship blind adherence to ideological purity can warp one's critical thinking skills; also for advocating the execution of Julian Assange.
Ariana Huffington (for unleashing the Hive of Quackery known as the Huffington Post onto the world)
Regrettably, Thom Hartmann (for dabbling in pseudoscience such as the Gaia hypothesis and for supporting a few 9/11 conspiracy theories)
"Spirit channeler" Esther Hicks (this one is pretty self-explanatory)
Aaron C. Hanson (claims that he can talk to aliens; has some...interesting...theories as to what the angels of Judeo-Christian mythology are)
Rambling anti-Semetic nutcase Michael A. Hoffmann
David Horowitz (anti-liberal, anti-Muslim, anti-education lunacy and rantings; he's essentially a modern day Joe McCarthy, also with a double-dose of hypocrisy. His call to "stop the witchhunt" of Michelle Bachmann is possibly, as Right Wing Watch put it, the "most hypocritical thing ever said." If you any doubts about his qualification, they'll be gone once you read this: http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2013/09/20/bryan-fischer-award-david-horowitz/
Tim Huelskamp, dimwitted Congressional wingnut who, according to Think Progress, is the worst anti-gay bigot in the House (he also rose a stink about the Pentagon no longer allowing the official emblems of the four military branches to be printed on Bibles, wants to defund ObamaCare because of a non-existant abortion fee (a claim debunked by Politifact last year), and continuing to flog Benghazi conspiracy theories)
Warner Todd Huston (batshit crazy wingnut columnist for NewsBusters, Breitbart, and Renew America; has severe hatred of unions, liberals, and anyone whose not a Christian conservative; his screed on Kwanza alone qualifies him for an entry in this encyclopedia)
Derek A. Hunter (some hack who writes for Breitbart, Townhall, and Daily Caller; once made a tweet about how "unsettling" it was that Obama's kids were draped in the flags of South Africa--the problem is that they were wearing blankets with the South African flag design and the real South African flag does not have the words "South Africa" written on it)
Yisrayl Hawkins, leader of some obscure religious cult in Texas called House of Yahweh, warned of a massive nuclear holocaust June 12 of 2008
Breitbart pundit AWR Hawkins, for claiming that a possible Levi Johnston reality show is "proof that Sarah Palin scares the Left to Death,"
Rebecca Hagelin, anti-gay, transphobic "Culture Warrior" who claimed that sex and violence in the media was responsible for the Abu Ghriab torture scandal
Katherine Harris, a batshit crazy GOP house candidate from 2006 who claimed that the Separation of Church and State is a lie, that God decides who gets elected, and all around train wreck)