Kelly
Thu, 05 Apr 2001 11:58:29 -0700
-Caveat Lector-
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2001 16:46:37 z (MDT)
From: Stephen MILES Lewis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Alert: Majestic Art of Electronic Disinformation
Majestic Art of Electronic Disinformation
"A character in the game might ask me the name of my wife. A few
months later I might get a call saying, "'Neil, if you don't
stop snooping, you might find Laurie in a pool of blood'."
- Neil Young, Game Designer at Anim-X
Back in February I learned of a new "game" which threatens to
further blur the lines between fact and fiction within the ufo
community and its relevant parapolitical/conspiracy sub-
communities. It's called Majestic and it is being billed as "The
game that plays you." This new online interactive experience
uses the player's own mind as the gaming environment with the
world wide web and telecommunications networks as its
intravenous feed straight into that player's paranoia prone
imagination. The international software developer, Electronic
Arts, is banking on the popularity of paranoia as a sort of
mental thrill ride. Depending upon what level of interactivity a
player desires, players can be contacted by the game via web
sites, email, online instant messaging, phone, fax, and even
cellular phone messaging systems. With "reality" television
shows like Mtv's Fear and the Fox Family Channel's World's Most
Haunted Places already pushing the envelope of ethical
entertainment, the inherant dangers of such a paranoic "game"
are quite apparent.
Among the many ethical ambiguities implied by the very premise
of the game is its use of real and fake web sites to promote
real and hoax news stories. The game designers have gone so far
as to create front companies for several of these web sites.
They are actively urging fans of the game to create web sites to
act as fronts for the game.
The disinformation is already spreading... I'm already receiving
emails from experiencers and researchers who are forwarding
links to web pages which turn out to be among the growing list
of hoax sites. One experiencer sent me a link to an online image
of a supposed reptoid alien. The link was to one of the top two
Majestic related fan sites, www.abovetopsecret.com.
One of the likely hoax sites is www.chemtrail.com. If you do a
whois lookup on this site you get the name of a company called
Octopus Interactive - these web developers really know their
conspiracy theory... Anyone familiar with the majority of
conspiracy theory from the 1980s and 1990s should recognize the
Octopus conspiracy as one of the (allegedly) farthest reaching
and most convoluted. Most important is the Octopus theory's
linking of continuing news reports about software known
variously as the Inslaw and Promis programs that were designed
with "back doors" for in-the-know agencies.
But perhaps one of the most direct potential dangers to this
game's contamination of the UFO scene can be found within one of
our communities most prolific contributors: Filers Files. Since
June of last year, each issue of Filers Files has contained the
important message "Sponsored by Electronic Arts" within its
header. To date, Mr. Filer has not responded to my repeated
sincere requests for more information on the nature of this
sponsorship.
Meanwhile, high quality parapolitical sites such as
www.disinfo.com have officially announced their open
participation in this new gaming experience.
Of course, many will see this game as a part of the conspiracy
itself; ie- the Majestic game is simply a pretext for the very
type of data gathering / backdoor access to your privacy
engendered in the original claims of Octopus conspiracy
researchers and NSA Echelon devotees.
For more links to online resources and articles about Majestic
please check here:
http://www.elfis.net/mkc/mkcx/majesticarts.htm
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om