: Dear Friends, Patriots and Warriors of Truth: Recently I had
: the opportunity to view again the great and classic science
: fiction movie, "The Thing," as created by Howard
: Hawks, and based on the John Campbell Story "Who Goes
: There?" To see a great movie again some years after
: having studied it, is to experience a mental process which
: is almost psychedelic. The mind does open.

Cool. (That was James Arness, playing the part of the
vegetable from space. :)

: Propaganda -- by definition -- cannot be value neutral and

: never actually is objective, although some facts may be
: adduced objectively. So what was the point of making
: "The Thing" and having it released at the peak of
: the so-called 'Flying Saucer Craze?' Was it a preface to a
: rallying of the nations, one that never occurred? Why did
: the Air Force take the lead in investigating flying saucers
: and UFO phenonmena with what now appears to be the agenda
: of denial (Blue Book)? Why encourage the creation of a
: superlative entertainment vehicle, one that serves to rally
: all Americans against a supposed and imminent invasion from
: outer space -- and then flatten it all out with twenty-plus
: years of denials? Who made that decision?

Dunno. Might it possibly have been coincidence, and really
more market oriented than propaganda? I'm not sure of the
timing, but it's said the success of "The Day The Earth Stood
Still", also arguably a propaganda piece, ushered in a new
era of science fiction movies - reason being, it was the
first of a series of successful sci-fi flicks that could be
made on a low budget. TDTESS occurs almost entirely _on_
Earth, simplifying and cheapening production costs by one
heck of a lot. The only "exotic" things about it were the
limited interiors and exteriors of the spaceship; Michael
Rennie's briefly worn spacesuit; Gort the robot (played by
a very tall fellow who had been a doorman at, I think,
Graumann's Chinese Theatre, not an actor, wearing a
mostly-rubber suit); and the cool-for-the-time laser weapon
effects. They had enough left over in the budget to hire
Bernard Hermann to write the wonderfully jittery and spooky
music score (including the first use of a Theremin for this
purpose, I believe :).

Anyway, the point here is, "The Thing" likewise takes place
entirely on Earth, taking its cue perhaps from TDTESS in "how
to make a good movie without going broke doing it".

: A full generation later, here comes the works of J.R.R.
: Tolkien and the world of the Hobbit, and so on, including
: Frodo. In the mid-to-late 1970's this fiction captures the
: interest of many millions of readers in the United States
: and in Britain, and becomes a social or cultural
: phenonmenon with Baby Boomer parents reading it for
: themselves and reading the stories to their kids.

: Again, is the success of this fiction just the result of a
: great and imaginative writer's work, or was it
: "promoted," the way that "The Thing" was promoted?

My guess: Life did it. We hear that the always-rude NWO
crew agitated all sorts of things during the Sixties but,
having been there myself, I question how much of what was
occurring was actually and accurately their doing.

Along with Bilbo Baggins and friends, other writings available
at the time were "Stranger in a Strange Land", and LeGuin's
Earthsea trilogy, and Ellison's first and second "Dangerous
Visions" collections. It was at that time that the term
"speculative fiction" came into use, descriptive of a genre
that didn't partake of either "realism" or the rigidly
scientific aspects much "science fiction" was expected to
include. It was the first time writings about possible
futures or possible realities broke free of scientism -
we could say the right brain was being heard from, after
a long dry spell in which only the left brain had been
speaking. I think it's entirely possible that the widespread
availability, acceptability, and use of "mind-expanding"
drugs during that period had something to do with it -
regardless of what the always-rude NWO crew thought to do
with those substances, overall. I'm guessing they might've
been surprised by the resulting emergence of new ideas and
new shapes of creativity, and by the actual "tribal belonging"
phenomenon that emerged almost overnight.

: Is it propaganda? And if the Harry Potter
: phenomenon isn't New World Order/New Age agit-prop, what is
: it? What accounts for the tremendous success of the story?

How about, "It's really cool" ? :)

: Sometimes I think that Harry Potter stories appeal to kids
: because this boy has been orphaned, and must survive by his
: wits in a world where things are never what they seem to be
: on the surface; I wonder that the children raised here in
: the era of Global Free Trade -- where every adult must
: either work two jobs or work double-shifts, in order to
: keep food in the pantry and the mortgage paid -- I wonder
: if these kids do not feel like they are orphans, abandoned,
: ignored?

Well - probably; but also, most every child necessarily
entertains thoughts of, "What would I do if Mom and Dad were
not here to help me and protect me?" The first day of
school raises that question if it hadn't surfaced already.
I think there's a _natural_ exercise-of-imagination that
begins with, "What if I were an orphan?" The question
begins an exercise in puzzle-solving, one that cannot occur
if the question is immediately answered, "Mom and Dad will
fix it" or "Frodo will fix it". :)

: And Are We Waiting For Frodo? Waiting For Frodo Now?

: Personally, I have a very difficult time following the
: arguments posted by certain agents, referencing
: Melchizedek, Gabriel, and so on -- and I am a Christian, I
: believe there was a fellow named Judah-Bar-Joseph, and that
: SOMETHING HAPPENED. I just don't know what it was, exactly.

Fair enough (and honest).

: Personally, I am not inclined to wait around for some
: archangel to decide it is time to "save" humanity
: or to "help" me out. When, in the real world of
: buying and selling and commerce, has any such thing ever
: happened? What expectation do we have of it ever happening
: again (if it has reall happened). How do we know that the
: next installation of success will be comprehensive?

Also fair enough.

: Based on what reasoning, do we expect a savior or guardians
: angels? Why wait when we have hands and arms and our own
: brains?

Indeed.

: All this talk of celestial beings and Princely heroes does
: just about nothing for me as a man, as a father, as a
: patriot. Who will abide in righteousness and civic virtue,
: if not me? Who will stand and defend my children from
: Satanism, if not me? Who will find the courage necessary to
: drive a stake in the sweet earth of my adopted State, to
: load the magazines and to sing the sweet refrain of
: "My Country, 'Tis Of Thee," if and when it comes
: time to make the final stand against satanic evil and the
: Blue Helmets? What angelic powers will "watch my
: back?" Sure, I would like to believe that they are
: there. I do know that there is more to heaven and earth
: than is dreamed of Marxist philosophy or in the socialist
: dogma of UNESCO. But my neighbors are seemingly unaware.
: They are all Democrats. When will it be possible for me to
: speak to them of the evils which have been absorbed into
: the body of their Party, which have possessed their
: leaders? Which threaten us all, our liberties, our
: prosperity, our very lives and our very posterity and
: patrimony?

Ah...yes; let me speak to that a bit, in a moment.

: Where is my propaganda artist who works for Faction Two? Where
: are the Tribunes of Liberty? Where are their stories of
: brave, free men and women -- the Deerslayer, the Pioneers,
: the Last of the Mohicans -- for this generation, for this
: time, and for my children? Or Are We Just Waiting For
: Frodo?

(Good stuff; thanks for it.) Might we agree that there are
"wheels within wheels" ? Might we agree that there are times
and seasons, and cycles of things unfolding ?

Here's what I think makes sense: "Do whatsoever comes to hand
to do, and trust that others are doing likewise." That is, if
you find your neighbors are presenting an opportunity for you
to say a little more than you have been able to say to them
previously, go ahead and say a little more - but don't deluge
them with waters of truth that would threaten to capsize their
realities. Tomorrow will be different. In general, have faith
that Life itself is at work in all of us, such that no one of
us is solely responsible for the whole ball o' wax that most
of us here in this forum are aware of - apparently it's our
job to hold this awareness, not necessarily everyone's job, at
this time.

I think it's observable that as more and more light
comes on in the world, more and more people begin to see the
creepy-crawlies that have heretofore been hiding in the room's
darkened corners. This is _scary_ at first (as most of us
should be able to remember), and there may be some attempt to
deny what's coming into view. That's fine, I think, and there's
no real way for anyone to fitly speed that process up for anyone
else - it's "an inside job", and we serve it best simply by _not_
being any longer freaked out by those creepy-crawlies, so that
when a neighbor says to us, "Hey, did you hear the awful charges
they're making about our beloved President Clinton?" (or whatever)
we can calmly say, "Yeah, I did; interesting, isn't it? What do
_you_ think about it?" and let them lead their own thinking from
there, with our help when needed and asked for.

In short, if someone _asks_ for help, information, and/or advice,
they're less likely to go into "shoot the messenger" mode, and
also more likely to fit the asked-for information into their own
mental framework, their world paradigm, and thank you for the
part you've played in it. This requires a little _trust_ on our
part, that Life or God or Source or Deity or the Cosmic Clock
is operating in them and for them, as it is for us - and that
when _their_ time is right, they'll provide opportunities for us
to say more and to help out.

Mel mentioned that there will be additional help at some point.
While I'm not sure Mel and I have the same images in mind in this
regard, I think it's true. We're _not_ here, all alone, abandoned
orphans in the world who have no choice but to right _all_ the
wrongs on earth, all by our little lonesomes. There are a _lot_ of
us here, and just as a sort of "tribal belonging" arose of its
own accord in the Sixties, a similar connectedness is still
operating, not only among the Boomers but, I expect, among all
people alive on earth at this time, whether it has a visible
expression at this moment or not. (If it had a visible expression,
one that you and I could see, then the always-rude NWO crew could
see it too, and perhaps would've tried to do something about it.)

This is only a for-example, not the whole part-and-parcel of what
I'm describing, but: I'm aware there is a body of human beings
on earth at this time, who recognize themselves not as being
"Melchizedeks" (if there is such a thing), but "priests after the
order of Melchizedek", referring to that one identified in the
Bible's Old Testament as "the Prince of Salem". You won't likely
find them, because they don't make use of that name, and because
they don't "recruit", and because they're scattered all across
the planet, pretty much. They _do_ know how the world has been
being run, in fairly mundane terms - I don't think they concern
themselves with whether there's an entity Lucifer who's pulling
the strings, or with whether some folks from Alpha Centauri might
show up someday, or whether any one entity in individual and
recognizable form will be coming or returning to direct the
fireworks, if indeed fireworks are coming. Instead, they've
already asked the question, "Am I waiting for Frodo?" and have
answered, "Well - not any more" and are putting their integrity
and their awareness "on the street" in their living, and will
continue to do so "come hell or high water" or "come Heaven", too.

As I said, I'm aware of this one group who have accepted
personal responsibility for maintaining in expression their
highest vision of integrity, moment to moment in daily living -
but I have no reason to believe this is the _only_ such group of
people, on the planet. There are lots of human beings here, and
I don't think that's an accident. I think there are lots of us
here, for particular reasons, at this moment in the unfoldment of
the history of the world that some believe to be "the end times"
and some believe to be "graduation day" to something higher,
cleaner, more loving by far, _on_ earth.

So I suggest: "Do well and faithfully that which comes to hand to do."
And trust that others are doing likewise, right where they are. A
million people doing that here, a million doing it there - pretty
soon, it adds up. :)