A few Saturdays ago Mike, myself, and around 5,000 other ticket-holders had the opportunity to attend David Icke’s biggest event to date: a sold out 10-hour lecture at London’s Wembley Arena titled ‘Remember Who You Are’. David Icke, for those not familiar with him, was a well-known British sports presenter, until in 1991 he declared himself the “son of the Godhead” and started making predictions about the end of the world. Since then he has pursued a career as a writer and public speaker, detailing his beliefs about an insidious conspiracy perpetrated by sinister reptilian humanoids. I confess I haven’t gotten around to reading Icke’s extensive back-catalogue so I was excited to hear his theories straight from the horse’s mouth.
Over the course of the day, Icke led us on a whirlwind tour of his grand conspiracy theory. Many of his claims are familiar conspiracist tropes: 9/11 was an inside job; Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy; Western medicine, food additives, and water fluoridation are methods of population control; politicians, the media, and scientists are all lying to us. Most conspiracy theorists are content to stop there, but according to Icke this is just ‘the outer-rim of the rabbit-hole’. His unique selling-point is to connect all of these dots (and many, many more besides) together into a single over-arching meta-conspiracy theory based on postmodern ideas about reality being an illusion. Apparently the reality we perceive is a hologram, and evil beings are manipulating the hologram to suit their sadistic agenda. In many ways Icke has created the ultimate conspiracy theory. If you buy into the premise that the conspirators control our very perception of reality, it quickly becomes an inescapable intellectual black-hole. Every conceivable observation can be incorporated into the conspiracy theory, and the whole thing becomes entirely unfalsifiable.
When he does deal with verifiable facts, Icke unsurprisingly rejects the mainstream scientific consensus. His qualms with science seem not so much based on his analysis of any empirical evidence, but rather on his overriding assumption that scientists and academics as a whole are engaged in a disinformation campaign to ‘hypnotise’ the public. Yet, Icke does cite scientists when it’s convenient; that is, when he sees scientific findings as supporting his theories (such as the recent, widely-reported suggestion that the universe may be a simulation). Unfortunately, he neglects to explain why exactly these particular scientists are to be trusted or were allowed to publish their findings. Meanwhile, over the course of the lecture Icke enthusiastically endorses as fact popular unscientific notions including homeopathy, astrology, reflexology, numerology, spirit photography, the left-brain-right-brain myth, near-death-experiences, free-energy machines, and the lost city of Atlantis.
What I found the most surprising was just how little charisma Icke exudes. I had assumed that the event would be slickly produced, well-rehearsed, captivating, and that Icke himself would radiate stage-presence and panache; I was ready for a show. How else could he have gained the reputation and following he has – enough to be able to sell out Wembley Arena? But I saw none of these qualities. Instead, the 10-hour lecture consisted of Icke pacing idly around the stage, improvising a narrative around PowerPoint slides of cobbled-together images and text. He frequently stumbled over words, acted out mocking interactions with Richard ‘Dogma’ Dawkins (replete with funny voices), cracked weak jokes, and flippantly belittled figures such as Albert Einstein by calling them ‘darling’. As evidence for his claims, Icke often referred to popular works of fiction, including The Matrix, Avatar, and George Orwell’s 1984. The talk was occasionally rambling and incoherent, and at times every other word Icke said was ‘bloody’ – bloody media, bloody scientists, bloody politicians, etc. At these points it came across more like the ranting of a drunken Uncle than a presentation by a career orator in a sold out arena.
But I have to admit that throughout the day the audience responded enthusiastically to a lot of what Icke was saying. Especially towards the end of the day, when he was talking about what we can do about the conspiracy, Icke’s passion was obvious and the audience responded with frequent thunderous applause. And this, I think, points towards where Icke’s appeal really lies. It’s not in the coherence of his theories or the professionalism with which he presents them, both of which are sorely lacking. Rather, it’s in the strange sense of assurance he offers: our world may be dominated by conspiracy, but we can take control of the situation. Icke began the day by stating ‘the world is mad, not you’. Throughout the talk he ostensibly divulged privileged knowledge to his audience – what they don’t want you to know. He concluded by offering what sound like empowering ideas: we are all infinite potential; we can fight our oppressors with love; the beginning is here. These platitudes offer little practical utility, but for those who feel alienated and disenfranchised, the sentiment must be appealing.
I think David sincerely believes what he says. I’m not sure exactly how much of it his fans buy in to, but as long as he appeals to people’s longing for a sense of understanding, control, and purpose, I’m sure Icke will continue to find a receptive audience.
The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories 
Reblogged this on USA COINTELPRO VICTIM OF THE PATRIOT ACT.
You could take Icke theory and apply it back at him: population needs to be controlled at all levels. It’s impossible to exercise control with one message in multicultural, diverse and democratic world. So every layer of the matrix has to be covered (individually if needed). So Icke covers and directs or misdirects a chunk of population who will be ingrained with his BS unlike another portion of population that are concerned with celebrity weddings or terrorism or antiwar protests or whatever else that you might think is important and wrong with this world. So he serves the same function as academics, politicians, media, etc – shape and manage your perception.He is part of the matrix and he is responsible for herding part of it who tries to question status quo. He provides answers, fills the void for a seemingly disenfranchised fringe, thus providing layer of certainty in the matrix and minimizing chaos caused by individuality.
You doubtless haven’t even read about Icke’s spontaneous and stupendous kundalini awakening in Peru and the extraordinary occurrences that led up to it. Of course, you prefer to declare that kundalini and the chakras are fictitious concepts, but they are real to Icke because of personal experience. Icke is a man of towering courage and integrity who doesn’t need to put on a slick stage show to please an audience. People love and respect him because he sees through the falsities of conventional wisdom and works tirelessly to wake them up to truth. If you actually want to know who he is and what he stands for, at least visit his website and listen to some of his interviews.
You mean that time David Icke wandered off into the jungle to take heavy hallucinogens [Ayahuasca] after claiming he was the son of God on British television. Yeah we all know about that, and it’s part of the reason, aside from his outright insane claims, that skeptics find him to be a perfect example of someone to be mocked.
Here are a few examples of what David icke believes:
The moon is hollow and contains an alien spaceship.
Lizardy aliens shapeshift into the Earths leaders.
The Earths leaders conduct human sacrificial rape and eat their victims.
The leaders of Erah are running a paedophile ring for their lizardy needs.
Everyone’s consciousness is connected and we are al the same being.
And you wonder why people think guy is a total clown ?
He is someone who has gone through a series of public mental breakdowns, and heavy hallucinogenic drug use while claiming to be of special knowledge.
None of his claims are proven in reality, all of them are fabricated paranoid nonsense. He washes all this fear and falsehood down with a dose of new age drug babble to sooth his audiences nerves.
If you consider David Icke as a sane and rational human being, then it merely tells the rest of sane society how messed up and gullible you are.
^^^ Oh, bless, we have a True Believer amongst us. It’s like David Icke is an elderly Justin Bieber for conspiracy kooks.
Oh. Shut up.Go back to your dull, subservient , money worshipping, propaganda believing, soul less existences! Rae is the only one with any real common sense. I was at Wembley. I am an intelligent discerning graduate with 30 years in a professional career. Stop trying to tell me I need to be soothed you patronising little person. You are the gullible for believing the absolute drivell and biased rubbish we are fed by the media and governments on a daily basis. You seem to question nothing! You only criticize and ridicule people who do question this sick world. What a pointless waste of time you must be!
“You seem to question nothing! You only criticize and ridicule people who do question this sick world. ”
I question your cognitive ability, I question your critical thinking skills, I question your ability to understand logic. I find you and people like you a sad waste of resources. Beating online like you have found some secret knowledge, when all you have managed to do is to confuse apophenia as being real.
The only ones sick in this thread are those who are the conspiracy theorists who are unable to discern facts from fiction. You talk about gullible and you pay stupid amounts of cash to listen to David Icke drivel on for hours about fantasy and paranoia, and spread his madness into the educational cesspit of society.
Sharon, for someone who bigs herself up as “an intelligent discerning graduate with 30 years in a professional career”, you don’t seem to have much of a clue when it comes to critical thinking. For starters, your entire post is a classic example of the logical fallacy of false dichotomy: you present us with a choice of EITHER believing *everything* the media and government say OR believing everything David Icke says. It doesn’t seem to occur to your gigantic intellect that in fact both could be wrong. Ironically, you are using the same logical fallacy as George W Bush when he said “either you are with us or you are with the terrorists”.
Now let’s look at some of the things that David Icke will have told you at that rally (I’ve attended a couple myself and seen most of his videos and read his books). You’ll have been told, without a shred of corroborating evidence, that the world is ruled by people who are bloodline descendants of reptilian aliens that occupied Sumer and that the moon is really a hollow, alien spaceship that is beaming out ‘mind control’ rays (which somehow don’t affect Icke or his followers). Just take a look in the mirror at yourself and ask how anyone can take a word you say about people being ‘gullible’ seriously when you believe this utter tosh without anything to back it up.
Pity you don’t question what is really important Conspiracy killer! Also “secret knowledge”? I never said that I was privy to anything that you or anyone else may or may not be! I don’t believe everything I hear from David Icke or from any other source. The only thing I did recommend in my post was that you question everything from whatever source. Arch, at any given moment in time there may not be enough scientific evidence to prove something absolutely, but that does not mean is not true. And Arch , the alleged ”bigging myself up” I suppose was a futile attempt to convince you lot that those of us who question, are sensible, well adjusted “normal people”. What a shame you don’t believe it. I suspect you may come back with some post to ” critically ”pick apart what I’ve said, but it really doesn’t really matter. We disagree.
Whoosh! Was it a bird? Was it a plane spewing ‘chemtrails’? No, it was the point sailing past Sharon’s head. I have no reason to disbelieve that you are a “graduate with 30 years’ experience in a professional career”, although I have my doubts about the “intelligent, discerning” part. I was actually somewhat bemused that you seemed to think this made you anything other than unremarkable. You certainly haven’t demonstrated any capacity for critical thinking whatsoever in your posts so far, that was my point.
Sharon, as I already said, I actually have some experience of David Icke’s shows and know a few forum regulars in real life, most of whom I’d say are reasonably intelligent ‘normal’ people with real lives. However, the DI forum and events are also a magnet for people with all sorts of mental health issues, ranging from the mild to quite serious cases. If you aren’t aware of that, then your observational powers may be somewhat below par too.
That in itself doesn’t invalidate what he says, although there is a distinctly cultish element to his followers. Now followers of any particular phenomenon can be a little ‘intense’, shall we say? Star Trek convention attendees, for example, are particularly notorious for being a little over-attached to their hobby, to the extent that it becomes their whole life. But they are mostly harmless, just like the people who buy tickets to see the big man give his take on the holographic universe, fifth dimensional beings, reptilian bloodlines and so on.
But one thing the average Icke supporter does NOT do is “question everything”. Question ‘chemtrails’ or debunk the MMR-autism ‘link’, for example, and you will immediately be denounced as either a ‘shill’ or a brainwashed ‘sheeple’. This is a defence mechanism, very similar to the way religious cult members dismiss unbelievers as either sinners who will burn in hell or agents of Satan. If you ask them for any proof of their claims, such as peer-reviewed research, they will instantly dismiss all academics as mere ‘repeaters’ of dogma, apparently oblivious to the irony of them repeating Icke’s dogma. This is the intellectual black hole that Rob refers to, and it’s a complete abandonment of any concept of critical thinking. Good luck with your belief system, even if you never come to realise that this is all that it is.
“Pity you don’t question what is really important Conspiracy killer! ”
You don’t even know me to be saying such things. I question my government, reality and science as much as any conspiracy theorist dare, the difference between myself and them is I don’t jump to rash conclusions minus any evidence. I prefer to either withhold judgement or to go with most substantiated events that are beyond reasonable doubt. That last statement is extremely important and subtleties of it probably pass by 99% of conspiracy theorists, because they lack scientific education, and understanding of how the scientific method functions.
“Also “secret knowledge”? I never said that I was privy to anything that you or anyone else may or may not be! ”
David Icke however [the person you are referring to and supporting in this post, claims to have uncovered all manner of pseudoscience, conspiracy and new age esoteric knowledge out of nowhere. The man professes all kinds of information he claims to have “joined the dots”, he often makes numerous predictions as if he knows he future and how events are planned and going to turn out. You being a fan support this material either fully or by proxy, and therefore whether you state it or not you do consider yourself a keeper of knowledge and wisdom others don’t possess. In fact your opening sentence bout what I do or do not question clearly and provocatively shows you think you know more than me, and even know enough about me to state I don’t question important things. Of course important being a term loosely based around subjective matters in this instance.
“I don’t believe everything I hear from David Icke or from any other source.”
I don’t either, so we at least agree on one thing you said. However, I think it’s clear you aren’t as smart as you think you are. For if you were, you wouldn’t be supporting the conspiratorial warblings of David Icke who is clearly deluded and perhaps even mentally unwell. I say tihs judging on his actions in the past in public, and what he claims to believe and to be true. Arch Stanton covered some of insanity he claims as being real, and anyone who can let that slide because he says gooey words about being eternal connected spirits in the cosmos should check their cognitive dissonance at the door before entering into debate with a skeptic.
“The only thing I did recommend in my post was that you question everything from whatever source.”
Well thanks for the advice, but you aren’t really in the best position to be handing out advice from where I see you. You should probably take your own advice and look at who your idols are, and assess why your beliefs are directed toward them. It’s clear you aren’t using your brain when it comes to these matters, and you are being guided by emotions when it comes to this conspiracy crap. If you were using your head then you would immediately see right through the pretentious spiritual crap Icke masks all his paranoid crank rantings with, and throw it all away due to lack of evidence.
Seriously, if you are going to step into this arena at least bring your A game.
Well now, I am afraid that David Icke, along with Alex Jones, aren’t the type I look to for source information.
Personally I think they are simply into it for the money. A lot of people are into things on both sides of this isle for money. With these two characters we find a great talent for self promotion, and playing to the largest common denominator, which is usually the lowest common denominator as far as intelligence. TV works on the same basic concepts; lollipops and colored balloons.
There are aspects of both of these hawkers that are true and relevant to grasping the architecture of political power. But as in all things going to primary sources, and studying real history, which isn’t necessarily mainstream history, is the key to doing research.
I would compare Icke as the dialectical opposite to ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ as far as how much damage they cause by perception manipulation.
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