A smorgosbord of conspiracy theories

When I first read this book, I thought it was a hoax. Later, I realized that it was seriously meant. Since the book is completely insane, I find it hard to say anything objective about it. Yet, I will give it my best shot.

The author, David Icke, is British and used to be a sports commentator on British TV, commenting both soccer and snooker. Then, he became a spokesperson for the Green Party. Even later, he experienced a spiritual awakening or divine revelation, turning him into a New Age guru of sorts. He began writing books containing various conspiracy theories, including "The Truth Shall Set You Free" and "The Robots Rebellion".

Jewish organizations have accused Icke of anti-Semitism. Anarchists and Trotskyists see him as a fascist, and have busted up his meetings. In Sweden, anarchists abstained from protesting a meeting by Icke only because they regarded him as crazy. A Swedish anti-Semitic group, the Hylozoiks, translated at least one of Icke's books to Swedish. This group believes that Jews are controlled by evil aliens based at Pluto.

In this book, "The Biggest Secret", Icke implicitly distances himself from anti-Semitism by calling the evil force at work in the universe "Aryans". However, he still supports the Christian Patriot movement in the US. While the militias are not necessarily fascist, they are nevertheless a very problematic milieu. Icke might not be "far right", but his ideas can still be used in such contexts. Still, the Hylozoiks took a clue and stopped fronting for Icke.

What are the main ideas of "The Biggest Secret"? Essentialy these: In secret, Earth is ruled by multi-dimensional shape-shifting space aliens, whom Icke dubbes "Aryan reptilians". Tounge in cheek (Icke is one of the few conspiracy theorists with a sense of humor), one of the chapters of the book is titled "Don't mention the reptiles!". Icke believes that the British royal family, many US presidents, Henry Kissinger and even one Mexican president are reptilians who shape-shift to look human. He explicitly compares this to the TV show "V". These evil beings are behind all the world's religions, materialist science, most wars and financial crises, and globalization. The goal is to create a global, evil superstate. The space aliens thrive on hatred, conflict and guilt. Therefore, the solution to the conspiracy is not warfare against them, but a New Age message of Love and Forgiveness. Perhaps this will release even the reptilians in the end.

On one level, this is all wacked. On another level, however, Icke makes fascinating reading. Indeed, Icke has become a pop culture phenomenon. You simply cannot understand conspiracy theory or even New Religious Movements without reading Icke. What makes Icke unique is not so much this or that single idea. Rather, it is the fact that he weaves them all together. "The Biggest Secret" is a virtual smorgosbord of conspiracy theories, where everyone will find something he recognizes and perhaps already believes in, and much that is new besides. Perhaps this explains the stunning success of this book and its sequal "Children of the Matrix", which is very similar.

Some ideas of Icke are derived from established religion. The reptilians are presumably identical to the Asuras of Hinduism or the Archonts of Gnosticism, evil spirit-beings who out of envy want to hinder the salvation of man, keeping him bound in matter. But Icke goes one step further, claiming that the Archonts walk among us, like everyday men. That idea isn't new either. For instance, both Summit Lighthouse and the Hylozoiks claimed that certain people (read Jews) aren't real people, but robot-beings controlled from afar.

Such ideas can lead to genocide if left unchecked. By contrast, Icke is still a New Age guy who believes love is the solution. Thank you, David.

I give this book 5 stars, not because of its ideas, but simply because of Icke's tasty smorgosbord.