Too much filler

This is an issue of Atlantis Rising, a bi-monthly magazine devoted to rejected knowledge claims (although I have to say many of these “rejected” claims seem more widespread than official science). I happen to be interested in some such claims, including neo-catastrophism and the Lost Civilization, so I usually read articles devoted to these with some interest. Many other ideas were rejected for good reason, but Atlantis Rising seems to have no discernment on this point, even including Erich von Däniken on its editorial board! They also have soft spots for Intelligent Design and space travel techno-fetishism. Interestingly enough, AR doesn't promote conspiracy theory, which may or may not be good – I suppose it depends on which theorized conspiracy we're talking about…

Interesting articles in this issue include Dr Robert Schoch's speculations on the famous Nazca lines in Peru, Michael Cremo's column on the Ophir skull, several pieces on “remote viewing” and an introduction to the work of David Frawley (although I, alas, disagree with Frawley's take on the IVC). There is also an article on how to reconcile ID with evolution, which – while interesting – sounds too declamatory and dogmatic, apparently being written by an admirer of Ken Wilber.

On the negative side, there is more filler than usual in this issue – many articles are too short or feel written in a haste. The article on Olof Rudbeck and “Atlantis in Sweden” ended rather abruptly! Easily the worst section is “Mysterious Heritage”, printing letters from readers. As a general rule, these are extremely uneducated or bordering on trolling (compare the “anthropology” in some of these letters with the humorous musings of Twitter troll Hakan Rotmwrt).

One article has the populist (in the worst sense of the term) headline “Science was wrong”. Since many of the problems

mentioned in the hit piece were eventually solved by, ahem, science, you might as well have titled it “Science was right”. I think Stanton Friedman is angry that nobody upstairs takes Roswell seriously (actually they did – it was classified because it really was a weather balloon spying on Muh Russians). Finally, I noted an article on Titanic synchronicities – huge if true, but completely unsourced?! How do I know that this isn't simply based on sensationalist news reporting?

Not the best issue of AR, in my humble opinion, so don't let it scare you off from downloading some of the others. Still, I suppose even Atlantis Rising Magazine fills a niche in the cosmic-karmic ecosystem…