LEARN THE ISSUES
"Advocating Economic & Personal Change"



Coast to Coast AM with George Noory

One of the most popular radio talk shows in the United States is Coast to Coast AM, hosted by George Noory. The show is a seminal mix of politics, social issues, survivalism, religion, alternative medicine, technology, time travel, conspiracy theory, and unexplained phenomena, treated from a generally libertarian perspective, in political orientation as well general social philosophy. Notably, the program also focuses on every kind of metaphysical and paranormal (MAP) topic imaginable. It's probably fair to say that the show is best known for its unwavering focus on, and treatment of, MAP, these topics ranging from near-death experiences, to past lives, to a wide-ranging presentation of supernatural presences both good and evil, to extraterrestrial visitation.

Coast to Coast AM with George Noory is extremely interesting, indeed often downright fascinating and absorbing. However, I recommend tremendous care in listening to this program, as it has a dark underbelly that probably escapes most analysts and typical listeners: it features an interminable march of guests making the most apparently outlandish and in some cases explicitly ridiculous claims imaginable on any number of metaphysical, paranormal, or otherwise extraordinary topics. Accordingly, one of the key dangers is that the program can fill the heads of people, especially persons that are naive, impressionable, or mentally ill, with all manner of ridiculous thoughts concerning who or what metaphysical presences or forces surround and influence them personally, and/or govern events in the external world.

In one of many examples, George Noory's July 9, 2015 guest was Gordon Asher Davidson, who proffered claims like the universe is a living being, and that planetary and indeed interplanetary events are governed by an "interdimensional Light Alliance." Mr. Davidson described at length the structure and function of the attendant events, forces, and beings, in what appeared to the casual listener, or certainly to me, as what could be described as some sort of delusional narrative.

Of the beliefs of Mr. Davidson, the Coast-to-Coast website states that he:

... believes the world is being guided by an interdimensional Light Alliance that is working closely with members of humanity to release the hold of darkness on our planet. He'll also talk about a cosmic decree following the events of 9/11, which brought about a galactic response that offset the power of the dark cabal.

In fact, while neither I nor anyone else can categorically deny that the universe is controlled by extra-physical forces, it does appear less rather than more likely, while the One Human Family identification of the concrete, real-world, putative economic system of capitalism as the actual culprit behind most human misery is easier and comprises a far more common-sense perspective and analytical position.

The seemingly outlandish, if not downright ridiculous, metaphysical claims made by people like Mr. Davidson, as well as program regulars like Rosemary Ellen Guiley and Roberta Grimes can make people afraid, which by itself isn't necessarily a reason to avoid citation of a particular analytical element if the larger or parent social analysis seems powerful, substantive, necessary, and likely. In addition to causing fear, however, a second potential undesirable consequence of these seemingly far-out deconstructions of reality is that, like much religion itself, arguably, they tend to point people's attention in the wrong direction regarding who or what is actually responsible for the generally wretched condition, both economic and moral, of the human race as well as their own individual lives.

This is a dangerous and indeed potentially fatal misdirection, individually and globally, because if one cannot properly identify the cause of their injury, they cannot fight, repel, or eliminate it. One should not swallow a headache pill if the problem is constipation.

A third undesirable consequence of the exaggerated metaphysical explanations about reality is that they can, and apparently do, raise people's hopes for events that may simply never be, for example eventual re-acquaintance with a deceased parent, or the hope and assumption that one is being protected by "angels." As a person whose own father has recently become "absent," I, myself, would love nothing more than to imagine and accept the notion that I'll be seeing him again upon my own death, and even I find this an easily and powerfully seductive idea.

In this regard I would like to present a balanced view by noting that there is a small army of persons, writers and others, who assert categorically, in many cases based upon what they represent as personal experience, that the death of the human physical body is survived by the "spirit," "soul," "self," or simply the "person" that previously "inhabited" that body.

Ironically, in regard to this last consequence, creation of potentially false hope, the miseries of capitalist society are so great and inescapable that people tend to need hope, and thus the production of hope through these extreme metaphysical presentations of reality may actually fill a required need. On the one hand, hope that you'll again see a deceased loved one is probably not the worst thing to hope for, yet insofar as this hope is created by explicitly dubious metaphysical explanations and the erosion of Truth that they represent, perhaps this form of hope should really be seen as tarnished, likewise any knowledge or information stream (KIS) that cannot reasonably support itself, or at least reasonably support the assertion that it, and belief in it, should be accepted despite its inability to support itself, which is to say despite the lack of any real empirical proof and the potential injury to Truth that such belief may cause and represent.

It is worth noting, by the way, that seemingly most or many of these metaphysical commentators cite, or at least do not reject, the reality of the instabilities, regular downturns, and many other injurious characteristics of capitalism. They simply ascribe the ultimate causes of these economic phenomena to the wrong thing: dark spiritual forces or cosmic interlopers, rather than the normal operation of capitalism, including its standard rules and mechanisms of competition, need to maximize profit, and cost of labor. While not as riveting, entertaining, or immediately emotionally satisfying or seductive as citation of paranormal causes for this or that national or international event, the OHF analysis specifying capitalism and its culture of ego as the root causes of the substandard condition of this world is far closer to the truth, and thus ultimately far more intellectually and emotionally satisfying, and providing a far better platform for concrete action to improve the world.









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