Great New Review of The Shill Game
See also: Bill Douglas, Steve Alten, The Shell GameÂ
The comment below appears on yet another Bill Douglas post at Apt.911B pimping The Shell Game--whoever this John Leonard fellow is, he's nailed it with this comment. [EDIT: I really don't like Mr. Leonard's site that he links to, so I will simply say that I agree with him on the subject of The Shell Game and not necessarily much else, like his apparent love for Webster Tarpley...]
Kevin Barrett himself makes an appearance in comments also shilling for The Shill Game. No surprise there, nor in the appearance of a no-plane mega disinfo shill strawman named theSaiGirl trashing the fake truth movement, so as to make it look real by comparison to her.
I hope to see David Griffin and Kevin Ryan addressing the legitimate concerns that so many truthers obviously have with this crap book being pimped on us out of nowhere. I don't care how many times Bill Douglas claims that there is a broad and growing coalition supporting this inky roll of Charmin--he is full of crap, as we now know Kevin Barrett is beyond a doubt. Waiting on the rest to show their true colors...
I wonder, I wonder I wonder, if this book isn't someone's way of trying to convince arabs and muslims that the 9/11 Truth Movement is actually against them? Because you know, pretty soon arabs and muslims all over the US are going to know what 9/11 was all about, and boy are they going to be pissed. Not rioting pissed like the hooligans in France, but righteously, MLK-pissed. Of course, if arabs and muslims think The Shell Game represents the views of REAL truthers, they may continue to resist looking at the awful painful truth.
Folks, I think we have to stand very firm on this one--and if that causes a schism in the movement then GOOD, it will only make official what many people already realize--there is MORE than one movement for 9/11 truth--and ONLY ONE real one. And that is NOT the one that condones hate-literature against arabs and muslims, no matter HOW slickly it is packaged and sold.Â
We've been had in a shell game alright: this is Warmonger Pulp!
Submitted by John Leonard on Tue, 01/01/2008 - 4:53pm.
Opened it in the middle. The chapter quote is from John O'Neill, saying everything you wanted to know about 9/11 was in Saudi Arabia. Great. Saudi-MIHOP. Chapter 25 starts off introducing an Iraqi mole, working in security at Baltimore harbor. Sounds like he is biding his time to pull off an attack. Iraqi MIHOP too. He and another Muslim character trade Sunni vs Shia insults. (Remember, that's why the US Army is there, to keep the peace between eternal enemies.)What's our oil doing under their sand? The next page is about his home town, Haditha, where Iranians are beheading Americans. Fiction all right, but a nice Iran war pretext. I flipped to the back. It's the year 2012. The Iranians have nukes. We're on the brink of nuclear war. Better nuke Iran first and fast, right! OK, 4 pages is not a large sample, but every single one is rampant, highly concentrated anti-Muslim war propaganda. If you want to buy a REAL 9/11 Truth book or DVD - come to my website! http://www.waronfreedom.org. Anything there is 1000 times better than this! Meanwhile can anyone explain to me how people like David Ray Griffin and the other undersigned lights of 9/11 Truth came to promote a work of war-mongering pulp fiction? I'd like to hear what they say to these objections. Maybe they were fooled, too. For me, certainly, it's a big disappointment, this one. All I saw was pure poison.
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another good reply to Shill Douglas
How can we possibly answer that question?
"HOW COULD ANYONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND, THAT TRULY WANTS PEACE & JUSTICE, BE AGAINST THIS BOOK REACHING AS MANY PEOPLE AS WE CAN ALL POSSIBLY HELP GET TO READ IT?"
You have read the book, as you say. Most here have not, and have only what is on Mr. Altten's website. As I stated in another blog, what I see on the website bothers me. I will read the book, as will, I am sure, many who have raised questions. What more can you ask?
We're not the "mass public," a term you used which smacks of Edward Bernay and Walter Lippmann, whose ideas are behind so much of what is wrong with our manipulative and manipulated mass society. You're not asking us to read the book, you're asking us to promote it without readng it, and not to raise questions. That is manipulative.
if Alten has bought display space at large chain stores, sales should be good, and nothing we say here will have any affect on those sales. What you are asking is that people promote a book before reading ti for themselves, and then attacking their motives for raising questions based on what is available to them now.
I also don't see Alten as taking any particular career risks, and even if he is, so what? We have all sacrificed our time to pursue truth and justice as we see it. Alten stands to make money on this, including from me. That's fine - nothing wrong with that. But without knowing his financial position from past books, I won't assume he is taking any great financial risk.
In terms of preventing a false flag attack on Iran, based on what I have seen, the novel seems to argue for attacking Iran, based on discredited claims that they are a nuclear threat. You say that the novel argues the opposite, but how are you so sure the "mass public" will see that subtlety? Do any of Alten's characters argue for the UN Charter, and against crimes against peace? Any reference to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Non-Profliferation treaty, the National Intelligence Estimate, the Non-Aligned Movement, mutually assured destruction? Any questioning of the propriety of dropping bombs on Iran?
I hope you are right about Shell Game. I look forward to reading it.
Submitted by Dwightvw on Tue, 01/01/2008 - 9:37pm.
AND
Any characters argue the gravity of repudiating the UN Charter?
"Some of the bad-guy characters think that 9/11 and 9/112B are and will be justifiable given the gravity of what is at stake; others, including some of the the "good guys" (and perhaps the author-puppetteer behind the scenes) offer worldviews that you may not entirely share."
Do any of the "good guy" characters argue that Iran as a sovereign nation has the right to pursue peaceful nuclear energy? Without getting into nuclear v. renewables, If "peak oil" is for real as Alten's characters argue, then isn't nuclear energy a reasonable response?
What is the "gravity" of this that won't be worsed by more intervention and war mongering? Your unstated premise here is disturbing to me, as it is the basis for so much violence and oppression.
Are there any "good guy" characters that raise the issues of international law I mention above?
Submitted by Dwightvw on Tue, 01/01/2008 - 9:49pm.
Actually, the second reply is to Kevin Barrett
The "gravity of what is at stake" quote was by Barrett.
I'll reserve judgment, but based on Leonard's points, I find it hard to understand how Kevin Barrett, Muslim, can support a book which seems so anti-Muslim. It's true that authors don't necessarily speak through their characters, but it's also true that these characters reinforce anti-Muslim views and unproven allegations of Muslim involvement in 9/11.
YT wrote this comment at
YT wrote this comment at http://911blogger.com/node/13153?page=1
I wanted to share it here coz he read the book and wrote some new info which no one mentioned before:
"I was concerned about that too
My concern was that fact and fiction would get mixed up - muddying the waters on the subject of 9/11 and making it easier for people to write off our cause as fiction. This is well handled in the book with the fiction of the story taking place in the future but referring back to facts about 9/11 as a basis. At the end of the book there is a section which clearly lays out what in the book is fact, with references.
I get the sense that Alten has really stepped forward and chosen to use the skills that he has to do what he can to expose 9/11. I was very skeptical but I'm thinking that this could indeed be a very powerful educational tool.
The Eleventh Day of Every Month"
I still don't trust the book
I still don't trust the book however. This just sheds a bit of info i think on how so many "big name" truthers are endorsing the book. Personally, I don't want to give away cool aid with a little bit of poison to my friends or strangers - no matter how much medicine it comes with.
I agree Juan
And you hit on something there--how and why did certain people in the movement get their hands on copies of the book? Who determined who would get an advance copy? I would be a lot less skeptical if I could read the book for myself in order to determine what specific facts are laid out "as facts" at the end of the book. Wire transfers to Mohammed Atta from Pakistan's ISI, for example? If that is offered up as a "fact" then I will be quite happy not endorsing the book or helping to promote it. There are a few well-known truthers who I tend to trust who may not yet grasp just how sleazy some of the fake truthers are, and how determined they are to push LIHOP as a means of preserving their Islamofascist myth. Having had my trust and faith betrayed a few dozen too many times in recent years I find it ridiculous that anyone would basically be saying at this point "trust me! I'm on your side!"
Hi RT, I used to read pulp
Hi RT,
I used to read pulp fiction similar to "The Shell Game". The heroes are soldiers or mercenaries fighting terrorists and "evil" foreign soldiers. The writers often weave their political perspectives into the novel. They are usually of the far right wing persuasion and I imagine not quite the type who would support a 911 truth movement. So when this guy suddenly writes a novel supporting 9-11 truth, I am more skeptical than usual and would not trust the bloke unless someone can tell me how he turned a leaf and started on this path. But reading what is on the web excerpts from The Shell Game makes me think that the writer is still an advocate of gun powder diplomacy. Even with the mentioned interspersed passages of 9-11 truth in the novel, I will not trust it until at least I can read it cover to cover. Given the strange way that the book is being promoted, I think the writer is just taking advantage of truthers to gain revenue, and at worse has been recruited to a disinfo campaign to which his political persuasion would make him a willing participant. That is my personal take on the matter, and I may have read too much from too little information but things are just too fishy about this so called "big opportunity" to spread the truth.
Even if the book were MIHOP,
Even if the book were MIHOP, if it fails to mention Israeli-Zionist complicity, I would consider the whole work suspect. With the progress that the truth campaign has reached, I think some of the perps might take advantage of the movement to either get concessions from their co conspirators or to pin the blame on an expendable member of the conspiracy.
Consider my own exercise in fiction, what if the Zionists needed another favor from the Neocons, something the Neocons are not willing to give easily. The Zionists then recruit a writer to blame the Neocons for 9-11 in a work of fiction and mounts a publicity campaign. The Neocons feel the heat and give the Zionists what they want. In exchange, the Zionists pull the plug on the novel project, with say the author coming out claiming that he did not believe in 9-11 truth afterall. The Zionists get what they want, the Neocons save their skin, and truthers lose their credibility. This is of course just a scenario.
yes yes and yes
Thanks Juan, this is all very true in my view too. there are any number of plausible explanations for what this recent episode is all about, and of those I find the more benign to be the least likely. What you say about the author and publisher using truthers reminds me of how Ron Paul used truthers. Pattern recognition is so important to learning, eh? :)
-gret
Chat Camping
"there is MORE than one movement for 9/11 truth--and ONLY ONE real one. And that is NOT the one that condones hate-literature against arabs and muslims, no matter HOW slickly it is packaged and sold."
If there is one thing we must agree on...(I believe) it is this.
PS I'll be camping in the chat room for a while...
catch this?
".....Kyle Hence and 911 Press for Truth have done wonders for this movement, and it is certainly possible that this book could do much, much more to spread the gospel....."
What would we do without the gospel?
I haven't followed the Shell Game book dilemma until this blog. My first observations aren't promising...
1. it came out of no where
2. it's a work of fiction
3. it's being touted as 'gospel' before I can even buy it
4. people are arguing about a book that isn't available yet
It walks like a duck and it talks like a duck...should I spend the money and hope for the best?
suppositions on Shell Game
"...wonder, I wonder I wonder, if this book isn't someone's way of trying to convince arabs and muslims that the 9/11 Truth Movement is actually against them? Because you know, pretty soon arabs and muslims all over the US are going to know what 9/11 was all about...." and perhaps, by avoiding the actual murderous evil psychopathology of the perpetrators, explain away their actions through their minds' eye... thus, the muslims and arab cultures are still stuck with taking the hit, as has been the case all along, with some shared blame for good measure put onto "neocons", yet blame on zionists is deflected. this is all supposition, of course.
kateÂ
Kevin Barrett
"As a Ph.D. Islamologist and Arabist I really hate to say this, but I'll say it anyway: 9/11 had nothing to do with Islam. The war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape."[12Â Kevin Barrett
the jury is out for me on Barrett
although i tend to  have a gut-feel positive towards him and his outspokenness.
If that is the gospel...
I don't know much about the guy but I've been on his website (old? I think he stepped down).
But you have to agree with him here:
"9/11 had nothing to do with Islam. The war on terror is as phony as the latest Osama bin Laden tape."
If that is the gospel then I'm buying!
I've never seen this before
What is most alarming to me is that this book came out of no where and for 6 years we have never seen a campaign like this.
Bill Douglas seems to be saying that if you are skeptical of this book you are with the 'bad truthers' and your goal is to tear 911 Truth to shreds.
Bill, the skepticism is a direct result of the way in which this book was marketed to 9/11 Truthers and the way in which you present the debate...you are either with the Shell Game or you are with the 'bad 9/11 Truthers'.
Basically, you made the bed so lie in it.
hear hear
Thanks for putting into words what Ive been thinking. This whole Shell Game episode is just bizarre. I agree completely that one of the biggest problems is the attitude which those promoting it have assumed--look here, truth minions, this is the plan--now fall in line behind us, for we are the heart and soul of the movement. What? You have concerns about muslim scapegoating? Pfft! You just don't understand the brilliance of this maneuver! You are either with us or against us!
As for Barrett, my gut WANTS to believe in his sincerity--he's just making it awfully difficult, first by sticking by Uncle Fetzer and now with this. Well, we'll see how this plays out!
-gretavo
Shell Game. The Title Says It All.
The book “Shell Game†does indeed appear to be a part of the larger shell game being played by the anti-Semitic Zionists and their media wing to keep the eyes of “the truthers†and “the masses†focused on the omni-present, omnipotent “Arab menace.†Their motto: “Preserve the ‘False Flag’ at all costs!†Kudos to all those, like the WTCD crew, who have pointed this out early on in the Bernayseyesque, psy-op promotional strategy accompanying this work’s initial publication.
If you are thinking about giving up some hard cash for some new, enlightening reading materials, then I SERIOUSLY recommend picking up copies of Congressman Paul Findley’s “They Dare to Speak Out†and the 2007 Walt & Miersheimer release, “The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.†If you live in North America and you are concerned about 9/11 truth, the fake war on terror, and the state of your own Western democracy, you really, really need to wrap your head around the information these two books present in a scholarly, reasoned, and highly referenced format. If you are on heart medication or have high blood pressure, I would actually then recommend that you read something else.
Happy New Year to all the “bad truthers†here, and you know who you all are. Splitters!
P.S. Go to youtube and check out “Occupation 101.â€
Bad Truther..
Hi Lazlo. I have read the chapter of P. Findley's book about the USS Liberty. I'll have to pick up a copy. The story of the USS Liberty is, IMO, the most obvious and most recent historical precedent for a 911 Style false-flag operation...including the cover-up that continues to this day. It worked before...why not again?
Only this time I do believe 'they' overplayed their hand. How much longer can this 19 muslim evil-doers hold out? It's quickly becoming the laugh of town.
These psycho-paths will have to slime us into an invasion of Pakistan soon to create a whole new shit pot full of clandestine theories and who-dun-it goose chases.
Now are you sure you don't want to prop this book up on a golden pillow and have Gretavo sign an official non-negotiable declaration of support before I get a hold of it?
All kidding aside ;)...I do have to commend you on your 'book recommendation skillz'. Everyone take notes!
On another note...I was over at 911Blogger reading some old threads and it's funny/sad...the same people have been arguing about the same stuff for years.
The divide is obvious. I'm not sure which kind of truther I am...but I'm sure I'm definitely NOT a 'good truther'...but I'm not quite ready to be boxed in as a 'bad truther' yet.
Do bad truthers get presents for Christmas?
Hi Jpass, I would add the
Hi Jpass, I would add the Oklahoma City bombing as a recent and obvious false flag op as well.
yes, OKC emboldened them
it really struck me when i first watched the local news footage of that day--pretty much everyone watching TV in Oklahoma must have known what almost no one outside of Oklahoma did--that is how isolated we all are from one another in this country. I recently talked to a guy who's from OK City and I asked him how much he knew about the issue. He said something like "well, I've heard that some people say the government is lying about it, and there's usually a few candidates running for office who bring it up, but I don't really know about it" Damn... then I don't get discouraged that we havent made more progress already with 9/11 truth, because the fact is that more people are aware about 9/11 after 6 years than OKC after 10, so we're definitely doing better!
And on the subject of they dare to speak out, I not only second Lazlo's recommendation (I have it, and highly recommend the chapter about transfers of restricted/classified American military technology to Israel) but command all real truthers to buy 100 copies each this Friday, so as to make it the #1 seller in Amazon's politics section for the week. This will lead to a chain reaction of buzz that no one will be able to ignore. Remember--100 copies, this Friday. Oh yeah, tell all your friends to do the same. Trust me, this is going to be huge! You know those "flash mobs"? Well, this will be even better because it will be virtual, and virtual things are "in". Plus, Amazon rankings are closely followed by a number of influential bloggers and they have promised to jump on this story if we can buy 10,000 copies this Friday. Everyone who is anyone has endorsed this group action, you know. Surely you don't want Truth Idols Jiminy Hornblatt, Desmond Latrouché Jr., and Billy "Loose" Neutron to think less of you, do you?
hey, just wanted to let u
hey, just wanted to let u know that on your home page theres a dead link...
recommended books and videos... leads to
http://www.wtcdemolition.com/Local%20Settings/Temp/Step-7.htm
instead
http://www.wtcdemolition.com/Step-7.htm
cheers
thanks!
I was bringing the main site up to date yesterday--loooong overdue, and didn't quite finish...
The Shill Game - update
Here's the amazon page... early reviews from Carol "Decepttion Dollar" Brouillet, Kevin "UL" Ryan, and of course Bill "the shill" Douglas.
Here's the one negative review so far...
It should be pointed out that the reviewers above (and probably many to come) are not just people who happened to come by a copy of this book at random, they are members of the self styled 9/11 truth movement. Kevin Ryan, for one, is famous for being fired from his job at Underwriters Laboratory for falsely accusing his company of lying about the testing of World Trade Center steel, and then launching a lawsuit against UL, which was laughed out of court.
Thus this is nothing more than an attempt by a fringe political group to advance their goals through the guise of fiction, by promoting a work which they hope will convert people to their historical viewpoint, this is not any honest evaluation of the quality of the work, but rather like neo-Nazis who claim that David Irving is the greatest WWII historian on the face of the earth.
I have not read the entire work, since the author obviously is only going to send free copies to those who will advance his cause, I have only read the first chapter, plus some excerpts that the author sent me via e-mail, and I have to say that although the writing is not poor, the "historical" part of historical fiction is atrocious. I counted at least 5 errors of fact, on the first two pages of chapter 1. The author, in a fruitless attempt to persuade me, then sent me an excerpt in which he claimed that Osama bin Laden was the leader of the "Afghan rebels" during the Soviet invasion. An amazing claim considering that Osama, who is a Saudi not an Afghan, was never in charge of any Afghans much less all of them, did not even play a major role for most of the war, and was in college when it started. These are just examples, as an exhaustive study of the historical inaccuracies would probably extend beyond the length of the original work. Don't even get me started about his claims that FDR intentionally allowed the Pearl Harbor attacks...
It should also be pointed out that the author, who majored in physical education in college and worked at a meatpacking plant before turning to writing, has absolutely no background in the military, politics, national security or government, and it shows. So in summary, if you read this book, I hope you enjoy it for the fiction it is, but realize that there is very little historical validity to it.
Bill The Shill heheh
Thanks Gretavo. I was going to do some posting at Amazon but, especially on this topic, I'm exhausted. Did you notice Bill's article titled -
"The Shill Game creates a controversy in the 911 Truth Movement"
Haha. This guy was playing dumb the entire time. He claimed he had the gospel and you know how skeptics are when it comes to the gospel. Guy was faking this shit the entire time so he could write an article called "The Shill Game Causes Controversy".
That's why the turd came on so strong and overbearing.
The comment about Bin Laden is right on with my research. He wasn't the 'leader' of the Soviet opposition as many like to make him out to be.
Bin Laden did not lead 100K Muhjadeen to battle on a pale horse...with a USA Shoulder Fired Stinger slung across his back...
Actually, has anyone seen that news-clip where Bin Laden is riding the white horse? It's ridiculous homemade shit with some evil looking Arab army ninjas running around in the back with Ak47s.
He's one of the ScrewLosers.
FYI.
yeah i thought the name rung
yeah i thought the name rung a bell. but he's AGAINST the shill game, so we should be FOR the shill game, right? I mean, that's the ONLY thing that makes sense!
Right.
He's saying the Shill Game is bad -- that's how we know it's very good.
ah, so it conforms to the
ah, so it conforms to the TruthMove statement? Good. Then we know we don't even have to think about it--if it has the seal of approval from those folks, who have all contributed so much to the movement since birth, then who need question it? Sign me up for 300 copies of the shill game!! Long live physEd guru and meatpacker steve alten!
Easy on Atlen
Hey Gretavo don't you think you are being a little hard on Atlen himself?
One of the things Shill Douglas was claiming is that people who were skeptics who weren't buying his Shell Game Gospel were attacking the author's character.
Busting Atlen's balls for being a meatpacker and being the owner of a shitty education is giving Bill The Shill ammo. Atlen seems pretty detached from this whole thing.
Unless I missed something...It seems that this Shell Game / 911 Truth fiasco is attributed directly and almost solely on Shilly Bill Douglas and not Atlen.
I can imagine Atlen believing his own version of the 'facts' he's included in his book and making a decision to use his hard earned success as a fiction writer to do some good...even If I believe his 'facts' are misguided.
He probably had a little push from a dip shit who's name rhymes with Shill.
I imagine he's not aware to the extent at which Shill Bill has created this whole phony 'controversy' within the 9/11 Truth movement.
I've had some shitty jobs over the years...literally shoveling shit...and I like to believe I'm better off for it.
touché, sort of
i've had my share of crappy jobs too, washing dishes, cleaning toilets, etc. and there is nothing wrong with being a meatpacker I guess, unless of course we want to get into the evils of the meat industry ( http://meat.org for anyone looking for a good excuse to go vegan...)
The bachelors degree in PhysEd, if true, I have some issues with. No one needs a bachelor's degree to teach PE. I also remember lots of PE teachers being jerks, especially to kids who just didn't measure up to the dude's jock ideals. The doctorate in education I insist on crying foul over. It's a crock, plain and simple. American education sucks, and the people who get this degree are usually just looking for an easy way to get paid more money by someone for doing nothing useful. Someone I know went to a class at the school of education recently and came back telling some pretty funny horror stories, actually.)
All I know about this guy is that he writes what appear to be trashy novels and has now written one that seems to be part of a plan to assist in the cover-up of 9/11. It might not be fair, but them's the breaks for people who make a living exploiting an unjust system. For all we know Steve Alten is a pseudonym used by a dishonest publisher. OK, maybe not: http://www.stevealten.com/bio.htm
But after reading that bio I not only dislike him even more, I wonder if he isn't friends with a certain Philly truther we all know and love (to not like)
another problem with Alten
some may think that his "adopt-an-author" is some kind of public service, but I would beg to differ:
http://www.stevealten.com/aaa/overview.htm
Some extra sales, a tax write-off, and good publicity to boot? Yeah, what a guy. Figures a slimeball like this would be mixed up with the fake truth movement!
Don't Tase Me, Bill Douglas!
"If we stand, move, and work together on this, we can help “The Shell Game†break all sales records, and FORCE corporate media to cover it. They cannot ignore a New York Times #1 best selling novel."
They can ignore mass murder, treason, and duplicitous acts of war against us by our so-called allies, but they can't ignore a NYT #1 best selling novel. What's wrong with this picture?
It does seem that The Shill game website is (now) home to a bunch of 9/11 links, but there's a little thing called a bait and switch that some of us, for all we try, can't fall for anymore.
9/11 Links where?
I just looked at the front page of his site -- and there's nada. What are you looking at?
don't your READ Shill Douglas's messages?
Actually, it is right on the front page, but in any case it's http://theshillgame.net/links.htm
Ah, I see...
I was looking at Alten's site, not the book's own site. (So, the Alten site pimps the Shill Game, of course, but does so in a way that keeps it segregated from the 9/11 material. I'm thinking the other one doesn't show up when you google -- wait, gotta check that out...)
google steve alten 9/11
and #6 in the list is...
Which is your favorite New York Times bestsellerâ„¢ by Steve Alten ...
wtcdemolition.com/blog/node/596 - 27k -
Hee hee. :)
way cool, WTCD!!!!!
you never know...we need to play with this more...don't ya think? but ya neva know whom we will attract....Â
so funny huh?
I can just see people being really confused (like a friend of mine when he first visited the blog needing me to explain what a LIHOP shill was...) The way google page ranks work it's important to link to AND be linked to by similar sites. i think this explains the "ostensible diversity" of the fake truth movement with the endless stream of links that never seem to include wtcdemolition (even before we became so famous for irreverence)
famous for irreverence
put that one up