Twilight Language

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Product Placement in Media Mass Violence

McDonald's. McNuggets. Ford Fusion.

Nike. Flavor Aid. Ding Dongs. Ho Hos.

Twinkies. Kool Aid.

What will people recall most about the saga of Steve Stephens? The live broadcast of a murder on Facebook? That he ordered 20 McNuggets at McDonald's before killing himself? And McDonald's held the fries, until the police arrived?

How many people will remember he killed an innocent, random victim named Robert Godwin?

Or the suicide of ex-NFL player Aaron Hernandez may have been a copycat?

And Hernandez once made a spectacle of eating General Tso's Chicken at a post-game news conference?

What products have oozed into urban media legend status?

The Nikes worn by the Heaven Gates' members who died by suicide?

On March 22, 1997, 39 members of Heaven’s Gate (21 women, 19 men) consumed phenobarbitol, some suffocating with plastic bags, and all dying by suicide. All were dressed exactly alike in black clothing, down to their black shoes with their identical white Nike check-mark logo. The 39 had packed tote bags and each had one $5 bill and 75 cents in quarters in their pockets. The deaths occurred in shifts, so those that remained could correctly arrange the bodies and place the purple triangular shrouds on the bodies. The police found the corpses at their Rancho Santa Fe, California compound on March 26, after being alerted by Richard Ford, an ex-member who has received a Federal Express package of two videotapes from [leader Marshall] Applewhite.

And...

Don't drink the Flavor Aid.

That doesn't sound correct, does it?

The expression is "Don't drink the Kool Aid

But it is wrong.

But people do not remember properly.

The specter of Jonestown filled the newspapers for years and produced a made‑for‑television movie called Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980), starring the then-new and unknown actor Powers Boothe in a highly acclaimed performance as Jones. The Jonestown event had other broad cultural outcomes besides creating a model for mass suicides. For example, despite the actual use of Flavor-aide, the media had quickly mislabeled what was used as “Kool Aid,” and worldwide sales of Kool Aid crashed. Another lasting linguistic legacy of the People’s Temple tragedy is the expression, “Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.” This has come to mean, “Don’t trust any group you find to be a little on the fanatical side.”

Product misidentifications become urban myths.

Hear of the "Twinkie defense"?

In the wake of the death of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and San Francisco Board of Supervisor Harvey Milk, former supervisor Dan White was accused of the murder, which he clearly had done.

In 1979 Dan White was found guilty of “manslaughter by diminished capacity,” despite opening arguments by attorney Doug Schmidt that linked Jonestown to the assassinations. Many still believe that the reason White was not convicted of first degree murder was because of what most of the media reported as the “Twinkie defense” – a phrase coined by well-known satirist Paul Krassner - that junk food had made White do it. While it was in reality HoHos and Ding Dongs, White’s defense claimed that his love of junk food was the result of his depression, not the cause of it.

"America loves labels," said Dr. Alan Dundes, UC Berkeley professor of anthropology and folklore. He compares our belief in the "Twinkie defense" to the conviction that George Washington cut down the cherry tree. He didn't. Folklore trumps history.
"I don't care if the 'Twinkie defense' has any validity or not," he said. "People think it was a factor. And thinking makes it so." Source.

Media, McNuggets and Madness

The Easter Sunday killer's hold over the media started coming to an end on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 18, 2017.

Read more about the initial Easter events, here.

The manhunt had covered many states in the Midwest. Then there was a "ping" in Erie, Pennsylvania. Presque Isle Downs & Casino, which Stephens was last known to visit in March, is in Erie County.

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At a news conference on April 18, the announcement was made.

Steve Stephens died by his own hand in Erie, Pennsylvania, after an alert drive-through employee at McDonalds on Buffalo Road in Harborcreek Township, recognized the wanted man.

Stephens reportedly ordered a 20-piece McNugget and a large fry. What happened next probably has happened to you.

The Buffalo Road McDonalds.

[Side note: Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This nickname was given to the "Negro Cavalry" by the Native American tribes they fought in the Indian Wars. The term eventually became synonymous with all of the African American regiments formed in 1866...."Buffalo Soldiers" were established by Congress as the first peacetime all-black regiments in the regular U.S. Army. On September 6, 2005, Mark Matthews, who was the last living Buffalo Soldier, died at the age of 111. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.]

The manager said employees tried to stall Stephens by telling him the fries weren't ready, but Stephens took the chicken and drove away.

Police gave chase, which never went above 50 miles per hour, involved four state police vehicles and was joined by members of the Wesleyville Police Department.
Soon caught up with Stephen's Ford Fusion. During a direct action "PIT" (precision immobilization technique) Stephen's took his own life.

The location was across from Rodger Young Park, the site of the former Burton Elementary School, 1660 Buffalo Road, Erie, Pennsylvania.

Buffalo Road and near Downing Ave, where Stephens killed himself.

Tabloid media pounced on the McDonalds' angle of the case.

There probably will be more examples tomorrow.

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Updates:

April 19, 2017

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In, perhaps, a form of copycat suicide, Aaron Hernandez may be an example. Information on that incident has been moved here.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Shooting Focus on Fresno's Fulton

Steve Stephens may have only shot one person randomly, but he claimed to have killed 15. There is no evidence of that rumor. But as a rumor, it may have carried some punch.

The center of the attention for the shooting was Fulton.

In Fresno, California, on April 18, 2017, a man went on a shooting rampage, and claimed three victims killed around Fulton Street and another dead at a Motel 6.

The Fresno Bee covered the details (partially recorded here):

Three people were shot and killed after a man went on a shooting rampage Tuesday in Fresno, randomly shooting at four white men, killing three, before he was taken into custody, police Chief Jerry Dyer said.
The 39-year-old suspect, identified as Kori Ali Muhammad, is also suspected in the fatal shooting of a security guard outside a Motel 6 on Blackstone Avenue in central Fresno Thursday. He is facing four counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder, Dyer said. He said Muhammad had expressed dislike of whites in Facebook posts; all of the victims were white. Dyer called it a “random act of violence.”
Two of the people shot outside Catholic Charities, on Fulton Street just north of downtown, may have been clients of the social service agency, not employees, Dyer said. The third victim was a Pacific Gas & Electric employee riding in a company truck. A fourth man was shot at but not injured.
Dyer said the gunman walked up to the PG&E truck in the 300 block of North Van Ness Avenue about 10:45 a.m. and shot the passenger repeatedly. The driver of the pickup then sped to Fresno police headquarters on M Street. The second shooting was only a few seconds later and was at Van Ness and Mildreda Street, where the gunman shot at but missed a resident. The gunman then turned onto Fulton Street and fired several rounds at another man, striking and killing him, Dyer said. After reloading at a bus stop, the gunman then shot and killed a man in the parking lot of Catholic Charities in the 100 block of North Fulton Street, he said.
Officers responding to the initial shotspotter reports found Muhammad running south on Fulton. Muhammad dove to the ground and yelled “Ali Akbar” before he was taken into custody, Dyer said. Although police found rounds of .357 caliber bullets and speed loaders for a revolver when Muhammad was taken into custody, no weapon was found, Dyer said.
Dyer said that it’s too soon to determine if the shootings involved terrorism.
However, a review of Muhammad’s social media shows he quoted the phrase “Allahu Akbar” in a tweet. The Arabic phrase translates to “God is the greatest.”
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Muhammad was identified early in the Motel 6 murder, based on the surveillance cameras, and officers had sought him in Madera and other locations in subsequent days. His Facebook page at one point indicated that he was in Atlanta, which was untrue, Dyer said. His Facebook posts indicated that “he does not like white people, and he has anti-government sentiments,” the chief said.
Witnesses reported the gunman sprayed rounds while reloading and cursing.
A second gunshot victim was reported outside of the Fresno Police Department station at Mariposa Mall and M Street at 10:51 a.m. The victim also was taken to Community Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Dyer said.
Police are investigating at four separate crime scenes on Van Ness, Mildreda and Fulton, and those areas will remain closed for at least a few hours, Dyer said. At least one shooting victim remained on the scene, and officers with K-9 are searching for the murder weapon.
At 10:54 a.m., a report of a man down was reported at 215 N. Fulton St., about a block from Catholic Charities. That victim died at the scene, county Emergency Medical Services officials confirmed.
*** Fresno Bee

Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/crime/article145234709.html#storylink=cpy

Monday, April 17, 2017

Top 25 Twilight Language Theorists: 2017

The last sometimes comes first.

In 2012, the initial edition of this list was published on April 17th. It seems appropriate that on this fifth anniversary, a revised and updated list be published based on the last half-decade of activities of certain individuals and the forgotten achievements of others.

"Synchromysticism: The art of realizing meaningful coincidence in the seemingly mundane with mystical or esoteric significance." ~ Jake Kotze, The Brave New World Order, August 18, 2006.

The Living

Who are the top theorists doing "twilight language" research, contributions, or writings? Who has done this work in the neglected recent past? Here is my list. They are given alphabetically by their last names, so as not to show any preference or ranking.

(1) Joe Alexander, filmmaker Back to the Future Predicts 9/11 (released on YouTube on July 27, 2015, and viewed over 3 million times). Alexander was named the "Synchromystic Of The Year 2016."

(2) Rodney Ascher, filmmaker, director of 2012's Room 237, and 2015's Nightmare.

(3) Greg Bishop, author of 2000's Wake Up Down There! Excluded Middle Anthology, 2005's Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth, and other works.

(4) Loren Coleman, author of 1987's Suicide Clusters, 2004's The Copycat Effect, and the writer of this Twilight Language blog. Name Game, Fayette Factor, and deeper meanings behind geographic and proper monikers go back to 1970s. (To exclude myself seemed beyond modesty.)

(5) Joan d'Arc, co-founder/co-publisher of Paranoia: The Conspiracy Reader, editor of 1996's Paranoid Women Collect Their Thoughts, The Conspiracy Reader, and The New Conspiracy Reader.

(6) Alex Fulton, creator of Cryptokubrology on Twitter and mastermind (in association with Shawn Montgomery) behind various cryptokubrology contributions on YouTube and Facebook. See inspirational site here.

(7) Adam Gorightly, author of 2003's The Prankster and the Conspiracy: The Story of Kerry Thornley and How He Met Oswald and Inspired the Counterculture, and 2008's James Shelby Downard's Mystical War. He hosts The Early Discordians on Facebook.

(8) Alan Green, the creator of Sync Quick News, the organizer of the Olympic Sync Summit, and the publisher of 2011's The Sync Book, 2012's The Sync Book 2, and the unpublished Suicide Kings. Alan Green was named the "Synchromystic Of The Year 2014."

(9) Andrew W. Griffin, creator of Red Dirt Report.

(10) Craig Heimbichner, author of 2005's Blood on the Altar, coauthor of 2012's Ritual America.

(11) Michael Anthony Hoffman II, author of 2001's Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare; and editor of various works by James Shelby Downard.

(12) Paul Kimball, author of 2012's The Other Side of Truth. Filmmaker, Stanton T. Friedman Is Real; Best Evidence; Denise Djokic: Seven Days Seven Nights, Synchronicity, and Fields of Fear; Eternal Kiss, and Damnation.

(13) SMiles Lewis, creator of Anomaly Archives, Anomaly Radio, and Anomaly Television.

(14) Will Morgan, one of the original members of The Sync Whole group, a contributor to The Sync Books and the Olympic Sync Summit, and a co-host creator of 42 Minutes. "Synchromystic Of The Year 2015" was Will Morgan.

(15) Adam Parfrey, publisher at Amok Press & Feral House; editor/author of numerous works, including 1988's The Manson File, 1990's Apocalypse Culture, 1995's Cult Rapture, 2000's Apocalypse Culture II; and coauthor of 2012's Ritual America.

(16) Theo Paijmans, co-author (with John Keel) of 1998's Free Energy Pioneer: John Worrell Keely and 2008's The VRIL Society.

(17) Kenn Thomas, publisher/editor of Steamshovel Press; editor of Popular Alienation; coauthor of 1996's The Octopus: Secret Government and the Death of Danny Casolaro and 1999's Inside the Gemstone File; author of 1996's NASA, Nazis & JFK, 1997's Mind Control, Oswald & JFK, 1999's Maury Island UFO: The Crisman Conspiracy, and many other books.

(18) Robert Damon Schneck, author of 2005's The President's Vampire, 2014's Mrs. Wakeman vs the Antichrist: And Other Strange-but-True Tales from American History, and 2016's The Bye Bye Man.

(19) Jacques Vallee, author of Passport to Magonia, Invisible College, Messengers of Deception, as well as his trilogy, Dimensions, Confrontations, and Revelations - and other books.

(20) You. The unfound, unrevealed, the future writers in this field.

The Departed

Some significant theorists have passed away, so with a historical ranking by death date, here they are:

(21) James Shelby Downard (March 13, 1913 – March 16, 1998), author of 2006's The Carnivals of Life and Death, and essays, including “King-Kill/33: Masonic Symbolism in the Assassination of John F. Kennedy” and “Sorcery, Sex, Assassination."

(22) Jim Keith (September 21, 1949 – September 7, 1999), author of 1992's Gemstone File, 1993's Secret and Suppressed, 1994's Black Helicopters over America, 1995's Saucers of the Illuminati, 1996's The Octopus, 1996's Okbomb! Conspiracy and Coverup, and other works.

(23) Robert Anton Wilson (January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007), coauthor of 1975's The Illuminatus! Trilogy; author of 1973's The Sex Magicians, 1979-1981's Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy, 1977-1995's Cosmic Trigger Trilogy, and other works.

(24) John A. Keel (March 25, 1930 – July 3, 2009), author of 1957's Jadoo, 1970's UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse, 1971's Our Haunted Planet, 1975's The Mothman Prophecies, 1975's The Eighth Tower, and other works. Anomalist Books republished John Keel's books in recent years, and more information and links can be found here, here, and here.

(25) Mac Tonnies (August 20, 1975-October 22, 2009), author of 2004's After the Martian Apocalypse, and 2010's The Cryptoterrestrials, published after his sudden death at 34. Writer of the Posthuman Blues blog. Co-author with Paul Kimball of 2007's Doing Time. Kimball and Greg Bishop have been involved with the publishing of the collected writings of Tonnies.

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Special note: Some may have escaped my in-depth attention (e.g. David Plate & his Jack of Hearts; Group name for Grapejuice), but I shall remedy such oversights in the next decade's editions. My sincere thanks to the anonymous and all those above who have freely exchanged intellectual ideas and data in this growing field. There are more works coming from those slipping into sychromysticism, who will be on future lists.