A Michigan man who'd reportedly been sucked into online conspiracies involving QAnon and 2020 election theft lies was killed by police after allegedly shooting his wife and daughter.
He was definitely not harmless. Whether his intentions were just to entertain and make money, or something more nefarious, all that "reptilians are responsible for the new world order" stuff definitely was the embryonic brain worms for the batshit stuff we see today.
I disagree, all this stuff was already in the water (especially with the UFO and cryptid crazes of the 70's and 80's) so to speak, all Art Bell did was get a place on the radio and just let people talk, arguably for one of the first times. That said, all those places on the internet would exist with or without Art Bell, it's just that Art Bell somehow managed to see the future and get ahead of the curve for talk radio.
Yep, I used to listen to it in the 90s on my Walkman during long ass overnight bus rides back to campus from basketball games. It was on all the AM stations, which was all that came in besides country music, riding around rural Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois
It's not from there, shit goes way further back. America's current conspiracy worldview is basically the Protocols of the Elders of Zion from like 1900, with an added apocalypse fetish thanks to christian fundies.
I'll say I haven't listened to Art Bell enough to really judge him, and what I have heard was the cryptid/UFO stuff you described. But I mean, whether he specifically did or didn't, I'd still say treating thinly-veiled nazis with the same triviality as Bigfoot dipshits is a bad idea.
He was definitely not harmless. Whether his intentions were just to entertain and make money, or something more nefarious, all that "reptilians are responsible for the new world order" stuff definitely was the embryonic brain worms for the batshit stuff we see today.
I disagree, all this stuff was already in the water (especially with the UFO and cryptid crazes of the 70's and 80's) so to speak, all Art Bell did was get a place on the radio and just let people talk, arguably for one of the first times. That said, all those places on the internet would exist with or without Art Bell, it's just that Art Bell somehow managed to see the future and get ahead of the curve for talk radio.
Was that where it came from? I stand corrected then.
Yep, I used to listen to it in the 90s on my Walkman during long ass overnight bus rides back to campus from basketball games. It was on all the AM stations, which was all that came in besides country music, riding around rural Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Illinois
It's not from there, shit goes way further back. America's current conspiracy worldview is basically the Protocols of the Elders of Zion from like 1900, with an added apocalypse fetish thanks to christian fundies.
I'll say I haven't listened to Art Bell enough to really judge him, and what I have heard was the cryptid/UFO stuff you described. But I mean, whether he specifically did or didn't, I'd still say treating thinly-veiled nazis with the same triviality as Bigfoot dipshits is a bad idea.