Spotlight

[David Mandl]

> From: wcs at anchor.ho.att.com (bill.stewart at pleasantonca.ncr.com +1-510-484-6204)
> The Spotlight *used* to be a really revolting rag; some people I was
> talking to recently who were selling it said they've tried to get rid
> of the anti-Semitism and racist hate stuff that the Carto folks were pushing
> and concentrate more on Truth (or whatever the conspiracy-wacko version of
> Truth is at any given time :-).  I didn't buy their magazine to find out
> if it's really improved or if they're just saying it, but it was nice to 
> hear them say it.

Bill--

Far as I know, things haven't really changed.  What the Spotlight and
other papers/organizations like it have been doing recently is trying
to clean up their public image to gain respectability and a wider
audience (look at David Duke himself, for example).  They've been
fairly successful, unfortunately.  There's been an increased interest
in the last few years in conspiracy theories and the like (an interest
I share), and as a result the readership of papers like the Spotlight
has been growing.  I think that if you flipped through a copy of the
Spotlight today, you'd merely get the impression that they're healthy
skeptics trying to expose the misdeeds of the government and other evil
conspirators.  Fair enough.  But their real agenda hasn't changed.

My analysis:

The recent growth of these organizations shows that there's been a real
increase in interest in anarchistic ideas and distrust of authority
among the general public.  Good news.  The bad news is that there are
various vermin waiting in the wings to take advantage of people's
openness to new and "radical" ideas.  Caveat emptor.

> The other magazine called "Spotlight" I've run into is the New Jersey
> Symphony Orchestra's program handout, truly a hotbed of radical
> something-or-other-ism :-)

Sounds dangerous to me.  I'd watch out.

   --Dave.