Entry #061: Willis Allison Carto

Willis Carto has for almost a lifetime been among America’s most prominent promoters of antisemitic conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial (that’s not how he describes himself, but that’s another matter). He founded Liberty Lobby in 1955, and Institute for Historical Review (IHR) in 1979, as an organization dedicated to publicly challenging the "myth of the Holocaust." The IHR sought from the beginning to attempt to establish itself within the broad tradition of historical revisionism, by soliciting token supporters who were not from a neo-Nazi background such as James J. Martin and Samuel Edward Konkin III, and by promoting the writings of French socialist Paul Rassinier and American anti-war historian Harry Elmer Barnes to attempt to show that Holocaust denial had a broader base of support besides just neo-Nazis. The IHR brought most of Barnes' writings, which had been out of print since his death, back into print. However, most of IHR's supporters were neo-Nazis and anti-Semites, and while IHR included token articles on other topics and sold some token books by mainstream historians in its book catalog, the vast majority of material published and distributed by IHR was devoted to questioning the facts surrounding the Holocaust.

In 1984, Carto was also involved in starting the Populist Party, which was (not to be confused with the Populist Party of 1889 and) little more than an electoral vehicle for current and former Ku Klux Klan and Christian Identity members.

His wikipedia page is here. I am not going to link to his homepage or any homepage associated with his organizations.

To get a full picture of Carto’s insane conspiracy mongering, have a look at his earlier Liberty Lobby. Apart from standard conspiracy theories, such as New World Order related ones and John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracies, Carto and his gang has always been taken by the Bilderberg conspiracy, going so far as to send reporters every year to "infiltrate" the Bilderberg conferences and report on their nefarious activities.

This already sets the stage for crank magnetism, and Carto has been an ardent promoter of alternative health remedies, including colloidal silver, Laetrile, shark cartilage and chelation therapy. He is also a numerologist.

Perhaps most interesting in that respect is Carto’s involvement with Scientology. Back in the beginning, the Church of Scientology representatives viewed Carto's organizations as useful media for gaining popularity and respectability. Carto, with his critical view of "establishment" press (i.e. conspiracy theories), had reached quite a number of people, and scientologists flocked to the IHR and subscribed to Carto's publications. Many Scientologists, including the current International Public Affairs Officer Alex Jones, praised Carto and his magazine "The Spotlight" (the percurson to IHR) as "a defender of individual liberties." A scientologist was also the director of IHR (the scientology church has subsequently withdrawn its official support, notably after the tax exemption rules from 1993).

Despite his claims to the contrary, Carto and his group are ardent neo-Nazis (follow the link for recent activities).

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Diagnosis: Vile and utterly delusional loon. Zealous. Is still extremely dangerous, despite the fact that his impact is probably limited to a relatively small group (his conspiracy theories seem to draw sympathetic attention, by crank magnetism, from other conspiracy theorists and whale.to readers, however).

Entry #047: Arthur Butz

David Irving might be disqualified from an entry in the Encyclopedia by being British, but his views have its share of followers in the U.S. as well. Arthur Butz is one of the most prominent. Arthur Butz is actually a tenured Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at Northwestern University, although his colleagues have exerted some pressure on him to retire. In 1976 Butz wrote the book ‘The Hoax of the 20th Century: The Case Against the Presumed Extermination of European Jewry’, which asserted that the Holocaust did not occur and has been deliberately contrived to justify the creation of the state of Israel. He has actively used his position as a tenured professor to give legitimacy to his views (without providing the administration at Northwestern any formal reason to get rid of him).

Butz remained quiet for a while after the book, but has returned to the spotlight the last 5 years for his defense (praise) of President Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial. In fact (in addition to a lot of long refuted claims), he called Ahmadinejad’s statements “formidable in their perspicacity” and that Ahmadinejad “understands the intellectual terror in the West” (said, apparently, without a hint of irony). Butz also pointed out that “Tony Blair made a routine pompous suggestion to Ahmadinejad: Visit the camps and see for yourself. Ahmadinejad replied: Good idea, I’ll bring a scientific team. He knows about the forensic issues too.” Yes, Butz, that reply surely establishes Ahmadinejad’s provenance as a razor sharp, non-biased critical thinker, in particular since Ahmadinejad seems to have no intention of actually following up on it. More here. Butz’s claims are thoroughly debunked here.

At least Butz clearly displays the ineptitude and ignorance of the deniers; when you praise Ahmadinejad’s unashamed anti-Semitic, zealous denialism for its rigor and good ideas, your own arguments cannot be particularly strong.

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Diagnosis: Dangerous and cunning, perhaps, but a serious loon nonetheless. His influence might be limited, but its threat can hardly be exaggerated.

Entry #042: Pat Buchanan

a.k.a. Mr. Republican

The very epitome of cryptofascism, Buchanan is a noted paleoconservative and racist, suspected holocaust denialist (discussed here, with links. Alternatively, the Holocaust was France and Britain's fault), Nazi sympathizer and believer in the Zionist Conspiracy. A good sample of his views, in his own words, can be found here.

Buchanan needs little introduction, I guess, but anyway: He was originally a senior adviser to presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, and an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 (where his speech during the Republican party nomination might have scared several moderate Republicans to vote for Clinton – invented the concept of ”culture wars”) and again in 1996. He ran on the Reform Party ticket in the 2000 presidential election.

He co-founded The American Conservative magazine and launched a foundation named The American Cause, has been published in Human Events, National Review, The Nation and Rolling Stone. Currently Buchanan is a political commentator on the MSNBC cable network including the show Morning Joe and a regular on The McLaughlin Group.

He is most noted today for his opposition to free trade and immigration, both legal and illegal. He could be considered an "economic nationalist", but is more likely simply a xenophobe. He is (by the same token) a staunch opponent of military actions related to the war on terror. He is, however, very positive to using torture on people suspected of terrorism.

Also an amateur historian; in ”Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War” he takes a pro-German view of World Wars I and II. Buchanan argues that the US shouldn't have gotten involved in World War II, that Churchill helped provoke Japan to attack Pearl Harbor, and that Hitler could have been contained. Curiously, he rejects evolution because, among other things, it lead to Hitler (no, these people aren’t overly concerned about distinguishing the question of the truth of a claim and consequences of believing a claim, presumably because they aren’t overly concerned with truth to begin with); discussed here and here.

Here's Pat Buchanan lamenting the demise of Western Society in his most recent book. And here is Buchanan playing what he would think of as the role of true American hero.

This one is breathtaking even for Pat Buchanan. Surely Pat Buchanan and Fox News is a match made in Heaven.

Well, no, actually Buchanan and Fox are NOT a match made in heaven because Buchanan is an extreme non-interventionist and Fox never met a war of choice they didn't like. Let's not mix our unreconstructed paleoconservatives in with our neocons.

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Diagnosis: Insane crackpot and zealot, evil. Relatively influential though his impact is probably smaller than his media exposure could be taken to indicate.