I met Zan Overall outside the Oscars. He was holding up a sign and protesting Hollywood’s depiction of the Holocaust.
He emails me:
Dear Luke,
In an email you asked me: “When did you first take on what are often called “conspiracy theories” and when did you start proselytizing them? And how did this affect your relationships, friendships, social life etc.?”
Let me answer as briefly and honestly as I can.
My first “conspiracy theory” experience was an interest in UFOs or “flying saucers” as they were originally called. I soon came to see that the government was hiding the truth about the phenomenon., as they still do.
Up to that point I had been a good little conformer. Drafted in 1944. Trooped into the post theatre with other recruits to view the mind molding film “Why We Fight.” Bought the whole story. “Hitler was going to take over the whole world!” What BS! He didn’t even want to fight Britain and France and certainly not the U.S., which had defeated Germany in WW I. Read the book by Pat Buchanan Churchill, Hitler and the Unnecessary War.
When I saw the government covering up the truth about UFO’s I lost my innocence and became what they call a “conspiracy theorist.”
(Here is my definition of the words “conspiracy theory: “Conspiracy Theory” is a demeaning term the power structure applies to a truth it fears. The term is also used by those toadying up to the power structure.
Example: The “9/11 Truth” movement has proved that our government, not Muslim terrorists, did 9/11. The power structure calls that idea a “conspiracy theory,” hoping to keep the public from learning of the government’s guilty role in 9/11. They fear that the rage they have channeled against Muslims would then be directed at them. They remember Mussolini’s lamp post.)
Oddly enough, flying saucers were no surprise to me as they were to the public In that summer of 1947. I had been reading books by Charles Fort and had joined the Fortean Society. In the 1920’s and 1930’s Fort searched through old newspapers, magazines and scientific journals for odd events unexplainable by and therefore ignored by “scientists.” Included were reports of apparent craft in the sky long before the invention of airplanes. BTW I am not convinced UFO’s come from other planets.
As to the impact of my opinions on UFO’s on my relations with others, most people bought the official debunking and would mock my opinion that something unusual was happening. I was pretty much a loner so the opinion of people I considered uninformed didn’t bother me. I did try to persuade and inform them as I was doing on Hollywood Blvd. on Oscar Day.
I came to California for a career as a musician and songwriter. I had a song of mine recorded by Stan Kenton. Called “Falling.” I tried to get more cuts, thinking it would be easy……You might enjoy this. My 4 or 5 year old son would see me at the piano working on songs. One day the songs were not on the piano and I was dressed up and carrying a briefcase. My son asked where I was going and I said “I’m going into Hollywood to sell my songs.”
His face fell and he asked “Don’t you want them any more?”
I became discouraged with songwriting (although I did get a cut on RCA- Victor of a song called “Love Has Come, Love Has Gone.”). I distracted myself studying UFOs and becoming involved in the silly feuds and controversies within the “Ufology” community. Mea culpa. That’s French.
In the early 1990’s I became interested in the crop circle phenomenon and still am. I give talks on the subject, illustrated with slides. It is a true (and beautiful) mystery. Anyone reading this who sees crop circle formations
only as hoaxes could be dissuaded from that opinion by attending a talk of mine. The same goes with a talk I give on the phony Apollo Missions which got no closer to the Moon than LEO, Low Earth Orbit. I call the talk: “Americans Walked on the Moon: Don’t Bet On It.”
I lost some of the respect of my children and first wife for the time I spent on UFOs. I had a job for twelve years as a photographer at Rocketdyne during that period. I didn’t allow my hobbies to keep me from fulfilling my familial duties, nor do I now. Mea non culpa.
I am putting more emphasis on songwriting these days and will attach a song I am pushing now, called “Who Is That Old Woman?.’ Will attach a recording. I am still an activist in two fields, issues I think are important to the country.
(1) The 9/11 fraud, which has this country engaged in ruinous wars fighting Israel’s Muslim enemies for her, all based on a false claim that Muslims did 9/11. I defended that view earlier.
(2) Debunking the conventional version of the Holocaust. This ever changing lie has this country wrapped around Israel’s little finger.
When I say “ever changing lie,” I am referring to things like: the now abandoned lies about soap and lampshades; the abandoned claim that homicidal gas chambers existed in camps in Germany proper; the retreat to the East with the claim that the gas chambers were really in Poland at Auschwitz (“Yeah! That’s the ticket!”-Jon Lovitz); the dwindling Jewish deaths claimed there (four million down to less than one million) without diminishing the magical “six million” figure and without triggering a refund of some of the billions extorted from Germany and Austria. Perhaps the check is in the mail.
My present wife agrees with me regarding UFOs, crop circles, Israeli abuse of Palestinians, the Moon hoax and 9/11 as an inside job. However, she clings to the Holocaust story and will not look at any contrary evidence. We have reached a modus vivendi. We don’t discuss the subject.
I hope this answers your question, Luke. As I said earlier, my shortcomings have no bearing on the truth or falsity of any opinion I hold. I am prepared to defend my views. Holocaust revisionists are prepared and eager to debate but no one wants to debate them. That should tell you something.
You asked about my proselytizing. That started as soon as I reached a firm opinion on any controversial subject. I did not “hit the streets” until I got into the 9/11 Truth Movement. I like to do one man informational demonstrations. Before the Oscar thing I paraded in front of Bryan Singer’s office in Burbank with much the same message: that the current spate of Hitler/Holocaust movies are propaganda. I recently did a one man demonstration in front of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, handing out a two page flyer called “A 9/11 Truth Activist Watches the Academy Awards.” (I’ll attach a copy.)
I have called in to a lot of radio talk shows. Doug McIntyre knows me well. He had me on his late night radio show for a whole night talking “conspiracy theories.” Dennis Miller knows me well but I am persona non grata there now.
Won’t take my calls.
I have no apology for proselytizing or demonstrating. When the presstitutes have blocked contrariant opinions from print and the airwaves, you do what you can.
Both sides proselytize. When Bush or No Change Obama says Muslim terrorists did 9/11 they are proselytizing. Every time Abe Foxman inveighs against “Holocaust Deniers” he is proselytizing. Every time a busload of innocent schoolchildren go through the shabby Shoah show at the Museum of Tolerance they are being proselytized. Big time!
