Tag: Radio

Another trivial update, brought to you by the vowels in the name of god…

Well, there’s not much to say this week. I’ve spent the last few days marking essays and today I’m going to embark on getting a paper ready for submission to an appropriate journal.

And then, thesis work.

On Sunday Jose is going to interview me over the upcoming adult education course I will be teaching (on Conspiracy Theories). Yes, it’s probably akin to advertising but, then again, I have no idea what Jose is going to ‘grill’ me on so it could end up being mighty informative and completely off-topic.

For those of you not in the know, there is going to be a rather interesting talk this coming Tuesday (the 17th) by Dr. William Lane (squaring off Dr. Bill Cooke) entitled ‘Is God a Delusion?’ Lane is a fierce critic of Dawkins and, by all accounts, not just a very good public speaker but also a very good philosopher. This is, for some, a bit startling, because Lane is also a fervent Christian.

It should prove to be a very interesting spectacle.

Moot: Is God a Delusion?

17 Jun 2008

Presenter John Bishop

Department Philosophy

Venue OGGB5

Time 7pm to 8pm

William Lane Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. William holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham (England) and a D.Theol from the University of Munich (Germany). He has authored or edited over thirty books including Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus; Atheism, Atheism and Big Ban Cosmology; and God, Time and Eternity. He has also written more than a hundred articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology. William was President of the Evangelical Philosophical Society from 1996-2005, and is currently President of the Philosophy of Time Society.

Bill Cooke, Senior Lecturer, Manukau Institue of Technology. Bill has a PhD in Religious Studies from Victoria University of Wellington. He became an active atheist and humanist in 1984. Bill has served as president of the NZ Rationalist and Humanist Assoication, and editor of the Rationalist and Humanist journal, The Open Society. He has also worked as director of programs for the Center for Inquiry and is a fellow of the committee for the Scientific Examination of Religion. His books include Heathen in Godzone: Seventy Years of Rationalism in New Zealand (1998) and A Dirctionary of Atheism, Skepticism and Humanism (2006).

For those of you not conversant in Uni lingo, OGGB5 is the Owen G Glenn building, lecture theatre 5.

06/13/2008

The Dentith Files – Interview with Charles Pigden

Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!

The Dentith Files

The man with his finger on the jugular of all alternative thinking returns with a special interview with Professor Charles Pigden.

The Otago University academic has a wide range of interests including Bertrand Russell, but he’s also written widely on conspiracy theories and he finds a kindred spirit in Matthew Dentith.

06/01/2008

Dentith Files, 95 bFM

I am still in the land of sporadic internets. My planned post on Petty Psychologies is currently on hold until such time that I can sit in front of an internet for more than a few minutes at a time.

Since I can’t guarantee a posting come Sunday I’ll say in advance that I interviewed Dr. Charles Pigden, of the University of Otago’s Department of Philosophy, last Monday as a pre-record. Charles has written three articles on Conspiracy Theories and can be said to have kickstarted the current philosophical interest in the material with his ‘Popper Revisited, Or What is Wrong with Conspiracy Theories.’ The interview was great fun and it’s filled with the philosophical goodnesses. Listen along; I know I will be.

05/29/2008

The Dentith Files – Chemtrails

Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!

Another fortnight, another Conspiracy Theory. This week we discussed Chemtrails. Next time; (hopefully) the Masonic Plot to take over the Auckland region.

And a reminder that I’m still seeking a kindly soul to invest me with a copy of ‘Absolute Power.’

The Dentith Files

The part of the show where we get elbows deep into the most sub-marine areas of the human mind; Matthew Dentith looks at conspiracy theories and how they work.

This week Mathew looks at chem trails … is the government plotting to keep us docile and calm by using chemicals in the air? Are they? ARE THEY?

Notes on Chemtrails

Now, to my mind, chemtrails are examples of contrails…

However, some people claim that they don’t look nor act like contrails. They don’t seem subject to wind like clouds. They persist for long periods of time and they seemingly are formed in unusual ways.

What might they be for?
Secret weapons?
Sophisticated radar systems?
Drawing a pattern of arcane symbols across the sky for nefarious, occult purposes (and some people believe that…)
Mind control agents?

Now, agents introduced into the atmosphere at that height (30,000 feet or so) would be dispersed to what would seem to be too diluted amounts. Even if these chemical agents made it to sea level (at suitably active doses) everyone would be affected by them. This suggests an even larger Conspiracy Theory that includes the conspirators having filters or antidotes to the chemical agents in their houses, their cars et al.

(This is a lot like the claims as to why we have fluoride in our water system.)

How are these trails formed? Usually by planes, although some people claim they are produced by either anomalously small craft or, in some cases, by no obvious means at all.

In re being formed by planes, a lot of Conspiracy Theorists argue that the nature and number of chemtrails has changed in the last few years, but some of that might be to do with memory not being entirely a reliable source of past experience and changes in aviation. Advances in commercial aviation have lead both to more civil craft flying the skies and such craft employing better and more efficient engines, mostly moving from turbojets to turbofans, which are more likely to produce contrails-cum-chemtrails.

Chemtrails persist because they aren’t (necessarily) at the same altitude as the cloud layer; because they move at a different rate to clouds they look to be immobile and persistent. This is largely illusionary [this should read ‘illusory’]. In part this is because we aren’t particularly aware just how complex the wind patterns are. A thought experiment should suffice here; clouds move at a faster rate than the wind feels to us at ground level. This is because we have different weather conditions at sea level to that at cloud level.

A positive (benign?) Conspiracy Theory; chemtrails are a secret weapon against climate change.

Response: maybe the New World Order is combating climate change and making the population docile at the same time. Neither plans are mutually exclusive.

A common problem for Conspiracy Theories of this ‘size’ (i.e. malevolent global conspiracies orchestrated by our governments or the One World Government) is that we should expect giant leaks. A common response to 9/11 conspiracies is the money factor. To keep 9/11 quiet (which is a small Conspiracy Theory in regards to Chemtrails) you would, presumably, need to bribe an awful lot of people, and the question is, given the media interest in what happened on that fateful day, why hasn’t someone come for for obvious financial reward. For them not to have done so probably means that they’ve been paid to keep quiet, and paid sufficiently enough to that they can’t be persuaded to speak out. When you multiply out these payments to the group you are looking at a huge amount that should be obvious in the operating accounts of the USA (which it isn’t; we’re also assuming that people would speak out for money; the lack of public spirited aides who haven’t spoken out for the sake of the truth is another matter entirely). If Conspiracy Theories about 9/11 suffer this problem then Conspiracy Theories about Chemtrails would be even more subject to it.

04/27/2008

The Dentith Files – Was the 4th Labour Government a KGB plot?

Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!

Well, I somewhat forgot to update the blog with the confirmation of my fortnightly radio hijinks. Jose is now my erudite host and today’s dissection of the Loudon and Moran article was, I think, rather thorough. Here’s a link to the article and my rebuttal:

Linky-link

Next time around we’ll be fisking chem trails. So, until then, watch the skies!

(I’ve always wanted to say that.)

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The Dentith Files

This week Matthew Dentith looks at claims that the Soviet Union had plans and, indeed, went about gaining influence within New Zealand unions. The aim was to undermine and destroy ANZUS and it’s argued that New Zealand’s much vaunted anti-nuclear policy was a result of that.

Matthew’s not so sure, or, at least, he sees no evidence for it.

Listen and then have a gander at Matthew’s post on his blog about the subject. There’s links to the original article written by Peter Cresswell, and Trevor Loudon.

Note bene: The original article was written by Trevor Loudon and Bernard Moran. Peter Cresswell just linked to it.

04/13/2008

The Dentith Files – Freemasonry

Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!

The Dentith Files

Today, Matthew enlightens us on the mysterious and utterly scando Stone Masons. Learn about their history and reputation for having lots of choice secrets.

Like last time, more content than we had time for, but it will lead on nicely to the next topic, the Illuminati, in two weeks time. Since there were topics we simply didn’t get on to here are the notes from today’s ‘episode’ along with an assortment of my finiest unanswered questions (now with trite and easy answers supplied, free of charge).

Freemasonry

A Potted History

The legends concerning the founding of Freemasonry are numerous. Some say it was founded by the Patriarch Lamech before the Flood, others claim Freemasonry is simply the remnants of the Roman college system, whilst others argue that the origins of Freemasonry are to be found in Egypt, or that modern Freemasons are the rightful heirs to the Templar legacy. What we do know is this. Freemasonry first appears as an organisation in ACE1717 when the Grand Lodge is founded in England. It seems to be based upon an early Scottish fraternal system for stonemasons, basically a social club for skilled stonecrafters to share trade secrets and network.

Freemasonry was but one of the many fraternal societies in the 18th Century; what made it so popular seems to have been its system of “revealed” knowledge, slowly doled out to its members through a variety of secret and mysterious rituals as the adept proceded through the three degrees of membership, the Entered Apprentice, the Fellow Craft and the Master Mason.

By the 19th Century it boasted eight million members. However, like many secret societies, Freemasonry split and fractured; from one English Lodge in 1717 Freemasonry split into the Egyptian Rite in 1788, the Ancient and Accepted Rite in 1802, the Scottish Rite in 1833 and more besides.

Given Freemasonry’s popularity with the growing middle-classes it soon garnered a reputation for being involved in politics and the occult (which were, admittedly, the growing concerns of the bourgeois). However, Freemasonry was, and still is (to a certain extent), merely a system of personal development… for men (some female lodges also exist, but we cannot, to paraphrase Michael Palin, escape the sexism inherent in the system). Whilst modern Freemasonry has begun to reinvent itself as a charitable organisation, the system and the rituals of initiation are meant to make Masons better men.

Which may explain why its members now number less than two million. In today’s economy Men don’t want to be better; they just want to be richer…

Questions:

Why is Freemasonry so suspicious?

Because in purportedly open societies secret organisations are de facto suspicious in their activities. Why else would they hide behind ritual, the common wisdom asks…

Why is it that there are so many songs about rainbows… sorry, that so many global Conspiracy Theories have Masons at the heart of them?

Because Freemasons have had a history of being in politics, because the Illuminati (which started out as Freemasonry) engaged in conspiratorial activities, because of the answer to the former question, because of the work of Antimasons (which can be considered both good and bad) and so forth.

What kind of knowledge is this “revealed” knowledge?

The kind of ‘knowledge’ one gets from a self-help book. But with bells, whistles and funky robes… (Plausibly, once upon a time, some of it might have been encoded mathematical secrets; for stonemasons this could have qualified as trade secrets…)

Why is Antimasonry so popular?

A good question. Probably because no one likes not knowing other peoples’ secrets. And because Freemasonry does pose a threat to other organisations that also trade on revealed knowledge or vested authority.

03/16/2008