Last Heard Of Telling Gore To Wear Earth Tones; Now Claiming ISIS Beheadings Faked
Naomi Wolf, having either lost her mind or finding herself very much in the mood for a little quick attention, is strongly suggesting that the savage recent murders by ISIS of Americans and Brits were staged by the U.S. government and that the victims and their loved ones are actors. Max Fisher writes at Vox about "the insane conspiracy theories of Naomi Wolf":
Her initial posts on ISIS repeatedly stated that confirmation of the authenticity of their beheading videos "has not happened yet." Wolf said that the media was ignoring "journalistic red flags" in that the sole source of the videos had been "SITE, which is run by an anti-Muslim activist with half a million dollars in US funding in 2004." (In fact, the videos were widely distributed on open-source jihadist online outlets. Maryland-based nonprofit SITE monitors extremist social media.) She also detailed an alleged incident, which I was not able to confirm, of a website "based in Doha, address registered at a private intelligence firm in the UK" that she said had spread news of a Canadian journalist, who turned out not to exist, taken hostage in Syria....Like many other journalists who cover the Middle East, I had previously met both murdered American journalist James Foley and his parents (in my case, in 2011) and can attest, although I deeply regret that it is necessary to do so, that they are not actors.
Wolf deleted the post at the urging of New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi, who commented beneath it on Facebook. Callimachi, who has reported extensively on these cases, later explained on Twitter (I've cleaned up the abbreviations that are common Twitter shorthand), "What she fails to understand is that the kidnappings -- 23 in total -- have been under blackout for much of the past two years because ISIS told families of Henning, Foley, Kassig, etc., their sons would be killed if it became public."
After deleting her post at Callimachi's request, Wolf posted again, reiterating her earlier accusations and promising to "repost" with "new reporting." She also posed a series of questions to the New York Times implying that the newspaper was complicit in fabricating the story. She focused her criticism on the idea that all information on the ISIS kidnappings and videos had been sourced only to SITE, which she again noted had once received a US government grant. She implied that the media had been unable or unwilling to find a second source because the entire story had been staged. (In fact, the kidnappings and murders have been reported based on dozens of sources, including Syrians in the ISIS headquarters of Raqqa and a number of fellow hostages who have been released.)
Later, Wolf scolded the New York Times for not answering her questions and accused it of failing to meet "basic j-school two source journalism." In another post, Wolf stated, "I stand by what I wrote today" about ISIS. She then described a "Pakistani lawyer who is a fourth-generation scion of a major Pakistani political family" who had told her that ISIS was funded by the United States and Israel, along with Saudi Arabia. She described the lawyer as a "credible source" and uncritically presented his claims as "the news behind the news."
More from Wolf:
Wolf published a separate Facebook post, also on Saturday, suggesting that the US was sending troops to West Africa not to assist with Ebola treatment but to bring Ebola back to the US to justify a military takeover of American society. She also suggested that the Scottish independence referendum, in which Scots voted to remain in the United Kingdom, had been faked.
Strangely, she never mentioned the moon landing.
That sounds like a fun gig for an actor. I wonder where they hold auditions.
NicoleK at October 7, 2014 11:55 PM
I wonder where they hold auditions.
Yeah, it's interesting how people are quick to believe that conspirators have vast and secret resources to stage events, and none of the insiders ever talk.
We need to find these planners with their six sigma levels of ability and get them teaching at our business schools.
doombuggy at October 8, 2014 4:06 AM
You just can't cure crazy.
Jay at October 8, 2014 5:30 AM
As she grows older, she decays. There have been hundreds of nonsense tomes written about the Kennedy assassination. She's now aiming for that audience.
Art Deco at October 8, 2014 6:25 AM
Wolf's entire career, and apparently her image of herself, is premised on discarding reason as a means of understanding the world. This is just following her philosophy to its logical conclusion.
Cousin Dave at October 8, 2014 6:50 AM
She knows they're real. Where do you think we got her?
Conan the Grammarian at October 8, 2014 8:25 AM
This article sums things up well: http://spectator.org/blog/60579/naomi-wolf-went-deep-end-long-ago
Sue at October 8, 2014 10:15 AM
Do I think the government duplicitous enough o try something like Wolfe suggests? Absolutely.
Do I think they are competent enough to carry it out and keep everyone quite? Not a chance in hell.
lujlp at October 8, 2014 10:21 AM
Well, Amy, when the discussion has been flattened by simplistic, context-resistant fear-making, these are the notes that are sounded from lesser voices.
No biggie, right? We've dealt with this before, too.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at October 8, 2014 11:26 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2014/10/last-heard-of-t.html#comment-5209513">comment from Crid [CridComment at Gmail]Crid, your lack of understanding and unwillingness to education yourself on Islam that manifests itself in your sneers at my actual knowledge of it does not pass for wise commentary.
Amy Alkon
at October 8, 2014 3:45 PM
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at October 8, 2014 5:28 PM
Indonesia:
☐ Sunni
☐ Shia
Choose one... Because education.
What if we replaced Indonesia with Minnesota?
Dave B at October 8, 2014 6:35 PM
Dave B asks the perfect question.
Amy Alkon at October 8, 2014 10:21 PM
What's odd is the assumption that Wolf a) was/is smart and b) was sane. I remember Wolf when she first showed up on TV talking head shows and she always struck me as somewhere between daft and an unhinged moron.
(I have a vague memory of one show years ago with her and Camille Paglia--may have been Firing Line--Paglia demolished her in short order.)
WesternJoe at October 8, 2014 10:37 PM
> Dave B asks the perfect question.
Amy, this is insane. It's incomprehensible.
I don't understand why you're pretending to know things about Islam. You don't know anything about Muslims. You can't even acknowledge that my questions were asked, let alone answer them.
This is strange behavior. It's fantasy. A seven-year-old boy reads a Spiderman comic book and dreams of swing from the tops of tall buildings to fight bad guys.
REAL bad guys aren't worried about that shit.
Dave was apparently trying to set up a joke, but you couldn't see it. It goes likes this:
> What if we replaced Indonesia
> with Minnesota?
It would be wonderful. That was your point, right?
What was Amy's point? What explains her fondness for the question?
AMY: WHAT'S PERFECT ABOUT DAVE'S QUESTION?
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at October 9, 2014 10:52 AM
Amy Alkon
https://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2014/10/last-heard-of-t.html#comment-5214119">comment from Crid [CridComment at Gmail]You don't know anything about Muslims.
Muslims are a huge and diverse group. So, while it is untrue that I "don't know anything" about them, I wouldn't make blanket statements about them -- and couldn't.
What I do know a good deal about is Islam. Islam is a totalitarian system with virality built in that's masquerading as a religion. Practiced correctly, it is evil in action, and highly anti-individualist and anti-freedom, and demands the antithesis of Enlightenment values. Apostates are to be slaughtered, for example. There is no freedom of thought.
Amy Alkon
at October 9, 2014 11:38 AM
Was there ever any totalitarian system that didn't masquerade as a religion?
No totalitarian system wants its subjects to have divided loyalties.
The Nazis renounced Christianity's Jewish origins and built their own quasi-pagan belief system with the goal of completely eradicating Christianity from Germany.
The Communists banned religion in favor of state worship.
The Cult of Rationality was the French Revolution's attempt to replace existing religions with worship of itself. When that failed, it created the Cult of the Supreme Being. When that failed, it took away the Church's control over registries (birth, death, marriage), arrested Catholic priests for disloyalty, and cowed the remaining Catholics of France.
Mussolini, unable to co-opt or replace the Catholic Church, built principles acceptable to the Catholic Church into his fascist movement, gave the Church the Papal State, and compromised on control over education in Italy. Perhaps the Church's power and influence was why his movement never gained the level of control enjoyed by other totalitarian movements.
Franco essentially nationalized the Catholic Church in Spain - much like Ferdinand and Isabella did with the Spanish Inquisition.
Conan the Grammarian at October 9, 2014 12:20 PM
I wonder if religion came first with Mohammed and he then figured out how to build an empire based on it ... or if that was his goal all along.
Conan the Grammarian at October 9, 2014 12:22 PM
> I wouldn't make blanket statements
> about them -- and couldn't.
THAT'S —ALL— YOU MAKE.
You offer NO factual "statements" about their lives whatsoever.
Don't pretend you're being asked for generalities.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at October 9, 2014 1:34 PM
WTF do you know about "systems"?
Hell, what do THEY know about "systems"? That's the point!
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at October 9, 2014 1:35 PM
> Muslims are a huge and
> diverse group.
THEN WHAT THE FUCK, AMY ALKON???
Jeezus.
Why not learn something about them? Why are you afraid to learn something about them? You could share THAT.
Crid [CridComment at Gmail] at October 9, 2014 1:40 PM
I wasn't setting up a joke. I don't live in Indonesia. I defer, not that I think they know what they are doing, to the government. I do not defer to the government in Minnesota - after all our governor is nuts.
We have an elected Muslim congresscritter. We have large centers of Muslim immigrants in several cities, both large and small. First generation are not joining in well with our way of life. Neither is the second like we anticipated. We had a tax supported Muslim school teaching Islam that took a long time to shut down. Too long. Remember we are the state that elected a comedian and a wrestler. We have a lot of Mosques that preach Islam - don't know if they are Sunni are Shia. They should be Minnesotans - they are not.
They are adherents to Islam. Therefore, Amy's knowledge is of use.
Dave B at October 9, 2014 5:40 PM
Gee, Crid - you're making noises about content, but somehow you're not filling the gap, yourself.
Islam is apparently a wonderful and illuminating lifestyle where you are. Please tell us about it.
Here, the big deal is that the Baptists wouldn't let a Hooters open. Cracker Barrel was OK, though.
Radwaste at October 10, 2014 6:52 AM
I foresee two problems with swapping Minnesota for Indonesia:
(1) All those damned Lutherans will consume the entire regional supply of red, white, and blue plaid sportcoats and diet orange soda.
(2) Their Democratic Representative, Nolan Mills, might actually be held accountable for proudly stating that he doesn't need a semi-automatic rifle to hunt ducks. DUCKS.
I hesitate to ask how he thinks ice fishing is accomplished.
Gog_Magog_Carpet_Reclaimers at October 10, 2014 6:09 PM
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