Saturday, May 17, 2008

The Great Derangement

Rolling Stones journalist Matt Taibbi is known for writing one of the best parodies of the 9/11 truth movement:

CHENEY: Of course, just toppling the Twin Towers will never be enough. No one would give us the war mandate we need if we just blow up the Towers. Clearly, we also need to shoot a missile at a small corner of the Pentagon to create a mightily underpublicized additional symbol of international terrorism -- and then, obviously, we need to fake a plane crash in the middle of f***ing nowhere in rural Pennsylvania.


RUMSFELD: Yeah, it goes without saying that the level of public outrage will not be sufficient without that crash in the middle of f***ing nowhere.


CHENEY: And the Pentagon crash -- we'll have to do it in broad daylight and say it was a plane, even though it'll really be a cruise missile.


Now it he has apparently dedicated an entire book to the subject of right wing religious fundamentalists, which also discusses the fact that truthers share many of the same traits of religious zealots, something I have been arguing for years.

In his new book, "The Great Derangement: A Terrifying True Story of War, Politics, and Religion at the Twilight of the American Empire," Taibbi embarks on a journey through contemporary America, a place that he believes is on the verge of a psychological collapse. Reporting for Rolling Stone, Taibbi goes undercover as a born-again Christian to investigate John Hagee's apocalyptic mega-church. He also documents his contentious experiences with members of the 9/11 Truth Movement, whose conspiracy theories he portrays as leftist parallels to the delusional beliefs of the religious right. Taibbi sees Americans on both sides of the political spectrum reverting to a new tribalism that makes communication and mutual understanding near impossible. In a book that is as darkly funny as it is depressing, Taibbi assails every aspect of modern-day America.

Click on the link for an interview with the author.

Update: Walter Ego points us to an MSNBC interview with the author.


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