The 9/11 "conspiracy" is the ultimate McGuffin – it's nothing at all. Its hidden function, though, is very real: to undermine the basis of government – any government, government in principle – and to "reveal" all government as a lethal threat to the people, as an eternal conspiracy. The "Truthers" are anarcho-capitalist libertarians and supporters of Ayn Rand. They are engaged in a vast and frighteningly dangerous conspiracy to replace government with enormous corporations acting according to the "market", and outside any government control or restraint. In this nightmarish new world, people would be brainwashed drones "owned" by corporate leviathans. There would be no freedom, no hope and no escape. Wake up. See what's really going on. See past the smoke and mirrors. Ask yourself that ancient question – cui bono? Who will benefit most from the Truthers' new model of society? The answer is the same one it has always been: the Old World Order. This is a book by the Pythagorean Illuminati ... the Lizard Kings!

Jordan Peterson, a modern phenomenon with legions of fans and an equally substantial number of detractors, has appeared as if from nowhere and achieved such polarizing prominence that he is clearly riding the cultural wave. It is vital to understand the cultural circumstances underlying the rise to fame of such people. This book is neither for nor against Peterson, although it advances a degree of critical appraisal. His precise views are not the central subject of this book. Nor are his biographical details. Instead, this book concerns the historical forces that are now at play, which, for the conservative wing of the political spectrum, Peterson crystallizes perhaps better than anyone else, with the single exception of Donald Trump. Where Trump is an active executive agent of the spirit of the times – actually taking critical decisions and directly shaping events – Peterson may be viewed in more passive terms as providing an intellectual justification for Trump and his base.

Imagine a world without quality. That world is coming. Quality is being assassinated by mediocrity. We are told that a rising tide lifts all boats. A rising tide of mediocrity makes everything mediocre and drowns everything of quality. You can't find any quality because it is surrounded by so much mediocrity. Nietzsche said, "The higher we soar the smaller we seem to those who cannot fly." Mediocre people cannot recognize quality. For them, it's tiny, very far away, and irrelevant to their lives. Vicki Corona wrote, "Remember that life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away!" In the land of mediocrity, life is measured more and more by the former and features none of the latter. We live in a muzak world, a world of sanitized, sterilized elevator music, designed to be as innocuous as possible, forming a uniform background, a background of absolute, mind-wiping mediocrity. The whole world is becoming like that. What will you do about it?

This incendiary book constitutes a formal theological disproof of the central tenets of Christianity - the Trinity and the Incarnation. Christianity is a staggeringly false religion. The reason most Christians continue to believe is that a) they have been relentlessly brainwashed and b) they don't actually know anything about Christianity. The absurdities of Christianity can be understood only by examining the many heresies that sprang up in the early centuries of the Church, challenging every aspect of orthodox Christian thinking. These heresies have boxed in Christianity so much that all that's left is a statement of what Christianity ISN'T. It's only possible to be a Trinitarian Christian by stating the empty formula "three persons in one God" without ever daring to specify what "person" means. Similarly, Christians mouth the hollow formula of the Incarnation: "two natures, human and divine, in one person" without having any idea of what "nature" means.

Conspiracy theories are a part of the human condition. Everyone believes at least one, but given the number of conspiracy theories, it is more likely that everyone believes a few. Some people have a worldview defined by them. Conspiracy theories are just another reminder that people disagree about many things, including truth. These disagreements have always existed and always will. We have to live with conspiracy theories and with the people who believe them. The only way to do this is have compassion and tolerance for others, and to hold our own beliefs to high standards. This book introduces students to the research into conspiracy theories and the people who propagate and believe them. In doing so, it addresses the psychological, sociological, and political sources of conspiracy theorizing Uscinski rigorously analyzes the most current arguments and evidence while providing numerous real-world examples so students can contextualize the current debates. Each chapter addresses important current questions, provides conceptual tools, defines important terms, and introduces the appropriate methods of analysis.

Life is eating you up and spitting you out. The apex predators are everywhere. The pressure is rising. Can you cope? Predatory capitalism is consuming you from the outside, while your personal demons are eating you from the inside. Will they meet in the middle? Nietzsche said, "In loneliness, the lonely one eats himself; in a crowd, the many eat him. Now choose." What's it to be? Will you devour life, or will you allow it to devour you? You need to get on top of the game, ahead of the game. Only the best players can level up. What kind of player are you?

Blaise Pascal said, "Men are so necessarily mad, that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness." Crazy people get locked up. Their madness is easy to detect. They have drastically disordered thoughts. It's as if their dream content is leaking into their daytime reality. They don't make sense. They can't keep it together. They're incoherent. They can't interact meaningfully with others. They have lost touch with reality. But what if there's a second kind of madness, a much more subtle and dangerous kind that goes unnoticed? In this version of madness, people have ordered thoughts, indeed often highly ordered. They make sense. They keep it together. They can meaningfully interact with others, often brilliantly, and they seem completely in touch with reality. What's not to like? Not one of them is locked up. Far from it. In fact, some of them are running our world.

Imagine the Spirit of America as the Fisher King - the Maimed King - of the medieval Arthurian romances. The King is charged with preserving the Holy Grail (American greatness). But the King has been wounded in the genitals and rendered impotent. The power of the Grail is the only thing that keeps him alive. He cannot move. He is unable to perform his tasks. His kingdom suffers just as he does. His impotence stretches across all the land, affecting its fertility, devastating it and turning it into a barren wasteland. The Wounded King reigns over a cursed land. America is a Wasteland for its people. The rich elite - the 1% - are the wound that afflicts the nation and curses it. Only the plutocrats prosper in America. Only they have great and glittering opportunities. Everyone else is left to fester and rot. The masses are supposed to spend their whole lives fantasizing about success. Dream". As George Carlin said, "It's called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it."

This book takes another look at politics and popular culture. The author has tried to explain the politics of popular culture as part of historical and cultural processes, helping the reader understand not only how popular culture has affected our politics, but also where it is taking us.

It's finally happening. Reality is disintegrating. The Age of Nihilism is dawning. Fake news, post-truth, post-facts, alternative facts, "everyone has their own truth", the Dunning-Kruger effect, Mythos, hyperreality, hyporeality, virtual reality, virtual irreality, simulation, simulacra, the copy without the original, the map that precedes the territory, the authentic fake. Whom will you believe? Whom will you trust? Who is telling the truth? Who is lying to you? It's time to explore the Unreal city, the Unreal world. Soon enough, humanity itself will be Unreal.