"I Like Icke" Fans, T. J., and the Chardon Shootings

T. J. Lane, the alleged shooter at Chardon High School, Chardon, Ohio.

You have read much here lately of the Chardon shootings. Twilight Language may have been one of the first sites to note that according to the Facebook profile of T. J. Lane, one of Lane's favorite books is The David Icke Guide, and a person who inspired Lane is noted as "David Icke."

This blog's publishing of the initial Icke details caused quite a reaction among David Icke followers, who left comments filled with anger and disgust that this blog would merely report these facts and other hidden data.

Yet, not even the surface of the David Icke phenomenon was touched.

David Icke (above) reminds some folks, in appearance and in his cult following, of Marshall Applegate (below, seen as part of UFO's Bo and Peep) of later Heaven's Gate infamy.

Furthermore, T. J. Lane left other clues about his David Icke affection that were not mentioned.

Deeper exploration of T. J. Lane's "likes" reveals that many of his preferences reflect his David Icke (born April 29, 1952) leanings. For example, the only other person who "inspired" T. J. Lane is listed as Credo Mutwa (born July 21, 1921), a Zulu Sangoma or Shaman from South Africa. David Icke produced an interview of "his friend" Credo Mutwa, in which the Zulu shaman reveals "the story of the reptilian takeover of Planet Earth."

The February 27th notes on this blog about the Icke "favorites" of T. J. Lane resulted in fiery remarks (see comments here). To gain more insights about the Icke fan reaction, I interviewed the authors of a new book, Ritual America that is getting much attention among twilight language and conspiracy readers:

Adam Parfrey's and Craig Heimbichner's Ritual America.

Adam Parfrey & Craig Heimbichner

Loren Coleman (LC): In your new book, Ritual America, you mention a guy named David Icke. The alleged school shooter in Chardon, Ohio, T. J. Lane wrote on his Facebook page that one of the people who inspired him is David Icke. No one has blamed Icke for the Chardon shootings, but nevertheless, in a preemptive strike, there's been an amazing outpouring of Icke fans who have come to Icke's defense even though he's not been accused of anything. Why do you think this has occurred? 

Adam Parfrey (AP): It seems to me that the charismatic and compelling speaker David Icke mixes up believable concepts of high corporate crime with strange conceits that open up those risky ideas to derision—the reptilian alien villain, for example. The result of all this is to isolate Icke's audience into a cultic group of truth seekers who feel privileged to know and believe this strange mashup, and as cults are want to do, protect their charismatic truth-sayer from people who just don't "get it."

Craig Heimbichner (CH): One of the phenomena of American ritual culture, including the larger sociological "ritualizing" of response described in our book, is the intense emotionalism surrounding both secret brotherhoods and those who criticize them. We include several dramatic examples of this in our chapter, "Raising Tubal-Cain," which title is a play on the Master Mason password derived from Genesis 4:22 in the Bible, referencing the descendant of Cain, first killer. We also include David Icke in this chapter along with an excerpt representing his thinking on the Illuminati, the Matrix, the Lower 4th Dimension, and Satanism. 

Icke positions himself as an uber-critic of the Brotherhoods, tying them in to accusations of Zionism and alien intrigue. Those who are devoted to his thinking would naturally see criticism of Icke as part of that grand plot and hence I am not surprised that they are reacting as though a battle is on. Icke has cultivated that high-stakes mind-set, although I hasten to add that I don't blame him for any violence or shootings.

LC:  Despite what Icke admirers state about Icke being peaceful in his writings, doesn't Icke promote some bizarre notions that some humans are shape-shifting reptilians? 

CH: David Icke certainly does. We quote Icke in our book: "The reptilians and other manipulating entities exist only just outside the frequency range of our physical senses. Their own physical form has broken down and they can no longer reproduce. Thus they have sought to infiltrate human form and so use that to exist and control in this dimension. They chose the Earth for this infiltration..."

Kent Tayler cartoon

LC: How might a teenager internalize Icke's theories?

CH: Throw in hormones, video-games, drugs, social/family problems, and the belief that some X-Files style nightmare is the truth--aliens are leading the country--maybe even the classroom--and it's anyone's guess. It's conceivable that someone might decide to fight a nightmare by creating another one. It's a great tragedy however we finally explain it.

LC:  In what context does your Ritual America place David Icke?

AP:  Ritual America includes David Icke's material to show the modern day version of the anti-Mason, a lot of it risky and believable, and some of it is just so "out there" to cultivate its believers as wacky and isolated cultists. 

CH:  As I mentioned above, we place David Icke in a context of over a century of anti-Masonic authors, specifically quoting him on the Illuminati (after quoting James Wasserman, a current Epopt of the Illuminati in the OTO who gives an entirely different perspective). We write: "People don't quite know how to interpret the work of David Vaughan Icke, the 1952-born speaker and writer who famously describes leaders like George W. Bush and Queen Elizabeth II as being reptilian aliens. For Icke, borrowing from Nazi literature, situates Freemasonry as a Zionist-Illuminati structure with unlimited resources to drain human beings' energy and resources."

From Alex Cards: Parody Magic the Gathering Cards