Amazon reviewer's attack on Nick Bryant's book

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Amazon reviewer's attack on Nick Bryant's book

Postby lightningBugout » Sun Dec 06, 2009 7:09 pm

The following is an Amazon review of the Franklin Scandal by a user there named Vindalf and his comments on the subsequent Amazon thread, in which he reveals he is a regular RI reader.

His mastery of the basic mise en scene wrt Franklin is impressive, leading me to wonder what his real purpose is in the full-scale assault on Bryant's book. IMHO that makes his writings, as re-posted here, a valid topic for discussion. However, if Jeff disagrees and locks or deletes this thread, I will understand and do offer my apologies to him in advance.

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Vindalf@Amazon wrote:This book is about an alleged satanic pedophile cult, run by the social, political and financial elite of North America, which supposedly maintains control over policy-makers through blackmailing them about their participation in sadistic kiddie porn and snuff films - despite the author's claims that it is not a conspiracy theory book.

This theory, referred to as The Pedocracy by its adherents, has a lot of credibility problems not least of them being its adherents themselves which include people like David Icke - who claims that the British Royal family are really alien lizard-people - and prominent American far-right Militia/Patriot fanatics.

The specific chapter of this theory which Nick Bryant is attempting to rehabilitate in this book, has its own share of credibility problems. Some principle proponents and alleged witnesses of the Franklin chapter are convicted sex offenders, such as child molestor Paul Bonacci and pornographer Rusty Nelson. Some previous investigators of the Franklin chapter, such as Ted Gunderson, have destroyed their own credibility with paranoid tales of CIA/Alien/Satanist plots to shut them up via assassination. More discrediting baggage includes blatantly false allegations that Hunter Thompson made kiddie snuff films and that reporter Jeff Gannon was really missing child Johnny Gosch.

Nick Bryant attempts to sanitize the Franklin chapter of the Pedocracy theory. He portrays himself as a rational skeptic seduced by "the evidence" into a believer. To support this idea, he brings up and dismisses some of the more obviously false allegations associated with the case. He also openly states that he caught some of his sources lying to him, but he nonetheless accepts the portions of their statements which support his main thesis. He states that he "never caught" other of his sources "in a lie", yet he apparently accepts at face value their tales of having been involved in a child sacrificing satanic pedophile ring.

The bulk of the book consists of interviews Bryant conducted with alleged Franklin victims, and some documents from the time of the Franklin Grand Juries. Most of these interviews and documents, however, are nothing more than detailed assertions. Bryant apparently believes that, if one person's unverifiable assertions support another person's unverifiable assertions, all those assertions become proven facts. No wonder he isn't a police officer.

Ultimately, this book appears to be an attempt to resurrect and rehabilitate the Satanic Panic which brought us the Martinsville, Sask debacle. Bryant begins the book by stating that he came upon the Franklin case as a result of his search for satanic cults in America, and ends the book by uncritically reciting allegations of ongiong satanic ritual abuse from the highly biased Centre for the Treatment of Dissassociative Disorders. Bryant portrays himself as a skeptic, but unwittingly reveals himself to be a True Believer in very sordid conspiracy theories.


Kris,

You can keep the money, I know you have cash flow problems.

The coincidence of Gunderson and Bryant both claiming to have taken a trip with Nelson in search of the non-existent stash of photos naturally raised some suspicions, but I suppose it's not inconceivable that there could be two people gullible enough to give an ex-con an ultimately pointless all-expenses paid trip around Colorado. However, if Gunderson is not used as a source at all, then who was Bryant's second-hand source for the final days of Troy Boner? That tale seems to have originated with Gunderson, also. If Gunderson wasn't the source, why doesn't Bryant name his source?

Your reaction to my observation about the tired lie of initial skepticism simply underlines how important that 'hook' is to the marketing of the book. Like the other marketing hooks, i.e. that you & Bryant are martyring yourselves to the cause of "truth & justice", and of course, that he had his life threatened. I assume you've had death threats too?

Your assertion that "some officials" ended up in "bigger and better jobs" solely and directly as a pay-off for their actions with respect to the Franklin Grand Juries is not supported by documentation in the book. There are no smoking gun letters, or transcripts of phone calls, or anything else of that nature - from "higher figures" in business or government, directing those officials to behave in the manner they did, nor offering them better jobs to behave in that manner, nor congratulating them on "a job well done" in the aftermath. I was expecting the book to contain some such concrete verification of the assertion you have made and that's not in it. Hence, I was disappointed.

Oh yes...I won't give you my name, because the FBI and the CIA pay me to disseminate disinformation - obviously.



I was also disappointed by the wide range of omissions in Nick Bryant's book. As an example, Bryant mentions the sinister implications Customs report about The Finders and claims to have scoured the internet for information about them. He claims that his attempts to interview people associated with The Finders resulted only in a series of "no comment" refusals. Very ominous. Yet, he fails to mention the fantastic CTRL article on The Finders from 1998, which even includes an interview with THE Finder himself - Marion Pettie. I know Mr Milligan will remember that article, as he was the editor of CTRL.

Then there is the omission of the entire social context within which the allegations about Satanic cult abuse & murder, made by people like Bonnaci and Morre, arose. There was not one word in the book about the saturation level of sensationalist coverage on the topics of SRA and MPD (and the alleged connections between them) on daytime television from the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, not to mention similar coverage in newsprint and magazines, numerous books authored by alleged SRA survivors and documented fake "ex-satanists" such as Mike Warnke, nor the fraudulent "training" on these subjects that people in psychiatry, social work, child welfare and law enforcement were exposed to during that period. Perhaps these omissions occurred because Bryant was genuinely ignorant of these realities, but I doubt that.


'd like you to provide documentation that the actions of the police or Grand Jury members were directed by "more powerful figures" in business or government, rather than talking about what you believe ought to have been included in my review of the book.


There is a lot more that we could talk about.
We could discuss the fact that members of specific internet communities were solicited to write rave reviews of Bryant's book and post them on Amazon, and that these solicitations even involved other Trine Day authors (not quite the same thing as writing a review of your own book under a pseudonym, but perhaps the next worst thing), resulting in 17 5-star rating reviews. Are you sure you wouldn't rather settle for: "I was disappointed"?


Try reading what I actually wrote. I said: "members of specific internet communities were solicited to write rave reviews of Bryant's book and post them on Amazon", I didn't accuse Bryant of soliciting reviews or telling anyone what to write. Nor did I state that any of the reviews here were written by Trine Day authors. I said that the solicitations, not the reviews, involved other Trine Day authors.

I believe Bryant experienced threats and or warnings that his life was in danger. Lots of people have. I've been stalked and threatened by internet conspiranazis, myself. There's lots of kooks in the world, and some of them like to issue death threats. There is, however, no documentation in the book that any threats Bryant may have experienced were issued by anyone involved with this case. You are certainly implying that to be the case. Got any proof of that? And, you are most definitely using "Bryant risked his life to bring you this story" as a marketing hook. There is no asking of questions involved - the back cover of your book baldly states: "He has had his life threatened, his car searched, and his actions monitored".

I wonder how many death threats the people involved in this case, who were not convicted of any crime but nevertheless "tried" and "found guilty" in print, radio, and digital forums by self-appointed vigilantes from Gunderson to DeCamp to Jeff Rense, have experienced? I wonder how many more they, and their families, will experience as a result of Bryant's book. You don't give a flying F about that, do you? So why should anyone care if some random nut told Nick Bryant that his life was in danger?


I'm not accusing you personally. If you felt I was, then I apologize for that. I'm sure that some reviews of this book were unsolicited and sincere. But I know for a fact that the total number of 17 5-star reviews includes solicited reviews.


Kris, you really are a master of self-serving misinterpretation I have to say.
I usually don't bother to write reviews. As Ghost noted, the one for this book is my first and only one. I was inspired to write one, when I became aware of solicitations for reviews of this book, which were posted to your author Jeff Wells' forum. Kind of like Jeb Bush asking members of the Dick Cheney fan club to write reviews for a book by G W Bush. And then I came here and found that someone had used their review of The Franklin Scandal to plug Jeff Wells' book! I decided at that point that I ought to express my disappointment with the book publicly, in the stongest possible terms. Sorry to have intruded into the self-serving 'incestuous' cheerleading domination of these reviews.

Here's a genuine aspersion for you to answer if you wish.

There would seem to be a high probability that some youths living in Boystown were sexually exploited by some adults at some point in time. Every other Roman Catholic agency caring for children around the world has had such problems, its almost inconceivable that Boystown would be a lone exception. There is no question that some children in Nebraska really were abused, as there were indictments against people such as Web and Citron that were validated by convictions.

It seems very likely that there may have been other victims, who did not receive the justice of a proper investigation and prosecution of their abusers. It is possible that this failure involved incompetence or some form of self-serving neglect by members of law enforcement or other officials. That's one part of a recipe for true justice being denied to real victims.

Another part of that recipe is contamination of evidence and witness testimony by conspiracy-minded 'issue' zealots, amateur investigators, frauds and con-artists exploiting victims to further their own agendas. Sometimes these people are misguided with good intentions, nevertheless their interference can doom real victims to never receiving true justice. They can lead victims to add farcical and blatantly false elements to their stories, such as satanic sacrifice or mind control fantasies. They sometimes tell one victim's story to other victims, reveal identities of victims and alleged abusers to other victims, conceal evidence or hide witnesses from law enforcement, spread fraudulent accusations that they think will "support" victim allegations, and a host of other activities that may predjudice police and other justice officials against a genuine complainant.

There were a huge number of such persons involved in the Franklin case; satan-obsessed foster parents, fraudulent "Occult crime" experts, unprofessional child welfare and psychiatric practitioners, the Concerned Parents vigilante group, conspiracy-obsessed preacher Revend Bevel, John DeCamp, Ted Gunderson, Roy Stephens, Dr Densen-Gerber, Gregory Reid, various Larouchites, etc. Their roles in the Franklin story have been ommitted from Bryant's book or, when he mentions them at all, he merely repeats their own assertions that all their actions were innocent and appropriate. The Franklin Scandal tells only one, extremely partisan portion of the story, the one that Bryant obviously intended to tell from the very beginning. Conspiracy theorists of various types also played a role in forever ensuring that some true victims would be denied real justice in Nebraska.

Who deprives true victims of the hope for real justice? Conspiracy theorists do. People like you, Mr Milligan.
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Postby chiggerbit » Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:35 am

I've been stalked and threatened by internet conspiranazis, myself.


DE, izzat yu?

Edit to add that I don't recall that DE ever used the term "satanic panic", so maybe it wasn't DE. All the rest of the argument sure sounds like him, though.
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Postby chiggerbit » Mon Dec 07, 2009 12:30 pm

His mastery of the basic mise en scene wrt Franklin is impressive, leading me to wonder what his real purpose is in the full-scale assault on Bryant's book.


I'm not so sure the target is actually Bryant.
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Postby chiggerbit » Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:06 pm

whom Noreen Gosch, under the pseudonym of "Luke" claimed was 'set-up' and framed.


Luke is Noreen????
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Postby chiggerbit » Mon Dec 07, 2009 1:15 pm

I don't live in the US. I lived in a midwestern state for a few years when I was a small child, but apart from that I've never set foot in the U.S. again. Unfortunately, what takes place in your country has ripple effects in almost every other nation. Conspiracy theorists, vigilantes and witchhunters disrupting social harmony and the rule of law in the US impacts my society also.


Nope, must not be DE.
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Postby American Dream » Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:56 am

I don't think of DE as dismissive of organized pedophilia and mind control conspiracies at all.

Is there something I missed?
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Postby chiggerbit » Tue Dec 08, 2009 11:00 am

DE holds a grudge against Jeff and Trine Day.
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Re:

Postby operator kos » Wed Jan 20, 2010 12:19 am

chiggerbit wrote:DE holds a grudge against Jeff and Trine Day.


What was his beef with Trine Day, if you don't mind filling me in?
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Re: Re:

Postby elfismiles » Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:14 pm

operator kos wrote:
chiggerbit wrote:DE holds a grudge against Jeff and Trine Day.


What was his beef with Trine Day, if you don't mind filling me in?


I think the image of Trine Day as "just a conspiracy publishing house" was the gist.

I don't know if Bryant tried more traditional / "respected" mainstream publishing houses to put out his book but I suspect, like I think most of us would, that those outlets wouldn't come near that material.

Who published The Franklin Coverup? AWT? Not even sure who they are.

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Re: Amazon reviewer's attack on Nick Bryant's book

Postby operator kos » Wed Jan 20, 2010 10:54 pm

Well that's silly. Right in the intro Bryant talks about how every mainstream publisher in the nation shut him down. I think Trine Day is a great publisher personally, but then again I'm biased.
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Re: Amazon reviewer's attack on Nick Bryant's book

Postby Joe Hillshoist » Sun Jan 24, 2010 11:36 pm

I wouldn't take the personal info on face value (raised in the midwest moved out of US) anyone can say anything... And the mention of "Larouchites" always brings DE to mind ... it certainly seems like him.

There would seem to be a high probability that some youths living in Boystown were sexually exploited by some adults at some point in time. Every other Roman Catholic agency caring for children around the world has had such problems, its almost inconceivable that Boystown would be a lone exception. There is no question that some children in Nebraska really were abused, as there were indictments against people such as Web and Citron that were validated by convictions.


Am I right in thinking DE was/is a staunch catholic? I seem to remember him saying that (tho not necessarily a right wing catholic - there is a difference). Its only ever Catholics who describe their churches atrocious record of child abuse in the terms I quoted, tho that could just be cautionary writing and the use of e prime... (Ps I have nothing against Catholics either, my mum is one.)
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Re: Amazon reviewer's attack on Nick Bryant's book

Postby chiggerbit » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:30 pm

I don't recall DE ever saying he was Catholic. Eve said she was a devout Catholic.

anyone can say anything


You're right, Joe. Also, it could be one of his sycophants. Possibly a Canadian one?
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Re: Amazon reviewer's attack on Nick Bryant's book

Postby chiggerbit » Tue Jan 26, 2010 9:34 pm

It's interesting that this person would go to Amazon to post this review, rather than post directly here. Anyway, I'm assuming this person hasn't posted here.
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Re: Amazon reviewer's attack on Nick Bryant's book

Postby lightningBugout » Wed Mar 10, 2010 4:11 pm

Certain parties believe Vindalf is none other than Michael Aquino. Not sure I'm ready to buy that in particular, but....Vindalf has been going on for months now and demonstrates a level of dedication to his cause that does not fit with that of an armchair skeptic. Something stinks.

ps. hello all, I am back in a very limited fashion.
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Re: Amazon reviewer's attack on Nick Bryant's book

Postby barracuda » Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:29 pm

LBO, were you a participant in that thread on Amazon?
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