Jon Ronson Saves!

Salon’s Joanna Smith Rakoff subtly turns on the heat in this in-depth ’02 interview with Ronson:

http://dir.salon.com/story/people/conv/2002/03/14/ronson/index.html

Because Ronson’s books go off in so many tangents, often, I feel as if sometimes readers might easily miss an extemely relevent bit of info.

For example, Salon questions Ronson on his choice to agree to watch over some money which he is told will be used to fund terrorist attacks… Ronson admits in the book that he was torn over what to do. As a journalist, he wants to be objective. But still…how can you be objective in such a situation?

From the interview:

This morning I was on this Fox television show and the audience was shouting things like, “Why didn’t you just get a gun and shoot the guy? Why didn’t you just do that? Why were you such a coward? How are you going to help us destroy the axis of evil?”

And yesterday, I was on “Fresh Air” and Terry Gross said, basically, “You portrayed these people as ludicrous, harmless buffoons but you were wrong, weren’t you?”

SALON: Is she right?

My view is that the book is accurate. The way I portrayed the people is accurate. Because they’re human beings and we have a kind of wonderful capacity to be absurd and ridiculous. It would be easy to portray them as one-dimensional demons, but I wanted to do the opposite. Just because they’re buffoons it doesn’t mean they can’t fly planes into the World Trade Center. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

SALON:  Right, but there were a few times when you were in a position to do something — and you didn’t. At the end of your year with Omar Bakri, for example, he asks you to watch the money he’s been collecting throughout the year — money for Hamas that, as you say, “will go to kill Jews in Israel” — and you think about taking the money.

Well, that was obviously a really difficult thing. When I was writing the chapter, I thought, This is an uncomfortable truth about what happens with this kind of journalism — when a journalist gets too close to his subject. It was a moment about journalism more than anything else. But now, after Sept. 11, I can’t help think that we’re in the kind of climate where you’d actually want me to take the money. If I had taken the money I probably would be selling more books here in America.

Ronson’s voice is almost hypnotizingly calm when he’s on radio…

http://huffduffer.com/flash/player.swf?soundFile=http://saminnes.co.uk/Jon_Ronson_Worst_internet_date.mp3

Jon Ronson’s The Men Who Stare at Goats makes many startling claims; the film based on the book goes even further, though granted the film’s not meant to be non-fiction.  But the book IS meant to be non-fiction, and some question Ronson’s representation of the ‘facts.’  

Jim Channon, the retired Army colonel featured in both the book and film (in the movie, his character is called Bill Django, played by Jeff Bridges) has spoken often on this topic.  Here’s a few selected bits from The First Earth Battalion’s website; these FAQ’s are written by Lt Col Channon (retired) himself:

WHAT IS THE MOVIE “THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS” AND HOW DOES IT RELATE TO THE FIRST EARTH BATTALION?

The movie evolved from a book of the same title written by British satirical writer Jon Ronson. It stars four of the most creative minds in Hollywood today: George Clooney, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges and Ewan McGregor.

HOW ACCURATELY DO THE BOOK AND THE MOVIE PORTRAY THE REAL STORY OF THE FIRST EARTH BATTALION?

Though they both claim to be based on a true story, author Jon Ronson and screenwriter Peter Straughan took wide artistic license blurring the lines between fact and fiction in order to create a somewhat dark Hollywood comedy. Here are some important facts:

• Channon retired from the military in 1982 and did not serve in Iraq. (Ronson speculated that the sound healing therapies detailed in Evolutionary Tactics evolved into torture techniques in Abu Graib or Guantanamo. This is total speculation since sounds have been used since the beginning of armed struggle to influence moral or frighten the enemy.

WHAT ABOUT THE GOAT LAB AT FORT BRAGG, DID THEY REALLY KILL GOATS THERE?

Jim says he hasn’t a clue. John Alexander another battalion member, mentioned below, says Ronson called himself a documentary film-maker
and then took extra-ordinary license with whatever he wanted.

http://www.firstearthbattalion.com/frequently-asked-questions/what-is-the-first-earth-battalion-and-how-did-it-originate.php

Even John Sergeant, Ronson’s friend and fellow film maker, had some dispute with the film, though this was more over credits than claims. 

Sergeant told The Independent: “I worked intensely through 2003 and 2004 on it.” He said that, had the material remained within the context of a documentary, he would happily have let the matter go.

“I never formally agreed for the material I unearthed to be used in other media,” he added, “and I was extremely uncomfortable when it was, especially when I was airbrushed out of things. Ewan McGregor is playing this character who finds the story. [Jon] presents that person as [himself] but really, it is me.”

To Ronson’s credit, he did dedicate the book to John Sergeant and mentioned him in the afterword of the novel.  But the movie credits offered zero mention of Sergeant at all… just Ronson. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/clooney-caught-in-crossfire-as-war-breaks-out-over-latest-film-1813635.html

I knew it the whole time!

Ronson runs the Psychopath Test on Conan… oops, be careful what you ask for, CoCo!

Actually, no, though Conan does meet several of the classic criteria, he’s ultimately judged by Ronson as ‘not’ a psycho… although there’s certainly Something wrong with the guy!  Still, love the hair…

http://teamcoco.com/video/jon-ronson-psychopath-test

Only slightly dated Colbert interview with Jon Ronson about The Men Who Stare at Goats.  Colbert tries to pull the ol’ sparkly eyes move on Ronson, then pressures him to attempt to stop the heart of a goat… with dire results! 

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/249700/september-17-2009/goat-lab—jon-ronson

In an interview posted on his website, www.jonronson.com, Ronson argues he’s really not so much of a faux naif, meaning someone who sort of pretends to be dumber than they are in order to trick others, or lull them into some false sense of security so they’ll reveal a bit of info they might otherwise not share.   

From the interview:

With regards your presentational style how faux is your naif ? And generally how happy are you with your TV persona?

Jon Ronson: I have only got my TV persona (if it IS a ‘persona’, that is, I’m not sure that it is a persona) right on a few occasions: Secret Rulers of the World and Tottenham Ayatollah. The rest of the time it hasn’t quite worked. Faux Naifery is a delicate art that can get annoying if mishandled. I’ve been doing a lot of mishandling of late.
I don’t know how faux it is. Much of Them is about me trying to track down the Bilderberg Group, who the likes of Omar Bakri and David Icke believe is the shadowy cabal that secretly controls the world.
Now, I could have done a whole lot of research about Bilderberg before I set off to try and track them down. but I didn’t want to solve the mystery before I had the adventure, whatever the adventure might be. 

The rest can be read here:  http://www.jonronson.com/jon_biog.html

Ronson’s on Conan this Wednesday (18 Jul 11).  Rock on, CoCo!  Maybe it’ll make up for having Seth Green on the show…

http://teamcoco.com/schedule

This is the first article I’ve seen where Ronson, albeit indirectly, tackles the topic of alien life.  His interview with Paul Davies (for the Guardian, of course) is a good read.  Davies is on the SETI (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Post-Detection Task Group. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2010/mar/06/paul-davies-aliens-welcome-jon-ronson

Davies’s website: http://cosmos.asu.edu/index.html

The article ends with a ‘damn interesting’ reference to the so-called Wow signal–proof perhaps of the one and only signal Earth has ever received from space. 

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-wow-signal/

The Book Show asked Ronson which book everyone should read before the age of 21.  His pick? 

Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut! 

An unusual choice, perhaps, but not one I disagree with… although I’d say everyone would have to re-read it before they turn 35, just to makesure they are old enough to comprehend at least more of it than that did at 21.  And for learning writing style, sorry but I disagree with Ronson on that one.  I think a young writer needs to learn the basic rules before cliff diving into a style like Vonnegut’s, who basically broke most of the rules… He knew what he was doing (more or less). 

Which book do YOU think everyone should read before the tender age of 21?

http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk/features/787817/books_to_read_before_youre_21.html

Too busy to be bothered with reading?  How about just listening…

Ronson’s radio archives are up on BBC:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/comedy/jonronson_on.shtml

And This American Life:

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/contributors/jon-ronson

As his site says, each segment ”… delves into a world of personal stories surrounding the central theme which all shed light on the human condition. Sometimes Jon goes in search of answers and stories himself, sometimes his team of contributors do it for him. The end result is an original, fascinating, funny, poignant and often philosophical journey through the human experience.”  Check ‘em out!

From a Tomorrowland article:
“In 1979, the United States Army created a top-secret New Age unit called the First Earth Battalion. It was to be a testing ground for new fighting techniques such as remote viewing, walking through walls and killing goats just by staring at them. The army’s plans for a troop of Om-chanting warrior monks was never fully realized, but the spirit of the First Earth Battalion lives on today.

Journalist Jon Ronson uncovers all this and plenty more in The Men Who Stare at Goats. I just finished it, and let me tell you it’s unstoppable. Unputdownable. Alternately hilarious and terrifying, the book represents the most spectacularly bizarre set of facts about the US military that I have ever encountered. Ronson manages to detour through—and elegantly link—George W. Bush’s bloated Black Ops budget, the Heaven’s Gate cult, Waco, Gitmo, and MK-ULTRA, the CIA’s secret LSD program from the 1950s….”
Read the rest here:

http://www.tomorrowland.org/slime/2006/06/evolutionary_ta.html

My sympathy and support for our friends in Great Britain as they commemorate this day, 7 July…the sixth anniversary of the London bombings. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7_July_2005_London_bombings

One of the survivors was Ms. Rachel North, mentioned in Ronson’s book, The Psychopath Test.  A whirlwind blogger, she posted of her experiences daily:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4670099.stm

This article doesn’t reference Jon Ronson but it’s no coincidence it came out just after his book, The psychopath Test.  Regardless, Ronson jokes a lot about his psychopath-spotting abilities but in his book he seems as skeptical at times about the ability of a checklist to diagnose such things accurately each time.  This article, therefore, isn’t so much as a rebuttal but more of an addendum…

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/26/136619689/can-a-test-really-tell-whos-a-psychopath

No surprise Stanley Kubrick was obsessed with Napoleon (to the point of having an entire library of books on the dictator)… but his type font obsession…now that’s interesting!
http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=160926.0

To look like Clooney… they’re basically twins.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jul/01/why-i-run-ronson-hattenstone-catherine-bennett-clooney

One of my favorite films; read the book, watch this movie!

“Most goat-related military activity is still highly classified.”

“If you recognize some of those [psychopathic] traits in yourself, if you’re feeling a creeping anxiety about it, that means you are not one.” – Jon Ronson
Another great review of The Psychopath Test, by Kylie Sturgess, Skeptical Inquirer Magazine, The Magazine for Science and Reason:

http://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/book_review_the_psychopath_test_a_journey_through_the_madness_industry

In his books, which all feature him as a character, Ronson seems at times sensitive to criticism. He’s concerned when critics pan his work, call him either a ‘shill’ or ‘stupid,’ as he’s said. To be sure of the meaning, I had to look up shill–a shill is a person who ‘poses as a customer in order to decoy others into participating,’ or ‘a person who publicizes or praises something or someone for reasons of self-interest, personal profit, or friendship or loyalty.’ Basically, a poser.

JON RONSON SAVES is run by fan, but it is not a ‘fan’ site, per se. I have my own critiques of his work, but I’ll say this–I’m convinced he’s no shill. I don’t think he falls into the first category of shillhood at all, that of being a poser, an insider. He’s a journalist, not 1) a paranormal soldier; 2) Bilderberg Group member; 3) psychiatrist…or psychopath! It’s laughably implausible to believe he’s working from within the organizations or groups he’s exposing.

Which brings us to the second shill category, a person who publicizes things for money.

Again, he’s a journalist!!

Yes, he writes for cash, and even questioned the point of blogging (writing for free!) but calling him a shill in this pejorative way is like labeling any hard-working individual who needs a paycheck to support his or her family. I believe we can put the whole shill idea behind us.

So… is Jon Ronson stupid?

Well, there is stupid as in stupid, and there’s stupid as in naïve, perhaps? Of course he isn’t stupid stupid. He’s a bestselling author! Sorry, I know you can be successful and still be considered stupid…but chances are, most successful people may think differently about a thing, but they aren’t utter idiots or they wouldn’t be where they are (unless someone else put them there).
Now, is he stupid as in naïve?

Here again, I hardly think so. He’s unearthed some of the most bizarre cover-ups, conspiracies, and outright deceptions in recent history. And he’s done it in a very Sherlock Holmesian way–simply by playing connect the dots, by digging and digging into the minutia, by hitting a story from every angle, interviewing every bit player and minor actor who would (maybe to their later regret) speak to him. You may not agree with everything he says, but in most cases he’s not jumping to conclusions but rather presenting the accounts of witnesses and experts as related to him in interviews. Does he leave things out; does he put a spin on the stories? A bit, of course. He is a journalist, and a Gonzo one at that. But I see him as a humble one, too, a self-deprecating seeker of greater truths. He expresses his doubts often, doesn’t tell you what to think, he just tells you what was said, sometimes tells you his opinion…and then steps aside, leaving the rest to the reader.

Harrison Koehli of Sign of the Times (sott.net), does a good review (and yes, critique) of The Psychopath Test here:
http://mail.sott.net/articles/show/228876-Review-Jon-Ronson-s-The-Psychopath-Test-A-Journey-Through-the-Madness-Industry

Fans of Hunter S. Thompson, read how the great Gonzo inspired Ronson’s style in this article for The Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/feb/22/huntersthompson

Sure you could Google this in a nanosecond.. but I’ve done it for you!  Why?  Because I care. 

I want this guy’s writing to be read!  So wake up! 

No, I’m not a nut (do non-nuts have to say they aren’t nuts?).  I’m also not a believer in conspiracies just for the sake of believing unusual things.  But some things are true, things you might not believe at first, things you might not expect.  Ronson has been pulling back the curtain for years.  Get on the bus, Gus! 

Jon Ronson official website: 

http://www.jonronson.com/index.html

Or anyone else you know for that matter?  Odds are, you DO know a psychopath.  I found that I do.  Like Ronson, who simply took a crash course on psychopath-spotting, which he chronicles in his new book, The Psychopath Test, you can learn the tricks on snap analyzing people who may or may not be totally insane.  His publisher, Picador, posted the below test…

http://www.picador.com/Blogs/2011/6/Is-your-boss-a-psychopath-Take-the-test

Have you read the man’s work??
Probably, if you are visiting this site…but if not, get clued in quick! Ronson’s non-fictional accounts of the odd and bizarre world we dwell in may save your life! At a minimum they’ll alter the way you view your life and the society we live in.
He’s the author of 3 eye-opening bestsellers:
THEM: Adventures with Extremists,
The Men Who Stare at Goats, and recentlty,
The Psychopath Test.

A quirky English journalist, he’s written other books and written/directed a series called “Crazy Rulers of the World,” which you won’t find on DVD but can preview here:
http://www.veoh.com/watch/v19804260T8EsW73r?h1=Crazy+Rulers+of+the+World+-+Part+1%3A+The+Men+Who+Stare+At+Goats

Ronson’s just done a turn on The Daily Show, viewable on their site here:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-may-16-2011/jon-ronson

I suggest you read as much of him as you can! And no, I don’t work for his publishers! I’m just a fan…like you will be, if you aren’t already.