The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry (26 page)
Read The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry Online
Authors: Jon Ronson
Tags: #Social Scientists & Psychologists, #Psychopathology, #Sociology, #Psychology, #Popular Culture.; Bisacsh, #Social Science, #Popular Culture, #Psychopaths, #General, #Mental Illness, #Biography & Autobiography, #Social Psychology, #History.; Bisacsh, #History
BOOK: The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry
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David Shayler had become part of a rare and extreme faction of the 9/11 truth movement—a “no planer”—and journalists who would normally find the movement a little too dry to cover were suddenly entranced.
I telephoned him.
“There is no evidence of planes being used apart from a few dodgy witness statements,” he said.
“And . . .” I said.
“And some very obviously doctored footage,” said David.
“But the footage was going out live,” I said.
“Ah, no,” said David. “The footage was going out on a time delay.”
“Are you in trouble with your girlfriend and the more conservative elements of the truth movement?” I asked.
I heard David sigh sadly. “Yes,” he said. “They asked me to keep the hologram theory to myself.” He paused. “Apparently there’s going to be a motion in the upcoming truth movement AGM to disown me.”
I could tell he felt stung, but he said he didn’t care. “Jeremy Vine, Steven Nolan, this is very prestigious stuff, listened to by millions of people,” he said.
“Jeremy Vine and Steven Nolan only want you on because your theory sounds
nuts
,” I said.
nuts
,” I said.
David countered that not only was it not nuts, but in terms of holograms this was just the beginning. Plans were afoot to “create the ultimate false flag operation, which is to use holograms to make it look like an alien invasion is under way.”
“Why would they want to do that?” I asked.
“To create martial law across the planet and take away all our rights,” he said.
Actually, the idea that the government may one day utilize holograms to mislead a population was not quite as farfetched as it sounded. Some years earlier I had come across a leaked U.S. Air Force Academy report entitled “Nonlethal Weapons: Terms and References,” which listed all the exotic weapons in the proposal or developmental stages within the U.S. Department of Defense. One section was labeled Holograms:
Hologram, Death.Hologram used to scare a target individual to death. Example, a drug lord with a weak heart sees the ghost of his dead rival appearing at his bedside and dies of fright.Hologram, Prophet.The projection of the image of an ancient god over an enemy capitol whose public communications have been seized and used against it in a massive psychological operation.Hologram, Soldiers-Forces.The projection of soldier-force images which make an opponent think more allied forces exist than actually do, make an opponent believe that allied forces are located in a region where none actually exist, and/or provide false targets for his weapons to fire upon.
“So maybe David isn’t quite as crazy as he seems,” I thought.
A year passed. And then an e-mail arrived:
September 5th
2007Dear AllThis is absolutely serious. Please don’t miss the biggest story in history: at the darkest hour, Jesus returns to save humanity. Location of press conference will be Parliament Green, next to the Houses of Parliament and the river at 1400 hours, Thursday 6th September.Love & LightDave Shayler
David, as his attached press release explained, was to announce that he was the Messiah:
Journalists are asked to arrive with an open mind as this is a truth which they are in no position to determine and they may be risking their chances of eternal life.This is all rather embarrassing for someone who was an atheist technocrat three years ago. And I am painfully aware how mad all this sounds. There is, however, ancient evidence to show that the Messiah is phonetically called “David Shayler.” When added to recent signs which have appeared independently of me—including a Messianic Cross of Saturn, Mercury, Venus and the Sun in the skies on 7/7/7, the day I was proclaimed Messiah—it has become inescapable that a higher power is indicating that I am the anointed or chosen one who has come to save humanity.Other incarnations have included Tutankhamen, King Arthur, Mark Anthony, Leonardo da Vinci, Lawrence of Arabia and Astronges, a Hebrew shepherd and revolutionary leader crucified in Palestine in 1 BC.—DAVID MICHAEL SHAYLER
It was a surprisingly small turnout. David was sitting in the center of a circle, dressed in flowing white robes, looking slim and well. There were only two journalists in attendance—someone from Sky News and me. Everyone else seemed to be old friends from the truth movement. They looked embarrassed.
The man from Sky News told me he was here to interview David but they had no intention to broadcast it. The plan was to get it in the can and then put it on the shelf, “in case something happens in the future.”
There was no doubting that the “something” he was alluding to would be something truly awful.
David was telling his cluster of listeners that the signs were there from the beginning.
“Remember when I answered that advert in
The Independent
?” he said. “‘Godot Isn’t Coming’? I believe it was tailored for me. It even had the word ‘God’ in the title—‘Godot Isn’t Coming.’”
The Independent
?” he said. “‘Godot Isn’t Coming’? I believe it was tailored for me. It even had the word ‘God’ in the title—‘Godot Isn’t Coming.’”
“Why would MI5 want to tailor a recruitment advert just for you?” I asked.
“I believe it’s MI5’s job to protect the incarnations of the Messiah,” he said. “I know how MI5 works. They want to get in contact with you. They know through tapping your phone that you’re looking for a job, you read a certain newspaper. So they’ll target an advert at you. Interestingly enough, nobody else was recruited from that ad.”
I got talking to the woman standing next to me. She said her name was Belinda and she’d once been David’s landlady. As David continued to preach, she whispered to me that she couldn’t just sit back and listen anymore. It was too sad. She had to say something.
“Uh, David, can I . . .” she began.
“How
dare
you interrupt the Messiah,” David replied.
dare
you interrupt the Messiah,” David replied.
“Okay,” Belinda sighed. “Carry on.”
“Being the savior,” David crossly told her, “I’m
trying
to explain how people can access eternal life . . .”
trying
to explain how people can access eternal life . . .”
“All right, sorry . . .” muttered Belinda.
“. . . and people who want to gain eternal life will
probably
want to hear it from me without interruptions . . .” David said. “I’ll take questions at the end, Belinda, but I am trying to tell an important story.”
probably
want to hear it from me without interruptions . . .” David said. “I’ll take questions at the end, Belinda, but I am trying to tell an important story.”
“I think it’s rather a sad story, David,” said Belinda. “According to Messiah culture, or prophet culture, you’re making several mistakes. Firstly, you’re not taking time out to really meditate on your mission. You’re coming public far too soon. Secondly, you’re not gathering a following around you. Thirdly, you’re announcing it yourself when really it should be for other people to say, ‘He is the One,’ and start to bow down to you or whatever. But you’re coming out and throwing it at everybody. My point is, you’re not behaving in a very Messiah-like way.”
David shot back that seeing as how he
was
the Messiah,
any
way he behaved should be considered a Messiah-like way.
was
the Messiah,
any
way he behaved should be considered a Messiah-like way.
“How are you suddenly an expert on Messiahs?” he snapped.
“I see someone with huge talents and a first-class mind,” said Belinda, “who was doing extremely well along the track that he was going down, suddenly blowing the whole thing by going off on some esoteric trip. You’re spewing out all sorts of stuff that people just can’t connect with other than on the level of ridicule. Which is a terrible shame.”
David looked evenly at her. “I know I am the Messiah,” he said. “It’s up to you to find out why you can’t accept that.”
David spoke a lot during the press conference about the urgent need to get the message out, but during the weeks that followed, nothing much happened. There were one or two interviews, but nothing like the number he’d done around the hologram time. I began to see the arc of David Shayler’s madness in terms of a graph.
How the arc of David Shayler’s madness intersects with media interest
There seemed to be a tacit consensus that in David’s case the “July 7 never happened” was a little too dull for the right sort of madness, the hologram/plane theory was ideal, and the Messiah was the wrong sort of madness. But why? What made one appropriate and the other not? Most journalists would presumably plead innocence, saying the holograms seemed an innocuous enough cough along the way to the obvious lung cancer of the Messiah declaration—and of course there would be some truth to this—but I wasn’t sure it was as simple as that. Both theories seemed to be palpable manifestations of mental illness, yet only one had proved to be a ticket to the airwaves.
For the next two years David dropped out of the public eye completely. The only sighting was in the summer of 2009, when police raided a squat at a National Trust farmhouse in Surrey. Blurry camera-phone footage of the forced eviction made its way onto the Internet. It was composed for the most part of squatters yelling, “I’m not contracting with you!” at the police as they were dragged from their beds. But for a moment amid the commotion the camera whipped to the side and caught a glimpse of a very glamorously dressed transvestite. She later told the
Daily Mail
her name was Delores, but you could see under the wig and the makeup that it was David Shayler.
Daily Mail
her name was Delores, but you could see under the wig and the makeup that it was David Shayler.
As it happens, transvesticism—or Transvestic Fetishism—is, I was surprised to learn while riffling through
DSM-IV
, a mental disorder: “Usually the male with Transvestic Fetishism keeps a collection of female clothes that he intermittently uses to cross-dress. . . . In many or most cases sexual arousal is produced . . . [although] the motivation for cross-dressing may change over time with sexual arousal diminishing or disappearing. In such incidents the cross-dressing becomes an antidote to anxiety or depression or contributes to a sense of peace and calm.”
DSM-IV
, a mental disorder: “Usually the male with Transvestic Fetishism keeps a collection of female clothes that he intermittently uses to cross-dress. . . . In many or most cases sexual arousal is produced . . . [although] the motivation for cross-dressing may change over time with sexual arousal diminishing or disappearing. In such incidents the cross-dressing becomes an antidote to anxiety or depression or contributes to a sense of peace and calm.”
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