Journalist and filmmaker Joseph L Flatley joins me this week to discuss his novel Sirhan or The Hallucinatory Vanguard. We start off by talking about the sort of work that Joseph focuses on and why he decided to write his first novel. Joseph and I begin by discussing the books unique structure that periodically jumps 30 into the future and features a general at a conspiracy conference talking about the events depicted in the book. We then dive into the book which features Stu (our hero) working for a Breitbart/Buzz Feed outlet as a professional troll, and his strange journey that leads him to joining a Maoist cult intent on violent revolution. We focus on Stu as a person and how he encapsulates the age of Trump 2018 generation. Joseph and I discuss Stu’s apolitical ideology and how this drags him into a large complex conspiracy. We also discuss Stu’s brainwashing into Sirhan by the leader of the cult Demein. We talk about the dangers of extremist politics and how they can manipulate us into doing things such as political assassinations. We juxtapose this against the classics MK Ultra hypnosis theories of the real life Sirhan Sirhan. Joseph and I also talk about the the conspiracy that the book presents us with. We explore the fact that we as the reader never solve the conspiracy the book lays out.
In the second hour Joseph and I expand the conversation out to the current world that we live in. We discuss the decay of conspiracy culture; using Rosanne Barr’s promotion of Qanaon as an example. We look at how this subculture was been politicized and rendered almost meaningless. Joseph and I also touch on one of the real life inspirations for his novel the SLA. We discuss the dangers of living in a world that defines everyone and everything as good and evil. Joseph and I talk about how all extreme political groups be they left of right ultimately devolve into a shell of what they stood for. We also touch on our dislike of Adam Sandler and the strange relationship between Hollywood and China.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/mcc8f1ttqmen0vc/PPR_episode_137_Sirhan_or_The_Hallucinatory_Vanguard_with_Joseph_Flatley.mp3
Download PPR episode 137
Show Notes:
LennyFlatley.net
@LennyFlatley
Sirhan: or, The Hallucinatory Vanguard
The Healing church
Paranoid delusions in the police state
Laura Johnston Kohl and the Politics of Peoples Temple
Source