The Jews ( Yehudim ), also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. These numbers include all those who consider themselves Jews, whether or not they are affiliated with a Jewish organization.

Name and etymology

The English word Jew continues Middle English , a loan from Old French , earlier , ultimately from Latin . The Latin simply means Judaean, "from the land of Judaea". The Latin term itself, like the corresponding Greek , is a loan from Aramaic , corresponding to , Yehudi (sg.); , Yehudim (pl.), in origin the term for a member of the tribe of Judah or the people of the kingdom of Judah. The name of both the tribe and kingdom derive from Judah, the fourth son of Jacob.

The Hebrew word for Jew, , is pronounced , with the stress on the final syllable. India,

Despite this diversity, Ashkenazi Jews represent the bulk of modern Jewry, with at least 70% of Jews worldwide (and up to 90% prior to World War II and the Holocaust). As a result of their emigration from Europe, Ashkenazim also represent the overwhelming majority of Jews in the New World continents, in countries such as the United States, Canada, Argentina, Australia, and Brazil. In France, emigration of Mizrahim from North Africa has led them to outnumber the Ashkenazim and Sephardim. For over sixteen centuries Hebrew was used almost exclusively as a liturgical language, and as the language in which most books had been written on Judaism, with a few speaking only Hebrew on the Sabbath.

The three most commonly spoken languages among Jews today are Hebrew, English and Russian. Some Romance languages, such as French, and Spanish are also widely used. While DNA tests have demonstrated inter-marriage in all of the various Jewish ethnic divisions over the last 3,000 years, it was substantially less than in other populations. The findings lend support to traditional Jewish accounts accrediting their founding to exiled Israelite populations, and counters theories that many or most of the world's Jewish populations were founded entirely by local populations that adopted the Jewish religion, devoid of any actual Israelite genetic input. The researchers estimated that the most recent common ancestor of modern Kohanim lived between 1000 BCE (roughly the time of the Biblical Exodus) and 586 BCE, when the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple. They found similar results analyzing DNA from Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews.

Although individual and groups of converts to Judaism have historically been absorbed into contemporary Jewish populations, it is unlikely that they formed a large percentage of the ancestors of modern Jewish groups, and much less that they represented their genesis as Jewish communities.

Other Y-chromosome findings show that the world's Jewish communities are closely related to Kurds, Syrians and Palestinians. According to another study of the same year, more than 70% of Jewish men and half of the Arab men (inhabitants of Israel and the territories only) whose DNA was studied inherited their Y-chromosomes from the same paternal ancestors who lived in the region within the last few thousand years. The results are consistent with the Biblical account of Jews and Arabs having a common ancestor. About two-thirds of Israeli Arabs and Arabs in the territories and a similar proportion of Israeli Jews are the descendants of at least three common ancestors who lived in the Middle East in the Neolithic period. However, the Palestinian Arab clade includes two Arab modal haplotypes which are found at only very low frequency among Jews, reflecting divergence and/or large scale admixture from non-local populations to the Palestinians. found that the Y chromosome of some Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews contained mutations that are also common among Middle Eastern peoples, but uncommon in the general European population. This suggested that the male ancestors of the Ashkenazi Jews could be traced mostly to the Middle East. The proportion of male genetic admixture in Ashkenazi Jews amounts to less than 0.5% per generation over an estimated 80 generations, with "relatively minor contribution of European Y chromosomes to the Ashkenazim," and a total admixture estimate "very similar to Motulsky's average estimate of 12.5%." This supported the finding that "Diaspora Jews from Europe, Northwest Africa, and the Near East resemble each other more closely than they resemble their non-Jewish neighbors." However, when all haplotypes were included in the analysis, m (the admixture percentage) increased to 23% ± 7%. In addition, of the Jewish populations in this cluster, the Ashkenazim were closest to South European populations, specifically the Greeks.

In Jewish populations, Haplogroup J1 (defined by the 267 marker) constitutes 30% of the Yemenite JewsYemen 45/62 = 72.6% J1-M267Qatar 42/72 = 58.3% J1-M267 Saudi (64%) J1 is generally frequent amongst Negev Bedouins (62% in the Mediterranean Paola (11.1%) and in South Sicilian Ragusa (10.7%).Crete 16 out of 193Greece 9 out of 171 Malta (7.8%), Cyprus (6.2%),

Haplogroup J2 which is found in the Sephardic Jews (29%) and Ashkenazi Jews (23%), or 19%. Syrians 22.5%, in Palestine, and in Turkey. In addition, Behar (2006) suggested that the rest of Ashkenazi mtDNA is originated from about 150 women, most of those were probably of Middle Eastern origin. Among Yemenites, the average stands at 35% lineages within the past 3,000 years.

Genome-wide association and linkage studies

In genetic epidemiology, a genome-wide association study (GWA study, or GWAS) is an examination of all or most of the genes (the genome) of different individuals of a particular species to see how much the genes vary from individual to individual. These techniques were originally designed for epidemiological uses, to identify genetic associations with observable traits. The table below lists countries with significant populations. Please note that these populations represent low-end estimates of the worldwide Jewish population, accounting for around 0.2% of the world's population. {| class="toccolours sortable" border="1" cellpadding="3" style="border-collapse:collapse" |+ |- style="background:#6495ed;" !Country or Region !Jewish population !Total Population !% Jewish !Notes |- |Israel |style="text-align: right"|5,393,000 |style="text-align: right"|7,117,000 |style="text-align: right"|75.8% | |- |United States |style="text-align: right"|5,275,000 |style="text-align: right"|308,745,000 |- |Europe |style="text-align: right"|1,506,000 |style="text-align: right"|710,000,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.2% | |- |Canada |style="text-align: right"|374,000 |style="text-align: right"|32,874,000 |style="text-align: right"|1.1% | |- |United Kingdom |style="text-align: right"|295,000 |style="text-align: right"|60,609,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.5% | |- |Russia |style="text-align: right"|225,000 |style="text-align: right"|142,400,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.2% | |- |Argentina |style="text-align: right"|184,000 |style="text-align: right"|39,922,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.5% | |- |Germany |style="text-align: right"|120,000 |style="text-align: right"|82,310,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.1% | |- |Australia |style="text-align: right"|104,000 |style="text-align: right"|20,788,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.5% | |- |Poland |style="text-align: right"|100,000 |style="text-align: right"|38,163,895 |style="text-align: right"|0.27% | |- |Brazil |style="text-align: right"|96,000 |style="text-align: right"|188,078,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.05% | |- |Ukraine |style="text-align: right"|77,000 |style="text-align: right"|46,481,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.2% | |- |South Africa |style="text-align: right"|72,000 |style="text-align: right"|47,432,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.2% | |- |Hungary |style="text-align: right"|49,000 |style="text-align: right"|10,053,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.5% | |- |Mexico |style="text-align: right"|40,000 |style="text-align: right"|108,700,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.04% | |- |Asia (excl. Israel) |style="text-align: right"|39,500 |style="text-align: right"|3,900,000,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.001% | |- |Belgium |style="text-align: right"|31,200 |style="text-align: right"|10,419,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.3% | |- |Italy |style="text-align: right"|28,600 |style="text-align: right"|58,884,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.05% | |- |Turkey |style="text-align: right"|17,800 |style="text-align: right"|72,600,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.02% | |- |Iran |style="text-align: right"|10,800 |style="text-align: right"|68,467,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.02% | |- |Romania |style="text-align: right"|10,100 |style="text-align: right"|21,500,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.05% | |- |New Zealand |style="text-align: right"|7,000 |style="text-align: right"|4,306,400 |style="text-align: right"|0.2% | |- |Greece |style="text-align: right"|5,500 |style="text-align: right"|11,100,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.05% | |- |Cuba |style="text-align: right"|1,500 |style="text-align: right"|11,450,000 |style="text-align: right"|0.013% | |}

State of Israel

(First Prime Minister of Israel) publicly pronouncing the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel, May 14, 1948.]]

Israel, the Jewish nation-state, is the only country in which Jews make up a majority of the citizens. The early years of the state of Israel were marked by the mass immigration of Holocaust survivors and Jews fleeing Arab lands.

Western Europe's largest Jewish community can be found in France, home to 490,000 Jews, the majority of whom are immigrants or refugees from North African Arab countries such as Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia (or their descendants).

Iran is home to around 10,800 Jews, down from a population of 100,000 Jews before the 1979 revolution. After the revolution some of the Iranian Jews emigrated to Israel or Europe but most of them emigrated (with their non-Jewish Iranian compatriots) to the United States (especially Los Angeles, where the principal community is called "Tehrangeles").

Demographic changes

Assimilation

Since at least the time of the Ancient Greeks, a proportion of Jews have assimilated into the wider non-Jewish society around them, by either choice or force, ceasing to practice Judaism and losing their Jewish identity. with some Jewish communities, for example the Kaifeng Jews of China, disappearing entirely.

In the Papal States, which existed until 1870, Jews were required to live only in specified neighborhoods called ghettos. Dhimmis had an inferior status under Islamic rule. They had several social and legal disabilities such as prohibitions against bearing arms or giving testimony in courts in cases involving Muslims. was the requirement of distinctive clothing, not found in the Qur'an or hadith but invented in early medieval Baghdad; its enforcement was highly erratic. the rise of modern antisemitism, The Islamic Revolution of Iran forced many Iranian Jews to flee Iran. Most found refuge in the US (particularly Los Angeles, CA) and Israel. Smaller communities of Persian Jews exist in Canada and Western Europe.

Growth

Israel is the only country with a consistently growing Jewish population due to natural population increase, though the Jewish populations of other countries in Europe and North America have recently increased due to immigration. In the Diaspora, in almost every country the Jewish population in general is either declining or steady, but Orthodox and Haredi Jewish communities, whose members often shun birth control for religious reasons, have experienced rapid population growth.

See also

More complete guides to topics related to the Jews is available from the guide at the or of this page. Some topics of interest include:

Ashkenazi Jews

Antisemitism

:Category: Jewish ethnic groups

:Category: Jewish history by country

Interfaith marriage in Judaism

Israel

* Basic Laws of Israel

* Law of Return

* Politics of Israel

Jewish diaspora

Jewish identity

Jewish languages

Jewish population

Jewish population by cities and city areas

Judaism

Lists of Jews

Mizrahi Jews

Pogrom

Sephardi Jews

Notes

References

Baron, Salo Wittmayer (1952). A Social and Religious History of the Jews, Volume II, Ancient Times, Part II. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America.

Lewis, Bernard (1984). The Jews of Islam. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-00807-8

Lewis, Bernard (1999). Semites and Anti-Semites: An Inquiry into Conflict and Prejudice. W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-31839-7

Poliakov, Leon (1974). The History of Anti-semitism. New York: The Vanguard Press.

Ruderman, David B. Early Modern Jewry: A New Cultural History (Princeton University Press; 2010) 326 pages. Examines print culture, religion, and other realms in a history emphasizing the links among early modern Jewish communities from Venice and Krakow to Amsterdam and Smyrna.

Stillman, Norman (1979). The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America. ISBN 0-8276-0198-0

External links

Jewish Virtual Library

Judaism 101

Maps related to Jewish history

WORLD JEWISH NEWS AGENCY

The Future of Judaism series at Patheos

Secular organizations

American Jewish Committee

American Jewish Congress

Anti-Defamation League

B'nai B'rith International

Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life

United Jewish Communities: The Federations of North America

Religious organizations

Aish HaTorah (Orthodox)

ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal (Renewal)

American Sephardi Federation (Sephardic)

Chabad Lubavitch (Chabad)

Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (Reconstructionist)

The Karaite Korner (Karaite)

The Orthodox Union (Orthodox)

Society for Humanistic Judaism (Humanistic)

Union for Reform Judaism (Reform)

The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (Conservative)

Zionist organizations

Ameinu

Hadassah: the Women's Zionist Organization of America

The Jewish Agency for Israel

Religious Zionists of America

World Mizrachi Movement

Zionist Organization of America

Category:Ancient peoples Category:Ethnic groups in the Middle East Category:Ethno-cultural designations Category:Semitic peoples Category:Religious identity

Name	Sarah Silverman
Imagesize	225px
Caption	Silverman at the 2010 Brooklyn Book Festival
Birth name	Sarah Kate Silverman
Birth date	December 01, 1970
Birth place	Bedford, New Hampshire, United States
Pseudonym	Big S
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, music
Active	1992–present
Influences	Steve Martin
Notable work	Saturday Night LiveSarah Silverman on The Sarah Silverman Program
Domesticpartner	Jimmy Kimmel (2002–2007; 2008–2009)Alec Sulkin (2010)

}}

Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, writer, actress, singer and musician. Although usually credited as Sarah Silverman, she is sometimes credited by her nickname, Big S. Her satirical comedy addresses social taboos and controversial topics such as racism, sexism, and religion.

Silverman first gained notice as a writer and occasional performer on Saturday Night Live. She starred in and produced The Sarah Silverman Program, which ran from 2007 to 2010, on Comedy Central. Silverman states she was upset when SNL fired her via fax. She parodied the situation when she appeared on The Larry Sanders Show episode "The New Writer" (1996), playing Sanders' new staff writer, whose jokes are not used because of the chauvinism and bias of the male chief comedy writer, who favors the jokes of his male co-writers. She appeared in three episodes of Larry Sanders during its last two seasons.

Silverman was a featured performer on the HBO sketch comedy show Mr. Show (1995–97). She made TV program guest appearances on Seinfeld, in the episode "The Money"; (1997) on , in the two-part time travel episode "Future's End" (1996); on V.I.P. in the episode "48 1/2 Hours" (2002); on Greg the Bunny as a series regular (2002); and on the puppet television comedy Crank Yankers, as the voice of Hadassah Guberman (2003, 2007). She had small parts in the films There's Something About Mary, Say It Isn't So, School of Rock, The Way of the Gun, Overnight Delivery, Screwed, Heartbreakers, Evolution, School for Scoundrels, and Rent, playing a mixture of comic and serious roles. Her stand-up comedy act, a one-woman show, was released in 2005 as a feature film, . As part of the film's publicity campaign, she appeared online in Slate, as the cover subject of Heeb magazine, and in roasts on Comedy Central of Pamela Anderson and Hugh Hefner. In 2005, Silverman played a therapist in a skit for a bonus DVD of the album Lullabies to Paralyze by the band Queens of the Stone Age. Silverman also appears at the end of the video for American glam metal band Steel Panther's "Death To All But Metal". .]] Silverman guest starred in a second season episode of the USA cable program Monk as Marci Maven. She returned in the sixth season premiere and for the 100th episode of Monk. According to the audio commentary on the Clerks II DVD, director Kevin Smith offered her the role that eventually went to Rosario Dawson, but she turned it down out of fear of being typecast in "girlfriend roles". However, she told Smith the script was "really funny" and mentioned that if the role of Randal Graves was being offered to her she "would do it in a heartbeat."

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Silverman parodied sketches from Chappelle's Show, replaying Dave Chappelle's characterizations of Rick James and "Tyrone", as well as a Donnell Rawlings character based on the miniseries Roots. The parody addressed a popular rumor that Silverman was the planned replacement for Chappelle after he left his popular television show.

In 2006, Silverman placed #50 on Maxim Hot 100 List. Silverman has since turned the complaint into grist for her stand-up act, saying that the experience helped teach her the important lesson that racism is bad: "And I mean bad, like in that black way." Her biography, published in April 2010, entitled The Bedwetter, explores the subject, among others.

Silverman talked about having dated Dave Attell on one of her appearances on The Howard Stern Show. Silverman and Colin Quinn joked about having been romantically linked during her Saturday Night Live career. In her first appearance on the Stern show in June 2001 she said she was dating someone named Tom who wrote for SNL. Silverman was in a relationship that began in 2002 with Jimmy Kimmel, host of Jimmy Kimmel Live! In July 2008, Vanity Fair reported that the couple had split, ending their relationship of five years. However, in October 2008 it was revealed by Fox News and People magazine that they were on "the road back to being together." Silverman enjoys playing Scrabble on the Internet. One of her regular opponents is Alyssa Milano who lives in the same building as she.

She is ethnically Jewish, which she has frequently mined for material, but says she is agnostic and does not follow the religion claiming, "I have no religion. But culturally I can't escape it; I'm very Jewish." Her humor has also touched on other religions. In 2009, she suggested the Pope sell the Vatican and use some of the money for luxurious housing and the remainder to stop world hunger saying he would "get crazy pussy."

As of January 2010, Silverman was dating Family Guy producer/writer Alec Sulkin. By October 2010, they had broken up, but remain good friends.

Filmography

Features:

Who's the Caboose? (1997)

Overnight Delivery (1998)

Bulworth (1998)

There's Something About Mary (1998)

The Bachelor (1999)

What Planet Are You From? (2000)

Screwed (2000)

The Way of the Gun (2000)

Black Days (2001)

Say It Isn't So (2001)

Heartbreakers (2001)

Evolution (2001)

Run Ronnie Run (2002)

School of Rock (2003)

Bad Santa (2003) (deleted scene)

Hair High (2004) (voice)

The Aristocrats (2005) (documentary)

(2005)

Rent (2005)

I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With (2006)

School for Scoundrels (2006)

Fired! (2007) (documentary)

Certifiably Jonathan (2007) (documentary)

'' (2007) (voice)

Super High Me (2008) (documentary, cameo)

Funny People (2009) (cameo)

Saint John of Las Vegas (2010)

Short subjects:

Strippers Pole (2002)

Nobody's Perfect (2004)

Supermarket (2004)

Give The Jew Girl Toys (satirical music video)

Confetti

Television

Community Auditions (1985)

Saturday Night Live (writer & cast member, 1993–1994)

Mr. Show (featured performer, 1995)

The Larry Sanders Show (1994–1996)

Star Trek Voyager ("Future's End", two episodes, 1996)

Brotherly Love (pizza parlor waitress 1997)

Seinfeld ("The Money", 1997)

Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (voice as herself, "Alderman", 1998)

Smog (unsold pilot, 1999)

Late Last Night (1999)

Futurama ("The Cryonic Woman", 2000; "Futurama: Bender's Big Score, 2007)

Super Nerds (unsold pilot, 2000)

Rocky Times (unsold pilot, 2000)

Greg the Bunny (2002–2004)

Crank Yankers (voice, 2002–2007)

Frasier (Jane, "Maris Returns", 2003)

Pilot Season (miniseries, 2004)

Entourage (herself, 2004)

Aqua Teen Hunger Force ("Robositter", 2004, credited as Big S)

Drawn Together ("The Other Cousin", episode 1.5, 2004, Cousin Bleh)

Monk (Marci Maven, "Mr. Monk and the TV Star", 2004)

American Dad! ("Stan Knows Best", 2005, voice)

Tom Goes to the Mayor ("Pipe Camp", episode 11, 2005)

Celebrity Poker Showdown (twice, 2003–2004)

''Comic Relief (stand-up segment 2006)

Monk (Marci Maven,Mr. Monk and His Biggest Fan, 2007)

The Andy Milonakis Show (herself, 2007)

The Sarah Silverman Program (2007–2010)

Monk (Marci Maven, Mr. Monk's 100th Case, 2008)

8 out of 10 cats ("Herself", 2008)

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross ("Herself", 2008)

JAG (Blind Side "Lt. Schiparelli", 1997)

The Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget (2008) (pre-recorded video message)

The Simpsons ("Stealing First Base", 2010, voice)

Vitamin Water Commercial (Voice, 2010)

Warren The Ape ("Black Lotus", 2010 as Herself)

References

;Notes

External links

Sarah Silverman Online

in 2010 in 2007 in 2005

TheJC.com: Interview with Sarah Silverman

Sarah Silverman's Guest DJ Project on KCRW KCRW Guest DJ set

Sarah Silverman questionnaire November 2007

Sarah Silverman interviewed by Antonella Gambotto-Burke

Guardian interview

AV Club article

Nerve article

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:American agnostics Category:American comedians Category:American comedy musicians Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American guitarists Category:American Jews Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television actors Category:American television writers Category:American actors of Russian descent Category:American actors of Polish descent Category:American vegetarians Category:Jewish comedians Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish agnostics Category:LGBT rights activists from the United States Category:Actors from New Hampshire Category:Women comedians Category:People from Manchester, New Hampshire

Name	Rick Sanchez
Caption	Sanchez at Jeff Pulver's 140 Characters Conference - June 2009
Birth date	July 03, 1958
Birth place	Guanabacoa, Cuba
Occupation	anchor/correspondent
Website	Staff Biography formerly on CNN.com

Ricardo León "Rick" Sánchez de Reinaldo (born July 3, 1958), known professionally as Rick Sanchez, is a Cuban-American journalist, author and former TV news anchor. After years as the lead local anchor on Miami's WSVN, Sanchez moved to cable news, first as a daytime anchor at MSNBC and then later at CNN, where he began as a correspondent and ultimately rose to become an anchor. On CNN, he hosted his own show Rick's List and served as a contributor to Anderson Cooper 360° and CNN International, where he frequently reported and translated between English and Spanish. Sanchez was fired from CNN on October 1, 2010. He grew up in Hialeah, Florida, a suburb of Miami, and attended Mae M. Walters Elementary School, Henry H. Filer Middle School, and Hialeah High School, graduating in 1977. Sanchez accepted a football scholarship to Minnesota State University Moorhead and transferred to the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis on a CBS/WCCO Journalism Scholarship in 1979.

Of his childhood Sanchez has said, "I grew up not speaking English, dealing with real prejudice every day as a kid; watching my dad work in a factory, wash dishes, drive a truck, get spit on. I’ve been told that I can’t do certain things in life simply because I was a Hispanic."

Sanchez also described his experiences and opinion of news network practices, }} In the day following his remarks,

Sanchez apologized to Stewart. He also released a statement expressing regret for his "inartful" comments, adding "I am very much opposed to hate and intolerance, in any form, and I have frequently spoken out against prejudice." On October 20, 2010, Jon Stewart told Larry King that Sanchez should have never been fired, calling the firing “absolute insanity,” and that he was not "personally hurt." Following his firing, Sanchez appeared on several shows (including Good Morning America) to expand on his apology and call attention to his recent book. Sanchez blamed "fatigue" for calling Stewart a "bigot," but acknowledged that the "chip on my shoulder" was partly to blame for his comments.

In a 2010 issue of TV Guide, Sanchez's comments were ranked #7 on a list of TV's ten biggest "blunders".

References

External links

Rick Sanchez profile in The New York Observer

Partial Transcript of Sanchez - Pete Dominic interview

Category:1958 births Category:American bloggers Category:American television news anchors Category:American television reporters and correspondents Category:CNN people Category:American people of Cuban descent Category:Cuban journalists Category:Cuban refugees Category:Living people Category:University of Minnesota alumni Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Douglas County, Minnesota Category:People from Havana Category:People from Houston, Texas Category:People from Miami, Florida

Name	Jon Stewart
Imagesize	200px
Caption	Stewart at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, October 30, 2010.
Alma mater	William & Mary
Birth name	Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz
Birth date	November 28, 1962
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, books
Nationality	American
Active	1987–present
Genre	Satire/political satire/news satire, observational comedy
Subject	Mass media/news media/Media criticism, American politics, current events, religion, Jewish culture, race relations, human sexuality, self-deprecation
Influences	George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor
Influenced	Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell
Spouse	Tracey Stewart (née McShane) (2000-present) 2 children
Children	Nathan Stewart, Maggie Stewart
Notable work	Host of The Daily ShowHost of The Jon Stewart Show

}} Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) Jon's mother, Marian, is an educational consultant and teacher. His father, Donald Leibowitz, was a professor of physics at The College of New Jersey from 2001 through 2008; he now teaches an online course at Thomas Edison University.

Stewart has said that he was subjected to anti-Semitic bullying as a child. During part of this time, Stewart roomed with future congressman Anthony Weiner, who still is the only politician to have received campaign donations from Stewart. Jon Stewart moved to New York City in 1986 to try his hand at the comedy club circuit, but he could not muster the courage to get on stage until the following year.

Later in 1993, Stewart developed his own talk show at MTV. Despite the quick cancellation of his previous MTV show, the network was still eager to work with him. The Jon Stewart Show was the first talk show on that network and was an instant hit, becoming the second-highest rated MTV show behind Beavis and Butt-head. In 2005, The Daily Show and Jon Stewart also received a Best Comedy Album Grammy Award for the audio book edition of America (The Book). In 2000 and 2004, the show won two Peabody Awards for its coverage of the presidential elections relevant to those years, called "" and "", respectively.

during a taping session of The Daily Show]] One of the show's most serious moments remains the September 20, 2001, show

Stewart discussed the incident on The Daily Show the following Monday: }}

In January 2005, CNN announced that it was canceling Crossfire. When asked about the cancellations, CNN/US' incoming President, Jonathan Klein, referenced Stewart's appearance on the show: "I think he made a good point about the noise level of these types of shows, which does nothing to illuminate the issues of the day." Bill O'Reilly, host of The O'Reilly Factor, countered that The Daily Show was a “key component of left-wing television” and that Stewart was a fan of Fox News because the network was so interesting to watch.

Harry Truman incident

On April 28, 2009, during a discussion on torture with Clifford May, Stewart expressed his opinion that former President Harry S. Truman was a war criminal for his use of the atomic bomb on Japan during World War II.

In 2005, Stewart provided the voice of President James A. Garfield for the audiobook version of Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation.

In 2007, Stewart voiced a role on friend Stephen Colbert's audiobook version of I Am America (And So Can You!). He plays Mort Sinclaire, former TV comedy writer and Communist.

In a September 2010 interview with USA Weekend, Stewart revealed he will be releasing another book entitled and has been reported to be of similar length to that of America (The Book). Jokingly, Stewart has commented that the two novels are "of equal importance: America took 256 pages, Earth 256 pages. America is in fact Earth." in July 2004. Their second child, a daughter, Maggie Rose Stewart, was born in February 2006.

Filmography

Bibliography

Naked Pictures of Famous People (Rob Weisbach Books, 1998) ISBN 0688171621

(Warner Books, September 2004) ISBN 0-446-53268-1

(Grand Central Publishing, 2010) ISBN 978-0446579223

References

External links

in 2010 in 2005 in 2004

Collected news and commentary at The New York Times

Category:1962 births Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Actors from New York City Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American media critics Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American political pundits Category:American satirists Category:American stand-up comedians Category:American television personalities Category:College of William & Mary alumni Category:Criticism of journalism Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians Category:Living people Category:Male comedians Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Mercer County, New Jersey Category:People from New York City Category:New York Democrats Category:Thurber Prize for American Humor winners Category:William & Mary Tribe athletes

Name	Glenn Beck
Caption	Beck at the Time 100 Gala, 2010
Birth name	Glenn Edward Lee Beck Beck has described his mother's death as a suicide in interviews during television and radio broadcasts.

In 2002 Beck created Mercury Radio Arts, a media platform he named after Orson Welles's seminal Mercury Theatre on the Air, which produced live theatrical broadcasts during the 1930s. Beck's company's president and chief operating officer was Chris Balfe and , employed more than 40 people

Radio

In 1983 he moved to Corpus Christi, Texas, to work at radio station KZFM. In mid-1985, Beck was hired away from KZFM to be the lead DJ for the morning-drive radio broadcast by WRKA in Louisville, Kentucky. His four-hour weekday show was called Captain Beck and the A-Team. The show slipped to third in the market and Beck left abruptly in 1987 amid a dispute with WRKA management.

Months later, Beck was hired by Phoenix Top-40 station KOY-FM, then known as Y-95. Beck was partnered with Arizona native Tim Hattrick to co-host a local "morning zoo" program. During his time at Y-95, Beck cultivated a rivalry with local pop radio station KZZP and that station's morning host Bruce Kelly. Through practical jokes and publicity stunts, Beck drew criticism from the staff at Y-95 when the rivalry culminated in Beck telephoning Kelly's wife on-the-air, mocking her recent miscarriage. In 1989, Beck resigned from Y-95 to accept a job in Houston at KRBE, known as Power 104. Beck was subsequently fired in 1990 due to poor ratings.

Beck then moved on to Baltimore, Maryland and the city's leading Top-40 station, WBSB, known as B104. There, he partnered with Pat Gray, a morning DJ. During his tenure at B104, Beck was arrested and jailed for speeding in his DeLorean. According to a former associate, Beck was "completely out of it" when a station manager went to bail him out. When Gray, then Beck were fired, the two men spent six months in Baltimore, planning their next move. In early 1992, Beck and Gray both moved to WKCI-FM (KC101), a Top-40 radio station in Hamden, Connecticut. When Gray left the show to move to Salt Lake City, Beck continued with co-host Vinnie Penn. At the end of 1998, Beck was informed that his contract would not be renewed at the end of 1999.

The Glenn Beck Program first aired in 2000 on WFLA (AM) in Tampa, Florida, and took their afternoon time slot from eighteenth to first place within a year. The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reported that Beck's use of "distorted or inflammatory rhetoric" has complicated the channel's and their journalist's efforts to neutralize White House criticism that Fox is not really a news organization. Television analyst Andrew Tyndall echoed these sentiments, saying that Beck's incendiary style had created "a real crossroads for Fox News", stating "they're right on the cusp of losing their image as a news organization."

Books

Since 2005, Beck has toured American cities twice a year, presenting a one-man stage show. His stage productions are a mix of stand-up comedy and inspirational speaking. In a critique of his live act, Salon Magazine's Steve Almond describes Beck as a "wildly imaginative performer, a man who weds the operatic impulses of the demagogue to the grim mutterings of the conspiracy theorist."

In March 2003, Beck ran a series of rallies called Glenn Beck's Rally for America in support of troops deployed for the upcoming Iraq War. On July 4, 2007, Beck served as host of the 2007 Toyota Tundra "Stadium of Fire" in Provo, Utah. The annual event at LaVell Edwards Stadium on the Brigham Young University campus is presented by America's Freedom Foundation. | width = 34% | align = right }} "Tree of Revolution" chalk board, from the September 18, 2009, episode of his television show. The "roots" of the tree (from L to R) are made up Che Guevara, Woodrow Wilson, and Saul Alinsky, while the "trunk" is the Students for a Democratic Society and Cloward–Piven strategy. Comprising the "money leaves" of the tree (from L to R) are Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), Wade Rathke, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Dale Rathke, President Barack Obama, Bill Ayers, Valerie Jarrett, Apollo Alliance, Van Jones, Leo Gerard, Carl Pope, Ruben Aronin, and Jeff Jones. Beck believes that such progressivism infects both main political parties and threatens to "destroy America as it was originally conceived." In Beck’s book Common Sense, he argues that "progressivism has less to do with the parties and more to do with individuals who seek to redefine, reshape, and rebuild America into a country where individual liberties and personal property mean nothing if they conflict with the plans and goals of the State."

A collection of progressives whom Beck has referred to as "Crime Inc", comprise what Beck contends is a clandestine conspiracy to take over and transform America. According to Beck, these individuals already have or are surreptitiously working in unison with an array of organizations and corporations such as Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae, ACORN, Apollo Alliance, Tides Center, Chicago Climate Exchange, Generation Investment Management, Enterprise Community Partners, Petrobras, Center for American Progress, and the SEIU; to fulfill their progressive agenda. In his quest to root out these "progressives", Beck has compared himself to Israeli Nazi hunters, vowing on his radio show that "to the day I die I am going to be a progressive-hunter. I’m going to find these people that have done this to our country and expose them. I don’t care if they’re in nursing homes."

Historian Sean Wilentz has denounced Beck's progressive-themed conspiracy theories and "gross historical inaccuracies", countering that Beck is merely echoing the decades-old "right-wing extremism" of the John Birch Society.

Ideological influences

Political and historical

An author with ideological influence on Beck is W. Cleon Skousen (1913–2006), a prolific conservative political writer, American Constitutionalist and faith-based political theorist. Skousen believed that American political, social, and economic elites were working with Communists to foist a world government on the United States. Beck praised Skousen's "words of wisdom" as "divinely inspired", referencing Skousen's The Naked Communist which Beck said in 2007 had "changed his life". According to Skousen's nephew, Mark Skousen, Leap reflects Skousen's "passion for the United States Constitution", which he "felt was inspired by God and the reason behind America’s success as a nation." Beck authored a foreword for the 2008 edition of Leap and Beck's on-air recommendations in 2009 propelled the book to number one in the government category on Amazon for several months. In 2010, Matthew Continetti of the conservative Weekly Standard criticized Beck's conspiratorial bent, terming him "a Skousenite." noting that in Beck's novel The Overton Window, which Beck describes as "faction" (fiction based on fact), one of his characters states "Carroll Quigley laid open the plan in Tragedy and Hope, the only hope to avoid the tragedy of war was to bind together the economies of the world to foster global stability and peace."

Princeton University historian Sean Wilentz postulates that alongside Skousen, Robert W. Welch, Jr., founder of the John Birch Society, is a key ideological foundation of Beck's worldview. Beck has also urged his listeners to read The Coming Insurrection, a book by a French Marxist group discussing what they see as the imminent collapse of capitalist culture. | width = 34% | align = right }} on August 28, 2010.]]

Spiritually, Beck has credited God for saving him from drug and alcohol abuse, professional obscurity and friendlessness. In 2006, Beck performed a short inspirational monologue in Salt Lake City, Utah, Philip Barlow, the Arrington chair of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University, has said that Beck's belief that the U.S. Constitution was an "inspired document," his calls for limited government and for not exiling God from the public sphere, "have considerable sympathy in Mormonism." a commentator rather than a reporter, He has said that he identifies with Howard Beale, a character portrayed by Peter Finch in the film Network: "When he came out of the rain and he was like, none of this makes any sense. I am that guy." An earlier cover story in Time described Beck as "a gifted storyteller with a knack for stitching seemingly unrelated data points into possible conspiracies", proclaiming that he has "emerged as a virtuoso on the strings" of conservative discontent by mining "the timeless theme of the corrupt Them thwarting a virtuous Us."

Beck's shows have been described as a "mix of moral lessons, outrage and an apocalyptic view of the future ... capturing the feelings of an alienated class of Americans."

Republican South Carolina U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham criticized Beck as a "cynic" whose show was antithetical to "American values" at The Atlantic's 2009 First Draft of History conference, remarking "Only in America can you make that much money crying."

Glenn Beck was honored by Liberty University during their 2010 Commencement exercises with an honorary Doctoral Degree. During his keynote address to the students, he stated "As a man who was never able to go to college — I’m the first in my family that went; I went for one semester; I couldn’t afford more than that — I am humbly honored." Writer Bob Cesca, in a review of Bunch's book, compares Beck to Steve Martin's faith-healer character in the 1992 film Leap of Faith, before describing the "derivative grab bag of other tried and tested personalities" that Bunch contends comprises Beck's persona: In October 2010 a polemical biography by Dana Milbank was released: . The October 31 Rally To Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, hosted by Comedy Central personalities Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, was conceived as a parody of Beck's earlier Rally to Restore Honor. Jones characterized the attacks from his opponents as a "vicious smear campaign" and an effort to use "lies and distortions to distract and divide."

In 2009, lawyers for Beck brought a case (Beck v. Eiland-Hall) against the owner of a satirical website named GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The claim that the domain name of the website is itself defamatory was described as a first in cyberlaw. Included in its subscription service: Fusion online magazine, launched in 2005 The 4th Hour with Stu & Pat, a weekday live video blog by Stu Burguiere and Pat Gray, begun in 2010

Beck University, interactive classes offered beginning in July 2010

In August 2010, Mercury Radio Arts also launched the independent political blog, The Blaze.

See also

Beck University

Conservative talk

List of most-listened-to radio programs

References

External links

Glenn Beck's Official Website

Glenn Beck's Radio Program

Glenn Beck – The 912 Project

Glenn Beck's Common Sense Tour

Official Site at Fox News

Multimedia

A Day in the Life of Glenn Beck - photo slideshow by Time magazine

Katie Couric Interview of Glenn Beck - video by CBS News

"Brand it like Beck" - video interview by Forbes magazine

John Stossel: "Glenn Beck, Conservative Narcissist?" - video by ABC News

Glenn Beck Discusses his Mormonism - video testimonial at The Week

Category:American activists Category:American anti-communists Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American magazine editors Category:American magazine founders Category:American political pundits Category:American political writers Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:American talk radio hosts Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American people of German descent Category:Conservatism in the United States Category:Converts to Mormonism from Roman Catholicism Category:Environmental skepticism Category:People from Bellingham, Washington Category:People from Fairfield County, Connecticut Category:People from Mount Vernon, Washington Category:People from Seattle, Washington Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Tea Party movement Category:Writers from Washington (U.S. state) Category:1964 births Category:Living people Category:Fox News Channel people

Name	Doug Stanhope
Imagesize	200px
Caption	photo by Chris Saunders
Birth name	Douglas Gene Stanhope
Birth date	March 25, 1967
Birth place	Worcester, Massachusetts
Medium	stand-up, television
Nationality	American
Active	1990 - present
Genre	Black comedy, Observational comedy, Satire/Political satire, cringe humor
Subject	American culture, current events, recreational drug use, human sexuality, religion, angst, anarchism, libertarianism
Influences	George Carlin, Glenn Wool, Bill Hicks
Influenced	Andy Andrist, Sean Rouse, Mat Becker
Spouse	Renee Morrison (2003-present) (separated)
Notable work	7 CDs, 3 DVDs
Website	dougstanhope.com

Douglas Gene "Doug" Stanhope (born March 25, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian and author known for his abrasive comedy routines, frequently performed while smoking cigarettes and drinking on-stage.

Life and career

In 1967, Stanhope was born in Worcester, Massachusetts where he lived until he was 18 years old. Stanhope's comedy career began 1990 in Las Vegas. He quit high school after his freshman year.

Stanhope has made appearances at several major comedy festivals, including the Montreal Just For Laughs, US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado, the Chicago Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland, where he won the Strathmore Press Award in 2002.

Stanhope was the winner of the 1995 San Francisco International Comedy Competition where he edged out notable comedic actor Dane Cook in a three-week contest. He's appeared in dozens of national and international standup comedy television specials. He claims that his appearance on the BBC television show, Live Floor Show, (broadcast March 20, 2003) was fueled by "ecstasy". According to Stanhope, "TV is just for the money; live performance is where it’s at."

In 2004 Stanhope briefly co-hosted The Man Show with Joe Rogan.

In 2005, Stanhope hosted his own radio show on SIRIUS Satellite Radio.

He has established a group of touring comics known as The Unbookables featuring artists such as Andy Andrist, Sean Rouse, James Inman, Brett Erickson, Travis Lipski, Brendon Walsh, Norman Wilkerson, Kristine Levine, and Brian Potrafka. The Unbookables' first CD, Morbid Obscenity, also featuring Andrist, Rouse, Lynn Shawcroft, and Banjo Randy, was released July 4, 2006, on Stand Up! Records was released as a benefit for a friend, Arthur Hinty, to help pay for a gastric bypass.

Stanhope appeared in the film The Aristocrats, telling a vulgar and caustic joke to a baby.

Stanhope was the subject of an 8-page feature in British GQ under the title "Is This America's Most Depraved Man?" by Robert Chalmers in 2006.

In summer 2006, he was booked to appear on several bills at the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival in Kilkenny, Ireland; he told his lairy, late-night crowd, that Irish men sleep with children, because — as the headline to the following day's Irish Daily Star put it - "Irish women are too ugly to rape! Comic booed after shocking festival jibe." He managed to perform for just 10 minutes before having all his remaining slots canceled yet garnered several more full-length solo performances.

In August 2006 he appeared alongside Rouse at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, to rave 5 star reviews from the press. On his opening night he took what was believed to be an ecstasy tablet that was handed to him by a member of the audience. During his Edinburgh performance he included a segment that was perceived as anti-Semitic. Stanhope responded in his 2007 Showtime special, No Refunds, by elaborating on the incident and including an extended bit on "Jew-hating".

In October 2006, he self-published a book, Fun with Pedophiles: The Best of Baiting, which includes several of his "baits" which had appeared on baiting.org. Baiting is the practice of setting up a false Internet instant messaging persona, say, that of an underage female, waiting for others to message you asking for sex, and then brutally abusing the "baitee" in a chat session that is logged to share with others. He discussed his self-published book and the philosophy behind it on Penn Jillette's radio show on San Diego's 97.1 FreeFM on November 22, 2006.

In 2007, Stanhope made two TV specialsone in the US for Showtime, recorded at The Gotham Comedy Club in New York City on March 12; and one for the UK's Channel 4 Comedy Lab, filmed at the Caves in Edinburgh, Scotland titled "Doug Stanhope: Go Home". The Showtime special, titled No Refunds, premiered August 3 and was released on DVD August 14.

His live show was voted "Best Comedy Performance of the Year" by Time Out New York for both 2006 and 2008.

On September 25, 2008, Stanhope appeared as a guest panelist on the Channel 4 programme 8 Out of 10 Cats whilst in London as part of his unofficially titled "Is Mom Dead Yet?" tour. Stanhope's mother, Bonnie Kirk, appeared regularly on The Man Show as well as several independent features and opposite Sean "Puffy" Combs at an MTV Music Award sketch where she played an aging stripper. She died at the age of 63 in October 2008.

Stanhope lives in Warren, Arizona (part of Bisbee) near the Mexico border in a small house with musician/author Amy "Bingo" Bingaman.

In August 2009, Stanhope was booed and had several bottles thrown at him at the Leeds Festival in the UK, after making derogatory comments about the Royal Family and the attitude of the English, which he likened to people in the stone age. Many people left early, and Stanhope continued to bait and taunt hecklers throughout his set.

His live show was placed in the top 5 of the 20 Best Live Shows of 2009 by London's The Guardian Newspaper.

Stanhope's 7th album, From Across The Street, was released on November 24, 2009. It was originally intended to be released under the name Live from Cape Fear (and later I Ain't Never Won Nothin' In My Life). According to promotional materials mailed to reviewers, "half of the proceeds made from the CD sales will be going towards medical bills incurred by maintaining the crygenically frozen remains of his mother's cats at the Bisbee Forever Hope life suspension facility in accordance with her wishes."

In 2010, Stanhope aired a series of vignettes during Newswipe with Charlie Brooker in the United Kingdom.

Stanhope is managed by Brian Hennigan.

On November 17th 2010, Doug Stanhope signed to rock and metal label Roadrunner Records to launch their new comedy label, Roadrunner Comedy. Cees Wessels, CEO of Roadrunner Records, said, “We are very excited to launch Roadrunner Comedy, yet another innovative iteration of the Roadrunner brand. We look forward to welcoming a variety of like-minded comedians to the Roadrunner family—new artists with dynamic talents—that will be making us laugh for years to come.”

Politics

Stanhope is known as a libertarian comedian. In 2004, he endorsed the Free State Project, and was quoted as saying: }}

2008 presidential campaign

Stanhope announced on July 9, 2006 through his website that he would run for president in 2008 as a Libertarian. After consulting political advisers, he stated on his website: I am reconsidering my presidential run while my exploratory team looks into the viability of such an endeavor.}} He explained that he made this statement due to campaign finance laws and other reasons. Later he said:

Stanhope intended to formally declare his candidacy during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show show on May 3, 2007, but on May 1 announced that he would not run due to restrictions of the Federal Election Commission. He could not receive personal income from his comedy appearances and website if he was using them to campaign. Stanhope then endorsed libertarian-leaning Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul.

In August 2008, Stanhope endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, citing his disappointment with the libertarian candidates and a desire to have "a strong, handsome black man in the White House", as well as referring to himself as "the head of the one-man Libertarians For Obama group."

On September 11, 2008, Stanhope re-entered the election scene with the creation of www.savingbristol.com, a web site dedicated to raising money to pay for an abortion for Bristol Palin, daughter of staunchly pro-life Alaskan governor and Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. the silent majorityto unite behind this poor, imprisoned woman and save her from both a tyrannical household as well as the horrible nightmare of a forced childbirth.}}

Though the $50,000 offered by Stanhope himself would more than cover the cost of an abortion under normal situations, Stanhope encouraged others to donate money towards helping Bristol begin a new life. On the site, Stanhope pledged:

To fight off rumors that he was seeking to profit from the site in any way, donations to the cause are now made directly through www.lilithfund.org, the web site for Lilith Fund, a Texas-based organization dedicated to helping women pay for abortions if they are unable to afford them themselves.

Discography/videography

Notes

External links

Doug Stanhope's official website

Doug Stanhope's MySpace Page

Doug Stanhope's Facebook fan page

Doug's Youtube page

Morbid Obscenity CD official website

Sacred Cow Productions

Stand Up! Records

Drunk For Your Amusement, TLAvideo Doug Stanhope article

An Interview with Doug Stanhope -- Free Market Mojo

May 2010 interview with Doug Stanhope

Roadrunnercomedy.com

Category:1967 births Category:American atheists Category:American comedians Category:American libertarians Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Living people Category:People from Worcester, Massachusetts Category:People from Cochise County, Arizona Category:Writers from Arizona Category:Writers from Massachusetts

{{ infobox person | image = David Icke by Stef (cropped).jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Icke in 2008 | birth_name = David Vaughan Icke | birth_date = April 29, 1952 | birth_place = Leicester, England | residence = Ryde, Isle of Wight | nationality = | known_for = Football, television sports, books on global politics | occupation = Writer and speaker | years_active = Since 1990 | party = Formerly the Green Party | spouse = Linda Atherton, Pamela Leigh Richards | children = Kerry (1975), Gareth (1981), Rebecca (1991), Jaymie (1992) | parents = Beric Vaughan Icke, Barbara J. Icke (née Cooke) | relations = Trevor and Paul (brothers) | website = davidicke.com }}

David Vaughan Icke (born April 29, 1952) is an English writer and public speaker best known for his views on what he calls "who and what is really controlling the world". Describing himself as the most controversial speaker and author in the world, he has written 16 books explaining his position, dubbed New Age-conspiracism, and has attracted a substantial following across the political spectrum. His 533-page The Biggest Secret (1999) has been called the conspiracy theorist's Rosetta Stone. "Acting Squadron Leader Frederick Thomas Moore, B.S., F.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. (23417), Reserve of Air Force Officers was awarded the MBE for his part in this action."

After the war, Beric got a job in the Gents clock factory. The family lived in a slum terraced house on Lead Street, near Wharf Street in the centre of Leicester. When Icke was three, they moved to a housing estate known as the Goodwood, one of the massive 1950s council estates the post-war Labour government built, their new home just across the road from the hospital. The family had nothing. "To say we were skint," he wrote in 1993, "is like saying it is a little chilly at the North Pole." He remembers having to hide under a window or chair when the council man came to collect the rent—after knocking, the rent man would walk round the house peering through the windows to see whether anyone was at home. His mother never explained that it was about the rent; she just told him to hide, and Icke writes that he still gets a fright when he hears a knock on the door. He wrote his second book in 1989, It Doesn't Have To Be Like This, an outline of his views on the environment, and became involved with the Green Party from 1988 to 1991, rising to the position of one of their four national Speakers, a position the party had created in lieu of a leader. He soon became the party's most alluring speaker, The Observer calling him "the Greens' Tony Blair." He became a household name, appearing on talk shows and in debates. He was invited in 1989 to debate animals rights at the Royal Institute of Great Britain, alongside Tom Regan, Mary Warnock, and Germaine Greer, and in September 1990, his name appeared on advertisements for a children's charity along with Audrey Hepburn, Woody Allen, and other celebrities.]] The headlines attracted an invitation from the BBC's prime-time Terry Wogan show on April 29, 1991. Icke told Wogan, amid howls of laughter from the studio audience, that he was "the son of God," and that Britain would be devastated by tidal waves and earthquakes. but Icke said the situation had been the making of him in the end, that the laughter had set him free. He wrote that every bridge back to his past was ablaze, giving him the courage to develop his ideas without caring what anyone thought of him.

Problem-reaction-solution

In Tales From The Time Loop (2003), Icke argues that most organised religions, especially Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are Illuminati creations designed to divide and conquer the human race through endless conflicts, as are racial, ethnic, and sexual divisions. He cites the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 as examples of events organised by the Global Elite. "You want to introduce something you know the people won't like. This may be more power to the police, a further erosion of basic freedoms, even a war. You know that if you offer these policies openly the people will react against them. So you first create a PROBLEM, a rising crime rate, more violence, a terrorist bomb, a government collapse, or you get one of your Illuminati puppets like Saddam Hussein to go to war."

You make sure someone else is blamed for this problem and not you, the real people behind it all. So you create a "patsy," as they call them in America, a Timothy McVeigh or a Lee Harvey Oswald. You then use your media to tell people what they should think about your manufactured event and who they should blame for it. This brings us to stage two, the REACTION from the people—"This can't go on; what are THEY going to do about it?"

This allows THEM to then openly offer the SOLUTION to the problems they have created—new legislation which advances their agenda of centralisation of global power or the erosion of more basic freedoms. During the same speaking tour, when there was debate about whether to allow him to speak at the University of Toronto, law professor Ed Morgan wrote to Robert Prichard, the university's president, arguing that Icke's views should have "no place in the Canadian marketplace of ideas." He described Icke's work as "precisely the type of vilifying material with which the Supreme Court was concerned in its decision regarding the Criminal Code of Canada ban. The publications praise classic antisemitic tracts, and are replete with references to a secret society carrying on a global conspiracy led by a manipulating Jewish clique."]] Michael Barkun sees Icke as a conspiracy theorist of the Alex Jones variety, though he argues that Icke is the most fluent of them.

Swiftian allegory

of Antioch University Los Angeles sees Icke as a spiritual philosopher, his work possibly allegorical.

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:British television presenters Category:British sports broadcasters Category:Conspiracy theorists Category:UFO conspiracy theorists Category:British writers Category:Coventry City F.C. players Category:English footballers Category:Association football goalkeepers Category:Hereford United F.C. players Category:The Football League players Category:English occult writers Category:People from Ryde Category:People from Leicester Category:Independent politicians in England Category:English writers Category:English political writers Category:Environmental skepticism Category:Psychedelic drug advocates Category:Religious skeptics Category:Anti-globalist activists Category:Self-declared messiahs