In the 1950s, as the Iron Curtain drew down across Eastern Europe and spread across parts of Asia, the United States rose in economic and military power and came to position itself as the defender of the democratic world. Under the aegis of this new world order a Cold War escalated between the Allied Western nations and the former Soviet Union.

Okay, that’s enough of the history lesson. You’re probably drifting off already and starting to wonder what’s happening on ‘The Block’, and that’s not good for anyone.

Hollywood was also subject to Senator Joe McCarthy’s pledge to oust any surreptitious Reds under the bed. A corollary of this movement saw the release of a number of feature films and in particular science fiction movies which acted as fairly unsubtle metaphors for the threat of communism to the democratic way of life. ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ for example, is perhaps the most famous of these propaganda style movies. There is a substantial list of these films at the website, ‘The Red Scare: A Filmography’: https://www.lib.washington.edu/exhibits/AllPowers/film.html

This leads me to wonder if any Hollywood films were made from the opposing ideological perspective. The only one which comes immediately to mind is the John Carpenter directed cult classic, ‘They Live’ (1988). Long a favourite of mine, not least because it stars my favourite professional wrestler of the 1980s, the recently late, great Rowdy Roddy Piper. As far as conspiracy theories go, this one is a cracker. The plot concerns a group of unemployed homeless radicals living on the edge of an unnamed American city, discovering that the world is actually under the subliminal totalitarian control of a race of reptilian neo-con aliens, who are able to hide in plain sight and manipulate humanity by way of sleep induced hypnosis and superior technology. The rebels are able to see the world as it really is through specially designed sunglasses and contact lenses.

The nefarious uber-capitalist aliens are aided and abetted in their economic rape and pillage routine by the elite one percent of wealthy and privileged humans, whom they quickly recruit and reward by way of further financial gain. These economic traitors are inevitably men and women in suits in powerful positions in business, the media and politics. The film is drawn from a science fiction story called ‘Eight o’clock in the Morning’, written by Ray Nelson, and published in 1963 in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Carpenter was inspired to acquire the rights and based the subsequent screenplay on his personal disenchantment with the politics of Reaganomics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live

One of my favourite moments in the film, apart from the ridiculously over the top fight scene between Piper and co-star Keith David (who suplexes a guy in an alleyway during a street fight!) is the moment of revelation when Piper first puts on the sunglasses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVgl1HOxpj8

I still remember seeing it for the first time as a young man and thinking ‘Yes! That’s what I’ve always thought too – that there is a great secret conspiracy to keep the rich on top and the rest of us as slaves.’ Which is why, in this Internet age, after watching the film again on utube, I was quite amused to discover a whole gamut of related clips and documentaries which reveal that there is a whole sub-culture of people in the world who seriously believe that we are really living under the control of a race of psychopathic alien reptiles.

At the forefront of this spectacular conspiracy theory is an Englishman named David Icke, former professional footballer and sports broadcaster. Here is a link to his Wikipedia page which outlines his theories: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke

To summarise Icke’s philosophy in a few words, he believes that the world is controlled by a secret group of reptilian aliens or humanoids called the Babylonian Brotherhood. They have been manipulating the human race for centuries and their bloodline, interbred with selected humans, includes British royalty, the famous, the rich and powerful. If you ever have a few spare hours you could enjoy reading into his theories in detail. In essence his beliefs are a metaphor for the struggle of ordinary people against an invisible totalitarian regime which seeks to control and enslave them (us).

So how far out there is the reptilian alien conspiracy theory? Well essentially, these aliens sound a lot like neo-conservatives to me. Consider for example, the US Government initiated Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a proposed trade agreement between several Pacific Rim countries which will basically allow powerful corporations to sue governments if certain laws and regulations stand in the way of their right to profit at the expense of protectionism, ethics and possibly human rights. This assessment is posited from my own personal ideological bias. You can judge for yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership

Ultimately, I can see where Icke and his ilk have got it wrong. They are on the right track. The world is controlled by a small group of powerful beings. However, they are not alien reptiles in human skin – they are in fact just right wing sociopaths. In that regard much like the imaginary alien reptiles they are not really human, because they lack a moral compass, empathy and a social conscience. Their only god is mammon.

John Carpenter’s ‘They live’ wasn’t a film – it was a documentary!

Rowdy Roddy Piper, he knew. That’s why they had him killed (RIP Roddy).

*No just by corporate sociopaths.