Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories

Product Information

Mike Rothschild has done it again. First with QAnon, and now with the legendary Rothschild family, he investigates and dismantles one of the most dangerous and vile conspiracy theories of all time. The story he tells is about more than just a baseless lie that won’t die; it’s a larger tale about how those lies shape our culture and our politics for generations. Rothschild is an ideal guide through the dark byways of paranoia and antisemitism—unflinching, exhaustive, witty, and, above all, committed to the truth.” After college, Rothschild moved to Los Angeles, initially pursuing a career in screenwriting. Around 2012, he began writing about conspiracy theories, at a time when such narratives, once considered fringe, began seeping into mainstream discourse. The rise of conspiracy theories during the Obama era, followed by the Trump presidency, the QAnon phenomenon, and the COVID-19 pandemic, further fueled his interest. “Now everybody seems to know somebody who believes one of these things,” Rothschild said. Our space laser has a stellar record of more than 36 years of safe operation. (And it’s still single? One could say that’s the real emergency). We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that focusing intense beams of light from beyond the stratosphere is only done in accordance with international safety regulations, and never on the Sabbath. The books is very interesting, well-written, and provides useful information for those who wish to counter-argue people who spout these falsehoods. The title of the book alludes to one conspiracy supposedly espoused by Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who actually didn’t say Jewish Space Lasers, but she is one of many on the American Right who are buying into the theories and conspiracies, or at least publicly promoting them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like it will get much easier to counter, even as the Rothschilds get replaced by George Soros and other modern “Jewish boogeymen”.

What I still don't comprehend, even after reading this book, is why these conspiracies have such staying power. It's been hundreds of years and people are still using powerful Jews as their boogeymen. Even when these conspiracies are so illogical it's impossible to parody them. They're self-parodies. It's just...baffling.A spokesman for Rep. Liz Cheney, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, replied in response to both questions, “no.” This is a problem for conspiracy theorists of both left- and right-wing varieties. But in the United States, conspiracy theorists have become a dominant influence on only one of our two major political parties: the Republicans. The result is a political landscape in which right-wing anti-Semitism becomes more and more mainstreamed, even as Republicans win support among Orthodox Jews and loudly proclaim their pro-Israel bona fides. Greene’s views are just a bit more controversial. They include, but are by no means limited to, the following: Greene posted a picture of the mother of a slain New York Police Department detective, Miosotis Familia, and a commenter said that Familia had "watched a horrific video" allegedly seized from the laptop of disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner, Abedin's ex-husband. The commenter said that the video showed Abedin and Clinton "filleting" a child's face, according to screenshots obtained by MMFA. A recurring theme of this book is just how much antisemitic propaganda is just plagiarized from earlier antisemitic writings. What do you make of this just blatant unoriginality throughout?

How do you see it connecting to Jewish cabal conspiracy theories in general, and also what is your general assessment of X since Musk took over?

Naturally, right? While real scientists have long said that climate change has left many regions drier than before, why should anyone listen to science? Why not blame it on freaking laser beams? In early 2019, for example, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) repeatedly got into trouble for the way she talked about the US relationship with Israel. She claimed that members of Congress supported Israel for financial reasons — “It’s all about the Benjamins” — and warned of a “political influence” pushing “for allegiance to a foreign country.” The UK recently witnessed how seamlessly various manifestations of antisemitism flowed from the fringes of a political party into the centre. That was, of course, from the left of the political spectrum. One has to wonder, if after the embrace Greene has received from her colleagues, we will not witness the same thing in the Republican party. This time it will come from the right. Both give witness to the ubiquitousness of antisemitism. It has no political favourites. Greene made Facebook comments about "Frazzledrip," which were recently reported by left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters for America (MMFA), in May 2018. While a writer may seek to dissociate him- or herself from the ‘outdated’ trends within the conspiracy tradition, including the focus on the Jewish provenance of the alleged plot, they nevertheless continue to operate in an ideological space with a long antisemitic tradition,” he writes.

It’s very convenient and very historical for Musk to single out some Jews who are just trying to carve out a place in the world and carve out their right to exist without harassment, and blame them for all of his problems. It is completely in keeping with the scapegoating, with the blame, that countless others have foisted upon Jews in general, specific Jews, Jewish advocacy organizations — there’s nothing new there.In a Tuesday interview on Greg Kelly Reports, a program on the conservative-leaning media network Newsmax, Kelly asked Greene about whether she believed in the conspiracy theory that a Jewish space laser caused the 2018 California wildfires. If I have a criticism of the book, it is that Rothschild (not part of the famous family) doesn't take the conspiracy theories seriously enough. He uses the words "deranged", "unhinged" and "incoherent" repeatedly without really looking at how these tropes can be so easily believed. It was a little frustrating, because by writing off the appeal of these conspiracy theories, he caricatures anti-semites in an unproductive way. I was left wondering why these claims, if they are so ridiculous, are so long-lasting. Without understanding that, it is much harder to combat them. Maybe his point is that they are so ridiculous that there is no combatting them. There are so many libels and misconceptions about them: canards about Nathan Mayer Rothschild learning about the Waterloo outcome early and profiting off it on the British market, their net worth, them having a plan for conquest by sending the sons to different countries, funding both sides of every war. And obviously we get into space lasers at the end. What is the most consequential lie and the one that you see being repeated the most? And are there any that are easier to debunk than others? Gee, blaming a racial group for a public health crisis, in this case an environmental health crisis? When has that ever happened before?

Did you find any key differences between antisemitism about the Rothschilds in the U.S. compared to in Europe?

This is the crucial thing to understand about anti-Semitism: It is both bigotry and an explanatory framework. Jews aren’t just detestable people, in the anti-Semite’s mind; they are the force responsible for all that is bad in the world. After Christianity’s conquest of the Roman Empire and Europe, blaming the Jews for the world’s ills — from war to famine to pandemic — became a persistent feature of the European social environment. You can see Byford’s analysis at work in the most popular right-wing conspiracy theory in America today: QAnon. There’s a reason Jews are so often the targets of conspiracy theories, even mainstream ones. Much of conspiracy theorizing as we know it — the enterprise of explaining the world’s woes by positing that a shadowy, all-powerful elite is behind them — arose out of the European anti-Semitic tradition. The influence of that tradition is inescapable; its language and conceptual architecture are inherently linked to longstanding and deadly stereotypes about Jews. She specifically mentioned Roger Kimmel on the PG&E board, U.S. Senator for California Dianne Feinstein, her husband Richard Blum, former California governor Jerry Brown, and Michael Peevey who is on the board of Solaren.