THEM

Before The Men Who Stare Goats, the was THEM. Jon Ronson has a knack for finding the quirky parts of the underground minds in our society. In the THEM, Ronson spends time with the kind of people who believe that there is a secret Jewish conspiracy to take over the world to form the New World Order. The groups differ greatly from the KKK to Islamists to just plain old folks. The conclusion of the book brings Ronson to a bizarre ceremony in northern California that may sound too weird to be true.

By far this has been one of the most fascinating books I have read in a long time. Not every chapter was riveting, but for the most part it had no trouble holding my attention. Learning how some of the nuttier factions of society. Chapter two was the highlight of the book. I'd heard reference to Ruby Ridge before, but honestly knew little besides the name. Ronson spends time with Rachel, the daughter of Randy Weaver, and gets her impression of the events that took place. He later meets up with Randy Weaver himself. In short you learn about a family that moved to the mountains of Idaho to escape the corruption of the world with the strange belief in the coming New World Order and that the government was out to get them. In the end, they paranoia played out in some of the ways they may have expected, but not for the reasons they would have supposed. The events left Randy's wife Vicky and son Sam dead and became a rallying cry and pilgrimage spot for the likes of Timothy McVeigh. Since the events at Ruby Ridge, Randy Weaver has dropped his conspiracy view of the world, many believe it's because his wife was the driving force between those believes.

Ruby Ridge happened prior to the events at Waco, so for many Americans, it's less well known. It's true that the Weaver family and the Davidian Cult held many beliefs. In fact Ronson meets with Randy Weaver at the Davidian site, where it was being rebuilt. Weaver was like a Rock Star to the volunteers working at the site, even though he no longer held those extreme beliefs. What I found most fascinating was what actually lead up to the siege. Randy had been spending time with the local Aryan Nation group and he'd been approached by a federal marshall to spy of the group. He was chosen, because he was not committed to their cause. He spent time with them for the social aspect. He declined the offer. Unfortunately, before the request the same marshall had asked Randy to saw off a couple of shotguns, just below the legal limit. This allowed the government to push Randy's hand. He still refused, despite the threat of prosecution. He never showed up in court, and that's when the nightmare began.

Ronson also spends time with a KKK outfit called the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. This happens to be one Klan faction that was trying to build a more positive image. Less with hating blacks more loving the whites. The difference is subtle, but one factor with this group was the fact that they were making an effort to avoid the N-word, at least in public. The group was using personality tests up the wazzoo to help them to improve themselves and make a better impression publicly. Their buddies at another faction called the American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan view this effort as the Klan as going soft, but the AK of the KKK are the ones that make the Jerry Springer appearances. As far as I'm concerned, they are essentially the same. Fascinating, but the same.

The concluding chapter of the book offers a view of the powerful, few are aware of. There's a place in northern California known as the Bohemain Grove where many leaders, government and business, go to talk about issues in the world. It's where George Bush Sr. learned that Cheney would be the running mate of his son in the coming 2000 election. It was merely reported that Bush learned the news while camping in northern California. That would be camping at the Bohemian Grove. Among conspiracy theorists, this is a satanic ritual and evidence of the New World Order. Ronson was able to sneak in attend. He did so with some help. A local lawyer took him in, so to speak.

Ronson learned about this event and decided to check it out, so he contacted one of the extremists he'd spoken to earlier in the book and invited him along. His name is Alex Jones. Alex Jones is one of the nuts similar to Randy Weaver and he hosts a radio show. He accepted the invitation. While planning the infiltration, Ronson learned of this lawyer, Rick, who'd snuck in several times before. Ronson contacted him and got his help. Rick's instructions were simple, just walk in and act like you belong. That's what Rick and Ronson did. Alex Jones on the other hand decided to sneak in with one of his buddies a little differently. All saw the same ritual, but they came away with different interpretations. Jones provided the typical nutcase explanations, while Ronson described a strange ceremony as nothing more than a Fraternity party for geezers.

What's most interesting about Bohemian Grove is not what takes place, it's how people view it. There's a population out there that see it as a satanic ceremony for world domination. The thing is it's not. There was a time when it was the most powerful people in the world and maybe a lot of influence came out of the meetings. Now the attendees are mostly older and the younger folks are avoiding these kinds of gatherings, because they see them as lame. So, at some point the amount of power wielded by the Bohemian Grove crowd will rhyme with zero.

The book is great and well written. I had a difficult time putting it down. I don't know why some people have such screwed up perceptions of the world. Some of it must be due to their upbringing. It's not unusual that children will see the world with a similar lens as their parents. They may or may not come through life with the same ideals, but the parents will have a significant impact on that world view. In the case of the extremists, they tend to live in tight communities and so getting contrary information is difficult. They're like a weird genetic mutation or something. Read the book and check out the clips below. Part of the book was filmed for a documentary, Ronson's other job. Alex Jones interpretation of the Bohemian Grove ritual is further down.