Time to Make Fun of Richard Gage Again

One of my most entertaining moments writing for this blog came when Alex Jones, who was interviewing Richard Gage for his radio show, attacked debunkers for making fun of the fact that Gage split up with his wife over his truther activities. A fact that we didn't know until he announced it live on the radio.

As we have discussed before, much of the allure of the conspiracy theory lifestyle is that one minute you can be a non-descript employee stuck in suburban cubicle hell, the next minute a brave freedom fighter striking out against the New World Order while being adoringly fawned over by other suburban warriors. Jonathan Kay, in a short preview of his upcoming book, amusingly touches on this sad phenomenon in the Washington Post.

There’s no polite way to say this: Many conspiracy theorists I met were paunchy 40- and 50-something men facing disappointment in their personal lives. In interviews, it seemed clear that they were struggling with midlife crises and trying to reinvent themselves for a new audience.

Consider Sept. 11 conspiracy theorist Richard Gage, an architect who abandoned his business to roam the world preaching the notion that “controlled demolition” brought down the twin towers. “I’ve never been happier,” he told me in 2009. “I feel blessed, in fact. This is my destiny, my mission. I’ve lost my career. I’ve lost my marriage. I’ve lost my house. But I’m working with patriots, spreading the truth about what’s happened to their country. What more could I ask?”