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A source tells me Ward 5 city council challenger Kenya McKnight holds some fairly interesting political views, as evidenced by some conversations this source had and/or heard personally from Kenya's mouth in the not-so-long ago past. Apparently, Kenya...
...said neither Obama nor Hilary Clinton would manage to get elected president. Why? Well, because the Queen of England would NEVER let that happen. You see, the Queen of England has...um...secret power and control over American elections.
Seriously. Kenya BELIEVES this lunacy, or at least she did prior to the November 2008 election. My source--who was laughing so hard I thought he/she would bust a gut--kept saying, "Johnny!!!! ASK KENYA MCKNIGHT ABOUT THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND!!! ASK HER!!!"
(Hence my headline)
My source reports Kenya is a very nice person--even kind of fun--but when she opens up her mouth and starts talking about the secret powers of the Queen of England, you know the house may be lawfully and legally occupied but some of the lamps in the upstairs bedrooms have Crazy Bulbs.
What is the source of this lunacy? (It's not like Kenya came up with this on her own, it is somebody else's half-baked political dogma)
Well, I was told the source of the political dogma, too, but this is the kind of thing I'd like to confirm with another source before publishing it. Let's just say there are relatively few political and/or religious organizations who believe the Queen of England exerts secret control over American presidential politics, and I'm sure well-read JNS blog readers have heard of both of them.
One has to wonder whether Her Majesty has some opinion about Kenya McKnight getting elected to Minneapolis City Council.
At least Kenya will have somebody besides herself to blame on election night. Yes, somebody "across the pond," as it were.
John, I'll make no secret about my support of Don Samuels, but I've got to say this post seems rather pointless.
ReplyDeleteThis person is running for city council. If she holds highly unorthodox political views, this is something people need to know.
ReplyDeleteYou're speaking out of pure pity, Jeff, not objectivity. You didn't say the same thing when I pointed out grammar problems with her website, but when Kenya thinks the FREAKING QUEEN OF ENGLAND is secretly controlling presidential politics, you don't see the point?
And, yes, your lemongrass chicken tastes better with Tabasco. There. I said it. LET'S JUST GET EVERYTHING OUT ON THE TABLE, HERE!!!!
Oh, I have heard James Everett talking about this theory too... can't remember if it was JACC elections night, or caucus night. But I have heard him on this theory.
ReplyDeleteI'd be careful, Johnny. There is no end of conspiracy theory adherents on the Northside. I've run into some of them, good, smart, well meaning people who believe some pretty wild stuff. Why? Oh, I don't know, if you've had a hard life (or if you grew up around people like that) and have been treated unfairly and/or are struggling, you look for explanations, the more complicated the better. Simple explanations may be true but unsatisfying to many people. Jeff is right, keep the focus on the here and now, not the odd beliefs of this person or you'll wind up insulting some potential Samuels supporter. Let people believe what they want to, we aren't all creatures of rationality all of the time. Now if she's acted on bizarre beliefs, that's fair game.
ReplyDeleteMargaret--
ReplyDeleteJust because Kenya (reportedly) thinks the Queen of England has control over U.S. presidential politics DOESN'T mean somebody will vote for Kenya who wholeheartedly believes some other, different, competing conspiracy theory.
Those who believe conspiracy theories are NOT like the nuts in a nutty bar: they do not all stick together for the common yummy good.
However, imagine what a FUN election this could be if Kenya spoke about the "real" issues facing North Minneapolis: black helicopters. University of Minnesota science experiments on helpless children. Impotency chemicals in the water. And, of course, all that crack being sold at Hawthorn (sic) Crossings strip mall being CIA in origin.
Hmmmm...now I'm REALLY wondering why they dropped the "e" in "Hawthorn."
Some kind of...code word?!
That list of conspiracy theories nicely summarizes the basic division between those who are still sulking over Natalie Johnson Lee's loss (now Kenya McKnight supporters) and anyone who wants an actual, accomplished, intelligent person representing our Ward and fighting for the Northside. But, as we saw with JACC, the point of pandering to this Al-Flowers-style paranoia (which, by the way, often incorporates wholesale homophobia and misogyny) is to feed the pockets of various Northside demagogues who are by now such known quantities that they need to hide behind puppets like McCrazy.
ReplyDeleteWhat a FUN discussion. Tell me more about how conspiracy theories play into North Minneapolis politics and culture.
ReplyDeleteBut, you know, this discussion can only go so far...I wouldn't want anybody to know about the alien mind control masters who secretly control the strings of Johnny Northside.
Oh, no pity whatsoever here, Johnny. Pervasive grammatical errors on a campaign website that is poorly constructed anyway, well that stuff can be DOCUMENTED. I know the whole qualitative journalistic tests and how those standards are not as high when it comes to blogging. But something like this is very difficult to prove. Perhaps impossible.
ReplyDeleteSo then anyone who follows up by actually asking Kenya about this conspiracy theory can get a big fat, "That conversation never happened" response. And then McKnight supporters can start saying "Ask Don Samuels about how the Freemasons control the weather" and there may be no end to the pointlessness.
I do agree that when someone is running for office, unorthodox political views are not only fair game but also rather pertinent. However this one, for me at least, is too much hearsay. I'd rather stick to what is said publicly, on camera/tape, on campaign literature, etc.
Now you're talking about something I actually studied in school--political sociology. Not all conspiracy theory people stick together (they may not all believe the same conspiracy, LOL). HOWEVER, if you make fun of the one that she happens to believe in, other people may say, hey, but I believe in x (insert odd belief here). He's making light of MY (insert dearly held notion.) Many religious beliefs for example don't bear a lot of "scientific" or rational scrutiny. But a lot of people hold them which makes it political poison to mess with. And as you allude to there is a race component here. We all know that there is a nugget of historical fact to some beliefs like the experimentation on Black people, a la the Tuskegee experiment. You really risk making this a race thing all over again like some people have been trying to do. What Jeff said. You don't need to go there to make people understand that change is needed. Let folks believe what they want to about the Queen, at the end of the day, if they support positive change on the Northside that's all that you should care about. If they believe in CT and are using it as some kind of crutch to prevent change that's another story and that's the real one here.
ReplyDeleteJeff,
ReplyDeleteMy source says the conversation happened and was very specific about when, where, and how it happened.
If Kenya McKnight herself or her supporters (whoever they are, so few listed on the official website) want to get on here and deny it (and issue colorful, interesting counter-claims about who-believes-what conspiracy theories) I'm sure I'll approve their comments. That's only fair.
And, yes, I do try to be fair. I heard some secondhand bitching this week about how there's no point giving me info from the Old Majority side of the JACC controversy, because it won't get a "fair hearing." To which I say: some folks let info flow freely, like a river, and others are desperate to control information.
Which mindset am I inclined to trust? Furthermore, given what I'm doing here, which mindset can I even WORK WITH?
In the meantime, my position is let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may. I do not engage in layers and layers of calculation about probable or theoretical impacts of particular pieces of info. (But, for the record, this blogger for hire. The space aliens aren't paying me NEARLY enough. Their so-called "propulsion metal discs" may be valuable enough in THEIR star system, but what can I do with them HERE?)
In any case...it's not my nature to withhold info on the basis of political calculation.
The information I presented about Kenya's (reported) political beliefs--according to a witness I trust-- is RELEVANT and NEWSWORTHY according to the established standards of this blog. (I really will have to sit down one day and make a "Johnny Northside Blog Policies" post)
A person running for city council who reportedly believes something highly unorthodox--arguably NUTTY--is RELEVANT. Could this set off a more wide-ranging discussion about the political impact of conspiracy theories among the "downtrodden" in the Fifth Ward?
Let it happen. That's democracy. That's the First Amendment in action. If politicians seeking votes are forced to quietly kowtow, to some degree, to large pockets of wacky conspiratorial belief among a significant portion of the voting demographic...then that's something worthy of a wider public discussion, maybe with other media involved.
But if I sat down and made political calculations about the impact of a particular piece of blog info on the big picture, I'd be presenting a different product than what this blog is known for.
I get relevant North Minneapolis info, opinion, speculation. I publish it, with a healthy dose of "call 'em as I see 'em" editorial. Rinse, lather, repeat.
And, no, we're not talking about a commonly-held religious belief that can't be proven by science, ala Margaret's example. Believing Jesus rose from the dead is a common belief. Believing that when He rose from the dead He wrote A Secret Message on Grandpa's Rock in the back yard, which has guided our family for 3 generations, once Grandpa turned it over while digging the foundation for the house and now (per The Prophesy Grandma Found In The Buried Pickle Jar) it's time to share God's Special Rock Message with the world...that's a better analogy and basis of comparison when it comes to (reportedly) believing QUEEN FREAKING ELIZABETH secretly
controls presidential politics.
(Breath. Breath. William Faulkner's restless spirit took possession of my sentence structure for a moment, there)
To Margaret: you make fascinating points. And, yes, I am well aware of the Tuskeegee Experiment. But the presence of one secret government outrage does not tend to prove the existence of 99 others, and people who--for example--would actually accuse U of M of possibly contemplating secret medical experiments on children need to look under the couch, between seat cushions, etc., to find the missing cards in their deck.
If, in the next ten years, children are born in Minneapolis who bear a striking resemblance to Goldie Gopher, I may have to retract or modify that statement, but I'm not too worried, because it's not like the UROC project is moving forward at light speed.
(Wait a minute...U? ROC? What does that name REALLY stand for?)
But--dear Margaret--it is, as you point out, a symptom of being "beaten down" to latch on to such crazy theories. All the same, that doesn't mean I won't call b.s. on it. I WILL call b.s. on it.
I spent years working as a military psych tech, then more years working at a group home for schizophrenics. When the reality train is leaving the station, I'm not going to be all, like, wink wink, let's allow a few special, tender, vulnerable, downtrodden souls to linger on the platform instead of getting on board with everybody else. What's the harm, it's not much different than believing in JESUS.
I guess the question is whether there is a significant "undecided" population in the Ward open to persuasion by either the "UROP wants to hire Nazis to experiment on our babies" crowd or the "believe it or not, it's counterproductive for a city councilmember (i.e., Natalie Johnson Lee) to actually demand the cessation of housing inspections in Northside neighborhoods" crowd. In a tight election, perhaps this group of fence-sitters is significant--I don't know. My personal, unscientific, observation, is that people tend to be in one group or the other--whether or not they advertise the fact.
ReplyDeleteYou mean "UROC," don't you? Not "UROP?"
ReplyDeleteThen again...turns out UROP is a program at MIT.
http://web.mit.edu/urop/basicinfo/
Johnny Northside's son wants to attend MIT and study robots. Did you maybe just let some information slip you shouldn't have? WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NAZIS?, MARGARET?!!!
OMG - hilarious! the children resembling Goldie Gopher - freaking hilarious! I'm gonna use that line when Mr. Flowers starts pulling out the Tuskeegee card again.
ReplyDeleteYes, I meant UROC. And I agree that it is important to call people on these conspiracy theories, not so much because I am concerned what people believe, but because, just as on the far-right wing of the political spectrum, they make people vulnerable to manipulation. If I truly believe that R.T. Rybak is a genocidal maniac, then, sure I won't ask too many questions when NRRC or JACC wants to pilfer away all the city funds on their cronies--they're the only people standing between me and the apocalypse. This is part of what is so ironic about the UROC "controversy": once NRCC dug themselves into a huge financial hole, the University deal was their only lifeline, but the same paranoids that they so cynically pandered to before were true believers who wouldn't go along with NRRC's deal with the University.
ReplyDeleteTalk about wild conspiracy theories! I came across a book that had some far fetched rubbish in it. Actually, it was about trash or maybe it was Dumpster Diving?
ReplyDeleteSame thing I guess.
My point was basically what Anon 11:25 am said. Are you trying to convert people to rationality or are you trying to get a guy re-elected? Not sure what you mean about the Nazis. That Anon and I aren't the same commenter. Also what Anon 11:59 am said is true, people can manipulate others with these fantastic tales so they may be worth fighting head on. But again, politics is played on the margins and it may mean letting some of that margin go with the Queen of England.
ReplyDeleteDoes the man-sessory store have anything to do with these conspiracy theories? I think it should... it's very suspicious and unexplainable.
ReplyDeleteDo not just ask questions about Queen Elizabeth, ask if McKnight believes that Lyndon LaRouche's thinking, politics, explanations and solutions have anything worthwhile to offer Minneapolis. LL is the most probable source to the QE delusion.
ReplyDeleteIt fits into LL's explanation of world troubles involving the Brit royals, drug dealing, international bankers, Jews (I think....) and anyone who thinks LL is a nutter.
For a left-leaning analysis of LL, see:
http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/
I have no idea if McKnight or Samuels have any connection to LL.
You can see LL's claptrap in very dense newsprint distributed on free racks around the area.
LL isn't the ONLY one who says this stuff about the Queen of England.
ReplyDeleteNice guess, though.