Back in the USSR

The key to a good conspiracy theory – and PID is a classic case in hand – is that it contains components that people desperately want to believe. 

Take UFO’s; people see strange lights in the sky that seem to perform amazing manoeuvres at impossible speeds and ergo this must be alien technology from another planet as no human-designed aircraft could possibly be capable of such incredible aeronautical feats.

Except, of course, we the general public have no idea exactly what fantastic technologies may exist behind closed-doors. Nazi scientists – who designed and built the Apollo rockets that took America to the moon, allegedly – were reportedly experimenting with anti-gravity technology during WWII. These same scientists were then shipped to the U.S. under the auspices of Operation Paperclip after the conflict and who knows what technologies they may have mastered in the interim.

So, some sort of anti-gravity craft, protected as it is by its own gravitational field, may well be able to perform all the seemingly impossible manoeuvres reported by UFO witnesses and still be very much of terrestrial design and construction.

The general public, whose tax-dollars have ultimately funded this wonder-craft, would be none the wiser, as would, quite possibly, the U.S. Government. Even if they do know about this they could never admit it. Not only would they lose all the advantages that stem from its secrecy but allies and enemies alike would also want to share the technology. Not to mention the hit that the global economy would take if the world was suddenly freed from its reliance on burning fossil fuels.

So, to protect the black-project, cover stories are invented, column inches are written, Hollywood movies are produced and myth and legend are created. All based on the bizarre premise that little-green-men travelling millions of light-years through space to visit us is infinitely more believable to the populace than the development of a new technology.

Could Paul is Dead be of a similar theme? On the face of it you would have to say no. Certainly the initial 1969 media pantomime was a hoax. Its perpetrator, Fred LaBour, has admitted as much. However, we have to consider that clues have originated from within the Beatle camp both prior to, and, post the 1969 hoo-hah. But to what end?

I am reminded of a fascinating mini-documentary that I saw over the Christmas period. The documentary explores the idea that our current political apathy is a deliberate strategy by the powers that be to keep us all in an induced state of ignorance while they continue to steal the nation’s wealth and assets.

It considers the strategies of the Russian PR guru and Putin advisor Vladislav Surkov. Surkov has mastered the dark arts of political spin and, according to the documentary, ‘his aim is to undermine peoples’ perceptions of the world, so they never know what is really happening.’

Now whilst this may seem a touch hyperbolic I am reminded of the strategies of the arch PIDer Iamaphoney and the ‘Nothing is Real’ mantra. The constant promises of an imminent – although now delayed until 2022 apparently – revelation, the allusions to insider knowledge, the suggestions of collaboration with McCartney himself and the less than subtle hints that PID ties in to all manner of much larger and sinister conspiracy theories (Manson, JFK, RFK, Freemasonry, Crowley, OTO, Pineal Glands, Ancient Egypt, Superstones – whatever they are – etc., etc.) all allow a very simple, and aged, conspiracy theory to fester and grow. 

Indeed, grow to such an extent that it is no longer merely acceptable to believe that McCartney died. No, he was, in fact, replaced. As it appears were all the Beatles. Furthermore, this is such a gigantic conspiracy that every celebrity ever known to mankind has also been replaced by evil imposters all of whose names begins with an F.

Ultimately, and whatever the reality and purpose of PID is, this is a masterful example of the art of PR. Likewise the recent furore surrounding the Kanye West / Paul McCartney collaboration. We can never know if American youth is as ignorant as has been portrayed, and nor does it matter; it is the perception that counts. If Twitter tells you that this is the case we can either agree or disagree but ultimately the profile, and bank accounts, of both artists’ swells and all for minimal publicity costs and effort.

So, regardless of whether Paul is truly dead or alive, his profile, and legend, grows. Indeed the same can be said of his prodigy Iamaphoney. Despite not delivering the promised revelation the artist known as Billy Martin has managed to carve out a niche selling backward versions of Beatles records on iTunes. Now I am not denigrating him for this; good luck to the man. But the point is that this is achieved without ever actually confirming or denying anything and relies, principally, on the assertion that Iamaphoney has access to the long-lost and "top secret" manuscript of Beatle roadie and pal, Mal Evans. Given that Evans is long dead, and cannot therefore contradict anything, we are left to assume that this manuscript contains explosive revelations pertaining to Paul is Dead.

It is perhaps pertinent to point out that during WWII, when the British wished to deceive the Nazis into thinking that the Allies planned to invade Greece and Sardinia in 1943 instead of Sicily, they devised a programme of disinformation entitled Operation Mincemeat. The operation was accomplished by persuading the Germans that they had, by accident, intercepted "top secret" documents giving details of Allied war plans. The documents were attached to a corpse deliberately left to wash up on a beach in Punta Umbría in Spain. 

The name of this corpse was Major William (Billy) Martin. As I cannot claim to have any insider knowledge of PID I cannot say if this coincidence is relevant or not, however, perhaps we should no longer ask is Paul dead, but WHY is Paul dead and WHAT is the real secret that his 'death' obscures?