From
The Demon-Haunted World, which I'm currently re-reading for about the 5th time:
In a far-off land in the South Seas, the word went out about a wise man, a healer, an embodied spirit. He could speak across time. He was an Ascended Master. He was coming, they said. He was coming...
In 1988, Australian newspapers, magazines, and television stations began to receive the good news via press kits and videotape. One broadside read:
CARLOS TO APPEAR IN AUSTRALIA
Those who have seen it will never forget. The brilliant young artist who has been talking to them suddenly seems to falter, his pulse slows dangerously and virtually stops at the point of death. The qualified medical attendant, who has been assigned to keep constant watch, is about to sound the alarm.
But then, with a heart-stirring burst, the pulse is felt again -- faster and stronger than ever before. The life force has clearly returned to the body -- but the entity inside that body is no longer Jose Luis Alvarez, the 19-year-old whose unique painted ceramics are featured in some of the wealthiest homes in America. Instead, the body has been taken over by Carlos, an ancient soul, whose teachings will come as both a shock and an inspiration...
As even one skeptical New York critic puts it: "The first and only case of a channeller offering tangible, physical proof of some mysterious change within his human physiology."
When Alvarez arrived in Australia, he held a press conference:
In his first press conference, Carlos quickly emerged. The entity was forceful, literate, commanding. Australian television programs quickly lined up for appearances by Alvarez, his manager, and his nurse (to check his pulse and announce the presence of Carlos).
Carlos appeared on several television programs in the next few days, but was never seriously challenged by the Australian media. For the most part, everyone believed.
Carlos was to appear at the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House on the following Sunday:
On the appointed day, the Drama Theatre... was nearly filled. An excited crowd, young and old, milled about expectantly. Entrance was free -- which reassured those who vaguely wondered if it might be some sort of scam. Alvarez seated himself on a low couch. His pulse was monitored. Suddenly it stopped. Seemingly, he was near death. Low, guttural noises emanated from deep within him. The audience gasped in wonder and awe.
Suddenly, Alvarez's body took on power. His posture radiated confidence. A broad, humane, spiritual perspective flowed out of Alvarez's mouth. Carlos was here! Interviewed afterwards, many members of the audience described how they had been moved and delighted.
Everyone was so excited and moved! Lives were being changed; people were suddenly finding meaning in their existence!
There was only one small problem.
The following Sunday, Australia's most popular TV program -- named Sixty Minutes after its American counterpart -- revealed that the Carlos affair was a hoax, front to back. The producers thought it would be instructive to explore how easily a faith healer or guru could be created to bamboozle the public and the media.
Think about that last sentence, and then read these words from the author of The Demon-Haunted World, Carl Sagan. And then tell me who and what it makes you think of.
Most of these figures are only after your money. That's the good news. But what worries me is that a Carlos will come along with bigger fish to fry -- attractive, commanding, patriotic, exuding leadership. All of us long for a competent, uncorrupt, charismatic leader. We will leap at the opportunity to support, to believe, to feel good.
Most reporters, editors, and producers -- swept up with the rest of us -- will shy away from real skeptical scrutiny.
He won't be selling you prayers or crystals or tears. Perhaps he'll be selling you a war... Whatever it is, it will be accompanied by warnings about the dangers of skepticism.
Isn't this just what happened after 9/11? And when President Bush made his case for attacking Iraq?
It was a case made from emotion; he played to American's fears. He rode the wave of their heightened patriotism after the September 11 attacks.
And Americans were not skeptical. They wanted to believe. They didn't ask themselves about the evidence; they didn't ask themselves if the reasons for going to war were really valid.
They just trusted their leader.
The U.S. media reacted just like the Australian media did in the Carlos hoax -- they didn't scrutinize. They just went with the patriotic flow.
The media did not do its job. The American public did not ask the right questions.
Now, thousands are dead. Now, Americans realize their mistake.
There is nothing wrong with emotions. They enrich us. Without emotion, our lives would be meaningless. But it is foolish to decide major things based on emotion. It is foolish to make major decisions because it "feels right."
America fell for Bush's lie because they let their emotions decide, and not their intellect. They didn't weigh the evidence; like sheep, they just followed.
And there are some that still follow. After Carlos was revealed to be a hoax,
...Several elderly attendees of the channeling at the Sydney Opera House were incensed after the Sixty Minutes expose: "Never mind what they say," they told Alvarez. "We believe in you."
Like the Carlos hoax, the Iraq Lie is a lesson in the dangers of belief without evidence.
Question authority. Question everything.