Misplaced Pages

G. Edward Griffin

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jytdog (talk | contribs) at 20:27, 10 December 2014 (Undid revision 637515359 by Atsme (talk) revert added material for which there is no consensus. please stop edit warring and discuss on Talk. thank you). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 20:27, 10 December 2014 by Jytdog (talk | contribs) (Undid revision 637515359 by Atsme (talk) revert added material for which there is no consensus. please stop edit warring and discuss on Talk. thank you)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) For other people named Edward Griffin (disambiguation)|Edward Griffin, see Edward Griffin (disambiguation).
G. Edward Griffin
Born (1931-11-07) November 7, 1931 (age 93)
Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Michigan
BA in speech and communications
Occupation(s)Documentary film producer, writer, lecturer
Known forConspiracy theories
Websitewww.freedomforceinternational.org

G. Edward Griffin (born November 7, 1931) is an American conspiracy theorist, film producer, author, and political lecturer. He is perhaps best known as the author of The Creature from Jekyll Island (1994), which promotes conspiracy theories about the Federal Reserve System. He is also known for advocating the scientifically-unsupported view that cancer is a metabolic disease which can be cured by consuming more amygdalin, and for his promotion of the conspiracy theory that scientists and politicians are covering up this cure.

Starting as a child actor, he became a radio station manager before age 20. He then began a career of producing documentaries and books on often-debated topics like cancer, the historicity of Noah's Ark, and the Federal Reserve System, the Supreme Court of the United States, terrorism, subversion, and foreign policy. Since the 1970s, Griffin has promoted laetrile as a cancer treatment, a view considered quackery by the medical community. He has also promoted the Durupınar site as hosting the original Noah's Ark, against skeptics as well as near-Ararat Creationists. He has opposed the Federal Reserve since the 1960s, saying it constitutes a banking cartel and an instrument of war and totalitarianism. In 2002, Griffin founded the individualist network Freedom Force International.

Early life and education

Griffin was born in Detroit, Michigan, on November 7, 1931, and became a child actor on local radio in 1942. By 1947, he was emceeing at WJR (CBS), and continued as announcer at WUOM and station manager at WWJ-TV (NBC), 1950–1955. He earned his bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1953, majoring in speech and communications. Griffin served in the United States Army from 1954 to 1956, reaching the rank of sergeant.

Political advocacy

By 1964, Griffin had completed his first book, The Fearful Master, on the United Nations, a challenging topic that recurs throughout his writings. When George Wallace ran for President of the United States in the election of 1968, winning five states for the segregationist American Independent Party, Griffin served as a writer for Wallace's vice presidential candidate, Curtis LeMay, a retired General of the Air Force. In the next year, Griffin began producing political films for American Media of Los Angeles (later moving to Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village, California), of which he is president. While he describes his work as the output of "a plain vanilla researcher", Griffin also agrees with the Los Angeles Daily News characterizing him as "Crusader Rabbit".

Griffin has been a member and officer of the John Birch Society for much of his life and a contributing editor to its magazine, The New American. Since the 1960s, Griffin has spoken and written at length about the Society's theory of history involving "communist and capitalist conspiracies" over banking systems (including the Federal Reserve System), American foreign policy, the Supreme Court of the United States, and the United Nations. From 1962 to 1975, he completed nine books and seven film productions; his 1969 video lecture, More Deadly Than War: The Communist Revolution in America, was printed in English and Dutch. In 1974, he published World Without Cancer, and in 1975, he wrote a sympathetic biography of Society founder Robert W. Welch, which was well received by members of the organization. Six of his documentaries from the early period were re-released in 2001 as Hidden Agenda: Real Conspiracies that Affect our Lives Today.

In 2002, Griffin founded Freedom Force International. whose members state that they value individual freedom above government power. The organization's position that the exclusive role of government is to protect people's rights and property, not to provide services like welfare, reflects Griffin's view that collectivism and freedom "are mortal enemies." One of the organization's stated goals is to elect people with such views to government offices and onto the boards of nonprofit organizations – true to its motto, "Don't fight city hall when you can be city hall."

In 2006, Griffin was interviewed for the documentary film America: Freedom to Fascism.

The Creature from Jekyll Island

Griffin's 1994 book, The Creature from Jekyll Island, draws parallels between the Federal Reserve and a bird of prey, as suggested by the Great Seal of the United States on its cover.

Griffin presented his views on the U.S. money system in his 1993 movie and 1994 book on the Federal Reserve System, The Creature from Jekyll Island. This popular book has been a business bestseller; it has been reprinted in Japanese, 2005, and German, 2006. The book also influenced Ron Paul during the writing of a chapter on money and the Federal Reserve in Paul's New York Times number-one bestseller, The Revolution: A Manifesto, which recommended Griffin's book on its "Reading List for a Free and Prosperous America".

The title refers to the November 1910 meeting at Jekyll Island, Georgia, of six bankers and economic policymakers, who represented the financial elite of the Western world. The meeting was recounted by Forbes founder B. C. Forbes in 1916, and recalled by participant Frank Vanderlip as "the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System". Griffin states that participant Paul Warburg describes the Jekyll Island meeting as "this most interesting conference concerning which Senator Aldrich pledged all participants to secrecy".

Edward Flaherty, an academic economist, characterized Griffin's description of the secret meeting on Jekyll Island as "conspiratorial", "amateurish", and "suspect". Griffin's response was that Flaherty had miscategorized the book with other publications and had labeled all criticisms of the Federal Reserve as the results of conspiracy theory.

Griffin's arguments in favor of a free-market, private-money system inspired Bernard von NotHaus to develop such a system in 1998. Griffin states that von NotHaus's private silver certificates, known as Liberty Dollars, are "real money".

Promotion of fringe science and conspiracy theories

Cancer and AIDS denial

In 1974, Griffin wrote and published the book World Without Cancer, and released it as a documentary video; its second edition appeared in 1997, and it was translated into Afrikaans, 1988, and German, 2005. In the book and the video, Griffin asserts that cancer is a metabolic disease facilitated by the insufficient dietary consumption of Laetrile; this scientifically unsupported view has been rejected by the medical community. He contends that "eliminating cancer through a nondrug therapy has not been accepted because of the hidden economic and power agendas of those who dominate the medical establishment" and he wrote, "at the very top of the world's economic and political pyramid of power there is a grouping of financial, political, and industrial interests that, by the very nature of their goals, are the natural enemies of the nutritional approaches to health". Since the 1970s, the use of laetrile to treat cancer has been described in the scientific literature as a canonical example of quackery and has never been shown to be effective in the treatment or prevention of cancer. Emanuel Landau, then a Project Director for the APHA, wrote a book review for the American Journal of Public Health, which noted that Griffin "accepts the 'conspiracy' theory ... that policy-makers in the medical, pharmaceutical, research and fund-raising organizations deliberately or unconsciously strive not to prevent or cure cancer in order to perpetuate their functions". Landau concludes that although World Without Cancer "is an emotional plea for the unrestricted use of the Laetrile as an anti-tumor agent, the scientific evidence to justify such a policy does not appear within it".

Griffin's websites refer visitors to doctors, clinics, and hospitals with alternative cancer treatments, including sellers of laetrile. He does not sell laetrile himself.

Griffin founded The Cancer Cure Foundation "in December of 1976 as a non-profit organization dedicated to research and education in alternative cancer therapies". The foundation expanded its mission in March, 2002 to include disseminating information about other medical conditions, and it changed its name to The Cure Research Foundation. In 2010, Griffin engaged in AIDS Denialism, claiming that HIV "doesn't exist" and that anti-retro-viral medication (rather than HIV) cause AIDS.

Noah's Ark search

Also during this time, Griffin wrote and narrated the 1992 documentary The Discovery of Noah's Ark, based on U.S. Merchant Marine officer David Fasold's 1988 book, The Ark of Noah. Griffin's film said that the original Noah's Ark continued to exist in fossil form at the Durupınar site, about 17 miles (27 km) from Mount Ararat in Turkey, based on photographic, radar, and metal detector evidence. Griffin also narrated that towns in the area had names that resembled terms from the Biblical story of the flood. He presented a viewpoint that the flood might have been the action of massive tides caused by a gravitational interaction between Earth and a large celestial body coming close to it.

Popular Mechanics stated Fasold had described his research as "radar imagery ... so clear that Fasold could count the floorboards between the walls"; Griffin has continued to promote this view, as did Fasold's co-researcher Ron Wyatt and Wyatt Archeological Research. Creationists Andrew Snelling and John D. Morris prefer a near-Ararat site; Snelling supports geologist Tom Fenner's view that "a great deal of effort was put into repeating the radar measurements acquired in 1986 by Wyatt and Fasold ... After numerous attempts over a period of one and a half days were unable to duplicate their radar records in any way." Fasold himself revisited the site evidence with geologists Ian Plimer and Lorence Collins and came to doubt his initial position, saying, "I think we have found what the ancients said was the Ark, but this structure is not Noah's Ark."

Bibliography

  •   (1964). The Fearful Master: A Second Look at the United Nations. Boston, MA: Western Islands Publishers. ISBN 0-88279-102-8. OCLC 414277.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  •   (1968). The Grand Design: A Lecture on U.S. Foreign Policy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Grand Design. OCLC 6207421.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  •   (1968). The Great Prison Break: The Supreme Court Leads the Way. Boston, MA: Western Islands Publishers. OCLC 220369.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  •   (1968). A Memorandum on Supreme Court Decisions: Summaries of Key Decisions of the United States Supreme Court as Related to the Impeachment of the Chief Justice. Belmont, MA. OCLC 432181.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  •   (1969). More Deadly Than War: The Communist Revolution in America. American Media. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  •   (1970). This is the John Birch Society: An Invitation to Membership (1st ed., 2d ed. 1972, 3d ed. 1981 Western Islands ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: American Media. OCLC 83825. {{cite book}}: External link in |edition= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  •   (1971). The Capitalist Conspiracy: An Inside View of International Banking (1st ed., 2d ed. 1982 Huntington Beach Patriots ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: American Media. OCLC 3263688. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help); External link in |edition= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  •   (1974). World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17 (1st ed., reprinted 1976, 1977, 2d ed. 1997, reprinted 2001, 2006 ed.). American Media. ISBN 0-912986-09-3. {{cite book}}: External link in |edition= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  •   (1975). The Life and Words of Robert Welch, Founder of the John Birch Society. E. Merrill Root (introduction). Thousand Oaks, CA: American Media. ISBN 978-0-912986-07-4. OCLC 1530499.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  • Wilcox Collection of Contemporary Political Movements, ed. (1986). Ephemeral Materials, 1976–1986. Westlake Village, CA: Americans for Medical Freedom. OCLC 18761098. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help); |format= requires |url= (help)
  •   (1994). The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve (1st ed., 2d ed. 1995, 3d ed. 1998 American Media, 4th ed. 2002, now in 6th ed.). Appleton, WI: American Opinion Publishing. ISBN 0-912986-16-6. OCLC 31354943. {{cite book}}: External link in |edition= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  •   (1997). Private Papers Pertaining to Laetrile. Westlake Village, CA: American Media. ISBN 978-0-912986-20-3. OCLC 61633861.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)

Filmography

  • The Grand Design: A Lecture on U.S. Foreign Policy. 1968.
  • More Deadly Than War: The Communist Revolution in America. American Media. 1969. OCLC 5549058. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  • World Without Cancer: The Story of Vitamin B17 (Visual material). American Media. 1974. OCLC 5604983.
  • Bezmenov, Yuri; Griffin, G. Edward (1984). Soviet Subversion of the Free Press: A Conversation with Yuri Bezmenov (Videotape). Westlake Village, CA: American Media. OCLC 45810551.
  • Griffin, G. Edward; Solis, Willy (1985). The Red Reality in Central America (Videotape). Westlake Village, CA: American Media. OCLC 37023488.
  • The Discovery of Noah's Ark: The Whole Story (Videotape). Westlake Village, CA: American Media. 1992. OCLC 29511807.
  • Griffin, G. Edward; Shurtleff, Howard (1994). The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve (Videotape). John Birch Society. OCLC 36245861.
  • Hidden Agenda: Real Conspiracies that Affect our Lives Today. Venice, CA: Knowledge 20/20. 2001. OCLC 49289908. {{cite AV media}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
    • Vol. 1 (1971). The Capitalist Conspiracy: An Inside View of International Banking (Documentary). American Media. OCLC 5558340.
    • Vol. 2 (1983). The Subversion Factor: A History of Treason in Modern America (Part 1: Moles in High Places, Part 2: Open Gates of Troy) (Videotape). Westlake Village, CA: American Media. OCLC 36968013.
    • Vol. 3 (1968). The Truth About Communism: Only the Brave are Free (Videotape).
    • Vol. 4 (1966). Anarchy U.S.A.: In the Name of Civil Rights (DVD, Documentary). John Birch Society.
    • Vol. 5 (1962). Katanga: The Untold Story (Videotape).
    • Vol. 6. WBTV (1982). No Place to Hide: The Strategy and Tactics of Terrorism (Videotape). Alexandria, VA: Western Goals Foundation. OCLC 10744020. Also OCLC 19993388.
  • UFO-TV (distributor) (2004). The Discovery of Noah's Ark: The Whole Story (DVD). Venice, CA: Knowledge 20/20. OCLC 59007573.
  • Griffin, G. Edward (executive producer); Dill, David; Gazecki, William; Harris, Bev; Mercuri, Rebecca; Rubin, Aviel D (2004). Invisible Ballots: A Temptation for Electronic Vote Fraud (Videotape, DVD). Westlake Village, CA: American Media and Reality Zone. ISBN 978-0-912986-43-2. OCLC 65199460. Also OCLC 56844390.
  • Jaeger, James; Baehr, Theodore; Griffin, G. Edward; Paul, Ron; Vieira, Edwin (2007). Fiat Empire: Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution (DVD). Beverly Hills, CA; a James Jaeger Film: Cornerstone-Matrixx Entertainment. OCLC 192133806.
  • Jaeger, James; Baehr, Theodore; Buchanan, Patrick; Griffin, G. Edward; Paul, Ron; Vieira, Edwin. (2007). Original Intent: How Negative Influences are Undermining the U.S. Republic. . Beverly Hills, CA: Cornerstone-Matrixx Entertainment; a James Jaeger Film.
  • Jaeger, James; Baehr, Theodore; Buchanan, Patrick; Griffin, G. Edward; Paul, Ron; Vieira, Edwin. (2007). Cultural Marxism: The Corruption of America. . Beverly Hills, CA: Cornerstone-Matrixx Entertainment; a James Jaeger Film.
  • Jaeger, James; Baehr, Theodore; Buchanan, Patrick; Griffin, G. Edward; Paul, Ron; Vieira, Edwin. (2007). Corporate Fascism: The Destruction of America's Middle Class. . Beverly Hills, CA: Matrixx Productions; a James Jaeger Film.
  • Jaeger, James; Buchanan, Patrick; Griffin, G. Edward; Lillback, Peter; McManus, John; Paul, Ron; Vieira, Edwin. (2007). Spoiler: How a Third Political Party Could Win. . Beverly Hills, CA: Matrixx Productions; a James Jaeger Film.
  • What in the World Are They Spraying? The Chemtrail/Geo-Engineering Coverup. Produced by G. Edward Griffin, Michael Murphy, and Paul Wittenberger. (2010). DVD.

References

  1. Easter, Sean (March 26, 2011). "Who is G. Edward Griffin, Beck's Expert on The Federal Reserve"? Media Matters for America. (Noting that Griffin is an AIDS denier who believes the government shot down Flight 93 on 9/11.
  2. ^ Who's Who in America 1994 (48th ed.). Marquis Who's Who. December 1993.
  3. Griffin, G. Edward (2012-11-02). "G. Edward Griffin - The Science and Politics of Cancer (2005)" (video). Retrieved 2014-08-08.
  4. ^ Herbert V (May 1979). "Laetrile: the cult of cyanide. Promoting poison for profit". Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 32 (5): 1121–58. PMID 219680.
  5. ^ Lerner IJ (February 1984). "The whys of cancer quackery". Cancer. 53 (3 Suppl): 815–9. doi:10.1002/1097-0142(19840201)53:3+<815::AID-CNCR2820531334>3.0.CO;2-U. PMID 6362828.
  6. Thomas, Kenn (2002). Popular Paranoia: A Steamshovel Press Anthology. Adventures Unlimited Press. p. 298. ISBN 1-931882-06-1.
  7. "Speaker Bio – G. Edward Griffin". Chicago Resource Expo. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  8. "G. Edward Griffin". Ron Paul 2008. 2007-12-24. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  9. ^ "T.O.'s Griffin All Booked Up With Writing, Film Projects". Daily News of Los Angeles. 1995-05-22. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  10. ^ Sayre, Nora (1996). Sixties Going on Seventies. Rutgers University Press. p. 98. ISBN 0-8135-2193-9.
  11. Aune, James Arnt (2001). Selling the Free Market: The Rhetoric of Economic Correctness. Guilford Press. pp. 140–1. ISBN 1-57230-757-9.
  12. Steele, Karen Dorn; Morlin, Bill (2000-09-02). "Get-rich pitch 'bogus': Seven states have determined Global Prosperity is an illegal pyramid scheme". The Spokesman Review. Retrieved 2008-03-05.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. Stone, Barbara S. (February 1974). "The John Birch Society: A Profile". The Journal of Politics. 36 (1): 184–197. doi:10.2307/2129115. JSTOR 2129115.
  14. "Dirty Deeds: The Dorean Group promised hundreds of homeowners that their mortgages would go away. Guess what? They didn't". East Bay Express. 2006-04-05. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  15. Bourgoin, Suzanne Michele; Byers, Paula K. (1998). Encyclopedia of World Biography. Gale. ISBN 0-7876-2556-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. Thornton, James (1993-12-13). "Remembering Robert Welch". John Birch Society. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  17. "Fiat Empire: Why the Federal Reserve Violates the U.S. Constitution". Matrixx Productions. 2006-12-05. Retrieved 2008-03-31.
  18. Gavin, Robert (2004-11-28). "The man who shaped the Federal Reserve". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  19. USA Daily Staff (2007-08-22). "Paul Out to Slay The Creature from Jekyll Island". USA Daily. Archived from the original on October 16, 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-02. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  20. "Bestselling business books". Calgary Herald. 2006-07-04. p. F5.
  21. "Best-selling business books, April 14". Rocky Mountain News. 2007-04-14. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  22. Paul, Ron (2007-04-30). The Revolution: A Manifesto. New York City, NY: Grand Central Publishing. pp. 169–70. ISBN 0-446-53751-9.
  23. Forbes, B. C. (1916-10-19). "Men Who Are Making America". Leslie's Weekly. p. 423. I am giving to the world, for the first time, the real story of how the famous Aldrich currency report, the foundation of our new currency system, was written.
  24. Vanderlip, Frank A. (1933-02-09). "From Farm Boy to Financier". Saturday Evening Post. pp. 25, 70. Also Vanderlip, Frank A. (1935). From Farm Boy to Financier. New York City, New York: Appleton-Century Company. pp. 210–219. In Gurumurthy, S. (2007-12-28). "US Fed: an enigma wrapped in mystery". Business Line. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  25. Warburg, Paul (1930). The Federal Reserve System: Its Origin and Growth. Vol. I. New York City, New York: Macmillan Publishers. p. 58.
  26. ERS Group (2005). "Professional Staff". Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  27. Flaherty, Edward. "Debunking the Federal Reserve Conspiracy Theories". Retrieved 2008-05-10.
  28. Griffin, G. Edward (2004). "Meet Edward Flaherty, Conspiracy Poo-Pooist". Retrieved 2008-04-07.
  29. Chevreau, Jonathan (1999-11-11). "Paper notes need 'real' backing". National Post.
  30. ^ Lagnado, Lucette (2000-03-22). "Laetrile Makes a Comeback Selling to Patients Online". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  31. "Controversial Cancer Drug Laetrile Enters Political Realms". Middlesboro Daily News. 1977-08-10. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  32. "New Library Books". Books. Grand Forks Herald. 2003-07-13. p. 4. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  33. Kenadjian, Berdj, Ph.D. (2006). From Darkness to Light. Zakarian, Martin, illus. (2d ed.). Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-933538-24-2. Retrieved 2009-03-17.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. Nightingale SL (1984). "Laetrile: the regulatory challenge of an unproven remedy". Public Health Rep. 99 (4): 333–8. PMC 1424606. PMID 6431478.
  35. Landau, Emanuel, Ph.D. (July 1976). "World without Cancer; the Story of Vitamin B17" (PDF). American Journal of Public Health. 66 (7): 696. doi:10.2105/AJPH.66.7.696-a. ISSN 0090-0036. Retrieved 2008-03-05.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  36. "Directory of Clinics". Cure Research Foundation.
  37. Jones, Marianna (1976-10-11). "Cure or fraud?". Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  38. The Cancer Cure Foundation.
  39. Easter, Sean (March 26, 2011). "Who is G. Edward Griffin, Beck's Expert on The Federal Reserve"? Media Matters for America.
  40. "The Discovery of Noah's Ark". Reality Zone. Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  41. Fillon, Mike (December 1996). "Science Solves Ancient Mysteries of the Bible". Popular Mechanics. p. 40.
  42. Wyatt, Ron (1989). Discovered: Noah's Ark. Nashville, TN: World Bible Society. pp. 7–8, 12.
  43. Snelling, Andrew (September 1992). "Special report: Amazing 'Ark' exposé". Creation Ex Nihilo. 14 (4): 30.
  44. Morris, John (September 1990). "That boat-shaped rock ... is it Noah's Ark?". Creation Ex Nihilo. 12 (4): 18.
  45. Collins, Lorence D.; Fasold, David (1996). "Bogus 'Noah's Ark' from Turkey Exposed as a Common Geologic Structure". Journal of Geoscience Education. 44 (4): 439–444.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  46. Pockley, Peter (1994-11-06). "Theory blown out of the water". Australian Sun-Herald.
  47. Clifton, Brad (1997-04-09). "Doubts sank faith in Ark". The Daily Telegraph (Australia).

External links

Template:Persondata

Categories: