Do you question authority? Mistrust the media? Fear that your phone is tapped? Then PARANOIA The Conspiracy Reader may be just the magazine for you.
Published out of Providence, R.I., PARANOIA exposes not just your run-of the mill "JFK was shot by LBJ and the CIA" stories, but tells what really happened to the Lindbergh baby, explains how the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms started the Waco fire, and reveals the amazing connection between UFOs and religious phenomena such as the appearance of the Virgin Mary at Fatima, Portugal in 1917.
"PARANOIA is definitely spreading," says editor and co-publisher Al Hidell. He means that the magazine, with its estimated 500 subscribers, U.S. newsstand circulation of 5,000, and Canadian and English sales, will soon hit the stands in Australia.
The idea for PARANOIA grew out of a conspiracy discussion group held at Anewspeak, an alternative bookstore owned by PARANOIA co-publisher Joan D'Arc. ("Hidell" and "D'Arc" are both pseudonyms. "We use them because we're paranoid," says Hidell.) "We started PARANOIA to disturb people and expose them to alternative sources of information," Hidell explains. "We report the fishy stuff that's happening behind the scenes."
Who reads PARANOIA? "Skeptical, curious people who don't believe they're getting the whole story from the mainstream media," says Hidell, who describes himself as "a white-collar office manager for an unnamed organization."
Hidell calls the public's response "very positive," despite leftwingers' accusations that the magazine is too conservative, and conservatives' claims that it's too liberal.
A sample issue costs $6.00, and a four-issue subscription costs $19.00. For information, write to Paranoia, P.O. BOX 1041, Providence, RI 02901.
--Patrick Huyghe
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