[lbo-talk] manna for conspiracists (cont.)

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Jul 20 14:35:15 PDT 2005


Gary Indiana writes about some interesting material in his fine new book on Arnie, Schwarzenegger Syndrome (just out from the New Press - I'll be posting my interview with him imminently). Seems like a rich field for conspiracists. Go to work, folks!

Through the 1990s, American Media Inc (AMI), run by someone called David Pecker (heh-heh, he said "pecker"), acquired most of the supermarket tabloids. The tabloids love to print sensational stuff about Arnie, among other things. Then there was the anthrax attack on the National Enquirer, one of the AMI tabs, in October 2001. That resulted in the sealing of AMI's tabloid HQ in Boca Raton - including all the archives, text and pictures, about Arnie. Pecker sold the building for a nominal $40,000 to a vulture investor, who had the place de-toxed, and all the archives destroyed. The building eventually became an office for Guiliani Partners, as in Rudolph Giuliani. The next year, Pecker (heh-heh) bought Weider Publications, the muscle mag and nutrient group that first brought Arnie to the US, and which was involved in the recent scandal about Arnie's continuing relationship with them. Arnie endorsed their products, appeared in the mags, contributed a column, and held substantial stock in the firm. Curiously, the tabs stopped running negative stories about Arnie - nice timing, given his subsequent run for governor.

I can imagine a David Ray Griffin sequel already!

Doug



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