7 Great Counterculture Authors Who Inspire My Writing and Zionist Activism
7 Great Counterculture Authors Who Inspire My Writing and Zionist Activism
I explain my picks for key writers who have shaped me today and how most of them are good people too.
Click here to check out the first 30 Installments - Volume I - in this series on Antisemitism and Culture. Among the most important pieces from this first wave:
What It Means When the Leader of the Republican Party Dines With THREE Antisemites
4 Stupid Reasons People Don't Take Antisemitism as Seriously as They Should
Is Qatar the Most Terrible State in the Middle East? Or Is Iran Worse?
7 Reasons This Christian Hippie Became a Zealot Against Jew Hatred
Why This Bible Thumper Is Going to Keep Using Plenty of Profanity
How Multi-Faith Mysticism & Maimonides Can Bring Peace to Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Everyone
This is the tenth installment in Volume II, intended as another 30 pieces exploring the many manifestations of Jew Hatred and the issues surrounding it in America and globally. See the previous installments in this collection below.
Martin Luther King, Jr: An American Hero and Courageous Zionist Voice
Talking to These Students Gave Me Hope in this Dark, Dark World of War and Hate
Why I Don't Expect the Palestinians Will *Ever* Make Peace with Israel and Thus Gain Statehood
The Antisemitism of Ron Paul's Far Right Anarcho-Capitalist Ideological Cult
When Holocaust Trivialization Manifests in the Wrestling World
2 Numbers Which Reveal the Overwhelming Level of Human Devastation Wrought by the Holocaust
The Deep Depths of Ideological Depravity: Comparing the Holocaust to the Covid-19 Vaccine
Unfortunately, Christian Nationalism Is the Normal, Much More Longstanding Version of Christianity
These writings are part of my ongoing effort to overcome my PTSD by forcing myself to try to write and publish something every day commenting on and analyzing current cultural affairs and their impacts on politics, faith, and, well, everything. “Politics is downstream from culture,” the late Andrew Breitbart popularized among conservative bloggers while he was alive. I’d go a step further: Everything is downstream from culture. The cultures you embrace determine who you are and who you become. You become what you worship.
So the other week my buddy
, the poetry editor for God of the Desert Books, sent me a pair of challenging questions over Facebook Messenger:Are there any writers I should study? To emulate their lives?
I responded, “Hahahaha. Talk about dropping some big questions. OK, I will write that as my next blog post.” I ended up not making it my very next blog post - the week’s seizure and my efforts to recover from it sort of slowed me down a bit and then I got distracted with a handful of other subjects.
But now I’m ready to explain 7 writers worth studying who have both informed my writing and now my Zionist activism approach. Of those on the list I can vouch for the first 3 as definitely worth emulating, 3 as seemingly mostly good people at least worth emulating professionally, and the last as a cautionary tale personally who nevertheless is worth some study and definitely professional emulation in some ways.
Now, in judging whether their lives are worth emulating - whether they qualify as “good people” - I generally look for 7 things:
How did they treat their wives and children?
How did they treat their friends?
What did my own personal experiences with them suggest?
Did they generally advocate morally defensible positions in their work?
How did they manage their use of drugs?
If they’re dead, are friends and family still supporting their legacy?
Did they have any sort of history of racism, antisemitism, or other bigotries?
Trying to match up skilled writers who produce influential material worth studying with personal characters worth emulating is a bit hard. But I think I’ve come up with a fairly decent list with only one clear exception on the life emulation aspect, and I’ll save him for last.
1. Robert Anton Wilson (RAW)
For well over a decade now I’ve been extolling the books and philosophy of the late Robert Anton Wilson (1932-2007), one of the most influential of the ‘60s and ‘70s “counterculture” authors. He’s really my favorite author and the one who has influenced me the most. For many years I considered him a kind of a career model, and to a degree I still do. I say “to a degree” because as I’ve learned more about his life I’ve come to see how much he struggled to make it as a writer, never really making as much money as he deserved or gaining the following his extraordinary work warranted. I think this is mostly because he almost always insisted so much on writing on the edge and in experimental ways. He also seems to have been underserved by many of his publishers - which is pretty common, of course.
Now, from what I can tell Wilson was a pretty decent guy who really loved his family and his wife, and who nurtured a lot of meaningful friendships. Part of how we can see this is the degree that his daughters have worked to republish so many of his books in extraordinary new editions. Click here to check them out at the new publisher they launched for him, Hilaritas Press. The titles in particular which I most recommend are (in order of importance): Cosmic Trigger I: The Final Secret of the Illuminati (perhaps my favorite book of all time), Sex, Drugs and Magick: A Journey Beyond Limits, Ishtar Rising, Prometheus Rising, Coincidance: A Head Test, and the very special The Starseed Signals, which was a “lost” title of RAW’s for many years until his daughters received a copy of it and published it for the first time. It’s sort of a proto-Cosmic Trigger in its themes and really elucidates Timothy Leary’s influence on RAW. I never really understood or appreciated Leary that much until reading it recently.
Of his fiction I most encourage The Schrodinger’s Cat trilogy, especially in their original 3-volume format rather than the collected volume which removes some of the sexiest material. But you should really go ahead and read as much of his stuff as you can - and don’t worry about starting with his first major fiction work, the Illuminatus Trilogy! which RAW admitted was a bit more difficult than a lot of his other works and not necessarily the best with which to begin.
As a writer RAW has influenced me especially to pursue multiple mediums and to not be afraid to explore controversial or strange topics. He was also my key introduction to the western occult tradition, which ended up strongly influencing my Zionism since Jewish mysticism ultimately underlies most of the occult concepts popularized by Aleister Crowley and other key occult writers in the late 1800s and early 20th century.
RAW’s most important influence on my Zionist ideological work, though, is to inform my radical skepticism of all ideologies - including my own - and a general position of agnosticism when it comes to everything. In analyzing the Middle East and antisemitism, even though I may talk pretty tough much of the time, at heart I try to retain the scholar’s skepticism and perpetual willingness to learn new things. That is heavily informed by RAW.
2. Doug Rushkoff
Douglas Rushkoff (1961-) is a writer and thinker I’ve been blessed to get to know personally over almost the last 20 years when I first met him when he was giving a talk at my alma mater, Ball State University, and when I was familiar with him from his appearance at the DisinfoCon 2000 featured on a DVD I cherished. I’ve embedded this talk above. I regard him as the RAW of Generation X. He maintains RAW’s psychedelic, skeptical, loving spirit and also has worked across mediums, publishing nonfiction books, novels, graphic novels, and starring in PBS documentaries, a multimedia approach which I also seek to emulate:
Where Rushkoff has most influenced my approach to Zionism is in the understanding of Judaism which he provides in his book Nothing Sacred: The Truth About Judaism which was responsible for introducing me to Maimonides. Also his Testament graphic novel presents a unique take on the Bible, arguing that, essentially, the stories of the Torah are happening again all the time and it is up to us to learn the lessons from them and then rewrite them in our own lives so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past. His take on the Pagan gods competing with the God of Israel is also quite profound here.
His collection of books at his website can be found here. Life Inc., Program or Be Programmed, Present Shock, and his newest one, Survival of the Richest are probably my favorites among them. Life Inc. is especially important in articulating the ideology of corporatism, which few people understand even though it’s all around us and deeply infiltrating our lives and sense of self. I’ll be talking a whole lot more about Rushkoff’s ideas as this Substack progresses. I say without reservation that he’s the living thinker who has influenced me the most.
He’s also a deeply kind soul who has been so encouraging and helpful to me over the years.
3. James Wasserman
James Wasserman (1948-2020) I regard as the RAW of the Baby Boomers. He was the very best writer on mysticism and occultism of his generation, churning out all sorts of books you can find listed here on his website. He wrote a novel, a biography of muslim mystic Hasan-i-Sabah that I’m exploring in my Muslim mysticism podast series on Fridays, a memoir, large illustrated history books, a book of political essays explicating his conservative-libertarian philosophy, and he led an amazing translation and reproduction of The Egyptian Book of the Dead. He’s also responsible for the republishing of Aleister Crowley’s Thoth tarot deck, which I regard as the very best, most powerful tarot deck ever made. Wasserman also wrote the guide to the deck included with the cards. If you only buy one Tarot deck make it this one.
I got to know Wasserman over the last 8 years of his life and had a lovely vegetarian dinner with him and his wife when they visited Los Angeles. He was a kind, gentle soul full of encouragement. He was a bit different from RAW’s approach to occultism in that while RAW was a “mystic agnostic” Wasserman was much more of a “true believer.” A highly influential figure in the revival of Aleister Crowley’s occult secret society the Ordo Templi Orientis - a main theme in his memoir - Wasserman once admitted to me he was something of a “fundamentalist Thelemite,” meaning he very much believed that Crowley’s prophetic visions in writing The Book of the Law were entirely genuine. I don’t go quite that far and lean more toward RAW’s agnostic mysticism here. I don’t know if Crowley was really in contact and channelling spirits or if he was just writing a very creative poem.
In this series I’ve already indicated how Wasserman’s philosophy has shaped my Zionism. Wasserman was very much a 2nd amendment proponent and took the warrior ethos of one of his regular book subjects - the Knights Templar - very seriously. He was also a popularizer of Crowley’s political tract Liber Oz which I’ve previously published in this series and may as well republish again here since it is so very badass:
“Man has the right to kill those who would thwart these rights.”
As I explained in my essay “What Zionism Means to Me Today” that’s largely my militant approach to Zionism summed up right there - and also as I laid out in another essay, one justification for my militant form of feminism. If a group or individual intends to kill or enslave you then you have a moral right to fight back and to hit them back first. Thus, I very much apply that principle with Israel’s quest to defend itself against the Palestinians, Iran, and any other group of Islamists which seek to destroy the Jewish people.
4. George Carlin
I don’t know at this point how often I’ve embedded the above George Carlin (1937-2008) routine in this Susbtack but you can certainly count on me continuing to do so probably much more frequently than I should. Since I got PTSD in September 2021 it’s largely been my mantra and guide for better understanding the darkness and brokenness of the world. Once you accept that the reason the world is so screwed up is because “the public sucks” - that most people are essentially terrible in on deeply annoying form or another - then all of a sudden everything makes much more sense.
I regard Carlin as the stand-up equivalent of RAW and he said two known quotes about RAW while his legendary stand-up comedy frequently explored themes similar to him:
“Well, it’s just fascinating, and you get lost in the possibilities. There’s no way to hang your hat on any of these things. There’s just no way to say, ah, this is a good one. I’ll go with this. Because they’re all titillating, and they’re tempting. And they’re all entertaining to the way I’ve developed my mind. I find it highly entertaining to consider wormholes, and alternate parallel universes, and all the things that Robert Anton Wilson sometimes writes about.”
“I have learned more from Robert Anton Wilson than I have from any other source.”
The influence seemed to flow both ways too. In his latter years Wilson seemed to evolve into a quasi-stand up comedian too, infusing his philosophical talks with great humor too.
Now, I think it’s best not just to think of Carlin as a stand-up comedian but really more of a writer too. The stand-up routines were more just performances of his amazing writing.
Personality and character-wise, Carlin certainly had his flaws, but he seemed to work to correct them as he got older. He struggled with drugs and alcohol for many years of his life and at times this made life very difficult for his daughter Kelly. (He did go into rehab, though.) But like RAW’s daughters who have kept his legacy alive, Kelly has kept her father’s memory going, being key in the production of the wonderful George Carlin’s American Dream documentary which debuted last year on HBO and so perfectly captures Carlin’s comedic vision and evolving philosophy:
As a writer, Carlin’s big influence on me is revealing how to deal hard truths to an audience: make ‘em laugh! If you can infuse what you’re saying with a few jokes then you can get away with damn near anything that you otherwise could not. I still need to figure out entirely how to pull this off.
He’s also inspired me to try to get beyond just writing and to speak my ideas more. I’ll try and get funnier about it as I get beyond the pain of the PTSD and the often intense anger it fuels.
In terms of my Zionism, the cynicism about humanity and acknowledgement of our brutal, warlike nature that I get from Carlin very much informs both my hawkish approach and tempers my frustration for how so many people the world over just don’t care about Israel or opposing antisemitism.
People suck. We’re primitive. War is often necessary to survive and lots of people are too dumb and into themselves to realize it.
5. Frank S. Meyer
OK, now with these next two we’re starting to get more into territory where I can’t entirely vouch for them as people you’d want to emulate but as writers there’s still a lot worth learning from them and from what I can tell they’re mostly at least decent. Frank S. Meyer’s primary moral failing from what I’ve read is that he failed to support the Civil Rights movement, which was a pretty common failing of the National Review conservatives of his generation. Also his chain-smoking killed him before he could live long enough to see his political philosophy in action to actually accomplish his goal of destroying the Soviet Union.
Frank Meyer (1909-1972) was my favorite writer and primary influence during my years as a conservative activist. And I still have a hard time shaking him off. While I no longer explicitly embrace his political strategy - christened “fusionism” by one of his enemies - I do still support the general principle as cultural strategy and a Zionist tactic. Meyer’s insight was to fashion a “mainstream conservative” ideology by joining together what was then known as “traditionalism” (now called “social conservatism”) with “individualism” (now known as “libertarianism”) in order to broaden the anti-communist movement to the point that it could eventually take over the Republican Party and put in the White House a man like Ronald Reagan to implement its policies in order to win the Cold War.
I used to think that I could do a similar thing except replacing anti-Communism with counter-Islamism. But as I’ve explained previously, and may dig into in greater length in the future, I’ve lost faith in that endeavor. Islamism just isn’t the broad threat to America and the world which Communism was. Maybe 15 years ago it had the potential to be, but now the War on Terror has largely been successful and fewer Muslim countries are supporting Islamist ideologies.
However, I do still think the general principle can work with Zionism. Just replace communism with antisemitism and it’s possible to unite people of a wide range of ideologies and cultures to come together.
Meyer has also influenced me as a writer in both the skill of his prose and the diversity of his roles. Just as RAW and Rushkoff embraced a variety of mediums and activities so too did Meyer. He wrote books, a regular column for National Review, edited the magazine’s book review section, and acted as political activist, seeking to organize and inspire conservatives to work at a practical level.
I’ve also been tempted at times to attempt emulating Meyer’s nocturnal lifestyle - that might be cool to try at some point if and when I can get away with it professionally.
Now, you might be asking, what exactly was so “counterculture” about conservative theorist Meyer? Well, quite simply, the conservative movement at the time he was helping to build it was very much a political counterculture. William F. Buckley, Jr. and his crew who Meyer helped shape were very much outsiders politically and culturally for decades. It really wasn’t until Reagan became president in the 1980s that this ideological temperament became “mainstream” and truly competed with the big government, more moderate Republicanism which had previously dominated the GOP for decades.
6. Camille Paglia
Now Camille Paglia (1947-) is another figure like Meyer who I don’t understand deeply enough personally to really advocate one emulate at a moral or ethical level. I haven’t come across any personal actions by her which have really revolted me, though I do have a vague memory of reading some of her earlier writings on sex that are probably a bit too out there for me to support. She’s also pretty explicit in sympathizing more with Paganism than the Judeo-Christian tradition, however she has emphasized that a number of Jewish mentors have given her an appreciation for the Jewish intellectual tradition, so she’s not wholly Pagan in her approach.
The reasons I recommend her as a writer and as an influence on my Zionism are two-fold. First, writing-wise she is very much an individualist-iconoclast. She is more than willing to write powerful provocations which piss people off and condemn established popular ideologies and cultural trends. That’s something worth emulating career-wise and writing-wise. He prose style is also simply stunning.
Regarding my Zionism, Paglia is perhaps the best writer today at explicating what the Pagan tradition is all about and how distinct it is from the Judeo-Christian. To really appreciate the uniqueness and value of the Jewish contribution to history, one must deeply understand what it was rebelling against: idolatry and nature worship. And I can think of no writer more effective than Paglia at explaining the ancient manifestation of this worldview and connecting it to the history of art and popular culture today. She’s a huge influence on my tendency these days to label virtually all forms of political ideology - as well as many religious and cultural ideologies - as a form of Paganism.
7. Hunter S. Thompson
Now we get to the great writer whose personal life I really can’t vouch for at all. The delightful Substack
devoted to the typewriter recently highlighted Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) here:
Now, Thompson is not at all worth emulating personally - from what I can tell he was something of an asshole who didn’t treat a lot of the people in his life all that well. His drug use also went way over the top to the point that it had a genuinely negative impact on his writing output. Generally only his first 3 books - 1967’s Hell’s Angels, 1972’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and 1973’s Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ‘72 are regarded as his essential texts. From then on the rest of his books are more rambling collections of essays, letters, and columns than anything all that coherent. So his career is bit of a cautionary tale, and, of course, we can’t ignore how it ended, with him committing suicide.
What then is there to emulate and study from him? The style of “gonzo journalism” which he pioneered and the prose style in which he wrote are simply amazing and very much worth embracing to various degrees. And I have done so in my own Zionist activist writings. At times I like to think of my approach in which I wear my PTSD on my sleeve and make bold, over-the-top proclamations, and am more than open about my own quirky occult-mystical approach to be a kind of “Zionist Hunter S. Thompson.”
So that’s what you can take from him - do journalism, inject yourself into the experience, write with an intense flair, and advocate your principles and values loudly.
So what do you think, Jon? And everybody else? Have I adequately explained how these 7 unique, counterculture, iconoclastic writers can inspire both powerful writing careers and morally driven activism? Anybody else I should add to the list?
Can't wait to start reading RAW. Carlin is unparalleled. Thompson is a hero. Paglia is one of my favs. I adore her work and her rapid-fire delivery. She's so underrated. I saw her give a talk when I was studying Philosophy at the University of Chicago in the mid 90s. What a blast!
Thanks for the mention, David!