PARANOIA 2010

SURVEYING THE COUNTERCULTURE By Clayton Purdom

Last week a musing bounced around the snarkosphere that FishbowlNY probably put best: "Is there a reason for Details?"

They weren't picking on the Conde Nast men's magazine pointlessly. Its staff had recently held a high-profile 10th anniversary celebration that felt incongruous against the publisher's recent shuttering of titles like Domino and Gourmet. Why, the musing went, did Details deserve to continue, especially when the publisher already had a top-tier men's magazine like GQ in its stable?

The answer, as the New York Observer reports, comes down to advertising market politics. But when even the glitziest publisher in the world suffers an existential crisis, it begs the question of how more fringe and counter-culture publications have fared throughout the media's turbulent past decade.

Like all other media, the democratization of access afforded by the Internet has had major repercussions. "The barriers to the creation of alternative content have come way down, which is great," Al Hidell, co-editor of the conspiracy theory compendium Paranoia: The Conspiracy Reader, says. "Every conspiracy theorist can have their own Web site, their own blog, their own podcast, their own YouTube video, and their own print-on-demand book, all without having to spend thousands of dollars."

His magazine features a diverse cross-section of left- and right-wing ideas ranging from extraterrestrial cover-ups to the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden. The collective aim of this editorial is to jar readers out of staid modes of thinking. But, as Hidell notes, this panoply of ideas is reflected readily and inherently by the Internet, which wasn't so available when he launched the magazine in 1992. People today, he says, can "Google terms like 'conspiracy theories,' '9/11,' 'JKF,' 'new world order,' and 'UFOs'" to be exposed to that same cross-section.

Thus, the combination of the publishing power of the Internet browser and the industry-wide advertising fall-off has led Paranoia to change the way it operates, just as it has within the most entrenched spheres of media. What began in 1992 as a ‘zine fueled more by shared enthusiasm than any publishing know-how has now transitioned to a book format. Paranoia: The Conspiracy Reader, Volume 1 hits bookstore shelves this week, according to Hidell.

Other publications that exist outside the mainstream have survived the decade differently. The Chicago-based Lumpen recalls in its editorial the glory days of West coast counter-culture, commingling alternative comics with sardonic politics and arts coverage. It posts every issue online for free and maintains a Web-friendly blog, but also asserts from its Web site, "We think print is an analog media that is beautiful to touch and lovely to read and we will continue to provide a physical outlet for you to enjoy."

It's worth noting that several relevant publications did not reply to our attempts for comment for this story, a telling note on how intensely they guard the independence of their editorial. The ramifications of compromising such "outsider" visions can be severe, after all. To pick two historical examples, one can merely look at the infamous drug culture magazine High Times, which has often flirted with celebrity throughout its long history, or the onetime revolutionary magazine Rolling Stone, whose engagements with celebrity have slipped from flirtation to outright betrothal. Both have risked alienating their core audience in so doing but have, one could surmise, helped ensure their longevity.

For his part, Hidell says he can envision a future resurgence in interest in print publications, similar to the recent upswing in sales for vinyl records. Print media will always have its maven, those who cherish the authenticity of its tactility. But beyond such aesthetic preferences, there may be a bigger reason why counter-culture publications benefited from an ink-based media.

"There's still been nothing quite like the feeling I would have going into a Barnes & Noble and seeing the Paranoias amongst the Newsweeks," he says. "In that sense, the newsstands are still the most level playing field for alternative viewpoints. The shelf that Newsweek is on does not get millions of more passerby than the shelf that Paranoia is on."

But waning interest in print media and continually shuttering bookstores endanger the livelihood of this important walk-by traffic. Hidell says Paranoia has stayed afloat by staying small--a direct contrast to a magazine like Details, which the Observer reports is still around merely because it doesn't actively lose money. "We have never become too big to fail," Hidell says of his magazine. "I think that has been one key to our success."
 

Contact Information

Paranoia: The Conspiracy Reader
PO Box 1041
Providence, RI
02901-1041

Al Hidell, co-editor