If you were starting to worry that the drama over #Swordgate would diminish once the sword was shown to be a modern creation, you will be relieved to know that we're apparently still moving full speed toward some kind of culminating train wreck. I have some real information to pass on about the Fake Hercules Swords, but this story jumps the line. Cue the music.
On Monday I wrote about a recent letter from Kevin Burns (executive producer of The Curse of Oak Island) to Frank Magazine. In the letter, Burns claims that the Nova Scotia sword was purchased in part to "discredit" J. Hutton Pulitzer. In my opinion, the alleged ploy seems to have worked: Pulitzer committed fully to the sword and still maintains it is an authentic Roman artifact despite several independent lines of evidence (e.g., metallurgical analysis, comparative analysis, etc.) that quite clearly show it is nothing of the sort.
Pulitzer's response to Burns is pretty epic as far as these sorts of things go. I recommend that you read it carefully for yourself. Here are some highlights:
Pornography and Pizza: Pulitzer alleges that Burns "pulled out all the stops" to convince Pulitzer to reveal his secret research on Oak Island, writing that Burns was
On Monday I wrote about a recent letter from Kevin Burns (executive producer of The Curse of Oak Island) to Frank Magazine. In the letter, Burns claims that the Nova Scotia sword was purchased in part to "discredit" J. Hutton Pulitzer. In my opinion, the alleged ploy seems to have worked: Pulitzer committed fully to the sword and still maintains it is an authentic Roman artifact despite several independent lines of evidence (e.g., metallurgical analysis, comparative analysis, etc.) that quite clearly show it is nothing of the sort.
Pulitzer's response to Burns is pretty epic as far as these sorts of things go. I recommend that you read it carefully for yourself. Here are some highlights:
Pornography and Pizza: Pulitzer alleges that Burns "pulled out all the stops" to convince Pulitzer to reveal his secret research on Oak Island, writing that Burns was
"[p]lying us with porn from his series “The Girls Next Door” and “Kendra” with DVS of the deleted flesh on flesh and fresh shower scenes. We feasted on pizza as Burns promised us our own series and huge profits, if we could just help him with Curse of Oak Island."
A Plot to Deceive: Pulitzer alleges that Burns and the Laginas plotted to cover up the real story of the sword, implying (I think) that they also considered the sword to be authentic. Pulitzer writes that
"They knew full well they had to deal with this or be exposed. They had over a year to devise a way to deal with this issue.
. . . Both Rick and Marty Lagina knew there was history at stake and we talked about this numerous times."
"They knew full well they had to deal with this or be exposed. They had over a year to devise a way to deal with this issue.
. . . Both Rick and Marty Lagina knew there was history at stake and we talked about this numerous times."
Forthcoming Proof: Pulitzer has promised to provide recordings of his conversations with Burns regarding the sword:
"That back and forth dialog went on in emails and calls and some especially enlightening calls from Kevin Burns to me, where we specifically talked about the Sword, what he though of it, how the Lagina’s wanted him top pitch in helping them buy it and many other insightful AND RECORDED THINGS (yep, going to treat you to a very, very enlightening recording now the gates have been opened)."
The Suppression is Ongoing: Pulitzer alleges that Burns used his influence to squash Pulitzer's appearance on Coast To Coast AM, originally scheduled to air following last night's season finale of The Curse of Oak Island:
"So Mr. Burns, yes you have some power and you called George Noory of Coast to Coast AM and squashed our guest appearance for this evening. You have that kind of control when in fact Mr. Noory appears regularly on Ancient Aliens, and you have control over Rick and Marty and the Curse of Oak Island, but what you do not have control over is the truth about history and the truth will always win."
All this over a modern brass sword?
Well, no, not really. Of course there's more to it than a simple dispute over interpretation of an object. To me, this is a struggle about the power to monetize fake stories about the past. The only winners in that game are the people making the money -- nobody else gets anything of value out of it and, in fact, I feel the whole endeavor of manufacturing and feeding nonsense to the public has the potential to do a significant degree of harm. I'm not rooting for anyone in this fight. As Jason Colavito wrote on Monday (and see this post from today) "this is more of a King Kong vs. Godzilla thing where you really hope they just take each other out and go away."
Amen.
Well, no, not really. Of course there's more to it than a simple dispute over interpretation of an object. To me, this is a struggle about the power to monetize fake stories about the past. The only winners in that game are the people making the money -- nobody else gets anything of value out of it and, in fact, I feel the whole endeavor of manufacturing and feeding nonsense to the public has the potential to do a significant degree of harm. I'm not rooting for anyone in this fight. As Jason Colavito wrote on Monday (and see this post from today) "this is more of a King Kong vs. Godzilla thing where you really hope they just take each other out and go away."
Amen.
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