George Noory: A Cynical Psychopath and Professional Liar

Some people are more like animals of prey or vampires than humans. They go through life charming, hustling, deceiving and swindling people, and sometimes killing them, directly or indirectly. They never feel remorse or regret; only self-righteous satisfaction. A warm glow. They love their dirty work.

George Noory is one such person and, as the host of the radio show Coast to Coast A.M., is in a position to do great harm to many people. In fact, he and the show are responsible for the deaths of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of trusting listeners.

An astute observer can see from his photos that Noory is creepy, snake-like and predatory. He would never make it on television. But that’s okay with him since he makes a fortune peddling worthless, expensive and dangerous miracle remedies and assorted delusions on syndicated radio. He’s a corrupt killer quack making big bucks exploiting and endangering his audience. The show is a huge fraud, a series of hundreds of criminal acts, but he knows such crimes are never prosecuted.

Listening to Noory literally nauseates me, but I’ve heard enough of his cynical lies to know what he’s up to. The show, founded and originally hosted by Art Bell, has always been the broadcast equivalent of the tabloid Weekly World News, which tells us JFK and Elvis are alive, and large reptile colonies have been spotted on Mars – all proven with photos and expert witnesses. The difference is that the WWN has a small-print disclaimer cautioning readers that the contents are for entertainment. Noory insists his BS is ambrosia.

Coast to Coast A.M. is in the business of lying for fun and profit. Tell preposterous but entertaining stories as if they are true and proven. Stick to these whoppers, embellish them in trashy hoax books, doctored audio and video tapes, and other products. Create vast mythologies that are fun to believe, escalate the claims dramatically, then exploit the gullible to the max. Conceal your dirty financial arrangements with advertisers and guests, on the air and online. Always strike a pose of deep wisdom and moral superiority.  

Noory will promote belief in any putrid bullshit that anyone vomits up if he can make money doing so. Facts, truth and evidence mean nothing to him, and harm to his listeners is not a factor in his thinking. For two decades he, Bell and the show and website have been pounding the table promoting paranormal events (“miracles”), space aliens, abduction of humans by space aliens, cities on the moon, civilizations on Mars, humanoid-alien hybrids, Big Foot, Nostradamus, telepathy with animals, clairvoyance, paranoid conspiracy theories, global catastrophe due to "the quickening", global catastrophe in 2012 as allegedly predicted by a Mayan calendar. and other delusions and frauds. Yet there is still no credible, persuasive evidence for any of the claims, same as 30 years ago when Bell started hurling his horrid vomitus.

The systematic delusional thinking that Art Bell and George Noory promote and encourage on the show can be deadly. During the appearance of the Comet Hale-Bopp in 1997, Bell vigorously promoted the rumor that a giant spacecraft was trailing the comet and posted a hoaxed photo of it on his website. When 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate cult committed mass suicide as a gateway to the spaceship Bell was widely criticized and blamed.

The harmful effects of promoting childish magical thinking are not just to a few individuals, but to the society, community and culture. Noory knows he is spreading the disability that Philip J. Klass called credulous dementia syndrome, and he’s okay with it. It increases his audience and his market. He feeds on the pus from the rot he spreads, sort of like a parasitic fungus. That’s how psychopaths are. 

Of course, for most operators like Noory the big bucks are in health quackery, which is generally more harmful and expensive than belief in space aliens. Noory is in a partnership with Critical Health News.com, an ongoing criminal enterprise founded and run by notorious criminal quack Joel Wallach, a naturopath and veterinarian. Wallach is a psychopath who got into health care not as a way to help people, but as a way to exploit them, so he's a perfect fit for Noory. Together they run a lucrative criminal racket, peddling a line of 19^th Century snake oils which they promote with outrageous, brazenly fraudulent claims. They are the epitome of the modern, decadent, killer quack.

Links to all my blogs: www.KurtButlerBlogs.blogspot.com. 

For more detailed critiques of various forms of quackery, including naturopathy, see my book A Consumer’s Guide to “Alternative Medicine”. It was expertly edited by legendary quack buster Stephen Barrett, MD.  The critics say:

"Superb!" -- Dr. Victor Herbert in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"Excellent" -- National Council Against Health Fraud.

"Five Stars" -- Cooking Light.

"Thought provoking; a great book" -- American Journal of Health Promotion.  

When the book was published almost 30 years ago it was strongly praised by responsible health experts and the rare responsible media, but trashed by new-age critics and even vandalized in bookstores by new-age fanatics. It is as true and relevant as ever, and has been mostly vindicated by time. Yet my courageous and far-sighted publisher, the venerable Prometheus Books, is still sitting on lots of copies. Please help validate their integrity by buying a copy. Or two or more as gifts. Perhaps 10 for your local school library and health classes. See their website for assorted discounts. Make them an offer. (My royalties are insignificant; this little promo is for the benefit of one of the world's great publishers, Prometheus Books.) 

Maui's future foretold: Barbarians In Paradise -- Terror Comes to Maui. This is a prophetic flash novel about a future police state and those who rebel against it. Available in paperback and ebook at Amazon.com.