Henry Makow

December 3, 2002 5:32 PM

Henry Makow is the inventor of the board game Scruples, and the author of A Long Way to go for a Date. He received his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Toronto and taught at the University of Winnipeg. He now publishes his prolific writings online. He is also completely, utterly, deliciously insane.
posted by son_of_minya (17 comments total)

You're right. He is crazy.
posted by Slagman at 5:39 PM on December 3, 2002

Oh wow, I was just reading a Makow "article" in American Freedom magazine. I was learning all about how feminism is part of the Marxist program of the Zionist plot for the New World Order. He's my favorite comedian.

The best part of all his writings is that, just like the first one you linked, he's always just "recently discovered" something -- in this case, that the world is controlled by a Satanic cult. Sigh. I wish!
posted by RJ Reynolds at 5:42 PM on December 3, 2002

Psst, RJ, didn't you get the memo? I'll ask Moloch to send it to you. See you later at the lake of fire.
posted by scody at 5:55 PM on December 3, 2002

"Men love women who obey them."

I showed that to my wife, and we laughed and laughed. Then I told her to get her ass back in the kitchen.

It's not easy typing with broken fingers.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:12 PM on December 3, 2002

I was at the University of Winnipeg from 1990 to 1994. I don't recall ever being aware of him during that time -- from a cursory look at the links, I couldn't find out when he was there -- though I recognize some of the targets of his bile. I also remember a slightly nutty letter to the Winnipeg Free Press that went after feminism in language similarly strange, a few years back. That might have been him.

Okay, who said "Bobby Fischer"?
posted by mcwetboy at 6:41 PM on December 3, 2002

Whether it's Henry Makow or Bobby Fischer, insanity is not so much "delicious" as it is pathetic and sad. This is not the voice of a man who has much reason to get out of bed in the morning.
posted by Epenthesis at 7:11 PM on December 3, 2002

Son_of_Minya ---- Oh my God......I was considering posting this: Last week. Then yesterday. Then today............. somehow I always held off. What does it mean? To you? To me? I was going to mention "Scruples", and the "Philipina wife" connection, and the "Feminism as a CIA plot" theme. I could have written this post...

Gee, G-d must be talking to me, right? Or is it some very, very subtle Makow pr ploy? My browser history cache doesn't go back far enough to determine how I came across the Makow zone.

A wee Makow quote: ""I am convinced she is the real McCoy," Springer wrote to me. "I have personally relayed numerous email messages to her from other members – ritually abused, brainwashed, raped, sexually abused people & you name it-- some of them confirming to me her story. So I have absolutely no doubt that Svali has been part of the Illuminati since childhood." ...I also trust Svali's testimony because it confirms my intuition and intensive research. Everything fits: from the dead hand that seems to suppress humanity to why Clinton gave secret technology to the Chinese, to persistent reports of concentration camps in the US. It explains why people I know behave in a conspiratorial way." And I thought I was paranoid....Yikes.

Epenthesis - On the contrary! - I think Makow is a happy nut. He has a nice wife and (apparently) a very good job at the university of Toronto which grants him fantastic latitude in which to rant. Given the cultural differences, his wife probably doesn't quite grasp (or yet admit) that he's nuts. [ That giveaway line: not the Illuminati stuff, or the FEMA concentration camps (possible....) but the line "It explains why people I know behave in a conspiratorial way." -- They're everywhere]....Meanwhile, I guess he has tenure:

I wonder how his students like him? Do they think he' a nut?
Maybe some Mefi webhound will dig up some juicy U Toronto student quotes on Makow?
posted by troutfishing at 8:27 PM on December 3, 2002

I don't think he's here (U of T). The first article suggested he's in Winnipeg, and I can't find him in any U of T directories. Thank god for small mercies...
posted by stonerose at 8:42 PM on December 3, 2002

These articles imply that Mr. Makow was only hired at the U of W on a one-year contract, and that the contract was not renewed in 2000.

In my experience, the people who use "Ph.D." after their names are the ones who least deserve the degree...
posted by Johnny Assay at 9:27 PM on December 3, 2002

I don't know-doesn't at least some of his stuff read like totally tongue-in-cheek? He seems too lucid to really be nuts.
posted by konolia at 9:27 PM on December 3, 2002

konolia - Agreed. I've lived with the mentally insane on more than one occasion. He is way too together to be truly bonkers (at least in the ways that often follow people attaching to the more paranoid interpretations of world affairs.)
posted by velacroix at 9:46 PM on December 3, 2002

Well, Scruples is a great game. Just for that, Makow deserves gratitude. He should have stuck to questions and left the answers alone.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:08 AM on December 4, 2002

"On the personal front, I needed a few days to adjust to my recent discovery that a the world is controlled by a well-organized satanic cult called the "Illuminati." This is depressing! "

Hee. "Depressing!" Take all the time you need, Mr. Makow. When I saw the title of the site (savethemales), I at first feared that we were in for another Ladder-esque "Women are manipulative bitches" "No they're not, men are assholes" kinda debate, but wow. This guy has evolved SO much farther in terms of paranoia and conspiracy-mongering, all in an attempt to 'prove' his 'point' that everyone ought to follow his conception of how to live, work, breed and compose their families. The Illuminati?! C'mon, that's the oldest story in the book, man.
posted by hilatron at 3:03 AM on December 4, 2002

One thing I'll give him is he's got the best looking conspiracy/looney site I've ever seen. Not a hint of a black background with HUGE letters, animated gifs of the 'all seeing eye' or all the text scrunched together on one long page.
posted by PenDevil at 3:20 AM on December 4, 2002

Unfortunately his loopiness dissuades me from expending too much energy reading his works, which is kind of a shame as "A Long Way To Go For A Date" could actually be quite interesting to read. Assuming it is not *just* 250 pages of "Where US women have gone Wrong" I'd be interested in reading an honest expose of the motives, justification and psychology behind mail-order/Phillipino brides.

Incidentally, I found myself sniggling at this, from the Reader's Responses to his books: "I own over 400 books and only twice in my life have I ever found a book impossible to put down. This was one of those occasions."
posted by Hartster at 4:13 AM on December 4, 2002

Was pretty amazed that I hadn't heard of this guy before. Guess I've been skipping too many articles about feminism and the gay conspiracy. Too many of them have a redneck, racist type slant. Have also avoided articles about the Civil War, and there's some great stuff I've missed.

Is he deliciously insane? I don't know. Delicious is a fun word, and I wanted to steer the discussion away from how offensive some of his articles might be. The one about Vice City was the first one I read. It just cracked me up how it starts out like a typical magazine article, then gradually devolves into a rant about God and...feminism and homosexuality? It was like watching someone go insane.

Then, that he was the inventor of the game Scruples is just the icing on the proverbial cake. It doesn't get any better than that.

I would love to have been in this guy's class. My favorite instructors were all nuts, and I always did much better in those classes because I listened so closely for them to say something crazy.
posted by son_of_minya at 7:09 PM on December 4, 2002

For an actually sane version of some of the thinking that Makow's reads like a fun-house reflection of, see David Deida.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 2:06 PM on December 5, 2002