# Art Bell dead at 72 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** celebrity-death\ **Created:** [April 14, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412 "2018-04-14T14:44:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/21 "2018-04-15T11:25:27Z")
[Moderating] **Darren Garrison** , if you want to rant, take it to the Pit. “Good riddance” is not an appropriate response to an obituary thread in this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/22 "2018-04-15T11:47:05Z")
FWIW, [I’ve already taken it to Great Debates](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=853018). ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/23 "2018-04-15T18:25:30Z")
I heard this yesterday, and am still not sure how I feel about him and his show. He did entertain the hell out of me, but I did know some people who were prone to believe that crap. He wasn’t doing them any favors. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Vorlon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@The\_Vorlon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Vorlon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2018, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/24 "2018-04-15T19:26:11Z")
On one hand, I’m surprised he made it this far with his lifestyle. On the other hand, I’m sure that the kooks, nuts, and moonbats were gunning for him, each with contradictory reasons. On the gripping hand, he is probably sitting in Area 51, having a cold one, laughing at everyone getting riled up. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/25 "2018-04-16T18:01:35Z")
Helped me make it through long night drives in college. I remember one night hearing a friend of mine call in…She gave her real name and the voice was just like hers but I still wasn’t convinced and then she mentioned a very specific hobby. (on some level I thought the guests were ALL fakes until this). She talked about transcendental trances and astral projection–stuff I had no idea she was interested in let alone claiming to engage in. Never talked to her about it. ---
**Author:** ![ElderSign](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eldersign/32/8263_2.png) [@ElderSign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElderSign)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/26 "2018-04-19T12:24:42Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Conspiracy theory culture was a direct result of the unholy alliance between American libertarians and the left that came because of 9/11. 9/11 conspiracy theories were one of the few conspiracy theories anti-government people on the left and right could both agree on and helped make people like Alex Jones a thing, back when even Michael Moore had nice things to say about him due to his extreme Anti-Bush views. Both sides hated Bush so much they were willingly to let people like Alex Jones profit on it and expand. > > When Rolling Stone gave Alex Jones a full article that painted him in a favorable light you know things were fucked. Forgetting the earlier John Birch Society for a moment, conspiracy pop culture was in full force in the 1990s during the Clinton era with Ruby Ridge, Waco, McVeigh. William Cooper was the pioneer of underground conspiracy radio. A young Alex Jones was inspired by Cooper. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Good riddance to bad rubbush. He helped build the conspiracy theory culture that leads to antivaxxers, pizzagaters, and their ilk today. If I believed that there was a Hell, I would have hoped that he was burning in it. Bell was into the paranormal and government cover-ups. He was not a right-winger. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2018, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412/27 "2018-04-19T12:35:40Z")
> [@ElderSign](#): > > Bell was into the paranormal and government cover-ups. He was not a right-winger. You are jumping to a conclusion that was neither stated nor implied in my post that you quoted. Of my two examples of modern harmful conspiracy theories–antivaxism and pizzagate–one of them is largely a conspiracy for brain dead left-wingers and one is largely a conspiracy for brain dead right-wingers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/art-bell-dead-at-72/812412.md?page=1)