Allan Weisbecker
Allan Weisbecker is a fascinating, driven individual. I first heard of Allan when he debated philosopher-theorist Joe Atwill on Atwills podcast. The subject was Atwill’s claim that writer Ken Kesey had been in on a government plot to destabilize the 60’s youth movement. Weisbecker pretty much handed Atwill his ass with a spirited defense of Kesey – not that Kesey wasn’t involved with drugs etc., but that Atwill was cramming every Masonic archetype he could find into Kesey’s novels to build his conspiracy theory.
Weisbecker has a background in smuggling and alternative lifestyles that find life close to the sea. He went on to write scripts for TV shows such as Miami Vice, wrote three books and has at least one movie being optioned right now. In the documentary posted below – “Water Time”, Weisbecker leaves his comfortable home in the states and heads south to live and play in Central American surfer communities. He immediately gets off to a rocky start when he films himself trying to withdraw thirty-thousand dollars from his bank, and it gets crazier from there on.
American expats have left their home country for a reason. Some may be in trouble with the law. Some are looking for adventure, and some are looking for trouble. Perhaps one thing the people interviewed in “Water Time” have in common is that they appear to be permanently disconnected from the United States. Not just geographically, but in an emotional – historical sense. Weisbecker films himself as he interviews surfers young and old, armed with a laptop full of evidence of U.S. Government cover-ups and conspiracies. We see him show person after person how the government pulled off the assassination of both Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King. He implores them to acknowledge the essence of evil demonstrated by a government that kills it’s own leaders, and with a few exceptions, nobody seems to give a shit.
Same for the events of 9/11. Some are in denial, some just don’t think the malfeasance by the American Government effects them at all. What is amazing to me, is that those hardy souls that have fled the U.S. to live rough in remote beach communities seem to be the people that should really, really get it. Those crimes of the past and those that will arrive in the future should be a prime motivator to get the hell out of Dodge, and live the life of a beach bum.
Weisbecker himself becomes more and more frustrated with the non-response to his carefully laid-out conspiracy trail, and we see him take to the surf for psychic healing and much-needed “Water Time”.
As some of his friends begin to turn on him, calling him obsessed and crazy, he loads his dog into his camper and hits the road.
Allan Weisbecker’s experience is not so different from that of many of us. We leaf through obscure books and documents for the true facts that led us to our current level of governmental dysfunction. Nobody wants to hear from us either, and we escape behind our walls of books, much like hiding out in a surf community. And like many of us, Weisbecker believes the real turning point in modern American history is the assassination of President Kennedy and subsequent cover-up. That’s when it all changed.
But hey, that was a long time ago, man.
One of my favorite quotes from “Water Time” is when Allan is deep in discussion with a surfer girl. She tells him; “Especially if it’s true, I really don’t want to know about it”.
You can find out more about Allan Weisbecker at his website Banditobooks.com
Sounds like a very interesting read. The stories behind the motives of people who have become “Expats” down in Central America are like a screen-play writers wet dream. So many of them are just wild. And while there definitely are the element of fugitives and those dismayed with the American government in the mix, too often the important element of just living in a tropical haven surrounded by surfable ocean is not mentioned b/c those that aren’t in the tribe of surfing just don’t get it. And trying to explain it to someone outside the tribe feels pointless, like trying to describe the taste of an apple to someone who has only eaten beef there whole life. I would be curious to find out if Weisbecker touches on this side of the journey.