In Alex's words:
Alex Burns began postgraduate studies at the Australian Foresight Institute in 2002 (applying foresight perspectives to digital learning, the dotcom speculative bubble and film studies). In November 1999, he accepted an invitation from Disinformation® cofounder Richard Metzger to edit the Internet's most popular alternative culture and underground news site. During the 'New Economy' heights, Disinformation® was acquired by Razorfish, the high-profile consultancy that nearly imploded with post-crash fear and e-loathing. In July 2002 he became Editor-at-Large after enduring post-9/11 'conspiracy fatigue'. Currently Alex is synthesizing the integral approaches of Clare W. Graves and Ken Wilber (as founding member, Integral Politics, Integral Institute); co-editing Black Box and Health Staff Australia; speaking at the annual This Is Not Art festival (Newcastle, Australia); and developing Holonic Editing capabilities to monitor global news vectors and geopolitical hot-spots in real-time.

undiegirl: How did you come to DISINFO?   I’ve got to know what grooms one to be the editor for culturally subversive web media.  What’s your role with DISINFO now?

Alex: In 1997 Disinformation’s cofounder Richard Metzger was profiled by RU Sirius for the late Australian culture magazine 21.C. Metzger and his collaborators had just outmanoeuvred attempts to censor them and consequently pulled off ‘The Great Internet Swindle’. We all had a mutual admiration for cultural subversives like Noam Chomsky, Jello Biafra, and Robert Anton Wilson. When he began pre-production on the Disinformation television series Metzger asked me to edit the Internet site. I’d previously written for several Australian publications and explored several occult subcultures. The dotcom crash, The X-Files mini-cycle and ‘stimulus events’ like Florida 2000 and 9-11 soon changed everything: now we had to reconstruct meaning and not just react to the media ‘litany’.

I passed the editorial baton to the very capable Russ Kick in July 2002, and began postgraduate studies at the Australian Foresight Institute, where I’m codifying Disinformation’s editorial insights on how to monitor ‘emerging issues’ of long-term significance and effect social change. One example of this synergy is a forthcoming free "Reader’s Guide" to Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies’ book Why Do People Hate America? (New York: Disinformation Books, 2003).

undiegirl: Can you describe what went down at the DISINFOCon in 2000?  At that point, it seemed like DISINFO was reaching out into the offline world in the States for the first time.

Alex: We were rocked, in just a brief time-period, by the deaths of William S. Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg and Terence McKenna: a brilliant cadre who ‘stormed the reality studio’ and awakened many minds. Disinfo.Con was part of Metzger’s ‘inauguration’ of a new generation of creative subversives. People like Coercion author Douglas Rushkoff, legendary comic book writer Grant Morrison, Feral House publisher Adam Parfrey, polymath scientist Howard Bloom and sonic auteur Genesis P-Orridge. We got some great media but our critics focused on the Spectacle instead of the alchemical spell being worked underneath.

‘On-the-day’ highlights at the Hammerstein Ballroom included an explosive Joe Coleman performance, Kembra Pfahler’s jaw-dropping ‘Wall of Vagina’ and a satellite presentation by special guest Marilyn Manson. Some of the participants are in Richard Metzger’s new book Disinformation: The Interviews (New York: Disinformation Books, 2002). A DVD featuring censored television episodes and Disinfo.con highlights will be out in early 2003.

undieigirl: Then there were the books, You Are Being Lied To, & Everything You Know Is Wrong -- which are just devastating and brilliant at the same time.  What kind of weird truths were you instigating here?

Alex: You Are Being Lied To and Everything You Know Is Wrong are ‘xerox missives’ of brilliant writers and devastating ideas from the cultural margins. The books’ editor Russ Kick deserves much of the credit for this, as reading his two pivotal pieces on foreknowledge of 9-11 and suppressed knowledge about the Columbine shootings will show. There’s something in both books to delight and offend everyone, including exposes on the Vatican Bank’s dubious financial deals and globalization proponents of the ‘Washington Consensus’, the grim truth about media coverage of Kosovo ‘atrocities’, the ties that bind President George W. Bush to serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, and ‘normal accidents’ at nuclear power plants.

There are pieces by conspiracy theorists too–but we’ve found that the real conspiracies are not-so-effective battles between different elites and groups. The consensual myths and ‘socially constructed’ folklore of the early 21^st century. And just because you can now buy these books in Barnes & Noble or Borders stores doesn’t make them any less subversive. Since our launch in September 1996 many of these ideas have passed through osmosis and the ‘tipping point’ into the wider culture. Now the ideas need to be backed up by real change and sustainability.

undiegirl: We love the Devil Girl logo.  What’s she up to?

Alex: We love her too but Metzger’s pretty cryptic about if Devil Girl symbolizes a real person or not. Probably the Scarlet Woman of Thelema magus Aleister Crowley: Our Lady of Babalon. I hope your readers will look beyond the hedonistic consumerism of shows like Sex and the City to goddess archetypes like Kali (Hinduism) and Tara (Buddhism) as ‘deep’ models for personal self-empowerment. Women who embody those commitments in everyday life are what Devil Girl signifies for me: Femme Demonica In Excelcis.

undiegirl: And on that note, how many women do you think take part in the DISINFO community?

Alex: Our Web statistics show a pretty vocal 20% of female visitors who won’t hesitate to tell us when they feel we’ve screwed things up. Personally, we welcome female contributors and want to redress the gender imbalance of our site’s coverage.

undiegirl: Who are some cool women you’ve been working with?

Alex: Green Galactic cofounder Susan Mainzer and sassy designer Leen Al-Bassam have both really helped us a lot. Lately we’ve been ‘blessed’ to work with Australian witch Fiona Horne. Site writers like Viki Reed, Katy Schiel, Heather Wokusch and Sara Aronson (who pulled off the Cameron Crowe/Rolling Stone stunt). Book contributors including Naomi Klein, Noreena Hertz, and Wendy McElroy. I’ve collaborated with This Is Not Art organizers Kylie Purr, Anna Poletti and Rachel O’Reilly, ‘noise’ diva Fiona Bennett and zine archivist Kath Williamson, who are all spearheading the much-needed resurgence of Australian underground culture. Two personal influences were Chalice & The Blade author Riane Eisler and visionary Australian artist Vali Myers.

The "Proust" style Undie Questions

undiegirl: What’s you favorite thing to do in your undies?

Alex: The early morning ritual of letting my chickens out of their henhouse. Really.

undiegirl: Has anyone made assumptions about you because of your undies?  What were they?  How did that make you feel?  How right were they?

Alex: An ex-girlfriend ceremoniously burned all my clothes after seeing my undies. She hated the old blue pair that my parents had given me. And she was right: being aesthetically challenged in the undies department was not a good sign.

undiegirl: How do you ever have time to put on undies?  What does a day in your life look like?

Alex: Putting on undies is one of the first things I do. My day usually begins with Internet-based ‘strategic scanning’ of ‘emerging’ issues and people that I’m tracking. The rest of the day depends on the progress of core projects and ‘wild card’ events (like 9-11). I fit in time to do research, interview people, and network with other local media dissidents. Face-to-face and collaborative ‘action research’ is where it’s at.

undiegirl: If you could have a soap box to stand on, what would it be?  Okay, if you need two, that’s fine!

Alex: Well, thanks to Metzger and his creative team, Disinformation has been my ‘virtual’ soap box for several years. Our patron saint is probably film-maker Oliver Stone, who with JFK (1991) and Natural Born Killers (1994), showed how to convey subversive views with passion and precision. Wake up from ‘consensus trance’.

undiegirl: Finally -- sex, spirit, power, and freedom -- how do all of these play into your life?  Do they fuse?  Do they fight?  Tell us a story.

Alex: In 1995 shortly after covering Noam Chomsky’s Australian speaking tour I began an intense relationship with a woman. A series of magical workings had worked better than I had ever imagined. Over the next three years most of our friends just considered the Sex and that we were psychological opposites. What really happened was that we worked through issues of Power and Freedom (using a Polarian method). For some brief moments, sometimes during devotional tantric practices, we tapped a ‘deep’ Spirit that transformed us both. We fought, fused, loved, and eventually tore each-other apart. A ‘psychological estrangement’ that guitarist Robert Fripp, also echoing a feeling many people have in their undies, once called ‘exposure’. I heeded these lessons and scars while editing the Disinformation site. Most people want the latest gossip and news on Sex, Power or whatever gives them a taste of illusory Freedom. But the individual quest for Spirit is really the only Great Game in the end that’s worth playing.

Alex Burns is archived at welcome to the machine.