A Fascinating Window Into Sean Stone — Host of “Buzzsaw”.
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Sean Stone (eldest son of Oliver), and the host of Buzzsaw, a series on Gaia, a member-supported conscious media company.
I think Buzzsaw is currently one of the best shows on Gaia, and for science fiction writers like myself, it’s a must watch. Indeed, if you’re someone who is interested in matters related to the spiritual or supernatural, this is the show for you.
As described on Gaia, Buzzsaw “cuts through the din of the mainstream narrative to explore hidden truths and reawaken the planet.” Recent shows cover subjects such as: “Forbidden Knowledge for a New Age”, “Alien Factions of the New World Order”, “Consensus Reality and The Cyberspace Revolution”, “Golden Threads from the Kabbalah”, “Reclaiming Control from the Annunaki”, and “The Occult: Bringing Your Will to the World”.
From the first few times that I’ve watched the show, I’ve wanted to interview Sean. I particularly like his style as an interviewer because he doesn’t editorialize, and it’s difficult, even from his body language, to know what his personal views on his guests are. Besides, I too am a seeker of esoteric knowledge so I wanted to get to know the man behind the interview desk better. The one who looks at the camera and says seriously “knowledge is power, you are the revolution”.
I met Sean recently on a hot summer afternoon in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. He was completely relaxed, exuding an intelligence, humor, and warmth that might seem unusual amongst the children of the Hollywood elite.
I shall be looking forward to following him as he develops what I believe will be his own completely unique and significant mark on the world, as a member of an already distinguished family that includes his father, Oliver Stone.
(If you aren’t familiar with Sean’s work or guests, please follow the hyperlinks)
As a science fiction writer, I like the show because it’s a goldmine of information? Do you read and like science fiction and who are your favorite authors?
(He laughs). I love Vonnegut, Orwell, Bradbury. I loved The Giver as a kid. The language used by these writers wasn’t prohibitive like in Clockwork Orange where I couldn’t understand what the author was saying. I didn’t read Lord of the Rings either. I don’t like fantasy science fiction unless I can relate it to my world. I loved Star Wars, but I never got into Star Trek. My dad was a fan of The Demolished Man, and I think that’d make a great movie.
I always thought, okay if I can visualize this, then I can see the correlation between that fantasy world and this world. Funnily enough, I’ve written science fiction probably more than I’ve read it, derived from the things I’ve explored on Buzzsaw and through my other work. The first short feature film I directed was a science fiction called Singularity.
Do you believe, like many of your guests, that the world is run by a cabal of Illuminati or aliens? If so, who do you think these people are?
(He chuckles) — Do I believe aliens run the world — yea, actually I do. Yes, there has been a control structure that I believe is ultimately ‘alien’ — something parasitic. I think Galactic History makes a lot more sense than say, World History, which I studied at Princeton. (He laughs again) You start to read Galactic History about the Orion Wars and about the issue of the Sirius Star System, and it broadens your outlook on the genesis of humanity. Since those wars, I think there have been various alien factions vying to control us. I think we’re being kept in a trap that has us believe that the Universe is entropic, and that it’s running into death and decay and that we have to fight each other for precious limited resources. That’s all opposed to my beliefs, which are that the universe is infinite, we have infinite resources, and that the human mind and technology has allowed for the application of these resources. I believe that despite alien opposition, we’re capable of evolving and overcoming just about anything that has and will face us in the future. Look, we have a lot of junk DNA that can help us and has yet to be activated.
Not that all aliens are bad — no I think some of them are rooting for us and helping us where they can — but there’s still free will, and they can’t impose themselves on that. They can intervene if necessary to prevent ultimate destruction, but we have to learn ourselves — we have to go through our own personal emotional journey, and that’s what matters, our journey of evolving consciousness.
Do you think the Aliens come from a different dimension (electro magnetic field) than ours? Let’s say a kind of Michael Talbot Quantum Physics-based Holographic Universe?
Yes of course. We live in a world of multidimensional realities so there are also higher vibrational entities that won’t even come into physical form here because it’s too slow — they might appear to us as light beings. Some choose to incarnate in human form to become teachers, healers and light warriors — light warriors have come and are here to help teach and expand awareness.
The issue of the darker side is that perhaps some human bloodlines, the ones who control us, have sacrificed their integrity and are giving in more and more to negative forces as they collide through the occult and other practices with aliens from these lower dimensions. You can read about it in Peter Levenda’s Sinister Forces — The Nine: A Grimoire of American Political Witchcraft
Do you think like some of your guests, that there’s a sort of new corrupt world order emerging?
Well, I wrote my book the New World Order on the One World Government concept, but I don’t think we’re there yet. I don’t think Russia, India, and China are necessarily playing by the same rules as we are. I think that the real question ultimately is, is Putin really in opposition to unipolarity, a New World Order structure, or is it all a charade on his part. Will he and the US create the next war? Look, we’ve seen various wealthy factions like Western bankers working in their own self-interest — backing the Bolsheviks and creating the Russian Revolution, using communism as a form of state capitalism and monopoly, and then backing Hitler to basically oppose this. I mean look at the ’80s when Iran and Iraq went to war and the same people were financing both sides. Now perhaps they’re doing the same thing with Saudi Arabia and Iran — creating a new conflict if you like. So is the ongoing conflict with Russia — is that staged or is it real? I think it’s impossible to know how much of it is part of the ultimate puppet show of world politics.
Do you think that the people on Gaia and your show are in a way the “new prophets? Is it time for us to contemporize prophesy?”
I’ve never believed that we’ve had just a handful of prophets, I’ve always believed that prophets constantly come into existence. If you quote directly from Christ’s sayings nowadays people shout at you as if you’re some kind of communist or something. I mean, isn’t that just the true irony of the situation here in the US that we have yet to embrace true Christian teachings and a Christian outlook. We like to play these silly games of polarization and hatred and fear of the other — fear of anyone who doesn’t have your ethnic background, your skin color, your religious faith.
Talking about prophecy, have you read the Talmud Emmanuel?
Yes, you mean the one Billy Meiers discovered? It’s hard for me to believe that it’s real. It feels like something that was fabricated after the fact. It’s a wonderful thought-experiment though.
There’s a lot about the Secret Space Program on Gaia generally e.g. Corey Goode and David Wilcock’s show for instance. What do you think about this?
I’ve only interviewed them a few times — David once and Corey twice. I love Wilcock’s work because I think he’s done a great job with his books on making science understandable and relatable. Look I’m not a scientist, but I do enjoy reading a book about string theory, the holographic Universe, quantum theory — I love it. I think what David has done with his work is that he’s made science digestible, so that I can read and understand when he talks about how stars can actually project light from their future position, not just from their past — theoretical physics at its finest — so I give him a lot of credit.
With Corey, I think he’s obviously telling his story. Whether it’s entirely true or not, I can’t tell you — I don’t know. I think he’s pretty far out. I do think there is a secret space program and underground bases, but what actually happens there? You have to ask yourself, what do people do all day down there? Do they just hang out in these underground bases with aliens? I mean it’s a kind of weird reality — that’s the hardest thing to get my head around — okay, so you’re on duty with these aliens and they’re doing their genetic experiments and you’re just like chilling — playing ping pong for years on end? You’re hanging out on Mars doing what exactly? Are you getting movies in — streaming Netflix? I mean it’s just hard for me to fathom?
Do you believe in the Annunaki — Tellinger’s Slave Species of the Godstype of thing?
Oh yes, I believe they’re part of a group of aliens who’ve been on earth many times, and I think they tampered with our DNA. You have to ask yourself how did humans become so docile and so easy to control? I think they were just among many star dwellers (who we’ve called gods) that came here to our planet in the past. Perhaps they even interbred with us.
Why did you choose the name Buzzsaw for the show?
Actually, I didn’t choose the name Buzzsaw. Ironically enough, I believe it was Tyrel Ventura, one of the original hosts of Buzzsaw, who chose the name. There was an interesting book written some years ago called Into the Buzzsaw, and it was about journalists who had experienced editorial censorship from the mainstream news — journalists who worked for ABC for example or other press outlets. They had gone into subject matter that was too controversial to publish and their editors had killed the stories, and the expression was “the story was thrown into the buzzsaw.”
Ironically, my father had been part of the book because he was working on a series back in the late 90’s looking into what happened to TWA flight 800. He was producing this series around the time that ABC killed the story. Now we have documentaries coming out talking about how it was shot down by a missile, and this theory, which he supported at the time, has finally come out more prominently. So what I’m doing is bringing stories out of the buzzsaw and to the public’s attention.
How do you find your guests?
I find them everywhere. Frankly, starting out was tough. When you’re launching a new show and you don’t have many people you’ve interviewed, it’s hard to reach out. We were lucky enough to get some great interviews early on with people like David Icke, Jeremy Scahill, a reporter for the Intercept, and Chris Hedges. You get some interviews in the can and it makes it easier to reach out to anyone and at least see if people are willing to talk. Most authors like being interviewed and welcome the attention this brings to their work. I’d say now most of my guests come from my having read their books and being curious about their work in some capacity. I found Peter Levenda for instance because I loved his Sinister Forces book series. Other guests are suggested to me by people who write in and say, hey interview so and so. I always say publicly, reach out to me on my Facebook page and tell me who I should interview. I’m always open to suggestions.
To those not familiar with the metaphysical, paranormal and esoteric some of your guests may seem over the edge?
(He laughs) Look, having lived some really crazy experiences in my life, let’s say the blurring of the real and the psychic realms, I think anything’s possible. We’ve all had things happen in our lives that we can’t explain, and to me, those experiences were the gateway into the unknown; the point where The X-Files begin, if you like. When we see a light in the sky we can’t explain, when we hear a voice that isn’t in the room, or when we get a phone call that doesn’t make sense, isn’t that when some of us say to ourselves, okay there’s something more happening here, we could be living in the twilight zone.
At that point you either shut it all off and tell yourself I’m blocking this out because it’s illogical and I’m sticking with a reality I can easily explain, or if you’re like me, you say okay I’m going down the rabbit hole because our reality is closer to Oz than it is to Kansas. That kind of exploration leads me to seek out the different points of view expressed on the show; so I don’t ever say I definitively believe all of what my guests are talking about, but at the same time, life is strange enough and has a multi-dimensionality to it that I believe is real and that has been proved scientifically, so we can’t discard everyone as experiencing some ‘personal fantasy’. Now some people do have a kind of ego to their claims so they embellish their stories to get attention, but the starting point for most people I interview on the show comes from a genuine experience that’s rooted in their version of reality.
Who were some of your favorite guests on Buzzsaw and why?
I’m inclined towards writers like Peter Levenda or Richard Dolan who take an academic approach to history. I prefer writers who are historians and are trained to look at things that don’t make sense and try to understand them as rationally, scientifically, and historically as possible.
They examine the evidence, and from there they extrapolate, for instance, that we are living on a haunted planet, that there have been government projects around UFOs, and yes, there have been very smart politically-important people who have been fascinated and seriously involved with aliens and in the occult. We need to be able to say to ourselves that no, it isn’t just weirdos and cranks that are interested in aliens and the parapsychological, it’s also a group of serious scientific researchers and historians.
How do you deal with a guest who you think is difficult?
Look, there are a handful of interviews that have been difficult in the sense that the guest comes with a one-word response — one or two sentences and you’re actually having to pull teeth to get something out of them. Then you have to keep pushing. People need to be able to get to that place where they feel comfortable enough to open up and talk. There have definitely been guests that ramble — that’s tough but without cutting them off you have to direct them back to the essence of the interview; you can’t just talk for six hours — this is a show. Then sometimes you get guests who are very sensitive to certain subject matter, and you have to massage your way around the edges and try and figure out how do I get some response — how do I get something out of them. Especially people, for instance, who are coming out of the intelligence community — they’re going to be pretty cagey. It’s also difficult sometimes when you’ve been censored by someone on certain issues that simply can’t be discussed because of their fears of legal retaliation.
What about people who have different political or religious views to you?
For the most part, I call people out on their views. Look, I don’t want to turn my show into a debate, but I will point out anything that I think is glaringly inaccurate, or doesn’t fit with my worldview. I’ll pose a question that makes the counter argument to theirs. Buzzsaw is a platform for people to speak their version of the truth, and I want them to be as comfortable as possible. You’ll get more out of someone with honey rather than vinegar.
What do you want your audience to take away from Buzzsaw?
I think what motivated this journey into the buzzsaw was always my own personal curiosity, and if it’s had an impact and has woken some people up, if it’s shaken people’s viewpoints or values — wonderful. I think the key to the show is encouraging people to have a more out-of-the-box perspective on life, rather than being in the box because that’s where most people seem to be living at this point.
Tell me about your feature movie Greystone Park? Would you compare it to the Blair Witch movie?
It’s very different from Blair Witch — it’s not a found footage movie. Fundamentally, we were doing a documentary-style fiction film. That’s why there is music and clear editorial cuts. Of course, it isn’t exactly what happened. We created a fictional story modeled on myself and Alex (my co-writer and co-star) breaking into and exploring Greystone Park, an abandoned mental hospital in New Jersey. We’d been there multiple times before, but the movie took place on just one night. Basically what happens is we get lost and with the doors locked, we’re desperately trying to get out, and we descend into a kind of madness. The whole place becomes a labyrinth of fear and as we get closer to its center, we are forced to face our own demons.
Did you see ghosts in there during some of your visits?
I’ve experienced quite a few things in the paranormal realm… shadows that move, objects that move by themselves, phone calls from demons. I’m not, however, a ghost seer. Most people aren’t, and frankly, I’m grateful I’m not able to see them. I would not want to wake up and find people standing in my room — a man with a hat standing in the corner. (He laughs) But I believe they do exist all around us — just in a different dimension to ours.
How was it growing up as the son of Oliver Stone? What does he think of your work?
I think people should see the documentary I made called Fight Against Time. It’s very much an exploration of my relationship with my father. Look, ultimately I’m very happy to have had the privilege of growing up as his son. He has created an insatiable intellectual curiosity in me. We traveled together a lot, and he took me to places in the East like Tibet, Nepal, Vietnam. We also went to Africa. We had some wonderful cross-cultural adventures together, and he was a very cool Dad.
Does he like your work?
My father has never discussed much with me in terms of the esoteric, the occult, or the spiritual domain. His fundamental interest is in history and politics.
What did you think about his recent documentary of Putin?
I think it’s well done — I mean he’s a great director. People will get a look into the way Putin sees the world and the way he strategizes. From a historical point of view, that’s important. He’s a very clear, rational thinker.
Because you’re a trained historian, based on the past, how do you think one establishes incorruptibility in leadership and government?
Hierarchies, in general, don’t work — you need councils — you need checks and balances. I believe the two-party system has destroyed our Republic. That‘s why I think we should have at least six parties of consequence. Also, we need to go back to the local level as described in Michael Tellinger’s short documentary One Small Town.
Tell me about your conversion to Islam?
Hebrews, Moslems, and Christians have to get together. We’ve gone away from the notion of one god — one creator, many prophets, and many different paths. Quite honestly, I don’t practice any religion in its traditional sense. I practice being a good person and doing what I consider spiritual work. I’m simply here, like us all, as a spiritual being on a complex journey. I still don’t know what I’m meant to achieve here or where this will all end. For instance, Sufism fascinates me as well as Gnosticism, Daoism, everything really that’s related to the esoteric. I believe at the bottom of it all, it’s a question of how you want to live your life. Religious formalities don’t mean anything, it’s the truths that lie behind them which do.
My novel The Burning Years is about climate change. Do you believe in Climate Change?
Yeah, the climate is always changing (he laughs).
I mean do you believe in man-made climate change?
Not particularly. But look, I do believe we can’t reverse it fast enough even if it is changing due to us, and so we need to focus on how we adapt ourselves to it, as we’ve always done over hundreds of thousands of years.
What about our use of fossil fuels?
Well, I did a documentary called A Century of War. In it, I focused heavily on the need to convert from fossil fuels. Look I’m opposed to the petrodollar economy — but converting from it won’t happen overnight — and we have to start now. So many energy alternatives exist — for instance, cold and hot fusion, using ocean water as a fuel source. Also using thorium in a fission process, which can help us clean up nuclear waste dumps — harmful stuff that just sits there right now. I believe we must develop power sources closer to Tesla’s wireless energy, and find out how to use anti-gravitational technology. Windmills and solar farms just aren’t enough to power the whole planet.
What do you see in your future — what are your goals and aspirations?
He laughs and asks me instead what I see in mine? Then he says smiling enigmatically at me, “remember we are the revolution.”
This interview was originally published by
Felicity Harley’s latest book is a climate fiction novel - The Burning Years