August 31, 2009
Dastardly plots
The perils of losing one’s grip on reality:
Belief in conspiracy theories can be comforting. If everything that goes wrong is the fault of a secret cabal, that relieves you of the tedious necessity of trying to understand how a complex world really works. And you can feel smug that you are smart enough to “see through” the official version of events. [...]
In his book “Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History”, David Aaronovitch argues that conspiratorial fantasy can have dangerous real-world consequences. Hitler read and believed The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a bogus account of a global Jewish conspiracy. So did the founders of Hamas.
There was a brief period of time in college when I, too, found comfort in blaming the Bush cabinet for the events of 9/11. It was around that time when a certain video circulated, asking questions about the Pentagon’s destruction. Of course, I soon recognized my own reasons for distrust and the theories dried up.
Do you believe — or have you ever believed — in a conspiracy theory?
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great question. I’ve been wanting to bring this up too. I thought for a while about the 9/11 conspiracy. I’ve spent time thinking about the Kennedy conspiracy. and even though I never bought into the moon landing conspiracy, I could see how it would have been useful to propagate (the landing, not the conspiracy).
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…you can’t, you can’t fool me again!”
I’ve always assumed that most conspiracy theories weren’t true because they required a level of secrecy most people can’t maintain.
Now that I’ve been working for the government for a couple of years, I realize that secrecy isn’t the stumbling block. Competence is.
I say this with all the love in my heart for my fellow bureaucrats, but we have a hard enough time just updating our computer systems. The Federal Government just isn’t equipped or prepared for the large-scale production involved in a major conspiracy.
K
I love all conspiracy theories, with the exception of the 9/11 one. I never got into that one, for some reason.
I’m not sure if this fits the definition of conspiracy theory, but my favorite one is that Elliot Smith was murdered.
this also neatly explains mankind’s persistent, widespread belief in supernatural beings…
also, KevinQ: you’re dead on, dude. I’ve got 20 years in with the Feds and, while I have seen some hair-raising proposals, very few of them ever reach fruition exactly because of the competence and underlying organization needed to implement them. the few scary ideas that have become programs are usually administered by unnoticed, tiny enclaves buried deep within the larger orgs – DOJ, DHS or Agriculture (yep – Ag: who do you think washed the CIA’s money for decades?)
but, as long as you’re not a liberal, gay individual espousing…wait: I’ve said too much.
Jews? Come on, we all know the Bavarians are in control of everything and planting all these theories about Jews and Hitler’s secret deals with Aliens (who actually visited the French during WWII, but they were pacifist aliens).
Yeah, I could never get into gov’t conspiracies because like KevinQ said, I don’t think they’re capable of pulling it off. Freemasons and stuff like that, sure.
My (late) mother-in-law (as was), which is to say the mother of my first husband, claimed that she saw Lyndon Johnson in a Los Angeles (automobile) chop shop fondling a sawed-off shotgun the week before John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.
The thing is, for a decade prior, she’d had dealings with members of The Mob and with real estate developers who were hand-in-glove with the federal gummint when it come to siting nu-cu-lar pro-per-ties, so I can understand how she might have gone a bit funny.