CONSPIRACY THEORY AS NAIVE DECONSTRUCTIVE HISTORY

Laura

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Hi,
I thought I would kick off the conspiracy forum with a piece I read the other day that sets the right tone, IMO. It's from http://newdemocracyworld.org/conspiracy.htm and is by Floyd Rudmin, who is a member of the Psychology Department at the University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.

CONSPIRACY THEORY AS NAIVE DECONSTRUCTIVE HISTORY

by Floyd Rudmin
April, 2003
newdemocracyworld.org

"Conspiracy theory" is usually used as a pejorative label, meaning paranoid, nutty, marginal, and certainly untrue. The power of this pejorative is that it discounts a theory by attacking the motivations and mental competence of those who advocate the theory. By labeling an explanation of events "conspiracy theory," evidence and argument are dismissed because they come from a mentally or morally deficient personality, not because they have been shown to be incorrect. Calling an explanation of events "conspiracy theory" means, in effect, "We don't like you, and no one should listen to your explanation."

In earlier eras other pejorative labels, such as "heresy," "witchery," and "communism" also worked like this. The charge of "conspiracy theory" is not so severe as these other labels, but in its way is many times worse. Heresy, witchcraft, and communism at least retain some sense of potency. They designate ideas to be feared. "Conspiracy theory" implies that the ideas and their advocates are simple-minded or insane.

All such labels implicitly define a community of orthodox believers and try to banish or shun people who challenge orthodox beliefs. Members of the community who are sympathetic to new thoughts might shy away from the new thoughts and join in the shunning due to fear of being tainted by the pejorative label.

There is currently a boom in books on conspiracy theory, most of them derogatory, as is evident in some recent titles: Architects of Fear: Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia in American Politics; Conspiracy Culture: From the Kennedy Assassination to the X-Files; Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From.

Within popular US culture, there is also now a boom in movies, novels, and web sites that feature conspiracy theories. The apparent popularity of conspiracy theories is often cited as a cause of concern, that our society is breaking down. For example, Canadian journalist Robert Sibley has said that conspiracy theory is "a nihilistic vortex of delusion and superstition that negates reality itself."

I think that just the reverse is true. There is nothing insane or sinister about conspiracy theory research. It is rather matter of fact. A wide range of ordinary people from many walks of life take an interest in the political and economic events of our era. They think things through on their own, use the library, seek for evidence, articulate a theory, communicate with other people with similar interests. It is heartening that some citizens invest time and effort to unearth and expose some of the conspiracies that damage our society, our economy and our government.

But it certainly does seem that some historians and journalists are quite frightened of conspiracy theory and its wide popularity. Those are the two professions whose job it is to interpret our world for us. When ordinary people take on the task of doing this themselves, it must mean that they don't believe what the authorities say we should. Maybe the professionals feel threatened when amateurs think about political events for themselves.

Perhaps we are in the middle of a new Reformation. The high priests are again losing their monopoly, and they see us sliding into cults and chaos. Something similar happened in 1517, when Martin Luther challenged the Church and translated the Bible into German so that ordinary people could think about theology for themselves. When put on trial, Luther said, "I cannot submit my faith either to the Pope or to the Councils, because it is clear as day they have frequently erred and contradicted each other." That is exactly what a JFK conspiracy theorist would say about the Warren Commission.

People take on the task of explaining things for themselves when the orthodox experts insist on saying nonsense—for example, that Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone killed JFK. A Reformation is a rebellion against arrogance. If historians and journalists want to understand why they are being displaced by conspiracy theory, it would be most reasonable to examine their own failings first.

The correct big-word label for conspiracy theory would be "naive deconstructive history." It is "history" because it explains events, but only after they have happened. Past-tense. Conspiracy theory, as a political act, i s an after-the-fact complaint. To see conspiracies while they are happening would require the resources and powers of police forces and espionage agencies.

Conspiracy theory is "deconstructive history" because it is in rebellion against official explanations and against orthodox journalism and orthodox history. Conspiracy theory is radically empirical: tangible facts are the focus, especially facts that the standard stories try to overlook. There is a ruthless reduction down to what is without doubt real, namely, persons. Conspiracy theory presumes that human events are caused by people acti ng as people do, including cooperating, planning, cheating, deceiving, and pursuing power. Thus, conspiracy theories do not focus on impersonal forces like geo-politics, market economics, globalization, social evolution a nd other such abstract explanations of human events.

To call conspiracy theory "naive" does not mean that it is uncritical or stupidly innocent. In fact, that is what conspiracy theorists might say about orthodox explanations of events promoted by government sources, by mai nstream journalism, or by schoolbook history. For example, it is naive to believe that the September 11, 1973, coup d'etat against Allende was not orchestrated by the United States. Rather, to here call deconstructive his tory "naive" means that conspiracy theorists are unaware that they are doing deconstructive history, and they are amateurs, untrained in deconstructive history.

Conspiracy theories arise when dramatic events happen, and the orthodox explanations try to diminish the events and gloss them over. In other words, conspiracy theories begin when someone notices that the explanations do not fit the facts.

Take the case of explaining the past two decades of US "free-trade" schemes among countries in the Americas: FTA, NAFTA, and soon FTAA. These schemes began with two nations, then three, and soon four and more. The first w as the 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which set the subservient conditions of member nations to US economic dominance. The essence of the FTA is that US corporations get unrestricted commercial rights and resou rce ownership in Canada, and in exchange, Canada gets to obey US trade laws.

Why would Canadians have agreed to this? Well, we didn't, but historians would explain it by saying something like, "Globalization made Canadians choose free-trade." Conspiracy theorists would say, "Don't be naive. Look a t the facts." In a decade of political opinion polls, and in three consecutive national elections (1984, 1988, 1993), a majority of Canadians had consistently said that they do not want American "free-trade" schemes. How has it happened that such a clear, strong democratic decision by so many millions of Canadians could be overthrown?

In the 1984 and 1993 federal elections in Canada, the successful parties had explicitly campaigned against free-trade, but when elected they reversed themselves. The 1988 vote was also not straight: of the two anti-free-t rade parties, the minor one in mid-campaign began to attack the leader of the major one. It is reasonable to see such facts and to surmise that orthodox explanations are not the real explanations.

Let's look in the library to see what can be found. From 1976 to 1979, more than a decade before the FTA, US Ambassador Thomas Enders was crisscrossing Canada promoting free-trade. Who was Thomas Enders? He was hired by t he US government in 1958 as an "intelligence research specialist." In 1969 he was in Yugoslavia, in 1971 Cambodia. His jobs there were to rig Lon Nol's election and to use a local intelligence network to pick villages to be bombed by B52s in President Nixon's secret war. From 1976 to 1979, he was in Canada weaving a web of political and business connections to promote the American version of "free-trade." In 1981 Enders became President R eagan's Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, working on the invasion of Grenada and the illegal proxy wars against Nicaragua and El Salvador. One of his jobs was to coordinate operations with Oliver No rth and Duane Claridge, head of the CIA's covert operations in Latin America.

Considering these facts, which is more likely—that Enders was in Canada promoting free-trade as some kind of personal hobby, or that he was under orders, promoting free-trade as one more operation in a career of covert op erations? At the time, Quebec's populist premier, Réne Lévesque, said of Enders, "He's the bum who launched the bombs in Vietnam. He's a damned spy. He must be working for the CIA" (quoted in Lisée, 1990, p. 207).

The idea of NAFTA first appeared in public in 1979, to everyone's surprise, as Ronald Reagan's core policy when he announced his candidacy for President. But, curiously, it was then never again mentioned in his campaign. In 1979, Reagan's campaign was run by Michael Deaver and Paul Hannaford, who reportedly also ran a public relations firm that represented the right-wing Guatemalan group Amigos del Pais and its leader Roberto Alejos, who had provided the ranch used for CIA training of Cuban Bay of Pigs invasion forces in 1961. In early 1980 William Casey became Reagan's campaign director. Casey began his career directing OSS espionage operations in German y and China in the 1940s, and he ended his career as director of the CIA. It is not common for US presidential candidates to be so managed by those so linked to covert operations.

The information in the proceeding two paragraphs comes from library sources. "Free-trade" comes from the dark lower bowels of Washington sometime in the early 1970s. It seems to have been conceived and promoted, in part, by conspiracy rather than by forthright democratic processes.

This exemplifies how conspiracy theory arises: 1) significant political or economic events change power relationships in our society; 2) contradictions are noticed by ordinary citizens in the explanations of these events; 3) concern and curiosity are aroused; 4) further information is sought under the presumption that power is being abused and deception is being deployed. Most of the evidence discovered is circumstantial, as it must be wh en investigating conspiracies.

"Free-trade" was definitely not the democratic choice of Canadians, and maybe not of Americans or Mexicans either. There is a history waiting to be written about these "free-trade" schemes. Orthodox, school-book historian s will probably not write that history, and mainstream journalists will not dig it out. Conspiracy theorists might. (Did anyone notice that the NAFTA treaty was not legally passed by Congress as a treaty?)

Conspiracy theory has a special focus on contradictions, discrepancies, and missing facts. The natural sciences similarly seek to find faulty explanations by focusing on facts that don't fit the orthodox explanations. If we want more truthful explanations of events, whether of scientific events or of political and historical events, then we must compare competing explanations.

One explanation usually fits the available observations better than the other. By the principle of fit, the explanation that encompasses more of the observations should be preferred. This principle can favor conspiracy th eories. For example, one gunman cannot shoot a bolt-action rifle as fast as the shots were fired at JFK. The vast majority of eye-witnesses heard shots coming from different directions.

We can discover mis-explanations and find better ones by focusing on the facts that don't fit. For example, Galileo concluded that moons around Jupiter are discrepancies to the then-orthodox geocentric theory. Galileo was called a heretic for writing that. Mark Lane's book, Rush to Judgment, includes hundreds of facts that did not fit the Warren Commission's conclusion that a lone gunman killed Kennedy. Lane was called a conspiracy theori st for writing that.

The pejorative force of the "conspiracy theory" label comes from its ad hominem attack on the author's personality. It is true that conspiracy theory authors doubt the orthodox explanations and suspect that there are othe r explanations for events. Such doubt and suspicion, which is the same kind of doubt and suspicion as motivates many scientific discoveries, gets labeled paranoia.

Think for a moment. Most of the US population believes that a conspiracy, not a lone gunman, killed JFK. A society could not function if that many people were "paranoid." That word is pure pejorative. Real paranoia includ es: 1) fear, 2) of a prominent person, 3) whom you think threatens you personally, 4) using invisible means, like the evil-eye, x-rays, or laser beams. Conspiracy theory entails doubt and suspicion, but that is far from c linical paranoia. For example, I believe the Iran-Contra conspiracy theory, but I have no emotion of fear, certainly no fear that Oliver North is out to get me, using invisible rays of some kind.

However, we should remember that conspiracy theorists are ordinary people and will show ordinary failings of rationality, for example, what is referred to as "confirmation bias." This means that we are all biased to look for evidence that our ideas are right rather than for evidence that our ideas are wrong. This bias has been demonstrated and replicated in many different contexts and countries. Confirmation bias is a common mistake made by conspiracy theorists, as well as by historians, journalists, and everyone else. David Fischer has catalogued and exemplified over 100 different kinds of faulty reasoning in the research of competent, published historia ns. These would all apply to conspiracy theorists as well.

Conspiracy theory is more thoughtful than fearful. The motivations behind conspiracy theory research are cognitive and social. It is very much like doing family genealogy. You begin with a few facts. Then you puzzle out t he story, make inferences and hypotheses, and seek further facts. With help from other people, with good luck, you discover information that is sometimes difficult to find. A story emerges, suggesting new facts that shoul d be sought. The satisfaction comes from finding the facts, constructing the story, and sharing the process and discoveries with other people.

Conspiracy theorists think they are serving the public good. Often their motivations are patriotic, and with good reason. Democracy is built on distrust of the king and all the king's men. Democratic safeguards like habea s corpus, jury trial, independent courts, and secret ballots all presume that we should not trust people in positions of power. Because of distrust, opposition parties and an independent press are expected to question and criticize the government, and the government is expected to answer. The free press is called the Fourth Estate, in opposition to the First Estate (the Church), the Second Estate (the aristocracy), and the Third Estate (t hose who live off capital). Since orthodox journalism has become an instrument of power, investigative journalism is now sometimes called the Fifth Estate. Conspiracy theory is part of the Fifth Estate in this balance of powers. The independent, oppositional thinking that underlies conspiracy theory is not paranoia; it is the very foundation of freedom and democracy.

There probably appear to be more "conspiracy theories" about for three reasons: 1) More people have the skills and resources to look for conspiracies and to make their thinking public; 2) Probably there are more conspirac ies to find as political and economic power become ever more concentrated and our democracy declines; 3) Mainstream journalism and schoolbook history now serve the state and corporate interests more than in the past, so n ow we hear more nonsense.

Conspiracy theory will certainly be a growth industry for the foreseeable future. Conspiracy theory will decrease when conspiracies decrease and when journalists and historians increase their efforts to explain events rat her than explain them away.

References:

Barkun, M. (2003). A culture of conspiracy: Apocalyptic visions in contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Barlow, M. & Clarke, T. (1998). MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the threat to American freedom. New York: Stoddart.

Brandt, D. (1993). NAMEBASE. San Antonio: Public Information Research.

Camp, G. S. (1997). Selling fear: Conspiracy theories and end-times paranoia. Grand Rapids: Baker Books.

Chodos, R. (1978). "From Enders to Chretien to Horner to you: Continentalism rears its head." Last Post, 6(6).

Clark, G. K. (1967). The critical historian. London: Heinemann.

Clarke, T. & Barlow, M. 1997). MAI: The Multilateral Agreement on Investment and the threat to Canadian sovereignty. Toronto: Stoddart.

Clarkson, F. (1986). "Behind the supply lines." Covert Action Information Bulletin, (25), 56, 50-53.

Coughlin, P. T. (1999). Secrets, plots and hidden agendas: What you don't know about conspiracy theories. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Fenster, M. (1999). Conspiracy theories: Secrecy and power in American culture. London: University of Minnesota Press.

Fischer, D. H. (1970). Historians' fallacies. New York: Harper & Row.

Hidell, A., & D'Arc, J. (1999). The conspiracy reader: From the deaths of JFK and John Lennon to government-sponsored alien cover-ups. Secaucus, NJ: Carol.

Hofstadter, R. (1965). The paranoid style in American politics. New York: Knopf.

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Jackson, D. (2000). Conspiranoia!: The mother of all conspiracies. New York: Plume.

Johnson, G. (1983). Architects of fear: Conspiracy theories and paranoia in American politics. Los Angeles: Tarcher.

Klepper, S. (1981). "The United States in El Salvador." Covert Action Information Bulletin, (12), 5-13.

Knight, P. (2000). Conspiracy culture: From the Kennedy assassination to the X-Files. London: Routledge.

Knight, P. (Ed.) (2002). Conspiracy nation: The politics of paranoia in postwar America. London: New York University Press.

Lane, M. (1966). Rush to judgement. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Lisée, J. F. (1990). In the eye of the eagle. Toronto: HarperCollins.

Manktelow, K. & Over, D. (Eds.) (1993). Rationality: Psychological and philosophical perspectives. London: Routledge.

Marcus, G. E. K(Ed.) (1999). Paranoia within reason. A casebook on conspiracy as an explanation. London: University of Chicago Press.

Munslow, A. (1997). Deconstructing history. London: Routledge.

Orchard. D. (1993) The fight for Canada. Toronto: Stoddart.

Parish, J., & Parker, M. (Eds.) (2001). The age of anxiety: Conspiracy theory and the human sciences. Oxford: Blackwell.

Persico J. E. (1991). Casey: From the OSS to the CIA. New York: Penquin.

Pipes, D. (1997). Conspiracy: How the paranoid style flourishes and where it comes from. New York: Free Press.

Preston, W. & Ray, E. (1983). "Disinformation and mass deception: Democracy as a cover story." Covert Action Information Bulletin, (19), 3-12.

Ross, R. (Producer) (1992, April 7). "Investigating the October Surprise." PBS documentary.

Shawcross, W. (1979). Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the destruction of Cambodia. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Sibley, R. (1998, Feb. 8). "Conspiracy theories." Ottawa Citizen.

Sklar, H. (1988). Washington's war on Nicaragua. Boston: South End Press.

US State Department (1974). Biographic register. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.

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Woodward, B. (1987). Veil: The secret wars of the CIA, 1981-1987. New York: Pocket Books.
 
The article above says it all.

I just want to add that I can understand people being skeptical of things they have never seen, and that do not fit a collectively accepted view. I can understand, for example, people being skeptical of UFO's or ghosts or religious miracles.

Something like 9/11 or ambitions of a wealthy elite for global power, however, fall into another category. They have official historic precedence. Who would deny that the Nazi takeover of Germany was a conspiracy, or any coup for that matter? All through history royal lines were usurped by others starting their own lines, and every single revolution started as a conspiracy. Even the American Revolution was technically a conspiracy against the British Monarchy.

When a prominent politican is assasinated it is usually from his competitors for power, or those whose interests that figure somehow undermines. I do not really know any instances in European history where a king was murdered by some lone peasant rushing at him from a crowd. If there were such cases they are probably the exception and not the rule. It seems rational, when events such as 9/11 or political assassination occur to ask "who benefits?". And in every crime there is motive, means and opportunity. Why is it taboo to extend the tried and true standards of criminology to a certain group of people who have the most motive, means and opportunity to commit large scale crimes?

I may be wrong, but it seems to me the majority of people in the US believe that the signing of the Constitution somehow magically altered human nature. The "magic" of the Bill of Rights somehow places a spell upon those in rulership positions so they no longer have the large-scale ambitions for power that most rulers have. Political corruption, on the other hand, seems to be accepted as a given but only within certain "reasonable" limits, as in accepting the occasional bribe. And it seems that small scale corruption is accepted, but for some reason there is a block against percieving the possibility that greed knows no bounds and that "absolute power corrupts absolutely".

I once made the mistake of expressing the view to a group of griends in England that they should do away with royalty altogether. This group of friends, normally easygoing, got very aggressive and made me "apologize or else". Similarly, many religionists are touchy about having the sanctity of their church questioned (and I do not mean being deliberately insulting). When childmolesters, for example, are branded for life, unless they are priests (whereupon they are "forgiven" to molest another day), one begins to question the sanity behind such a double standard. It seems the only answer explaining it (given the universal loathing of child molestors) is "conspiracy".

Back to 9/11. Here is an event where the evidence cries out "conspiracy", and that is one thing. What amazes me, however, is that the very POSSIBILITY that people in political power could murder their own citizens for more power, is rejected by the majority of the population, even though it is nothing "strange" and certainly nothing "new". What is strange is the irrationality of the denial that seems to rest solely on a refusal to feel what seems to be overwhelming cognitive dissonance. Yet this dissonance in itself should not exist because the possibility of rulers conspiring against their people has historic precedence. To call conspiracy theory in this case "tin-foil hat material" is so rediculous that one wonders what is not tin-foil hat stuff?

What will people do if the media decides that looking up means you're crazy, or that wearing brown with black is for lunatics? I guess people would probably ignore it because they have nothing to gain from believing such a thing. It seems, however, that they do have much to gain by denying the validity of certain blatantly obvious conspiracies, even when reason and the instinct for survival would have it otherwise.
 
"Conspiracy theory" is usually used as a pejorative label, meaning paranoid, nutty, marginal, and certainly untrue. The power of this pejorative is that it discounts a theory by attacking the motivations and mental competence of those who advocate the theory. By labeling an explanation of events "conspiracy theory," evidence and argument are dismissed because they come from a mentally or morally deficient personality, not because they have been shown to be incorrect. Calling an explanation of events "conspiracy theory" means, in effect, "We don't like you, and no one should listen to your explanation." -- Floyd Rudmin
To say I consider myself a "Conspiracy theorist" would be a grave understatement, for in the objective study and reading of such theories and materials, I have acquired over the years large amounts of new information to myself that normally could not be found in mainstream society. Over time, the eventual verification and facts that some truth indeed stood behind them would appear (i.e., "Clinton Count", JFK/M.M, Larzar/Area51, Titanic, and Pearl Harbor being my favorite). What brought me here to this introductory post from Laura to kick off this Conspiracy forum from 2006, is just how dark the deep state's use and activities in conspiracy theories have been clearly without our knowing and open awareness. How far the reach has been over many years involves most facets of society, things that we've acquire into our brains and memory as normal facts of life. It might be fair to say that no human being alive today has not been affected by some kind of conspiracy theory, or have something like any of the listed ideas below come across their desk, and secretly planted into their minds. Most of these things should not really concern us, but they do. Many of them are very much a big part of our everyday life and as conspiracies theories, part of a deeper operation to keep our eyes off of their hidden and secret operations.


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1. It is possible that by labelling something as "Conspiracy theory" is to negate reality. As it is easier to go back to "sleep" than to entertain the idea that somebody is willing to inflict great damage in order to realize a plan.
One example during plandemic: my neighbor acknowledged that standard medical schooling his wife received was false (not resulting in good health) and opposite to the new health courses that his wife is taking. And still was confident in the medical system to take the recommandations (vaccines) as the "spewed" statistical chances made sense to him. And that there are no nefarious agendas but only greed, as everything is about money.

2. That is not to say that by "being" a conspiracy theorist is to have always the truth; many red herrings are thrown to divert from the truth. Regarding this a realize the benefits of a network like this forum.
And the intention to find the truth and not become obsessed with a particular "Conspiracy theory" ; as I realized, by personal experience, how easy is to be derailed by a program/s.
 
1. It is possible that by labelling something as "Conspiracy theory" is to negate reality. As it is easier to go back to "sleep" than to entertain the idea that somebody is willing to inflict great damage in order to realize a plan.
One example during plandemic: my neighbor acknowledged that standard medical schooling his wife received was false (not resulting in good health) and opposite to the new health courses that his wife is taking. And still was confident in the medical system to take the recommandations (vaccines) as the "spewed" statistical chances made sense to him. And that there are no nefarious agendas but only greed, as everything is about money.

2. That is not to say that by "being" a conspiracy theorist is to have always the truth; many red herrings are thrown to divert from the truth. Regarding this a realize the benefits of a network like this forum.
And the intention to find the truth and not become obsessed with a particular "Conspiracy theory" ; as I realized, by personal experience, how easy is to be derailed by a program/s.
 
Still discovering french channels, I fell two days ago on one of LCI's program (1st January, no less). It was called Conspiracy News.
What it did was giving the points about what is being talked about (conspiracy) and then having someone refute the point straight away - :-)
Ie: conspirators talk about all the different governments in connivance to have the same agenda...
Their explanation was basic... not possible... how could that be... silly thoughts... why would they do that.
They are trying to guide some people, who are still not inclined to do their own research, in the thought process. Here is the point, here is the response and don't look further.
I am still amazed at what is being put forward to stop people from thinking.... really, seriously!! :-)
 

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Still discovering french channels, I fell two days ago on one of LCI's program (1st January, no less). It was called Conspiracy News.
What it did was giving the points about what is being talked about (conspiracy) and then having someone refute the point straight away - :-)
Ie: conspirators talk about all the different governments in connivance to have the same agenda...
Their explanation was basic... not possible... how could that be... silly thoughts... why would they do that.
They are trying to guide some people, who are still not inclined to do their own research, in the thought process. Here is the point, here is the response and don't look further.
I am still amazed at what is being put forward to stop people from thinking.... really, seriously!! :-)
That basically means their usual methods of ignoring or snubbing the people who is not following official narrations is NOT WORKING. Attempt to silence the people with lone gun man "terror" with non-official views is also not working.

I had a discussion in one of whatsapp colleague's group where people share news and passionately discuss and so on. This group contains 10% Passionate Modi-haters countered by 10% cautious-Modi supporters, 80% are silent(Mostly like Modi as his approval ratings show). If you say some thing, Modi-haters ask you proof. If you show the proof, they will simply accuse you as "Conspiracy theorist". It is as if the world was split between authoritarian followers and conspiracy theorists. The real thing is about remaining 80% who can cross and express in either side.

If we view in terms of famous quote “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.”, discussing on the tv is one more step nearer to accepted as being self-evident. At the end, they can't justify burning wood for heat because of "Putin" as progress or self -sacrifice for western values.
 
To say I consider myself a "Conspiracy theorist" would be a grave understatement, for in the objective study and reading of such theories and materials, I have acquired over the years large amounts of new information to myself that normally could not be found in mainstream society. Over time, the eventual verification and facts that some truth indeed stood behind them would appear (i.e., "Clinton Count", JFK/M.M, Larzar/Area51, Titanic, and Pearl Harbor being my favorite). What brought me here to this introductory post from Laura to kick off this Conspiracy forum from 2006, is just how dark the deep state's use and activities in conspiracy theories have been clearly without our knowing and open awareness. How far the reach has been over many years involves most facets of society, things that we've acquire into our brains and memory as normal facts of life. It might be fair to say that no human being alive today has not been affected by some kind of conspiracy theory, or have something like any of the listed ideas below come across their desk, and secretly planted into their minds. Most of these things should not really concern us, but they do. Many of them are very much a big part of our everyday life and as conspiracies theories, part of a deeper operation to keep our eyes off of their hidden and secret operations.


ALIENS in ALIEN-SHIFT, Crashed Saucers, Mind Control, Telepathy, Teleportation, Time Travel, Incarnation, Extra-Terrestrials, Psychic, Metaphysics, The Rainbow Project, Project Invisibility, Phoenix Project, Teleportation Projects, Nicola Tesla. John Von Neumann-mathematician of physicist, USS Eldrige, The Montauk Chair, Alternate Reality, Warping Space Time, Weather Control Alternate Time Lines, Extra-Terrestrial Bases, Stealth Technology. Tesla Towers, Teleportation to the Planets, Atlantis, Teleportation Machines, Extraterrestrial bases, Tesla Arranges ET’s meeting, Pleiadians, Grays and Reptilians, Alchemy, Ancient Civilizations, time tunneling, alien projects, Atlantis, Secret Society’s, German Mars Projects, Albert Einstein, Nicola Tesla, Micro chip Implants, Rainbow, worm Holes, Space Time, Time Travel, , Hypo-Meditation, Weather Control, “Psychic” Signals, Psychic Frequency. Time Vortex, Face of Mars, Ancient Civilizations, Mars Ruins, Telepathic Thought, and Powers of the Mind, Artificial Intelligence, Et message of Islam, CIA, ISLAM, ALIENS, Montauk Base, zero time frame Reference, Akashic location system, religious artifacts, alien walk in’s, Jesus, sci fi, teleportation, Philadelphia experiment. The subconscious mind, aliens, FOX 11, 11:11, 9:11, 911, 12:12, 888, 777, MAYAN CALENDAR, 12/23/2012, Bob Lazar, John Lear, Mars Face, Mars Pyramid, Einstein, String Theory, University of Yale, Princeton university, UCLA, USC, CAL TECH, MIT, Harvard university, investing in Stock market for Alien Technology, education, movie, church, Christian, death, abortion, evolution, web hosting, job search, famous scientists, rotten, police, zodiac signs, exchange, free music download, search engines, NASA, ALIEN GAMES, IPOD, DVD, DELL, BEST BUY, WALMART, TICKET MASTER, GEEP, CARS, BUSINESS CARDS, FIFA, Sony, ringbones, used cars, hp, Saturn, mars, apple, Uranus, calendar, solar system, space, planets, telescope, galaxy, astronomy, tool bar, brad PITT, my space, Google, yahoo, Gmail, MSN, eBay, you tube, lyrics, Paris Hilton, Big Foot, Map, Milky way, big bang, Britney spears, love, hot mail, DSL, real UFO, UFO photos, UFO videos, real aliens, picture of aliens, magnetic pole shift, earth pole shift, weather, Iran, Jessica Simpson, circuit city, crystals, ghosts, Bermuda triangle, numerology, funny videos, alien, Amazon, free ringbones, Netflix, tents, auto parts, Chupacabra, Google earth, ET, time travel machine, America, Russia, china, Iraq war, peace, coca cola, Pepsi, TV, radio, MTV, male, mortgage rates, Olympics, stock quotes, weather, AVI, virus, diet, family, baseball, beach, fun, female, male, free games, friends, hotels, LAS Vegas, Mac, Iraq, Iran, China, Russia, USA, Bush, CIA, FBI, NSA, ONI, OSI, Alienshift, Humanoid Alien in Las Vegas walking freely, S4 Giant Gray Master Aliens in under ground united nation the real one coping with humans. UFO video, UFO Pictures, Alien video, CNN, garden, medicine, NASCAR, Nostradamus, home depot, career in Alientology, Oil, Exxon and Mobile, Ice age. FX, Euro, Dollar, Baseball, alien, Yahoo, MSN, CNN, Internet chat , Dating, Matrix, Microsoft, Las Vegas, hotels, stocks, bonds, ET eyes, movies, games. church, ET message of Islam, ALLAH, Mohammad, Quran, DVD, PC, fishing, Real Estate, IRS, Napster, Bible, Diet, Star Trek, Baseball, computers, game downloads, Angelina Jolie, Tattoos, Jennifer Lopez, NFL, Kazaa, Atkins Diet, AOL, Jokes, Google, Maps, search engines, ask jeeves, YOUTUBE, music, eBAY, Jobs, used cars, online degrees, zip codes, furniture, Kelly blue book, weather, lyrics, dictionary, Read my Lips stop Profiling People of the Land of the Free, health, Wal-Mart, horoscopes, weight loss, home depot, WinZip, BOB LAZAR ALIENS RETICULI ELEMENT 115 PHYSICS FLYING SAUCERS ANTIMATTER GRAVITY WAVES DISCS S4 GROOM LAKE PAPOOSE LAKE AREA 51 NEVADA “DR. EDWARD TELLER, free games free downloads
Well if nothing else this made me laugh, it’s all nuts and probably better suited to the baked noodles section? Or we can put the list of conspiracy items to the tune of Billy Joel’s, We Didn’t Start the Fire and see how that goes…. New Age karoke night, with modified lyrics.
 
1. It is possible that by labeling something as "Conspiracy theory" is to negate reality. As it is easier to go back to "sleep" than to entertain the idea that somebody is willing to inflict great damage in order to realize a plan.
One example during the "Planned-demic": my neighbor acknowledged that standard medical schooling his wife received was false (not resulting in good health) and opposite to the new health courses that his wife is taking. And still was confident in the medical system to take the recommendations (vaccines) as the "spewed" statistical chances made sense to him. And that there are no nefarious agendas but only greed, as everything is about money.

2. That is not to say that by "being" a conspiracy theorist is to have always the truth; many red herrings are thrown to divert from the truth. Regarding this a realize the benefits of a network like this forum.
And the intention to find the truth and not become obsessed with a particular "Conspiracy theory" ; as I realized, by personal experience, how easy is to be derailed by a program/s.
Only as adults do we fear the unknown, the mind of a child is fearless!
 
I just want to add that I can understand people being skeptical of things they have never seen, and that do not fit a collectively accepted view. I can understand, for example, people being skeptical of UFO's or ghosts or religious miracles.

Something like 9/11 or ambitions of a wealthy elite for global power, however, fall into another category. They have official historic precedence. Who would deny that the Nazi takeover of Germany was a conspiracy, or any coup for that matter? All through history royal lines were usurped by others starting their own lines, and every single revolution started as a conspiracy. Even the American Revolution was technically a conspiracy against the British Monarchy.

When a prominent politician is assassinated it is usually from his competitors for power, or those whose interests that figure somehow undermines. I do not really know any instances in European history where a king was murdered by some lone peasant rushing at him from a crowd. If there were such cases they are probably the exception and not the rule. It seems rational, when events such as 9/11 or political assassination occur to ask "who benefits?". And in every crime there is motive, means and opportunity. Why is it taboo to extend the tried and true standards of criminology to a certain group of people who have the most motive, means and opportunity to commit large scale crimes?

I may be wrong, but it seems to me the majority of people in the US believe that the signing of the Constitution somehow magically altered human nature. The "magic" of the Bill of Rights somehow places a spell upon those in ruler-ship positions so they no longer have the large-scale ambitions for power that most rulers have. Political corruption, on the other hand, seems to be accepted as a given but only within certain "reasonable" limits, as in accepting the occasional bribe. And it seems that small scale corruption is accepted, but for some reason there is a block against perceiving the possibility that greed knows no bounds and that "absolute power corrupts absolutely".

I once made the mistake of expressing the view to a group of friends in England that they should do away with royalty altogether. This group of friends, normally easygoing, got very aggressive and made me "apologize or else". Similarly, many religionists are touchy about having the sanctity of their church questioned (and I do not mean being deliberately insulting). When child molesters, for example, are branded for life, unless they are priests (whereupon they are "forgiven" to molest another day), one begins to question the sanity behind such a double standard. It seems the only answer explaining it (given the universal loathing of child molesters) is "conspiracy".

Back to 9/11. Here is an event where the evidence cries out "conspiracy", and that is one thing. What amazes me, however, is that the very POSSIBILITY that people in political power could murder their own citizens for more power, is rejected by the majority of the population, even though it is nothing "strange" and certainly nothing "new". What is strange is the irrationality of the denial that seems to rest solely on a refusal to feel what seems to be overwhelming cognitive dissonance. Yet this dissonance in itself should not exist because the possibility of rulers conspiring against their people has historic precedence. To call conspiracy theory in this case "tin-foil hat material" is so ridiculous that one wonders what is not tin-foil hat stuff?

What will people do if the media decides that looking up means you're crazy, or that wearing brown with black is for lunatics? I guess people would probably ignore it because they have nothing to gain from believing such a thing. It seems, however, that they do have much to gain by denying the validity of certain blatantly obvious conspiracies, even when reason and the instinct for survival would have it otherwise.

After a third, deeper look, and Guest comment, the subject is long from being over.

"The Psychology of Totalitarianism" takes conspiracy theory to the next level, and
mentions the work of Hannah Arendt's, The Orgins of Totalitarianism a few times.

Text

Audio Book
 
Due to the recent earthquake in Buffalo, New York, I was reminded of the New Madrid seismic zone in the central US, and came across this map from internet as 'Conspiracies'/Geo-Politics/Enlightenment', with the following commentary:
(Leaked US Navy Map) This is what the continent of the USA will look like once the New Madrid Fault line is hit with a massive HAARP frequency impulse in the nearing future. Get informed and get ready. PS: Make sure to save, and get this out to as many people as possible, as they have tried censoring this photo in the past removing it from google images, and removing commentated youtube videos regarding it etc. I was very fortunate to have come across it again.
Screen Shot 2023-02-06 at 8.41.24 PM.png
I wonder if this map is about something already, or is it just a site to create visits, or could it be something to take into account in case of a massive volcanic activity?
 
Quite a while ago, a man named Gordon Michael Scallion, said that he foresaw how the world would look like in the future. I can't remember all that he prophesied (it was that long ago). And the map you posted, jess, looks a lot like what I remember. So I looked on the internet under maps of usa in the future and hit upon this article:


This image purports to be a "Leaked US Navy Map" showing a plan to divide America up with an artificial quake at the New Madrid Fault line:

181219_10151420498081962_1198542663_n.jpg


The map has been passed around Facebook with the following description:
[bunk](Leaked US Navy Map) This is what the continent of the USA will look like once the New Madrid Fault line is hit with a massive HAARP frequency impulse in the nearing future. Get informed and get ready. PS: Make sure to save, and get this out to as many people as possible, as they have tried censoring this photo in the past removing it from google images, and removing commentated youtube videos regarding it etc. I was very fortunate to have come across it again. [/bunk]

However, it's actually a map created by self-described "psychic" Gordon-Michael Scallion, to describe the US after an event he predicted that would start in the 1990s:

godrommicahelmap.jpg


Scallion is famously inaccurate, an example prediction for 1993:
American Prophecy - 4. Gordon-Michael Scallion ~
"The year of 1993 shall be known as ’The Year of the Great Quakes’. The Earth’s magnetic field shall become erratic as it prepares for its new course. In the United States, the first of these changes will see the beginning of the breakup of California starting with Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco --- the Golden Gate damaged, the Imperial Valley inundated --- a nation in shock... Many see the event as a relief and begin to rebuild. Mass migrations begin...
Content from External Source
Then in 1994, explaining where the map came from:
NEW AGE PROPHET PREDICTS MAJOR CATACLYSM THIS YEAR
Gordon-Michael Scallion began receiving visions of earth changes in 1979. [...]


  • "The vision was that of an elderly, Oriental man, perhaps in his 70s, with a long beard and a flowing white robe. He told me just as weather cycles occur…geophysical cycles of change also occur. It is part of the natural rhythm of the Earth…" (2)
The old man then gave him a map that would aid in finding places of safety as these changes start to occur. Gordon-Michael Scallion has received updates and further visions since this initial meeting with this apparition. This all climaxed on June 10th when he told Art Bell that these changes would begin in earnest the between the last few weeks of JULY AND THE END OF SEPTEMBER, this year. He is predicting that the results of a pole shift of the earth’s magnetic field (that he contends began in the mid-1930s) will trigger violent hurricanes, earthquakes, and volcanoes as the plasma from the earth’s core is upset by the magnetic reversal. He is particularly concerned about quakes in Manhattan, Long Island, and Connecticut in the range of 4.0-5.0. He also sees the entire West Coast becoming very stressed from these initial disturbances. He predicts the entire state of California will become the "Islands of California", with a new coastline as far inland as the Great Salt Lake.
Content from External Source
In this 1994 article there's a simplified version of the map:
8c890dba7bc537a119a2a34236945ca3.jpg


The map is entirely counter to possible geographical changes, requiring the submerging of 4,000 to 10,000 feet high ground in Nevada, while 100 feet high areas of Florida are untouched. The "great salt lake" (by Salt Lake City) is 4,000 feet above sea level. But aside from the map being vastly inaccurate, the problem here is this is a prediction for a sea level rise in 2012, and not some plan for an Earthquake in the future.

The map is being shown around on Facebook, and various blogs, like this one by "Zen Gardener"
Is the New Madrid Mega Quake Being Engineered? - Activist Post

Where the image is shown, along with the simplified version, except this time Gardener claims it's from the Navy.
b36940cc86425a7c3f7c7e535da8d70d.jpg


Other people have made their own versions of Scallion's map, combining it with a map of nuclear power stations:
http://beforeitsnews.com/beyond-sci...allowing-southern-missouri-video-2444350.html
c947301d64bc1236a3f9b73fc41cd4fb.jpg


Again, this map is nothing official. It's just another version of Scallions maps dating back to 1979, illustrating predictions that he made for the 1990s, which never happened.
fwiw
 
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