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Title: A Conspiracy So Immense
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URL Source: http://www.guatemala-times.com/opin ... 3-a-conspiracy-so-immense.html
Published: Jul 30, 2012
Author: By Naomi Wolf
Post Date: 2012-07-30 14:16:06 by tom007
Keywords: None
Views: 210
Comments: 22
A Conspiracy So Immense Thursday, 30 October 2008 08:29 By Naomi Wolf E-mail Print PDF national_park_service_9-11NEW YORK - Is this the Age of the Conspiracy Theory? Plenty of evidence suggests that we are in something of a golden age for citizen speculation, documentation, and inference that takes shape - usually on the Internet - and spreads virally around the globe. In the process, conspiracy theories are pulled from the margins of public discourse, where they were generally consigned in the past, and sometimes into the very heart of politics. I learned this by accident. Having written a book about the hijacking of executive power in the United States in the Bush years, I found myself, in researching new developments, stumbling upon conversations online that embrace narratives of behind-the-scenes manipulation. There are some major themes. A frequent one in the US is that global elites are plotting - via the Bilderberg Group and the Council on Foreign Relations, among others - to establish a "One World Government" dominated by themselves rather than national governments. Sometimes, more folkloric details come into play, broadening the members of this cabal to include the Illuminati, the Freemasons, Rhodes Scholars, or, as always, the Jews. Naomi Wolf naomi wolf Naomi Wolf, the author, most recently, of The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot and the forthcoming Give me Liberty: How to Become an American Revolutionary, is co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign, a US democracy movement. The hallmarks of this narrative are familiar to anyone who has studied the transmission of certain story categories in times of crisis. In literary terms, this conspiracy theory closely resembles The Protocols of the Elders of Zion , featuring secretive global elite with great power and wicked aims. Historically, there tends to be the same set of themes: fearsome, uncontrolled transformative change led by educated, urbanized cosmopolitans. Students of Weimar Germany know that sudden dislocations and shocks - rapid urbanization, disruption of traditional family and social ties, loosening of sexual restrictions, and economic collapse - primed many Germans to become receptive to simplistic theories that seemed to address their confusion and offer a larger meaning to their suffering. Similarly, the "9/11 Truth Movement" asserts that al-Qaeda's attack on the Twin Towers was an "inside job." In the Muslim world, there is a widespread conspiracy theory that the Israelis were behind those attacks, and that all Jews who worked in the buildings stayed home that day. Usually, conspiracy theories surface where people are poorly educated and a rigorous independent press is lacking. So why are such theories gaining adherents in the US and other affluent democracies nowadays? Today's explosion of conspiracy theories has been stoked by the same conditions that drove their acceptance in the past: rapid social change and profound economic uncertainty. A clearly designated "enemy" with an unmistakable "plan" is psychologically more comforting than the chaotic evolution of social norms and the workings - or failures - of unfettered capitalism. And, while conspiracy theories are often patently irrational, the questions they address are often healthy, even if the answers are frequently unsourced or just plain wrong. In seeking answers, these citizens are reacting rationally to irrational realities. Many citizens believe, rightly, that their mass media are failing to investigate and document abuses. Newspapers in most advanced countries are struggling or folding, and investigative reporting is often the first thing they cut. Concentration of media ownership and control further fuels popular mistrust, setting the stage for citizen investigation to enter the vacuum. Likewise, in an age when corporate lobbyists have a free hand in shaping - if not drafting - public policies, many people believe, again rightly, that their elected officials no longer represent them. Hence their impulse to believe in unseen forces. Finally, even rational people have become more receptive to certain conspiracy theories because, in the last eight years, we actually have seen some sophisticated conspiracies. The Bush administration conspired to lead Americans and others into an illegal war, using fabricated evidence to do so. Is it any wonder, then, that so many rational people are trying to make sense of a political reality that really has become unusually opaque? When even the 9/11 commissioners renounce their own conclusions (because they were based on evidence derived from torture), is it surprising that many want a second investigation? Frequently enough, it is citizens digging at the margins of the discourse - pursuing such theories - who report on news that the mainstream media ignores. For example, it took a "conspiracy theorist," Alex Jones, to turn up documentation of microwave technologies to be used by police forces on US citizens. The New Yorker confirmed the story much later - without crediting the original source. The mainstream media's tendency to avoid checking out or reporting what is actually newsworthy in Internet conspiracy theories partly reflects class bias. Conspiracy theories are seen as vulgar and lowbrow. So even good, critical questions or well-sourced data unearthed by citizen investigators tend to be regarded as radioactive to highly educated formal journalists. The real problem with this frantic conspiracy theorizing is that it leaves citizens emotionally agitated but without a solid ground of evidence upon which to base their worldview, and without constructive directions in which to turn their emotions. This is why so many threads of discussion turn from potentially interesting citizen speculation to hate speech and paranoia. In a fevered environment, without good editorial validation or tools for sourcing, citizens can be preyed upon and whipped up by demagogues, as we saw in recent weeks at Sarah Palin's rallies after Internet theories painted Barack Obama as a terrorist or in league with terrorists. We need to change the flow of information in the Internet age. Citizens should be able more easily to leak information, pitch stories, and send leads to mainstream investigative reporters. They should organize new online entities in which they pay a fee for direct investigative reporting, unmediated by corporate pressures. And citizen investigators should be trained in basic journalism: finding good data, confirming stories with two independent sources, using quotes responsibly, and eschewing anonymity - that is, standing by their own bylines, as conventional reporters do. This is how citizens can be taken - and take themselves - seriously as documenters and investigators of our common situation. In a time of official lies, healthy investigative energy should shed light, not just generate heat. Naomi Wolf, the author of The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot and Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries, is co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign, a US democracy movement. © Project Syndicate 1995-2008 Set as favorite Bookmark Email this Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (13) Subscribe to this comment's feed "Naomi" Thanks for your comments. Not sure how much was light and how much was heat, but undoubtedly you have been under fire since the folks at We Are Change cornered you in the bookstore and got your unfiltered opinion on tape. Opinions are not worth much these days. For that reason, I suggest you check out the Journal of 9/11 Studies, and other research sites like http://911research.com or http://historycommons.org. Also, for more undeniable and irrational realities, look up the undisputed facts about Operations Northwoods, the Gulk of Tonkin, and Opertaion Gladio. Please don't try to have all the answers - nobody can do that. We need to work together, and your contributions have been greatly appreciated.
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#1. To: tom007 (#0)
Conspiracy theories only grow where there is chaos and disorder. It's a simple way to explain complex things so they won't be beyond our control. I sense a disturbance in the farce. Much gnashing will ensue.
Moronic idea and contrary to a wide-open internet. I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them ~ Thomas Jefferson
HaHaHa!!! Hey Naomi? Have you read many Internet editorial pages of mainstream media websites? The editors get schooled often with information not included in their reporting, and never is there an acknowledgement that they are not revealing the entire truth. Not to mention, the flat out disregard for the truth that the MSM has. I might have first noticed this myself with the San Jose Mercury News and the story about Freeway Ricky Ross. The Mena story had already been in news in some circles, and ignored, and as this story got close to the truth, the shit hammer came down. "The Best Way to Control the Opposition is to Lead it." Vladimir Lenin "I am not a Marxist." Karl Marx
Disagree most vehemently. First of all the term "Conspiracy Theory" is used simply as a way to cut off investigation and discredit drawing obvious conclusions from available evidence - or speculations based on some evidence. Conspiracies are a historical fact - from the murder of Cesar to the French Revolution. Conspiracies do occur. To think that here and now in this time and place that they have ceased to occur is simply silly. That is why there are laws against "Conspiracy to Commit ...". We can either support a conclusion through fact and logic or we cannot. Closing off a line of investigation because it disagrees with what we are "supposed to think" is nothing more than another form of thought control. "You fill nawt tink unaproofed thoughts ssssssssssssitisen." Conspiracies are a historical fact - from the murder of Cesar to the French Revolution. Conspiracies do occur. To think that here and now is the time and place that they have ceased to occur is simply silly. Closing off a line of investigation because it disagrees with what we are "supposed to thing" is nothing more than another form of thought control. Everything nowadays is a "conspiracy," from the price of gas, a loaf of bread and an American president who isn't even an American citizen.
Conspiracy theories grow where conspiracy is illegal. Our white sons are sent to war against non-whites who have done us no harm, and this is not called crime; When lick spittle cowards shout "conspiracy theory" it is because they are up against demonstrable facts that they cannot process, like the fact that doctors on the government payroll allowed hundreds of disadvantaged men to die of venereal disease so that they could study its deadly progress, like the fact that a agents in the pay of the FBI target mothers with babies in their arms and take fatal aim at them with sniper rifles, like the fact the the DEA and the FBI trapped women and children in a bunker and allowed them to be incinerated, like the fact that we have Justice department that allows guns that have killed hundreds to fall into the hand of Mexican cartels in order to tarnish the image of honest gun dealers and gun buyers, like the fact that our FedGov is planning a third useless and fruitless war while two other useless and fruitless wars drag on without any salubrious conclusion. A state or government that allows itself the latitude to commit these sorts of enormities is capable of doing anything. Glib chuckleheads cry "conspiracy theory". I call it murder. Well said.
"The Best Way to Control the Opposition is to Lead it." Vladimir Lenin "I am not a Marxist." Karl Marx
Tuskegee. That's not what happened. They were given the best treatment available and their progress was monitored through the years. I sense a disturbance in the farce. Much gnashing will ensue.
You're a nice guy, I'm sure, but you're so full of shit. The Tuskegee syphilis experiment[1] (also known as the Tuskegee syphilis study or Public Health Service syphilis study) was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in poor, rural black men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government.[1] The Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, began the study in 1932. Investigators enrolled in the study a total of 600 impoverished, African-American sharecroppers from Macon County, Alabama; 399 who had previously contracted syphilis before the study began, and 201 without the disease. For participating in the study, the men were given free medical care, meals, and free burial insurance. They were never told they had syphilis, nor were they ever treated for it. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the men were told they were being treated for "bad blood," a local term used to describe several illnesses, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue. The 40-year study was controversial for reasons related to ethical standards; primarily because researchers knowingly failed to treat patients appropriately after the 1940s validation of penicillin as an effective cure for the disease they were studying. Revelation of study failures by a whistleblower led to major changes in U.S. law and regulation on the protection of participants in clinical studies. Now studies require informed consent (with exceptions possible for U.S. Federal agencies which can be kept secret by Executive Order), [2] communication of diagnosis, and accurate reporting of test results.[3] By 1947, penicillin had become the standard treatment for syphilis. Choices available to the doctors involved in the study might have included treating all syphilitic subjects and closing the study, or splitting off a control group for testing with penicillin. Instead, the Tuskegee scientists continued the study without treating any participants and withholding penicillin and information about it from the patients. In addition, scientists prevented participants from accessing syphilis treatment programs available to others in the area.[4] The study continued, under numerous US Public Health Service supervisors, until 1972, when a leak to the press eventually resulted in its termination. The victims of the study included numerous men who died of syphilis, wives who contracted the disease, and children born with congenital syphilis.[5] The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, cited as "arguably the most infamous biomedical research study in U.S. history,"[6] led to the 1979 Belmont Report and the establishment of the Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP).[7] It also led to federal laws and regulations requiring Institutional Review Boards for the protection of human subjects in studies involving human subjects. The Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP) manages this responsibility within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).[8] Seconded. Hegelian Dialectics and Conspiracy
I believe the Feds have about 10,000 people in cages for conspiracy charges. So, they for one, have belief in many conspiracies. Say "colaterall damage" and it's all OK. Now this is creative writing. Worthless. What really happened: So what did happen? In 1932, public health researchers set out to study syphilis, particularly among African Americans, who had higher infection rates than whites. They recruited 399 black men who already had syphilis. The doctors infected no one. In fact, the patients were selected in the first place because they were tertiary-stage syphilitics who were no longer contagious. The researchers studied the progress of the disease, without treating it, for 40 years. Prior to the availability of penicillin in the 1940s and 1950s, the researchers couldn’t have treated the men even if they wanted to. Even after standardized penicillin treatments were available, it wasn’t clear that the patients could have been helped. Some of the doctors believed that treating the decades-long infections would kill the men. I sense a disturbance in the farce. Much gnashing will ensue.
Well that settles that.
Worthless. I thought their chemistry introduction was well thought out and I use W a fair amount for chemical structure questions I have, such as water structure and the like and have not the source to be worthless. Well, my memory of this topic is not encyclopedic, but I've read enough to know that you're bullshittin' here when you purport to cite facts. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study by Fred D. Gray examines a medical study that occurred in Tuskegee, Alabama which dealt with monitoring African-American subjects discover the effects of untreated syphilis. The main goal of the study was to seek out African-American males in the second stage of syphilis, and then to sporadically perform exams on these men to determine the effects that syphilis had on their bodies. The test subjects were told that they were receiving medical treatment for “bad blood,” but in reality, they never received penicillin, which was the most effective treatment for syphilis. After 40 years of this race-based experiment, the story broke nationwide, and for the first time the test subjects realized that they had been involved in this experiment and that they had not received treatment. By this time, many of the participants had died, but a group of survivors led by Charlie Pollard began to gather information to put together a law suit against the doctors who performed the medical experiment and the federal government who had financially supported the project. The author of this book, Fred D. Gray, was the lawyer who represented the participants. In 1973, the lawsuit ended in victory for the participants and they were collectively awarded $10 million to split between the living syphilitics and families of the deceased. In 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized for the terrible injustice done to these African-American men, but only seven of them were alive to witness it. Fred D. Gray’s book offers a personal insight into these shocking experiments because of his direct involvement with them. He describes his past work on civil rights cases in Alabama, but he considers the Tuskegee Syphilis trial to be the most important in his entire career. Gray’s main reason for writing the book was to explain the events of the injustices performed on the individual test subjects, and how this incident should be an example of immorality that should never be repeated. He begins with the origins of the study. He describes that in 1932, “word spread throughout Macon County that ‘government doctors’ were to provide free exams to start a new health program” (49). Out of the 3,684 African Americans tested, 1,468 cases of syphilis were found, and that number was narrowed down to 408 subjects for the test. These men were told they had “bad blood,” and they were offered free medical care and treatments. Although the main purpose of the study was to discover the effects of untreated syphilis, the doctors continued to lead the participants to believe that they were receiving treatment for “bad blood.” In the second phase of the experiments, a control group of 200 men was added as a comparison to the syphilitics. These men were also not informed about the basis of the study, but instead were told that they would be receiving “free treatment from government doctors.” Both the syphilitic group and the control group were not to receive any medication or treatment of any kind from local hospitals or doctors. Their names were put onto lists given to local hospitals, and they were told not to treat the patients. Instead, the participants had to schedule appointments with the government doctors, and while they were told they were receiving penicillin, in actuality they were just receiving aspirin or other ineffective means of treatment. During this period, many of the participants began to die because of the effects of untreated syphilis, and autopsies were performed by white doctors without permission from the deceased. http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/33d/projects/medicine/The% 20Tuskegee%20Syphilis%20Study.htm What is a conspiracy theory anyway? The term 'Conspiracy Theory' has become a label to pin on people with ideas that don't conform to what lawful authorities want you to believe. The term conspiracy theory never seems to apply to misinformed politicians, they are just victims of "bad intelligence" (and the more misinformed they are they more it doesn't apply). The term is often used to label people that have done extensive research, the more dangerous the research (and the person) is to the status quo the more that label is applied, PhD's in particular make wonderful target for the label conspiracy theorist. It may be time to abandon the label "Conspiracy Theory" It has been perverted and is used to isolate and stigmatize ideas and information that governments, media and other gatekeepers of power want to discredit. "The limits of debate in this country are established before the debate even begins. During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.
... They've made that something that should not be even entertained for a minute! That powerful people might get together and have a plan! 'Doesn't happen! You're a kook! You're a conspiracy buff'! Exactly. What is, or has become, is a control meme - a way to shut off rational thought and delving into realities that disturb the piece of mind of the ruling class lest the Sheeple discover how badly they have been used and revolt. Criminals always live in fear - even the really big ones. A clearly designated "enemy" with an unmistakable "plan" is psychologically more comforting than the chaotic evolution of social norms
#2. To: tom007, 4 (#0)
They should organize new online entities in which they pay a fee for direct investigative reporting...
#3. To: tom007 (#0)
Citizens should be able more easily to leak information, pitch stories, and send leads to mainstream investigative reporters.
#4. To: Turtle, tom007 (#1)
Conspiracy theories only grow where there is chaos and disorder. It's a simple way to explain complex things so they won't be beyond our control
#5. To: Original_Intent (#4)
Disagree most vehemently.
#6. To: Turtle (#1)
Conspiracy theories only grow where there is chaos and disorder.
at home, non-white criminals prey upon our wives and daughters and this is not called war.
#7. To: Turtle, All (#1)
#8. To: randge (#7)
#9. To: randge (#7)
doctors on the government payroll allowed hundreds of disadvantaged men to die of venereal disease so that they could study its deadly progress,
#10. To: Turtle (#9)
That's not what happened. They were given the best treatment available and their progress was monitored through the years.
Tuskegee syphilis experiment
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#11. To: Dead Culture Watch, randge (#8)
Well said.
#12. To: tom007 (#0)
#13. To: Original_Intent (#4)
Conspiracies are a historical fact - from
"Satan / Cheney in "08" 
#14. To: randge (#7)
I call it murder.
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#15. To: randge (#10)
You're a nice guy, I'm sure, but you're so full of shit.
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#16. To: randge (#10)
(Edited)
Wikipedia,
#17. To: Turtle (#16)
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#18. To: Turtle (#16)
Wikipedia,
"Satan / Cheney in "08"
#19. To: Turtle (#16)
#20. To: Original_Intent, Turtle, tom007 (#4)
Disagree most vehemently. First of all the term "Conspiracy Theory" is used simply as a way to cut off investigation and discredit drawing obvious conclusions from available evidence - or speculations based on some evidence.
And everyone else is marginalized and made to seem either to be communists, or some sort of a disloyal person; or 'kook' - there's a word - and now its 'conspiracy', see.
They've made that something that should not be even entertained for a minute! That powerful people might get together and have a plan! 'Doesn't happen! You're a kook! You're a conspiracy buff'!"
#21. To: randge, Turtle (#10)
The Tuskegee syphilis experiment[1] (also known as the Tuskegee syphilis study or Public Health Service syphilis study) was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama by the U.S. Public Health Service to study the natural progression of untreated syphilis in poor, rural black men who thought they were receiving free health care from the U.S. government.[1]
#22. To: Bill D Berger (#20)
The term 'Conspiracy Theory' has become a label to pin on people with ideas that don't conform to what lawful authorities want you to believe. ...
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