See other All is Vanity Articles
Title: Grand Conspiracy Theories are Dumb
Source:
Aquol
URL Source: http://matthew.aqoul.com/2007/06/grand_conspiracy_theories_are.html
Published: Sep 21, 2007
Author: Matthew Hogan
Post Date: 2007-09-21 07:24:38 by YertleTurtle
Keywords: None
Views: 5520
Comments: 183
Acting alone, and for egotistical and political reasons, Lee Harvey Oswald shot President Kennedy, Texas Governor John Connally, and a Dallas police officer in November 1963. On September 11, 2001, disciples of Osama bin-Laden, a maverick Islamist theocrat, crashed themselves and hundreds of others into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon because they believed America to be their enemy, and Americans to be evil. Rumsfeld, the CIA, the Mossad, Unocal, and so forth, whatever their many sins, did not do it. Grand conspiracies are grand fantasies. A cabal of bankers do not run the world. The Council of Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission are simply debating societies/social clubs of otherwise very powerful people. The Illuminati did not, and do not, map out history. Things, especially large political things, actually are far more often what they seem to be. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are fabrications about a world Jewish conspiracy concocted by Russian bigots in a mad time and place. The Masons are bored grownups playing kids' games. Of course, history-making conspiracies do happen. And can succeed. That's why I have entitled this "Grand Conspiracy Theories Are Dumb". Small conspiracies by alienated misfits are often quite successful at changing history. The assassination of Lincoln was a successful conspiracy of alienated outsiders. So too, incidentally, were the attacks of September 11, 2001. So was the assassination of an Austrian Archduke in Serbia in 1914 that started World War One. The pair of snipers who semi-paralyzed the capital of 21st Century America in 2002 were two homeless oddballs. But the idea of a ruling inner circle of humanity, which grandly orchestrates great events from behind the scenes, seems to excite more interest and attention. Even though such don't exist. What's the Attraction? So what then is the attraction of insider conspiracy theories ? I think it is not so much their fascination with great evil but rather their hopeful, if illusory, reassurance of widespread virtue and competence. Grand insider conspiracy theories give us hope when we feel powerless. Strangely enough, grand insider conspiracy theories reassuringly exaggerate the presence not of evil, but of goodness, humility, and efficiency in the human character. It may seem shocking at first but grand conspiracy theories actually require an enormous -- and frankly ludicrous -- amount of faith in selfless efficient human dedication to others and/or abstract causes. We need only consider the incredible amount of virtue imputed to people allegedly involved in grand conspiracies. Imagine, for example, if Jack Ruby really was induced by the mafia or some other nefarious cabal to eliminate Lee Harvey Oswald after Oswald was arrested,. (Rather than being motivated by his actual understandable but unbalanced rage over Kennedy's assassination.) Why would Ruby be willing to spend the rest of his life in prison, even face the death sentence, and not squeal or blab about his place in changing history? The mafia doesn't always command that level of silence from family members of the Don over a small heroin racket and a few years of jail time. If we look carefully we see that such alleged conspiratorial behavior presupposes one heck of a sense of integrity and dedication on the part of the participants in evil and deception. Not to mention also presupposing brilliantly effective and flawless coordination and timing among far-flung members of the conspiracy. But in reality people just aren't that clever, but it is comforting, even reassuring, to believe so. To accept grand conspiracy theories, one must honestly feel that there are large numbers of people willing to suffer, die, kill, as well as lose their wealth and reputation while keeping loyally silent, all in order to consciously protect the good name and position of some other power-mad or simply greedy individuals. And on top of that, in grand conspiracy theories, there are no uncontrolled unintended results of the actions of such people. What efficiency, what integrity one must believe humanity capable of! What loyalty! What crap! Street thugs typically cannot help bragging about some sadistic petty crime. To imagine great historical actors collaborating in self-sacrifice across generations and without direct credit or benefit to themselves, and without falling out in petty competition, is to give our species far more credit than it deserves. Indeed, if such conspiratorial forces actually can undertake and command such dedication and integrity, maybe the manipulators really do deserve to run the world! At least the stock market won't crash. Self-Righteous Indolence and Envy Enabled Conspiracy theories reassure us of the prevalence of virtue and comfort in the world in another paradoxical way: they appeal to our sense of self-righteousness and laziness. By making Evil the prerogative of small inner cabal of "them," the rest of us come across as relatively benign. Why look to ourselves to find and do the hard work of fixing the moral and intellectual failings that cause unnecessary ills? Why look to our own responsibility in the creation and perpetuation of wrong? We don't have to, we can just say that it's the [fill in the blank s.o.b.-parasite conspirators] doing it. No, not us, we are not helping it to happen. The s.o.b.'s are doing so in a manner beyond our control,beyond our poor power to add or detract. In serving this purpose, insider conspiracy theories also provide a cover for ignorant and bigoted envy and resentment. The villains of conspiracy theories are often simply people who are resented merely for being or appearing successful, admired, or wealthy. Bankers, businesspeople, "corporate America", Jews, Masons, etc. Human Motive Transparency Grand conspiracy theories also allow us to ignore the utter transparency of most human motives, good or ill. One actually doesn't need much of a crystal ball to discern personal ambitions, ideological aims, and manipulative tactics. There was nothing especially opaque about the motives and activities of such history-sweeping phenomena as Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Or those of a banker like J.P Morgan, or those of oil companies. Now, of course, powerful people, movements, and institutions really do carry out manipulative deceptive hidden acts with nefarious agendas, and can do so with some success. They most certainly engage in recurrent dishonesty. As indeed most of us do from time to time. But as the more powerful are better organized and possess a further reach, they can pull off real conspiratorial manipulations here and there from time to time. The ferreting out of these sins is the real hard labor of life and intellect. Such ferreting out is an ever-present challenge for the attuned citizen. But all that is no excuse for denying that things really are more often what they seem to be, and perhaps a lot less. Grand manipulations are usually found out fairly quickly. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the French-British-Israeli pre-collaboration in the 1956 Suez War, the French bombing of the Greenpeace ship in New Zealand, the American role in the overthrow and death of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba etc. are but a few examples of the difficulty of secrecy in a world where things are usually obvious and people typically blab. Simple Rules to Remember Never attribute to evil what you can to stupidity and apathy. Never attribute to idealism and selfless determination what you can to ego, greed, and vanity. Never assume evil power-mad people are so dedicated and clever that they will keep secret their aims and role in affecting history. Nor are they likely to succeed at efforts like those without overt challenge, embarrassing exposure, and multiple public failures born of inefficiency, competition, transparency and ego. Perhaps the most important fact to remember is that it is CONSPIRACY THEORISTS who have carried out the worst evils. Hitlerism was based on the fantasy of a conspiratorial nature of Bolshevism , capitalism, and democracy behind which were the Jews. Conspiracy theorists plunged the world into its worst war and sent millions to crematoria. Conspiracy theories explain events in a way that reassures us that people are basically good -- so good in fact that even the authors of evil turn up amazingly selfless and dedicated. They paint a world where everything works efficiently. These provide us with comfort instead of truth, and open the door to far far greater evils in the real world than the conspiracy theories complain of.
Poster Comment: The psychology of the conspiracist is thus: "I am right and you are not only wrong, you are evil, so ultimately it is okay to murder you." In the Soviet Union, since Communism does not work, scapegoats had to be found. Of course, it was a "conspiracy" behind all of the failures. Hundreds of thousands of innocent people were convicted as "wreckers" and shot or imprisoned for 25 years. This is what the belief in impossible conspiracies ultimately leads to.
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Comments (1-87) not displayed.
.
.
.
#88. To: Mister Clean (#85)
Remember you PM: Hello, I hate the Virgin Mary and I am dating myself. And I don't care if I go blind from doing it. Signed, Mr. Clean the Negro Troll
Bunch of internet bums ... grand jury --- opium den ! ~ byeltsin
You're going to stay safely off-topic, I see.
Hey, don't leave out "Next-Generation Nazism!" (You know, the Bush Cabal stuff.)
Portland, OR is still here as well.
America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall and the Congress is out to lunch.
This article is another example of the constipated minds of the nonthinking class. It's sad such people have so little ability to think, imagine and draw conclusions. Fortunately, humankind has had those of us who don't automatically believe whatever line of shit we're being told by those in power. The pathology of government loyalists is one that is interesting. What compels a person to slavishly defend the most outrageous lies by the government? The inability to reason and an intense emotional need to identify with authority are the likely culprits.
It's safe, easy and it often come with a monitary bonus.
You know nothing about 9/11 Turtle except what the stupid Jews want you to hear about it. You buy it all hook line and sinker becasue you are stupid. Stop being stupid, get smart and start thinking for yourself.
God is always good!
I believe that most of that is government propaganda put out there for the purpose of ultimately controlling the masses. You know, create the problem then create the supposed solution (the Hegelian Dialectic). The Hegelian dialectic is the framework for guiding our thoughts and actions into conflicts that lead us to a predetermined solution. If we do not understand how the Hegelian dialectic shapes our perceptions of the world, then we do not know how we are helping to implement the vision for the future. Hegel's dialectic is the tool which manipulates us into a frenzied circular pattern of thought and action. Every time we fight for or defend against an ideology we are playing a necessary role in Marx and Engels' grand design to advance humanity into a dictatorship of the proletariat. The synthetic Hegelian solution to all these conflicts can't be introduced unless we all take a side that will advance the agenda. The Marxist's global agenda is moving along at breakneck speed. The only way to stop land grabs, privacy invasions, expanded domestic police powers, insane wars against inanimate objects (and transient verbs), covert actions, and outright assaults on individual liberty, is to step outside the dialectic. Only then can we be released from the limitations of controlled and guided thought. When we understand what motivated Hegel, we can see his influence on all of our destinies. Then we become real players in the very real game that has been going on for at least 224 years. Hegelian conflicts steer every political arena on the planet, from the United Nations to the major American political parties, all the way down to local school boards and community councils. Dialogues and consensus-building are primary tools of the dialectic, and terror and intimidation are also acceptable formats for obtaining the goal.
That doesn't really explain the conspiracy theories that are never proven nor the doom & gloom predictions that never come to pass. Conspiracy theories and doom & gloom are for suckers. Period.
Fortunately, humankind has had those of us who don't automatically believe whatever line of shit we're being told by those in power. well said
Let me ask you something, do you believe the Warren Commission's Report on the Kennedy Assiassination?
I never read it but I'm inclined to believe there is probably more to the story than whatever the report says. BUT... just because there may be more to the story doesn't equal some dark conspiracy.
You obviously know nothing of the Jesuit Temporal Coadjutors. It has been alleged that even members of this site secretly belong to the organization.
Bunch of internet bums ... grand jury --- opium den ! ~ byeltsin
Obviously.
hahahaha!!!
Ron Paul for President - Join a Ron Paul Meetup group today!
What's the nexus between "doom and gloom" and a proper investigation of 9/11? Let's just say I missed the "logic" behind that zionist-empathic smear. Is it too much trouble to try the zionists who planned and executed the 9/11 zionist inside job, in your opinion?
what's the definition of conspiracy? you got a dictionary?
What are the names of the "zionists who planned and executed the 9/11 zionist inside job?
People always choose as "conspirators" people they don't like, who are richer and more powerful than they are. That's one of the reasons I believe True Believers are motivated in part by envy. They never choose someone they like or someone who is considered harmless. You'll never see anyone claiming John Wayne or Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis in involved in a conspiracy. Or, for that matter, Richard Simmons or Liberace.
"He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative." - G.K. Chesterton
I agree particularly as it relates to the Jew haters.
You'll never see anyone claiming John Wayne or Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis in involved in a conspiracy. Or, for that matter, Richard Simmons or Liberace. lol. boy, is that a stretch of supposed reasoning.
Kristol, Wurmser, Feith, Chernoff, Perle, Wolfowicz, Rumsfeld, Zakheim, Bush I, Bush II, Jeb Bush, Cheney,
"The mighty are only mighty because we are on our knees. Let us rise!" --Camille Desmoulins
LOL! Boy are you barking up the wrong tree.. your logic is very very flawed..
Oh yeah, of course. [eye roll]
Mister Clean: I agree particularly as it relates to the Jew haters. There you go again - your veil is slipping. Btw, why would you consider Jews enviable? Oh my...now I get it... I sense you yearn for the good old days of yore - say around 1917 Russia - when a thought crime against Jews was a capital offence. Sigh...those were the good old days, yes, Comrade Clean? Unfortunately for you and your ilk you are living in 2007 and anyone residing in the USA at the present time (though the ADL is trying desperately to change this situation) can love, hate, like, ignore any person, any group they please as long as they do not "act" on those emotions and break the law. Americans have certain protected freedoms like freedom of association and freedom of speech. And none of these freedoms were spawned from "envy." But on the subject of "hate" I noticed that you have some experience in that department especially as it pertains to Muslims. I recall there was some rather nasty remarks you made about Muslim immigrants in France. Ha! "Mr. Clean" indeed.
What remarks are you talking about?
Ariel Sharon's out of commission, so have you got any better candidate to start with other than Bibi "(9/11) was very good" Netanyahu, who on 9/11 was apparently selflessly interfacing with visitors invited from NY and NJ to the grounds of the latest incarnation of the King David Hotel?
I KNEW I Shouldn't have gone to the Knights of Columbus to swim with my Catholic friend when I was 12...I blew my cover ;-)
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition There cannot be a conspiracy when everyone knows about it. Conspiracies are hatched, executed, and kept in private. Also, there cannot be a conspiracy when the activity is a repeated process. At that point, it becomes "business as usual" or just "business" ...
America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall and the Congress is out to lunch.
The best conspiracies are those out in the open, that appear in the National Enquirer, and are regulary the butt of jokes and ridicule. They are secrets with "eyes wide shut".
So 19 Arabs didn't conspire to fly planes into WTC? No conspiracies at all, eh? Let them. Dare them.
" Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy." - William S Burroughs
I always hoped to get invited to events involving food or swimming, but they wised up to my shenanigans years before I did.
" Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy." - William S Burroughs
I bet there were more than 19, but I doubt they were the same as the 19 often mentioned, as at least some of the often mentioned 19 are still alive, as reported by the BBC and other news agencies. It was conceived, hatched, plotted, and carried out in secret. Assuming the official story is true, 19 Arab hijackers conspired to make it happen and pulled it off - going so far as to even keep the passengers on those planes in the dark as to their true intentions. That is as true a conspiracy as one can ever hope to get to. If they had taken out an ad in the New York Times, it would not have been a true conspiracy as the secrecy aspect would not be there. If Arab hijackers routinely took control of airplanes and flew them into buildings, it would not be a conspiracy, but "business as usual" and thus something to be expected as it would then be out in the open. Everyone would know "Arabs fly planes into buildings" - and that would be that. Just how I see it...
America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall and the Congress is out to lunch.
Language is a virus from outer space!
" Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy." - William S Burroughs
The United States was born of a conspiracy against the king of England. We're all bloody!
" Junk is the ideal product... the ultimate merchandise. No sales talk necessary. The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy." - William S Burroughs
Jews have been claiming the Protocols were "anti-Semitic forgeries" from the moment they came out. Methinks they doth protest too much. No less a person than Henry Ford, when asked about whether the Protocols were real, or authentic, said this:
The Zapruder film clearly shows Kennedy's head going backwards when he was shot. Not forwards. Please explain how Oswald, firing from the rear of Kennedy, could fire a magic bullet that made Kennedy's head fall towards him at the moment of impact, instead of away from him in the direction that the bullet was traveling?
We will be bloody once again as Peak Everything starts to hit! One philosophy that works for me in regards to 'conspiracy theories' is this: People just aren't bright enough to keep things quiet for that long for the most part. They love to boast about things. Thus, they get outed. Law enforcement loves these kinds of people.
America is not at war. The military is at war. America is at the mall and the Congress is out to lunch.
I am amazed at the number of people who adopt the governmental or official view, routinely, but most of them are simply woefully ignorant. Their condition could be cured if you could ever get them to sit down and pay attention long enough to actually see what has happened and is happening. But far more interesting are these passionate wannabe Amazing Randi's, guys who are sworn like the Knights of Templar to deny each and every shred of evidence that their government sponsored view is a LIE. They flit from message board to message board proclaiming their deeply held belief in their wrongly perceived logical prowess and denying any fact which does not fit their tightly constrictive world. In a word, they are literally unimaginative. The truth is that such people tend to be authoritarians who think there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything from folding towels to putting dishes in the dishwasher, and will tell you and everyone else so, if you'll only listen. They envy authority, and identify with it like a jailhouse trusty, since they seldom have any real authority over anyone else. Out of their impotence is born their zeal to identify with the power. I find their constant cacaphony of cock suckiness utterly amusing. They can blow me, but not literally.
Comments (129 - 183) not displayed.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#89. To: Mister Clean (#53)
It's not just one story it's EVERY IDIOTIC PREDICTION of disaster that's really the issue.
#90. To: aristeides, Jethro Tull, Christine, Honway, Robin, Red Jones, Diana, Kamala, All (#5)
Was not Nazism itself a grand conspiracy?
#91. To: TommyTheMadArtist (#24)
I love a good conspiracy, but I'm beginning to get tired of waiting for the world to end.
#92. To: YertleTurtle (#0)
(Edited)
#93. To: Paul Revere (#92)
What compels a person to slavishly defend the most outrageous lies by the government?
#94. To: YertleTurtle (#0)
#95. To: TommyTheMadArtist, Mister Clean (#33)
At every turn, there's a horrible event about to happen, and when it doesn't, there's plenty of assurance that there will be.
#96. To: christine (#95)
I believe that most of that is government propaganda put out there for the purpose of ultimately controlling the masses. You know, create the problem then create the supposed solution (the Hegelian Dialectic).
#97. To: Paul Revere (#92)
This article is another example of the constipated minds of the nonthinking class. It's sad such people have so little ability to think, imagine and draw conclusions.
#98. To: Mister Clean (#96)
#99. To: christine (#98)
Let me ask you something, do you believe the Warren Commission's Report on the Kennedy Assiassination?
#100. To: Mister Clean (#99)
(Edited)
BUT... just because there may be more to the story doesn't equal some dark conspiracy.
#101. To: Minerva (#100)
You obviously know nothing of the Jesuit Temporal Coadjutors.
#102. To: Minerva (#100)
“Yes, but is this good for Jews?"
#103. To: Eoghan (#102)
#104. To: Mister Clean (#96)
(Edited)
#105. To: Mister Clean (#99)
#106. To: nobody (#104)
Is it too much trouble to try the zionists who planned and executed the 9/11 zionist inside job, in your opinion?
#107. To: Mister Clean (#106)
What are the names of the "zionists who planned and executed the 9/11 zionist inside job?
#108. To: YertleTurtle (#107)
I believe True Believers are motivated in part by envy.
#109. To: YertleTurtle (#107)
They never choose someone they like or someone who is considered harmless.
#110. To: Mister Clean (#106)
What are the names of the "zionists who planned and executed the 9/11 zionist inside job?
#111. To: YertleTurtle (#107)
People always choose as "conspirators" people they don't like, who are richer and more powerful than they are. That's one of the reasons I believe True Believers are motivated in part by envy.
#112. To: noone222 (#110)
Kristol, Wurmser, Feith, Chernoff, Perle, Wolfowicz, Rumsfeld, Zakheim, Bush I, Bush II, Jeb Bush, Cheney,
#113. To: Mister Clean (#108)
Yertle: I believe True Believers are motivated in part by envy.
#114. To: scrapper2 (#113)
I recall there was some rather nasty remarks you made about Muslim immigrants in France.
#115. To: Mister Clean (#106)
What are the names of the "zionists who planned and executed the 9/11 zionist inside job?
#116. To: Minerva (#100)
You obviously know nothing of the Jesuit Temporal Coadjutors. It has been alleged that even members of this site secretly belong to the organization.
"There is no 'legitimate' Corporation by virtue of it's very legal definition and purpose."
-- IndieTx
#117. To: christine (#105)
#118. To: mirage (#117)
There cannot be a conspiracy when everyone knows about it. Conspiracies are hatched, executed, and kept in private.
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#119. To: FormerLurker, mirage (#118)
#120. To: IndieTX (#116)
I KNEW I Shouldn't have gone to the Knights of Columbus to swim with my Catholic friend when I was 12...I blew my cover
#121. To: Dakmar (#119)
So 19 Arabs didn't conspire to fly planes into WTC?
You appear to be a major trouble maker...and I'm getting really pissed. - GoldiLox, 7/27/2006
#122. To: Dakmar (#119)
So 19 Arabs didn't conspire to fly planes into WTC?
#123. To: mirage (#122)
#124. To: mirage (#122)
#125. To: YertleTurtle (#0)
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion are fabrications about a world Jewish conspiracy concocted by Russian bigots in a mad time and place.
"The only statement I care to make about the Protocols is that they fit in with what is going on. They are sixteen years old and they have fitted the world situation up to this time. They fit it now."
#126. To: YertleTurtle, Christine (#19)
those nuts who've spent the last 45 years trying to prove there were three shooters triangulating on Kennedy.
#127. To: Dakmar (#124)
The United States was born of a conspiracy against the king of England. We're all bloody!
Never ascribe to malice that which can be more easily written off to mere greed or stupidity.
#128. To: christine (#97)
.
.
.