June 22, 2008
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Political Conspiracy Theorists
So the only difference between a conspiracy theorist and a critic so far as I can see is that the conspiracy theorists have more respect for their subjects.
Take for example the issue of the current administration’s policy on condoning and encouraging torture. Now the critic says “what a bunch of dumb asses they are!” And we get it right? I mean they’ve gotta be really stupid if they don’t realize that torture will be a great recruiting tool for the enemy and that if we torture the enemy then the enemy will likely torture our own troops and that torturing damages our reputation abroad. And we’ve got to have seen all the historical evidence of cases where torture has been used and how utterly ineffective it has been at procuring reliable information as opposed to other better and well tested techniques. Not to mention the scientific studies that have demonstrated conclusively the very same thing.
So the critic throws up his hands in despair and says “what can we do when we have such bone heads in office?” and “isn’t there any way we can educate them to see the error in their ways?” That’s the critic for you. He thinks they are dumb.
I tend to be closer to the other side.
I don’t think they are dumb at all.
The conspiracy theorist takes it as a given that people who obtain that level of power are *not* dumb. They may be delusional and even insane but certainly not *dumb*. Why do we take that assumptive stand? Maybe because to believe the alternative is just way too dang depressing. If they *are* dumb and got elected, then what does that say about everyone else? “In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King” right? So that must mean we’re all not even half as bright on average as our moron leaders. That makes us an unbearable, incomprehensibly, mind numbingly stupid people on the whole.
If I believed that I think I’d just shoot myself right now.
But if we believe the alternative that the people in power aren’t dumb at all. That they are well aware of all the obvious facts about their activities, such as torture, then our own hope is to find the most likely most rational explanation for why they are doing it anyway. What could their goals *be* such that their choices make sense in spite of all the bad things and dumb things we can all see resulting from their plans and decisions.
And ironically it isn’t at all hard to come up with a plausible explanation that fits it altogether. All you have to do is remember Machiavelli since he pretty much fully described the techniques all those years ago. These people are doing exactly what is most rational to obtain and retain power. They are manufacturing an enemy and strengthening that enemy to rally public support against that enemy. That’s how you get powerful. That’s how you earn money. It works. It’s worked for generations. It’ll work tomorrow too.
And of course now you’ve probably put me on your “crazy” list and decided to ignore everything I will ever have to say on the issue of politics again. This is normal expected behavior too. It’s part of the strategy. You limit certain frameworks of acceptable beliefs in order to constrain public opinion and direct it along the pathways you need it to be. Anti-rant, anti-emotion, anti-abnormality, and anti-critique bias all play a part here and are harnessed to the ends of the power seeking. Anything said in an emotional way as a rant is dismissed in part because the person is seen as a “ranter”. Likewise if you were to whine or seem giddy or whatever. See my essay on anti-emotional bias for more information.
Likewise anything unexpected and not a part of the standard public dialectic will be ignored at first. The barrier to entry into the norm of communication is very high. A theory, however, plausible, has to also be palatable to the people setting the agenda or to enough news media outlets that the word can get out. Alternatively, and very rarely, an idea can pick up steam amongst the masses to the point where the media has no point but to take it up. But that almost *never* happens.
All this leads me to find political discourse rather overwhelmingly uninteresting. We have a leadership that is either insane or morally bankrupt or both, but a populace that looks down upon them not for those characteristics but rather because they are “dumb”. We think we’re sooo much smarter than those idiots in charge. It’s our hubris that is our downfall.
And that’s why they always win.
Comments (8)
i believe war is both insane and immoral. but I do believe there are good human beings who, by their thoughts, ideas, actions can uplift, and change mindsets.
I don’t think that falls into the regular kind of “Conspiracy Theory”. Retaining power is a rational objective, but to truly be a “conspiracy” (as the common person thinks of them) it has to be long-running and co-ordinated. And that, I think, gives the Bush administration a little too much credit.
I think it is more in line with a “domino theory”. They made some unpopular moves, so to “correct” them they made counter-moves and so on and so forth. And it all falls down in the end.
I seem to recall that Dubya never did get the majority of votes in your country. So that makes the majority of your people look much smarter, but your electoral system look much dumber. (sorry)
Usually when people think “conspiracy theorist”, they mean someone who blames the Jews for everything and can’t believe that maybe, just maybe, not EVERYTHING is connected in an intricate web of world domination.
Or maybe that’s just what a conspiracy theorist is to me.
But I do know for a fact that conspiracies are the Great American Pastime. I personally believe as well that an enemy has been created practically out of thin air. I say “practically” because there were terrorists already… they just didn’t care about America. Their main complaint was the United States’ close ties with the state of Israel. Outside of that, they had no particular problem with us.
But now, after not only invasions and torture but also explicit threats to destroy the traditional Muslim way of life, of COURSE the Muslim world is up in arms. When once they were not.
Leaders of this country love war. Long, drawn-out wars that are really quite unproductive.
I guess some would call that a conspiracy theory. Haha. Oh well.
RYC: Now THAT was a comment.
@CanadianBroad - I guess I was more refering to people who are accused of being “conspiracy theorists” in modern political discourse in the United States. Usually these people have another name in other countries… they’re called “sane people”.
let zem eet cake~
Man I’m tired (after re-reading this comment I realized I wrote tried and corrected it) today, it took me a while to read through this, not that it was boring, because really I would have given up on it, if it was boring.
I think conspiracy theorys are interesting because it makes you think. Political conspiracy theorys are the most classic kind of conspiracy theorys, in fact a lot of books are written about them. I’m not sure if those books are what the author actually thinks or if it’s just made up to sell a book. Who knows… ^_^
What I think you made was the interesting point of america thinking our leadership is dumb, and not thinking about how that relects us. I mean I never thought about that, people (news casters mostly) always says mean things about the government… I mean really doesn’t that say bad things about you too? Granted you might not have voted for the person but the least you can do is support since it is the place you currently live in… maybe you should move?
For me, I actually as bad as it is don’t really care about what goes on in the government *gasp* as long as it’s not that bad because it seems to me no matter what decisions are made it doesn’t really affect me that much. Sure gas prices are kind of crazy right now, and housing seems pretty bad but what can our soon to be new president do about that right now? I don’t think very much, sure they can impliment things that might be helpful or not over time but they aren’t sure if it will be helpful or not so it’s all really a gamble.
Argh another long comment… alright I’ll stop, have a good day ^_^
@fullmetalbunny - are you saying Jews aren’t behind everything? Amazing! How about Nazi’s? no? Aliens? Dolphins? Gerbils?
You’re right about war though but I’m not sure how “unproductive” it is. It’s very productive at concentrating power and wealth in the hands of a small number of people.
@qccan - I’m afraid I can’t do that. I want all the cake for myself!
@raindrops23 - I agree with you about the government’s decisions not seeming to have much impact on our lives. It’s one of the reasons I only pay attention in spurts but usually I’m not that interested.
And the economy is one area where it really is true that we’re all “dumb” about. It’s so complex everything we do is sort of a random roll of the dice.
I don’t really mind critics as much as this post may have made it seem. I think it’s really good to criticize your country if you are doing it in order to try and get the country to better itself. I just think a lot of critics are really absurdly arrogant in their critique, presuming that the people they are criticizing don’t know *anything*. I think that’s crazy and it’s dangerous.
Thanks for reading! Some of my stuff you probably will find really boring, but that’s ok. I won’t be offended.
But feel free to keep the long comments coming! Heh. I enjoy reading them.