On conspiracy theories, Part 1
I am not a conspiracy theorist.
That is not to say I don’t believe conspiracies exist. They certainly do.
I simply believe that personal and societal ills can’t all be explained away by a shadowy group of individuals who have a different worldview.
Sometimes things just stink and it’s nobody’s fault. Sometimes it’s my fault. And yes, sometimes it is someone else’s fault. In today’s society, however, every bad thing is being attributed to a few people around the world who probably wish they actually had the power many believe they have.
First, it would probably be a good idea to define the term, because this is where things go awry.
The word “conspire” can mean two different things. It can mean to act or work together toward the same goal. It can also mean to secretly agree together to do something wrong, or illegal.
The word “theory” also has different meanings. In this setting it most closely means either “a hypothesis assumed for the sake of argument or investigation” (Merriam-Webster) or “an unproved assumption” (Merriam-Webster).
A widely-espoused conspiracy theory making the rounds since Covid is known as “The Great Reset”. This theory contends that global elites have taken advantage of world conditions brought on due to Covid to steer the world — and the U.S. along with it — toward a dismantling of capitalism and a one-world authoritarian government. It contends the global elites want to establish a new progressive social order that erodes individual freedom.
This sounds sinister. When you strip the buzz words away from the description what you end up with is likeminded progressive people getting together to use their influence to further their worldview.
So why would you want to load up a description with buzz words? Just a stretch here, but I’m guessing it is to sell books. Like this one, and this one. Or this one. And maybe this one.
So of course powerful progressives are putting their heads together when it comes to the direction of the world. Conservatives better be doing the same. If they’re not, shame on them.
Conspiracies Really Are Everywhere
There are two primary worldviews out there with lots of different sub-views. At all times, there is a battle going on for how the world should be seen. Likeminded people get together all the time in millions of different ways to push their influence. These, by definition, would be conspiracies.
Want some conservative examples?
Author, psychologist and online influencer Jordan Peterson has launched an initiative called the ARC (Alliance for Responsible Citizenship). It is a worldwide campaign to gather thoughts from all over the world in the areas of politics, business, the arts and culture “to seek answers to some of today’s most important questions.”
This is very similar to the annual World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, which has become a target for conspiracy theorists due to its primarily progressive worldview. (And, quite literally, the WEF published a paper called “The Great Reset” in 2020).
Peterson is decidedly conservative, and the clarion call is to bring likeminded people together to influence the world. I hope it takes root. I hope likeminded conservatives “conspire” to influence how the world is seen.
Want one more?
In 1982, a group of conservative/libertarian students at Yale, Harvard and the University of Chicago law schools founded The Federalist Society. Its stated objectives were “checking federal power, protecting individual liberty and interpreting the Constitution according to its original meeting.”
It became powerful in a short amount of time. While it shies away from being labeled as activist (or even conservative), its networking prowess was one to envy and the group worked together to get likeminded lawyers in as many judgeships as possible, from your local district and circuit all the way to the top.
And it worked incredibly well. According to reports, five U.S. Supreme Court justices (Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, Thomas, Alito and Barrett) are members.
As a conservative, I’m glad these likeminded people got together in 1982 and conspired to influence the bench.
Many conspiracy theories being espoused are simply likeminded people pushing their influence.
So yes, there are definitely “conspiracies” that are taking place all the time.
But what about the other side of conspiracy theory stuff? What about the men in black suits, the alien cadavers in the underground bunker and the Royal Family lizard people?
And what about Qanon?
I’ll address that in my next post because that is a different thing altogether.
Why I’m Not A Conspiracy Theorist
To close, here are a couple of reasons I’m not a conspiracy theorist as it is generally defined:
I’ve been accused of being a part of many conspiracies and none of them have been remotely true. During the Country Crossing/electronic bingo furor in Houston County around 2010, people with very passionate viewpoints accused me of being in the pocket of one side or the other, depending on the day’s story. It was an interesting introduction into the mind of a conspiracy theorist because the theorist’s supposition appeared to be based entirely on whether the story lined up with their worldview. If a story quoted Country Crossing backer Ronnie Gilley touting economic development, the anti-bingo people wanted to know how much I was being paid to advertise for Country Crossing. If a story pointed out the (at best) flimsy legal justification for the venue in the first place, the pro-bingo people were convinced I was getting my marching orders directly from the Governor’s office.
A lady once sent me a doctored photo of a fake CNN Web Page made to look like then-President George W. Bush being trampled during a “riot” in Canada. The headline blazed something about Bush being arrested and detained. “Why aren’t we seeing this? Why isn’t your paper reporting this?” she wrote. I wrote back and informed her this was the work of someone fairly efficient at Photoshop, but still a first-rate fake. “That’s exactly what they want you to think,” she replied.
Anti-media people accused me of being a part of the vast left-wing conspiracy because I was a member of the media. I took a call from a Dothan Eagle reader one time who wanted to know the content of the daily meetings between myself and Warren Buffett, since he knew for a fact that Buffett met with the editors of the newspapers he owned and told them what to write each day. Sadly, Buffett and I never spoke. I would have asked for investing advice.
The list goes on and on. Dozens of them over the years. All of them created out of thin air. So understand my skepticism over conspiracy theories that try to manufacture non-existent links to further a certain narrative.
Conspiracy theorists surmise. That’s why they’re called theories. They have scant or no evidence to back up claims so they try to take a piece of information here and a piece of information there and tie it together to make it something real.
Here’s a perfect example: I left my house headed somewhere on the east side of Dothan recently. My Google maps told me the quickest route was to use Ross Clark Circle. I scoffed, knowing in my mind that 84 East/East Main was the way to go. I chose the 84 East route and hit every red light along the way. A conspiracy theorist would use those two pieces of information to conclude that Google controls the Dothan traffic lights.
Conspiracy theorists are typically far removed from what they claim to know. The most-followed advocates of one of the leading conspiracy theories in the world today are a trinket salesmen and an EMT, among others. They troll the Internet every day looking for stuff, then try to add one and one together to get four. They magnify obscure information they say supports their theory and ignore information that doesn’t line up with the theory. If something about the theory is proven to be factually incorrect, they simply respond with “disinformation is sometimes necessary.” This is absurdity on steroids.
I can imagine how painful it would have been for me if my dad caught me lying as a child and I responded with, “disinformation is sometimes necessary.”
Many conspiracy theories have a common thread of victim mentality. We didn’t lose the game because the other team was better. We lost because the officials made us lose. We didn’t lose the election because our candidate was a terrible campaigner. We lost because “they” rigged it.
Conspiracy theories originate from weakness.
The world isn’t set up today for reason, logic and critical thinking. It’s set up for bombshells, white-hot drama and super-sinister plots. It’s about working very hard to find out what someone wants to believe and then working that angle 24/7. It’s a terrible way to inform the people but a great way to make money.
Next week, the supposed death of Paul McCartney and what that has to do with today’s leading conspiracy theory.