Conspiracy theories abound, and all of them make me cover my ears and hum. Not because I don’t want to hear the “truth,” but because I don’t want to hear nonsense. Keith Allen, the father of Lily Allen, the bad girl of British Pop, has a documentary pushing the idea that Princess Diana was murdered by the Royal Family.
http://youtu.be/V5PFWc8DgFw
When has any conspiracy theory ever held up to serious examination? “Water-tight” cases were made that JFK was killed by Castro. No, wait. The Mob did it. Or was it really LBJ? Of course we didn’t actually go to the Moon. And 9/11 was an inside job. A current example is the so-called birther crowd. They demanded to see Obama’s full birth certificate from Hawaii, and when he produced it they declared it to be a fake.
Today’s Diane Rehm radio talk show featured author Jonathan Kay, who has written a book called Among the Truthers.
[audio:http://public.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/305/510071/136247861/WAMU_136247861.mp3|titles=Diane Rehm: Jonathan Kay ‘Among the Truthers’]Where things get messy is with the Gulf of Tonkin and Saddam Hussein’s WMD. These have been proven to my satisfaction to have been hyped threats, with the intent of justifying military action. The problem is, from these facts people make the leap to saying that because the government has been deceitful in some instances, then FDR wanted Pearl Harbor to happen and a UFO really did crash in Roswell, New Mexico.
Do conspiracy theorists ever consider the law of probabilities? Quoting Time magazine of May 20, page 32, regarding the birthers’ mindset: “…the suspicion of far too many Americans that the President was not who he said he was, that he was a secret Muslim and maybe not even playing for our team.” So, the fear here is, that President Obama might be too soft on Muslim terrorists, like Osama? Well, since Obama ordered the mission that ended in Osama’s death, HOW LIKELY is it that our President is sympathetic towards the objectives of violent Muslim religious fanatics? I have read that many African Americans believe the birthers are mostly racially prejudiced… which would be consistent, because being racist is another position which DEFIES LOGIC!
Excellent point, Lizzie! The Paul is dead hoax is a perfect example of how the conspiracy mindset can construct elaborate, seemingly plausible, explanations but be total nonsense.
Yes and don’t forget, PAUL is DEAD! Think of all the “proof” we had of THAT!!! “I buried Paul,” and all the other clues… just play your LP backwards! Look at Paul’s bare feet walking across Abbey Road! And look at that hand near his head on the cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band! Why everybody knows, the current Sir Paul McCartney is just an imposter! But just coincidentally, a faker wealthy enough to be sued by his now ex-wife Heather for millions of dollars…