FRIDAY FUNDAY; CONSPIRACY THEORIES.
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Random blog day boo
yah. As you should know Fridays is random blog day were we talk
anything and everything and pretty much run with it. Today's blog is
on Conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy Theories
is a topic of discussion that has been talked about over the past
century (earliest mentions in journals around April 1870 and earliest
usage around 1909 in a “The American Historical Review” article)
becoming especially popular over the past two decades in particular
(The Kennedy assassination and 9/11 coming to mind). The Oxford
dictionary defines Conspiracy Theories as “The Theory that an event
or phenomenon occurs as a result of a conspiracy between interested
parties; spec. a belief that some covert but influential
agency(typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent) is
responsible for an unexplained event”.
WHAT IS A CONSPIRAY
THEORY?.
A
Conspiracy Theory is an explanation of an event or situation that
invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful actors, often political
in motivation, when other explanations are more probable. The term
has a pejorative connotation, implying that the appeal to a
conspiracy is based on prejudice or insufficient evidence. Conspiracy
theories resist falsification and are reinforced by circular
reasoning: both evidence against the conspiracy and an absence of
evidence for it are re-interpreted as evidence of its truth. Whereby
the conspiracy becomes a matter of faith rather than something that
can be proved or disproved.
- Conspiracy theory wiki
A crazy notion
right?, Research does suggest that conspiracist ideation (belief in
conspiracy theories) can be psychologically harmful and pathological
especially if it's highly correlated with psychological projection
and paranoia. This can be predicted by the degree of Machiavellianism
of a person. Conspiracy theories have definitely become mainstream
having once been limited to fringe audiences thanks to mass media
emerging as a culture phenomenon of the late 20th and
early 21st centuries.
ARE THERE ANY TYPES
OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES?
If you'd have asked
me as a kid are there types of Conspiracy Theories I would have said
no there's not but researching Conspiracy Theories as an adult I
would have to say yes and here are some possibilities:
WALKERS
FIVE KINDS
Jesse
walker (2013, University of Michigan alumnus and books editor of
Reason magazine) has identified five kinds of conspiracy theories:
- “The Enemy Outside” refers to theories based on figures alleged to be scheming against a community from without
- “The Enemy Within” finds the conspirators lurking inside the nation, indistinguishable from ordinary citizens.
- “The Enemy Above” involves powerful people manipulating events for their own gain.
- “The Enemy Below” features the lower classes working to overturn the social order
- “The Benevolent Conspiracies” are angelic forces that work behind the scenes to improve the world and help people.
BARKUMS
THREE TYPES:
Michael
Barkun (Professor of Political science at Maxwell school of Syracuse
university) has identified three classifications of conspiracy
theory:
-
EVENT CONSOIRACY THEORIES. This refers to limited and well-defined
events. Examples may include such conspiracies theories as those
concerning the Kennedy assassination, 9/11 and the spread of aids.
- SYSTEMATIC CONSPIRACY THEORIES. The conspiracy is believed to have broad goals, usually conceived as securing control of a country, a region or even the entire world. The goals are sweeping whilst the conspiratorial machinery is generally simple: a single, evil organisation implements a plan to infiltrate and subvert existing institutions. This is a common scenario in conspiracy theories that focus on the alleged machinations of Jews, Freemasons, Communism or the catholic church.
- SUPERCONSPIRACY THEORIES. For Barkun, such theories link multiple alleged conspiracies together hierarchically. At the summit is a distant but all powerful evil force. His cited examples are the ideas of David Icke and Milton William Cooper.
ROTHBARD;
SHALLOW VS. DEEP:
Murray
Rothbard (Historian and political theorist died Jan 7th
1995) argues in favour of a model that contrasts “deep”
conspiracy theories to “shallow” ones. According to Rothbard, a
'shallow' theorist observes an event and asks CUI BONO? (“Who
benefits?”), jumping to the conclusion that a posited beneficiary
is responsible for covertly influencing events. On the other hand,
the “deep” conspiracy theorist begins with a hunch and then seeks
out evidence. Rothbard describes this latter activity as a matter of
confirming with certain facts one's initial paranoia.
-
Conspiracy Theory Wiki
I
can definitely agree that many conspiracy theories do land in several
different types. Definitely makes it easier to categorize them in the
long term.
IS
THERE EVIDENCE VS. CONSPIRACY THEORIES?
Belief
in Conspiracy theories is generally based not on evidence, but in the
faith of the believer. Noam Chomsky contracts conspiracy theory to
institutional analysis which focuses mostly on the public, long-term
behaviour of publicly known institutions, as recorded in, for
example, scholarly documents or mainstream media reports. Conspiracy
theory conversely posits the existence of secretive coalitions of
individuals and speculates on their alleged activities.
Clare
Birchall at King's College London describes conspiracy theory as a
“form of popular knowledge or interpretation”. The use of the
word 'knowledge' here suggests ways in which conspiracy theory may be
considered in relation to legitimate modes of knowing. The
relationship between and legitimate and illegitimate knowledge,
Birchall claims, is closer than common dismissals of conspiracy
theory contend.
Theories
involving multiple conspirators that are proven to be correct, such
as the Watergate scandal, are usually referred to as “Investigative
journalism” or “historical analysis” rather than conspiracy
theory. By contrast, the term “Watergate conspiracy theory” is
used to refer to a variety of hypotheses in which those convicted in
the conspiracy were in fact the victims of a deeper conspiracy.
-
Conspiracy Theory wiki
I
have to admit whilst Conspiracy Theories are attractive topics to
talk about especially around public events whose causes are in
suspect (9/11, presidential scandals, Watergate ETC), any and all
evidence for and against the theory can be interpreted way to many
different ways, with different theorists unable to agree on a common
timeline.
THE
ATTRACTION OF CONSPIRACY THEORIES.
The
political scientist Michael Barkun, discussing the usage of
“Conspiracy Theory” in contemporary American culture, holds that
this term is used for a belief that explains an event as the result
of a secret plot by exceptionally powerful and cunning conspirators
to achieve a malevolent end. According to Barkun, the appeal of
conspiracism is threefold:
1:
First Conspiracy theories claim to explain what institutional
analysis cannot. They appear to make sense out of a world that is
otherwise confusing.
2:
They do so in an appealingly simple way, by dividing the world
sharply between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. They
trace all evil back to a single source, the conspirators and their
agents.
3:
Conspiracy Theories are often presented as special, secret knowledge
unknown or unappreciated by others. For conspiracy theorists the
masses are a brainwashed herd, while the conspiracy theorists in the
know congratulate themselves on penetrating the plotters' deceptions.
This
third point is supported by Research of Roland Imhoff Professor in
social psychology at the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz the
research suggests that the smaller the minority believing in a
specific theory, the more attractive it is to conspiracy theorists.
Humanistic
psychologists argue that even if a posited cabal behind an alleged
conspiracy is almost always perceived as hostile, there often remains
an element of reassurance for theorists. This is because it is a
consolation to imagine that difficulties in human affairs for
theorists. This is because it is a consolation to imagine that
difficulties in human affairs are created by humans, and remain
within human control. If a cabal can be implicated, there may be a
hope of breaking its power or of joining it. Belief in the power of a
cabal is an implicit assertion of human dignity—an unconscious
affirmation that man is responsible for his own destiny.
People
formulate conspiracy theories to explain, for examples, power
relations in social groups and the perceived existence of evil
forces. Proposed psychological origins of conspiracy theorising
include projection; the personal need to explain “a significant
event (with) a significant cause,” and the product of various kinds
and stages of thought disorder, such as paranoid disposition, ranging
in insecurity of encountering random, unpredictable or otherwise
inexplicable events.
According
to Berlet and Lyons, “conspiracism is a popular narrative form of
scapegoating that frames demonized enemies as part of a vast
insidious plot against the common good, while it valorizes the
scapegoater as a hero for sounding the alarm”.
- Conspiracy Theory Wiki
Attraction
to Conspiracy theories is very strong and very commonplace nowadays
even if not everyone believes them. I know some people personally who
believe a conspiracy theory or two even though they are highly
intelligent and rational people.
ARE
THERE ANY FAMOUS CONSPIRACIES?
There
are many well known and publicly accessed Conspiracy theories from
across the world and here are some of them:
ILLUMINATI
Conspiracy
theories concerning the Illuminati, a short-lived 18th-century
Enlightenment-era secret society, appear to have originated in the
19th century, when some conservatives in Europe came to
believe that the group had been responsible for the French Revolution
of 1789-1799. Hoaxes about the Illuminati were later spread in the
1960's by a group of American practical jokers known as the
Discordians, who, for example wrote a series of fake letters about
the Illuminati to Playboy.
DENVOR
AIRPORT
Some
Theorists believe that Denver International Airport stands above an
underground city which serves as a headquarters of the New World
Order. Theorists cite the airport's unusually large size, its
distance from Denver city centre, Masonic and alleged Satanic
Symbols, as well as a set of murals which include depictions of war
and death.
CHEMTAILS
Also
known as SLAP (Secret Large-scale Atmospheric Program), this theory
alleges that water condensation trails (“contrails”) from an
aircraft consist of chemicals or biological agents, or contain a
supposedly toxic mix of Aluminium, Strontium and Barium, under secret
government policies. An estimated 17% of people globally believe the
theory to be true or partly true. In 2016, the Carnegie institution
for science published the first-ever peer-reviewed study of the
chemtrail theory: 76 out of the 77 participating atmospheric chemists
and geo-chemists stated that they had seen no evidence to support the
chemtrail theory, or stated that chemtrail theorists rely on poor
sampling.
MALAYSIA
AIRLINES FLIGHT MH370
the
disappearance of Malaysia Flight MH370 in South East Asia in march
2014 has prompted many theories. Once theory suggests that this plane
was hidden away and reintroduced as Flight MH17 later the same year
in order to be shot down over Ukraine for political purposes.
Prolific American conspiracy theorist James H. Fetzer has placed
responsibility for the disappearance with Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. Theories have also related to allegations that a
certain autopilot technology was secretly fitted to the aircraft.
MALAYSIA
AIRLINES FLIGHT MH17
Malaysia
Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July 2014. This
event has spawned numerous alternative theories. These variously
include allegations that it was secretly Flight MH370, that the plane
was actually shot down by the Ukrainian Air Force to frame Russia,
that it was part of a conspiracy to conceal the “truth” about HIV
(seven disease specialists were on board), or that the Illuminati or
Israel was responsible.
- Conspiracy Theory List.
I
will definitely be delving into the realms of well known and popular
Conspiracy Theories -especially like the ones above- at some point
with Friday Fundays.
THE WEBSITE
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
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