Conspiracy theory

A conspiracy theory usually attributes the ultimate cause of an event or chain of events (usually political, social or historical events), or the concealment of such causes from public knowledge, to a secret, and often deceptive plot by a group of powerful or influential people or organizations. Many conspiracy theories imply that major events in history have been dominated by conspirators who manipulate political happenings from behind the scenes. Historians often take conspiracy theories "as actual theory, i.e., the viewpoint with the greatest explanatory value and the greatest utility as a starting point for further investigation, explanation and problem solving."^[1]

Terminology

The term "conspiracy theory" may be a neutral descriptor for any conspiracy claim. To conspire means "to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or to use such means to accomplish a lawful end."^[2] However, conspiracy theory is also used to indicate a narrative genre that includes a broad selection of (not necessarily related) arguments for the existence of grand conspiracies, any of which might have far-reaching social and political implications if true.^{[citation needed]}

The first recorded use of the phrase "conspiracy theory" dates to the year 1909. Originally it was a neutral term; during the political upheaval of the 1960s the term acquired its current derogatory sense. ^[3] It entered the supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary as late as 1997.^[4]

In an early essay by Daniel Pipes "adapted from a study prepared for the CIA", Pipes attempts to pin down what beliefs distinguish 'the conspiracy mentality' from 'more conventional patterns of thought': appearances deceive; conspiracies drive history; nothing is haphazard; the enemy always gains; power, fame, money, and sex account for all ^[5].

The term "conspiracy theory" is frequently used by mainstream scholars and in popular culture to identify a type of folklore similar to an urban legend, especially an explanatory narrative which is constructed with particular methodological flaws.^[6] The term is also used pejoratively to dismiss claims that are alleged by critics to be misconceived, paranoid, unfounded, outlandish, irrational, or otherwise unworthy of serious consideration. For example "Conspiracy nut" and "conspiracy theorist" are used as pejorative terms. Some whose theories or speculations are labeled a "conspiracy theory" reject the term as prejudicial.^{[citation needed]}

Conspiracism

A world view that centrally places conspiracy theories in the unfolding of history is sometimes termed conspiracism. The historian Richard Hofstadter addressed the role of paranoia and conspiracism throughout American history in his essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, published in 1964. Bernard Bailyn's classic The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967) notes that a similar phenomena could be found in America during the time preceding the American Revolution.^[7]The term conspiracism was popularized by academic Frank P. Mintz in the 1980s. Academic work in conspiracy theories and conspiracism presents a range of hypotheses as a basis of studying the genre. Among the leading scholars of conspiracism are: Hofstadter, Karl Popper, Michael Barkun, Robert Alan Goldberg, Daniel Pipes, Mark Fenster, Mintz, Carl Sagan, George Johnson, and Gerald Posner.

According to Mintz, conspiracism denotes: "belief in the primacy of conspiracies in the unfolding of history":^[8]

"Conspiracism serves the needs of diverse political and social groups in America and elsewhere. It identifies elites, blames them for economic and social catastrophes, and assumes that things will be better once popular action can remove them from positions of power. As such, conspiracy theories do not typify a particular epoch or ideology".^[9]

Throughout human history, political and economic leaders genuinely have been the cause of enormous amounts of death and misery, and they sometimes have engaged in conspiracies while at the same time promoting conspiracy theories about their targets. Hitler and Stalin would be merely the most prominent examples; there have been numerous others.^[10] In some cases there have been claims dismissed as conspiracy theories that later proved to have some basis in facts. (for examples, see below "Verified conspiracies")^[11][12] The idea that history itself is controlled by large long-standing conspiracies is rejected by historian Bruce Cumings:

"But if conspiracies exist, they rarely move history; they make a difference at the margins from time to time, but with the unforeseen consequences of a logic outside the control of their authors: and this is what is wrong with 'conspiracy theory.' History is moved by the broad forces and large structures of human collectivities."^[13]

The term conspiracism is used in the work of Michael Kelly, Chip Berlet, and Matthew N. Lyons.

According to Berlet and Lyons, "Conspiracism is a particular 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".^[14]

Criticism of conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theory has become a highly charged political term, and the subject of broad critique by academics, politicians, and the media.^{[citation needed]}

Testing the validity of conspiracy theories

Perhaps the most contentious aspect of a conspiracy theory is the problem of settling a particular theory's truth to the satisfaction of both its proponents and its opponents. Particular accusations of conspiracy vary widely in their plausibility, but some common standards for assessing their likely truth value may be applied in each case:

• Occam's razor - is the alternative story more, or less, probable than the mainstream story?
• Methodology - are the "proofs" offered for the argument well constructed, i.e., using sound methodology? Is there any clear standard to determine what evidence would prove or disprove the theory?
• Whistleblowers - how many people—and what kind—have to be loyal conspirators?
• Falsifiability - Is there any research demonstrating that specific claims of the theory are false?

Some of these tests can have a downside as well. For instance, overeager application of "Occam's razor" can lead to acceptance of oversimplified views of history. Likewise, research that does disprove specific claims of a theory can lead to rejection of other claims which may be true.

The US academic Noam Chomsky contrasts conspiracy theory as more or less the opposite of institutional analysis, which focuses mostly on the public, long-term behaviour of publicly known institutions, as recorded in, e.g. scholarly documents or mainstream media reports, rather than secretive coalitions of individuals.^[15][16]

The "Rationality Theorem"

One criticism of conspiracy theories is that they rely on a certain worldview which may or may not be correct. Graham Allison, a political scientist, developed this argument in his book, Essence of Decision, and informally named it the "rationality theorem".

Basically, Allison argued:

• Many theories - including conspiracy theories - rely on the assumption of rational expectations. Under this assumption, events and decisions are explained by the rational responses of groups and individuals.
• However, Allison pointed out that groups and individuals do not always act in a rational manner.
• Allison argued that by using rationalistic thinking, individuals automatically take a "black box" approach to problems, meaning that they concentrate on data that was available and the results, but failed to consider other factors, such as bureaucracy, misunderstandings, disagreements, etc.
• Finally, Allison argued that rationalistic thinking in general violates the scientific law of falsifiability, as according to the rationality theorem, there exists no event or groups of events that cannot be explained in a rational and purposeful manner.

Although Allison primarily studied the Cuban Missile Crisis, in Essence, he illustrated the rationality theorem by making reference to the Attack on Pearl Harbor, specifically the theory that U.S. decisionmakers must have purposefully allowed the attack to be pulled off.

Allison argued that, for this specific conspiracy theory to hold, analysts must first make the assumption that officials act in a rational manner, and that these officials had full access to all information that indicated the attack was imminent.

However, by examining additional internal evidence, Allison argued that while, from a black-box perspective, the U.S. had enough evidence of the Pearl Harbor attack, a combination of bureaucracy and misunderstandings was the real reason why the attack succeeded. For example, Allison noted that evidence of the upcoming attack was scattered among different governmental departments, and was not immediately combined to create an entire picture. Likewise, some decisionmakers misinterpreted the data at hand - on December 7, 1941, the base at Pearl Harbor actually was on alert, but the alert was for possible Japanese sabotage, not an all-out aerial attack.

Controversy

Aside from controversies over the merits of particular conspiracy claims (see catalog below), the general discussion of conspiracy theory is itself a matter of some public contestation.

Usage

The term "conspiracy theory" is considered by different observers to be a neutral description for a conspiracy claim, a pejorative term used to dismiss such a claim without examination, and a term that can be positively embraced by proponents of such a claim. The term may be used by some for arguments they might not wholly believe but consider radical and exciting. The most widely accepted sense of the term is that which popular culture and academic usage share, certainly having negative implications for a narrative's probable truth value.

Given this popular understanding of the term, it is conceivable that the term might be used illegitimately and inappropriately, as a means to dismiss what are in fact substantial and well-evidenced accusations. The legitimacy of each such usage will therefore be a matter of some controversy. Disinterested observers will compare an allegation's features with those of the category listed above, in order to determine whether a given usage is legitimate or prejudicial.^{[citation needed]}

Certain proponents of conspiracy claims and their supporters argue that the term is entirely illegitimate, and should be considered just as politically manipulative as the Soviet practice of treating political dissidents as clinically insane. Critics of this view claim that the argument bears little weight and that the claim itself serves to expose the paranoia common with conspiracy theorists. In any case, it's worth noting that the term "conspiracy" itself well predates the term "conspiracy theory," which point illustrates the fact that conspiracy is and long has been a very real human behavior, while the legitimacy of the very recent concept of "conspiracy theory" remains much more open to debate.^{[citation needed]} A similar complication occurs for terms such as UFO, which literally means "unidentified flying object" but connotes alien spacecraft, a concept also associated with some conspiracy theories, and thus possessing a certain social stigma.

The term "conspiracy theory" is itself the object of a type of conspiracy theory, which argues that those using the term are manipulating their audience to disregard the topic under discussion, either in a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth, or as dupes of more deliberate conspirators.^{[citation needed]}

When conspiracy theories are offered as official claims (e.g. originating from a governmental authority, such as an intelligence agency) they are not usually considered as conspiracy theories. For example, certain activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee may be considered to have been an official attempt to promote a conspiracy theory, yet its claims are seldom referred to as such.^{[citation needed]}

Further difficulties arise from ambiguity regarding the term theory. In popular usage, this term is often used to refer to unfounded or weakly-based speculation, leading to the idea that "It's not a conspiracy theory if it's actually true".^[17]

Verified conspiracies

• The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, about which NSA reports "[The firing of the first three shots by the Maddox] was never reported by the Johnson administration, which insisted that the Vietnamese boats fired first."^[18]
  • The French government's attempted cover-up following Emile Zola's accusations in the Dreyfus Affair
  • The efforts by the Tsar's secret police to foment anti-Semitism by presenting The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as an authentic text.^[19]
    • the MKULTRA mind control program

    Some argue that the reality of such conspiracies should caution against any casual dismissal of conspiracy theory. Many authors and publishers, such as Robert Anton Wilson and Disinfo, use proven conspiracies as evidence of what a secret plot can accomplish. In doing so, they demonstrate that the label "conspiracy theory" does not necessarily indicate that a theory is false. Theories cited in making this case include those listed above as well as:

    • the Mafia
    • the Business Plot to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933
    • various CIA involvements in overseas coups d'état
    • Operation Northwoods
    • the 1991 Testimony of Nayirah before the US Congress to rally the support of the US public to launch the Gulf War
    • the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male
    • the General Motors streetcar conspiracy
    • the plot by the British Secret Service to destabilize Prime Minister Harold Wilson, among others.^{[citation needed]}
    • the series of incidents in Italy connected to the so called "strategy of tension"
    • Operation Gladio

    These arguments also suggest that interested readers do their own research to come to their own conclusions. This particular suggestion is often missing from conspiracy theories that lack merit.

    The argument is often advanced there cannot be a conspiracy without leakers or whistle blowers. Given the success of the British government in getting thousands of people to keep the ULTRA secret -- and thereby ensuring that no reliable history of World War II could be published until the 1970s -- it is apparent that this is not necessarily a reliable indicator.

    Study of conspiracism

    Belief in conspiracy theories has become a topic of interest for sociologists, psychologists and experts in folklore since at least the 1960s, when the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy eventually provoked an unprecedented public response directed against the official version of the case as expounded in the Report of the Warren Commission.

    Psychological origins

    According to some psychologists, a person who believes in one conspiracy theory tends to believe in others; a person who does not believe in one conspiracy theory tends not to believe another.^[20] This may be caused by differences in the information upon which parties rely in formulating their conclusions.

    Psychologists believe that the search for meaningfulness is common in conspiracism and the development of conspiracy theories, and may be powerful enough alone to lead to the first formulating of the idea^{[citation needed]}. Once cognized, confirmation bias and avoidance of cognitive dissonance may reinforce the belief. In a context where a conspiracy theory has become popular within a social group, communal reinforcement may equally play a part.

    Some research carried out at the University of Kent, UK suggests people may be influenced by conspiracy theories without being aware that their attitudes have changed. After reading popular conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, participants in this study correctly estimated how much their peers' attitudes had changed, but significantly underestimated how much their own attitudes had changed to become more in favour of the conspiracy theories. The authors conclude that conspiracy theories may therefore have a 'hidden power' to influence people's beliefs.^[21]

    Projection

    Some historians have pointed out the element of psychological projection in conspiracism; that is, the attribution to the supposed "conspirators" of undesirable characteristics of the self. Richard Hofstadter, in his essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, stated that:

    ...it is hard to resist the conclusion that this enemy is on many counts the projection of the self; both the ideal and the unacceptable aspects of the self are attributed to him. The enemy may be the cosmopolitan intellectual, but the paranoid will outdo him in the apparatus of scholarship... the Ku Klux Klan imitated Catholicism to the point of donning priestly vestments, developing an elaborate ritual and an equally elaborate hierarchy. The John Birch Society emulates Communist cells and quasi-secret operation through "front" groups, and preaches a ruthless prosecution of the ideological war along lines very similar to those it finds in the Communist enemy. Spokesmen of the various fundamentalist anti-Communist "crusades" openly express their admiration for the dedication and discipline the Communist cause calls forth.

    Hofstadter also noted that "sexual freedom" is a vice frequently attributed to the conspiracist's target group, noting that "very often the fantasies of true believers reveal strong sadomasochistic outlets, vividly expressed, for example, in the delight of anti-Masons with the cruelty of Masonic punishments."^[22]

    Epistemic bias

    It is possible that certain basic human epistemic biases are projected onto the material under scrutiny. According to one study humans apply a 'rule of thumb' by which we expect a significant event to have a significant cause.^[23] The study offered subjects four versions of events, in which a foreign president was (a) successfully assassinated, (b) wounded but survived, (c) survived with wounds but died of a heart attack at a later date, and (d) was unharmed. Subjects were significantly more likely to suspect conspiracy in the case of the 'major events'—in which the president died—than in the other cases, despite all other evidence available to them being equal.

    Another epistemic 'rule of thumb' that can be misapplied to a mystery involving other humans is cui bono? (who stands to gain?). This sensitivity to the hidden motives of other people might be either an evolved or an encultured feature of human consciousness, but either way it appears to be universal. If the inquirer lacks access to the relevant facts of the case, or if there are structural interests rather than personal motives involved, this method of inquiry will tend to produce a falsely conspiratorial account of an impersonal event^{[citation needed]}. The direct corollary of this epistemic bias in pre-scientific cultures is the tendency to imagine the world in terms of animism. Inanimate objects or substances of significance to humans are fetishised and supposed to harbor benign or malignant spirits.

    The counter to "cui bono?", and a generally useful mind-set when assessing a conspiracy theory, is a corollary of Occam's Razor. "Never attribute to conspiracy what can be set to incompetence." That is, major events are more likely to stem from a person or groups failures and oversights, than from their efforts and planning.

    Clinical psychology

    For relatively rare individuals, an obsessive compulsion to believe, prove or re-tell a conspiracy theory may indicate one or more of several well-understood psychological conditions, and other hypothetical ones: paranoia, denial, schizophrenia, mean world syndrome.^[24]

    Socio-political origins

    Christopher Hitchens represents conspiracy theories as the 'exhaust fumes of democracy', the unavoidable result of a large amount of information circulating among a large number of people. Other social commentators and sociologists argue that conspiracy theories are produced according to variables that may change within a democratic (or other type of) society.

    Conspiratorial accounts can be emotionally satisfying when they place events in a readily-understandable, moral context. The subscriber to the theory is able to assign moral responsibility for an emotionally troubling event or situation to a clearly-conceived group of individuals. Crucially, that group does not include the believer. The believer may then feel excused of any moral or political responsibility for remedying whatever institutional or societal flaw might be the actual source of the dissonance.^[25]

    Where responsible behavior is prevented by social conditions, or is simply beyond the ability of an individual, the conspiracy theory facilitates the emotional discharge or closure that such emotional challenges (after Erving Goffman)^{[citation needed]} require. Like moral panics, conspiracy theories thus occur more frequently within communities that are experiencing social isolation or political dis-empowerment.

    Mark Fenster argues that "just because overarching conspiracy theories are wrong does not mean they are not on to something. Specifically, they ideologically address real structural inequities, and constitute a response to a withering civil society and the concentration of the ownership of the means of production, which together leave the political subject without the ability to be recognized or to signify in the public realm" (1999: 67).

    Sociological historian Holger Herwig found in studying German explanations for the origins of World War I:

    Those events that are most important are hardest to understand, because they attract the greatest attention from myth makers and charlatans.

    This normal process could be diverted by a number of influences. At the level of the individual, pressing psychological needs may influence the process, and certain of our universal mental tools may impose epistemic 'blind spots'. At the group or sociological level, historic factors may make the process of assigning satisfactory meanings more or less problematic.

    Alternatively, conspiracy theories may arise when evidence available in the public record does not correspond with the common or official version of events. In this regard, conspiracy theories may sometimes serve to highlight 'blind spots' in the common or official interpretations of events (Fenster, 1999).

    Disillusionment

    In the late 20th century, falling election participation and declines in other key metrics of social engagement were noted by several observers. For a prominent example, see Robert D. Putnam's Bowling Alone thesis. Those who were most influenced by this period, the so-called "Generation X," are characterized by their cynicism towards traditional institutions and authorities, offering a case example of the context of political dis-empowerment detailed above.

    In that context, a typical individual will tend to be more isolated from the kinds of peer networks that grant access to broad sources of information, and may instinctively distrust any statement or claim made by certain people, media, and other authority-bearing institutions. For some individuals, the consequence may be a tendency to attribute anything bad that happens to the distrusted authority. For example, some people attribute the September 11, 2001 attacks to a conspiracy involving the U.S. government (or disfavored politicians) instead of or along with Islamic terrorists associated with Al-Qaeda (see 9/11 conspiracy theories.) Such charges may also be colored with political motivation. Similar charges (in some circles) were made that the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration was in some way culpable for the Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

    Media tropes

    Media commentators regularly note a tendency in news media and wider culture to understand events through the prism of individual agents, as opposed to more complex structural or institutional accounts.^[26] If this is a true observation, it may be expected that the audience which both demands and consumes this emphasis itself is more receptive to personalized, dramatic accounts of social phenomena.

    A second, perhaps related, media trope is the effort to allocate individual responsibility for negative events. The media have a tendency to start to seek culprits if an event occurs that is of such significance that it does not drop off the news agenda within a few days. Of this trend, it has been said that the concept of a pure accident is no longer permitted in a news item.^[27] Again, if this is a true observation, it may reflect a real change in how the media consumer perceives negative events.

    Political use of conspiracy theories

    In his two volume work The Open Society & Its Enemies, 1938–1943, Popper used the term "conspiracy theory" to criticize the ideologies driving fascism, Nazism and communism. Popper argued that totalitarianism was founded on "conspiracy theories" which drew on imaginary plots driven by paranoid scenarios predicated on tribalism, racism or classism. Popper did not argue against the existence of everyday conspiracies (as incorrectly suggested in much of the later literature). Popper even uses the term "conspiracy" to describe ordinary political activity in the classical Athens of Plato (who was the principal target of his attack in The Open Society & Its Enemies).

    In his critique of Marx and the twentieth century totalitarians, Popper wrote, "I do not wish to imply that conspiracies never happen. On the contrary, they are typical social phenomena."^[28]

    He reiterated his point, "Conspiracies occur, it must be admitted. But the striking fact which, in spite of their occurrence, disproved the conspiracy theory is that few of these conspiracies are ultimately successful. Conspirators rarely consummate their conspiracy."^[29]

    It may be worth noting that this could itself be considered an extraordinary claim, as any truly successful conspiracy might, by virtue of its success, very possibly never become widely known and accepted as ever having occurred.

    Popper proposed the term "the conspiracy theory of society" to criticize the methodology of Marx, Hitler and others whom he deemed to be deluded by "historicism" - the reduction of history to an overt and naive distortion via a crude formulaic analysis usually predicated on an agenda replete with unsound presuppositions.^[30]

    Anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories

    The contemporary form of anti-Semitism is identified in Britannica 1911 as a conspiracy theory serving the self-understanding of the European aristocracy, whose social power waned with the rise of bourgeois society.^[31]

    Antisemitic conspiracy theories have been conceived throughout history. According to Kenneth S. Stern,

    "Historically, Jews have not fared well around conspiracy theories. Such ideas fuel anti-Semitism. The myths that Jews killed Christ, or poisoned wells, or killed Christian children to bake matzo, or "made up" the Holocaust, or plot to control the world, do not succeed each other; rather, the list of anti-Semitic canards gets longer. The militia movement today believes in the conspiracy theory of the Protocols, even if some call it something else and never mention Jews. From the perspective of history, we know that this is the type of climate in which anti-Semitism can grow."^[32]

    Examples of common conspiracy theories

    Main article: List of conspiracy theories

    • Extraterrestrials are being hidden by governments either to preserve public order or as part of a deal between aliens and a secret government. The latter is a major theme of the popular X-Files TV show.
    • 9/11 conspiracy theories, theories claiming US government officials took part in or consciously allowed the September 11, 2001 attacks to get public approval for foreign wars and limits on civil liberties.^[33]
      • The John F. Kennedy assassination was an operation carried out by government officials and not Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone. Oliver Stone's film JFK is based on this premise.
      • The New World Order, theories claiming a powerful and secretive group plans to institute a one-world government.
      • World domination by Jews, one of the oldest extant conspiracy theories (often incorporating various existing or historical secret societies and most major conspiracy theories)
      • The Apollo Moon-Landing Hoax Theory suggests that some or all elements of the Apollo missions were faked by NASA.
      • The theory of satanic ritual abuse, a widespread belief that a conspiracy of child molesters and satanists are engaging in child sexual abuse.
      • The Paul is Dead theory, stating that Paul McCartney of The Beatles died in 1966 and was replaced by a look-alike while clues were hidden in songs and album cover art.

      Conspiracy theories in fiction

      Main article: Conspiracy theories (fictional)

      Because of their dramatic potential, conspiracies are a popular theme in thrillers and science fiction. Complex history is recast as a morality play in which bad people cause bad events, and good people identify and defeat them. Fictional conspiracy theories offer neat, intuitive narratives, in which the conspirators' plot fits closely the dramatic needs of the story's plot. As mentioned above, the cui bono? aspect of conspiracy theories resembles one element of mystery stories: the search for a possibly hidden motive.

      Dr. Strangelove was a 1964 comedy about the incredulity of modern nuclear warfare. The end of the world is precipitated by the delusions of General Jack D. Ripper who happens to be in control of a SAC nuclear air wing. General Ripper believes there is a Communist conspiracy which threatens to "sap and impurify" the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people with fluoridated water.

      Conspiracy Theory is a 1997 thriller about a taxi driver (played by Mel Gibson) who publishes a newsletter in which he discusses what he suspects are government conspiracies, and it turns out that one or more of them are true.

      The X-Files was a popular television show during the 1990s and early 2000s, which followed the investigations of two intrepid FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who were sometimes helped by a group of conspiracy theorists known as The Lone Gunmen. Many of the episodes dealt with a plot for alien invasion overseen by elements of the U.S. government, led by an individual known only as the Cigarette Smoking Man and an even more mysterious international "Syndicate". The famous tag line of the series, "The Truth Is Out There", can be interpreted as reference to the meaning-seeking nature of the genre discussed above.

      Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum is a broad satire on conspiracism in which the characters attempt to construct an all-embracing conspiracy theory starting with the Templars and including the Bavarian Illuminati, the Rosicrucians, hollow Earth enthusiasts, the Cathars, and even the Jesuits.

      See also

      • 9/11 conspiracy theories
      • Assassination
      • Black helicopters
      • Boris III of Bulgaria
      • Espionage
      • Freemasons
      • Government Warehouse
      • Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener
      • Kleptocracy
      • Liberty Lobby (defunct)
      • Yitzhak Rabin assassination conspiracy theories
      • Percy Bysshe Shelley
      • Sovereign Citizen Movement
      • Vatican Secret Archives

      Concepts

      Apophenia Cabal Clustering illusion Consensus Cock-up theory Conspiracy? (the History Channel) Coincidence theory Conspiracy theories (fictional)

      Conspiracy in criminal law Category:Conspiracy theorists List of conspiracy theories Mind Control Paranoia Paranoia (magazine) The Paranoid Style in American Politics

      Conspiracy theorists

      The following people have proposed what are widely regarded as conspiracy theories:

      Art Bell (born 1945) - American founder and longtime host of the paranormal-themed radio program Coast to Coast AM. Peter Beter (1921 - 1987) - American lawyer and author who claimed that world events were being controlled by three factions, the Rockefeller family, the "Bolshevik-Zionist axis," and the Kremlin. Mae Brussell (1922 - 1988) - American conspiracy theorist and radio personality, focusing on the assassination of John F. Kennedy. William Guy Carr(1895 - 1959) - Canadian naval officer and author responsible for creating the American Illuminati demonology." [34] Jack Chick (born 1924) - American publisher of comic book-style tracts, known as Chick Tracts, often depicting conspiracy theories featuring Satan, the Catholic Church, Communists, Muslims, rock musicians, scientists, and politicians, as well as other groups and subjects behind popular entertainment, role-playing games, and other perceived ills of modern culture. James Shelby Downard (1913 - 1998) - American author who perceived occult symbolism, twilight language and synchronicity behind historical events in the 20th century. David Emory - American talk radio host who asserts that an obscure, sinister, organization called the "Underground Reich" maintains the interests of the German industry, banking and finance, which survived World War II as a major part of the global capital elite. Myron C. Fagan (1887 - 1972) - American writer, producer and director for film and theatre, who wrote and produced plays and pamphlets claiming the United Nations was a Communist front for one world government.[35] Francis E. Dec (1926 - 1996) - Disbarred American lawyer from Hempstead, New York who is today known for having in the 1970s and 80s mass-mailed various rambling flyers and rants to randomly selected addressees all across the US, in which he purported to warn the public of an omnipotent machine-entity he referred to as the "World-wide Mad Deadly Communist Gangster Computer God". Des Griffin - American author espousing a right-wing Christian view of global conspiracies and the New World Order. Patrick Haseldine (born 1942) - British diplomat, dismissed by the Thatcher government in 1989 and who subsequently attempted to assemble a dossier of evidence to incriminate South Africa for the Lockerbie bombing. Stanley Hilton - American lawyer who filed a subsequently dismissed $7-billion lawsuit against Bush Administration officials, accusing them of complicity in the September 11, 2001 attacks. Richard Hoagland (born 1945) - American author whose books claim that advanced civilizations exist or once existed on the Moon and Mars, and NASA and the United States government are conspiring to keep this secret. Michael A. Hoffman II (born 1954) - American historian who posits conspiracies about Jewish control of the United States and about the Holocaust. David Icke (born 1952) - British writer and public speaker who claims that the world is ruled by a secret group called the "Global Elite" or "Illuminati," which he has linked to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Alex Jones (radio) Tim LaHaye Lyndon LaRouche G. Edward Griffin Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde Texe Marrs Jordan Maxwell Thierry Meyssan Gary North Roberto Pinotti Lew Rockwell Christopher W. Ruddy John A. Stormer Webster Tarpley Michael Tsarion Robert Anton Wilson Émile Zola (1840 - 1902), published "J'accuse" which described his conspiracy theory which later became known as the Dreyfus affair.

      Notes

      1. ^ Lower, Dr. Gerry (2005-08-02), "Conspiracy Theories" and Cultural Imperatives: The Millennial Conspiracy Driving Cultural Evolution, <http://www.lookingglassnews.org/viewcommentary.php?storyid=49>. Retrieved on {{#iferror:Error: invalid time

          |2008-02-16
         
         

         |Error: invalid time}}
      2. ^ Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, p. 243 (8th ed. 1976).
      3. ^ "20th Century Words" (1999) John Ayto, Oxford University Press, page 15
      4. ^ Plots, paranoia and blame by Peter Knight, BBC News 7 Dec 2006
      5. ^ Daniel Pipes, in Orbis, Winter 1992: "Dealing with Middle Eastern Conspiracy Theories"
      6. ^ Johnson, 1983
      7. ^ Bailyn, Bernard. The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution:. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ASIN: B000NUF6FQ. ISBN 978-0-674-44302-0. 
      8. ^ Mintz, Frank P.. The Liberty Lobby and the American Right: Race, Conspiracy, and Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 4. ISBN 0-313-24393-X. 
      9. ^ Mintz, Frank P.. The Liberty Lobby and the American Right: Race, Conspiracy, and Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 199. ISBN 0-313-24393-X. 
      10. ^ Arendt, Hannah [1953] (1973). The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 
      11. ^ Fenster, Mark [1999]. Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 
      12. ^ Dean, Jodi [1998]. Aliens in America: Conspiracy Cultures from Outerspace to Cyberspace. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. 
      13. ^ Cumings, Bruce [1999]. The Origins of the Korean War, Vol. II, The Roaring of the Cataract, 1947-1950. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 
      14. ^ Berlet, Chip; Lyons, Matthew N. [2000]. Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. New York: Guilford Press. 
      15. ^ Chomsky, Noam (2006-10-06). 9-11: Institutional Analysis vs. Conspiracy Theory. Z Communications. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.
      16. ^ Michael Albert, quoting from Zmagazine. Conspiracy Theory. Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
      17. ^ It’s not a conspiracy theory if it’s actually true. Tall, dark, and mysterious (November 24, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
      18. ^ http://www.nsa.gov/vietnam/releases/relea00012.pdf
      19. ^ Jews and Politics in the Twentieth Century: From the Bund to the Rise of the Nazis. Judaica in the Collections of the Hoover Institution Archives. Hoover Institution, Stanford University (2004). Retrieved on 2006-04-28.
      20. ^ Goertzel (1994). "Belief in Conspiracy Theories". Political Psychology 15: 733-744. Retrieved on 2006-08-07. 
      21. ^ Karen Douglas and Robbie Sutton (in press). "The hidden impact of conspiracy theories: Perceived and actual influence of theories surrounding the death of Princess Diana". Journal of Social Psychology. 
      22. ^ Hofstadter, Richard. The Paranoid Style in American Politics. Harper's Magazine, November 1964, pp. 77-86.
      23. ^ "Who shot the president?," The British Psychological Society, March 18, 2003 (accessed June 7, 2005).
      24. ^ "Top 5 New Diseases: Media Induced Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (MIPTSD)," The New Disease: A Journal of Narrative Pathology 2 (2004), (accessed June 7, 2005).
      25. ^ Vedantam, Shankar. "Born With the Desire to Know the Unknown", The Washington Post, The Washington Post, 2006-06-05, p. A02. Retrieved on 2006-06-07. "Conspiracy theories explain disturbing events or social phenomena in terms of the actions of specific, powerful individuals," said sociologist Theodore Sasson at Middlebury College in Vermont. By providing simple explanations of distressing events — the conspiracy theory in the Arab world, for example, that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were planned by the Israeli Mossad — they deflect responsibility or keep people from acknowledging that tragic events sometimes happen inexplicably."
      26. ^ Ivan Emke, "Agents and Structures: Journalists and the Constraints on AIDS Coverage," Canadian Journal of Communication 25, no. 3 (2000), (accessed June 7, 2005).
      27. ^ "The Blame Game", 6 September 2005. Retrieved on 2007-08-23. 
      28. ^ Extracts from "The Open Society and Its Enemies Volume 2: The High Tide of Prophecy: Hegel, Marx and the Aftermath" by Karl Raimund Popper (Originally published 1945). Lachlan Cranswick, quoting Karl Raimund Popper. Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
      29. ^ Extracts from "The Open Society and Its Enemies Volume 2: The High Tide of Prophecy: Hegel, Marx and the Aftermath" by Karl Raimund Popper (Originally published 1945). Lachlan Cranswick, quoting Karl Raimund Popper. Retrieved on 2007-08-23.
      30. ^ Popper, Karl (1966). The Open Society and Its Enemies. Princeton University Press. 
      31. ^ "Anti-Semitism," 1911 Online Encyclopedia, (accessed June 7, 2005).
      32. ^ Kenneth Stern (1997): A Force upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate. University of Oklahoma Press. p.247
      33. ^ "Half of New Yorkers Believe US Leaders Had Foreknowledge of Impending 9-11 Attacks and “Consciously Failed” To Act; 66% Call For New Probe of Unanswered Questions by Congress or New York’s Attorney General, New Zogby International Poll Revealed", August 30, 2004. Retrieved on 2007-08-23. 
      34. ^ Bill Ellis, Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions, and the Media. University Press of Kentucky, 2000, p. 128
      35. ^ Illuminati, The New World Order & Paranoid Conspiracy Theorists (PCTs). Skeptics Society. Retrieved on 2006-08-13.

      
      

      References

      • American Heritage Dictionary, "Conspiracy theory"
      • Barkun, Michael. 2003. A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-23805-2
      • Chase, Alston. 2003. Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-02002-9
      • Fenster, Mark. 1999. Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 0-8166-3243-X
      • Goldberg, Robert Alan. 2001. Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America. New Haven & London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09000-5
      • Hofstadter, Richard. 1965. The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-674-65461-7
      • Johnson, George 1983. Architects of Fear: Conspiracy Theories and Paranoia in American Politics. Los Angeles: Jeremy P. Tarcher, Inc. ISBN 0-87477-275-3
      • Melley, Timothy. 1999. Empire of Conspiracy: The Culture of Paranoia in Postwar America. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-8606-8
      • Mintz, Frank P. 1985. The Liberty Lobby and the American Right: Race, Conspiracy, and Culture. Westport, CT: Greenwood. ISBN 0-313-24393-X
      • Pipes, Daniel. 1997. Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes from. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-684-87111-4
      • ---. 1998. The Hidden Hand: Middle East Fears of Conspiracy. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-17688-0
      • Popper, Karl R. 1945. The Open Society and Its Enemies. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-01968-1
      • Posner, Gerald. 1993. Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK. New York: The Random House. ISBN 0-385-47446-6
      • Sagan, Carl. 1996. The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. New York: The Random House. ISBN 0-394-53512-X
      • Vankin, Jonathan, and John Whalen. 2004. The 80 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time. New York: Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-2531-2

      Further reading

      • Conspiracism, Political Research Associates
      • Cziesche, Dominik; Jürgen Dahlkamp, Ulrich Fichtner, Ulrich Jaeger, Gunther Latsch, Gisela Leske, Max F. Ruppert (2003). Panoply of the Absurd. Der Spiegel. Der Spiegel. Retrieved on 2006-06-06.
      • Parsons, Charlotte (2001). Why we need conspiracy theories. BBC News - Americas. BBC. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
      • Meigs, James B. (2006). The Conspiracy Industry. Popular Mechanics. Hearst Communications, Inc.. Retrieved on 2006-10-13.
      • (2004) in Barry Coward: Conspiracies and Conspiracy Theory in Early Modern Europe: From the Waldensians to the French Revolution. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 0754635643. 
      • (2003) in Peter Knight: Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia. ABC-Clio. ISBN 1576078124. 
      • West, Harry G. and Todd Sanders (eds) Transparency and Conspiracy: Ethnographies of Suspicion in the New World Order. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0822330240

      Conspiracist literature

      • The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
      • Balsiger, David W. and Charles E. Sellier, Jr. (1977). The Lincoln Conspiracy. Los Angeles: Schick Sun Classic Books. ISBN 1-56849-531-5
      • Bryan, Gerald B.; Talita Paolini, Kenneth Paolini [1940] (2000). Psychic Dictatorship in America. Paolini International LLC. ISBN 0-9666213-1-X. 
      • Cooper, Milton William (1991). Behold a Pale Horse. Light Technology Publications. ISBN 0-929385-22-5. 
      • Icke, David (2004). And the Truth Shall Set You Free: The 21st Century Edition. Bridge of Love. ISBN 0-9538810-5-9. 
      • Levenda, Peter (2005). Sinister Forces: Trilogy. Trine Day. ISBN 0-9752906-2-2. 
      • Marrs, Texe (1996). Project L.U.C.I.D.: The Beast 666 Universal Human Control System. Living Truth Publishers. ISBN 1-884302-02-5. 
      • Tudge, Robin, and James McConnachie (2005). The Rough Guide to Conspiracy Theories. London: Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-445-2
      • Pelley, William Dudley (1950). Star Guests: Design for Mortality. Noblesville, Indiana: Soulcraft Press. 
      • Robertson, Pat (1992). The New World Order. W Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8499-3394-3. 
      • Wilson, Robert Anton (2002). TSOG: The Thing That Ate the Constitution, Tempe, AZ: New Falcon Publications. ISBN 1-56184-169-2
      • Yallop, David A. (1984). In God's Name: An Investigation into the Murder of Pope John Paul I. New York: Bantam Dell Publishing Group. ISBN 0-553-05073-7
      • York, Byron (2005). The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President - and Why They'll Try Even Harder Next Time. New York: Crown Forum. ISBN 1-4000-8238-2
      • Conspiracies, Conspiracy Theories and the Secrets of 9/11, by Mathias Bröckers. Sees conspiracy as a fundamental principle between cooperation and competition. Proposes a new science of "conspirology."

      External links

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      • The Occult Technology of Power
      • The Economics of Conspiracy Theories
      • An Integral Approach to Conspiracy Theory
      • On the hunt for a conspiracy theory, CS Monitor article
      • Top Ten Conspiracy Theories of 2002, from AlterNet.
      • John F. Kennedy Conspiracies
      • 'The Paranoid Style in American Politics' Richard Hofstadter, Harper's 1964 November
      • Skeptic's Dictionary on conspiracy theories
      • The Dynamics of Conspiracism
      • Amir Butler: Our Credibility Problem is a Conspiracy - A discussion of the spread of conspiracy theories in the Muslim community
      • Nonsense (And Why It's So Popular) A course syllabus from The College of Wooster.
      • Conspiracy Theory Discusson Amerikan Konspiracy Discussion - Video Database
      • Jeff Rense Program providing news links to various "conspiracy" related stories Jeff Rense Program - Updated throughout the day.
      • Disclose.tv - largest conspiracy video community on the internet Disclose.tv - New secret videos disclosed every day.

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