From “The Enigmas of History”
“There are several reasons for our fascination with the world of conspiracies. For one thing we live in an ‘information age’. We are constantly bombarded with news from a wide range of sources, which can be extremely difficult to collate and place within an easily understandable and consistent frame of reference. For many people this results in a feeling of powerlessness, of a constant low-level unease in the face of monumental or even sinister events. A belief in conspiracy theories can provide us with a partial (albeit illusory) empowerment allowing us to feel that we know what is really happening in the world; that, while we may be the pawns of people and forces we cannot control, at least we are not unwitting pawns.” P. 287

There is a discussion thread on olo at this time titled: “Does Israel Control the USA?” The question indicates a conspiratorial turn of mind. It assumes a small country and a group of people might control a much larger country and many more people. Jews have been the subject of many conspiracy theories, and ,if they continue to exist, will probably be the subject of many more.

On this thread proponents of the 9/11 conspiracy theory emerged. They insist they have the truth of the matter.

I am frightened by such people. I am frightened by the possibility that they may enlist others to believe their fantasies with horrible consequences. It has happened before.

I do not believe the expression of their views should be curtailed. There sometimes are actual conspiracies, and we must allow questioning of any account so actual conspiracies will be uncovered.
I have the opinion that the afore mentioned thread and the 9/11 conspiracy theories are paranoid fantasies and not plausible. However, I am posting this to open a discussion on the matter of judging whether assertions are or are not plausible.

Dear David F.,

I'm sorry that you're worried about conspiracy
theories. History is full of them and I guess
always will be. I've never taken them seriously,
perhaps I should. As you pointed out some of them
do turn out to be real. Although I'm reminded of
the old adage, "If at first you don't succeed,
blame a minority!"

In today's world I guess the reason conspiracy
theories exist is because real, hard, factual
investigative reporting has decreased. Most of
the news that we appear to get is what sells.
The National News Stories appear more like
Supermarket Tabloid Journalism. And conspiracy
theories appear to fill the vacuum by stimulating
debate and investigation on topics that major news
outlets ignore. What's plausible? I guess each of
us needs to judge that for ourselves. Although I must
confess that the thread that you refer to I found
totally implausible.

Sam Harris wrote in "The End of Faith." :

"The danger of religious faith is that it
allows otherwise normal human beings to
reap the fruits of madness and consider
them 'holy.' Because each new generation
of children is taught that religious
propositions need not be justified in the way
that all others must, civilization is still
besieged by the armies of the preposterous.
We are, even now, killing ourselves over
ancient literature. Who would have thought
something so tragically absurd could be
possible?"

Richard Dawkins asks:

" By contract, why would anyone go to war for
the sake of an absence of belief?"

The conspiracy theorists I feel have
a void in their lives that they're trying to fill.
And they will go to great lengths to find so called
"facts" that will confirm their theories.
Lunatic asylums used to be full of such people.
I'm not sure if these asylums still exist today.
The internet has filled a space for many of these
people. As we all know!

David... there are much better ways of describing events often called 'conspiracy' theories.

For example. The Italian Mafia is in fact a group of people with a common background/language/race/culture who engage in activities which make them rich and powerful.

This is why it is legitimate to describe them as 'Italian Mafia'

Just so, we have the Tamil Tigers, tied together by the same things.

We could even have a "Jewish Mafia" and if it proves to be the case that there is a network of Jewish people working together (loosely or tightly) for their own benefit.. it would be right to describe them that way.

In none of those cases does it tar the whole race with the same brush.

Not ALL Italians are 'mafia'..not ALL Tamils are LTTE and not ALL Jews are Jewish Mafia.

I have a bit of a theory of a loosely linked set people who share a set of ideas.. we call them 'Political Parties' and they conspire all the time to get power.

See if you can link these people and identify which things (structures/ideologies) connect them ?

George Soros (Democracy Alliance)
Maurice Strong (UN climate change Earth summit Kyoto Accord architect, usually in China these days)
Franco Bernabe (Petroleum China, Tianjin Climate exchange) Vice Chairman of Rothschild Europe.
Al Gore Generation Investments Management PLC

That would be interesting :

I enjoy conspiracy theories and theorists. They are entertaining and all, but most of all I like it that there are people able to question and criticize (though of course usually absurd criticisms). It's an indication of our relative freedom. That's why they don't frighten me.

They also do us a service in nit-picking all sorts of events and information. Maybe that helps keep us a little safer generally. I suspect there is truth to some theories too.

One of the things I still find puzzling though is why people who are theorists distrust their own governments. It's interesting that they rarely (perhaps never) work out all the sneaky manoeuvrings and possibilities - and consider that powers elsewhere might have dunnit.

Anyway, I am not sure but I think it was Pericles who once showed this site. I was in tears of laughter and kept it bookmarked:

http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=911_morons

The problem is that the two words "conspiracy" and "theory" are always traditionally put together but may not always be the case.

I have a theory that I may win Lotto one day. If I never buy a ticket, it remains a theory. However, as soon as I buy a ticket it's no longer a theory but a distinct possibility - remote but still a possibility.

All you need is one piece of contrary evidence that doesn't fit the official explanation. That doesn't automatically prove an alternate version but it's where the conspiracy idea gets validated.

The problem I have with things like 911 is that there are still so many unexplained things that remain outside the official version. Many can easily be resolved by officials but for some reason the authorities stonewall so this gives oxygen to the suspicious. In this case the unfortunate(?) release of the Northwoods document provided evidence that Governments are more than capable of conspiracies on a grand scale.

Likewise, there are a multitude of Net sites, most of which seem to be created for deliberate dis-information. Put in all the usual items but add a few crazy links or obvious lies and you automatically discredit everything else.

Nevertheless it will never go away. It's been 40+ years and there is still doubt over the assassination of JFK and there is much more here than one fuzzy piece of movie film.

In my view conspiracy's [ why do we put theory's in?]are becoming conspiracy's.
Maybe they always have been Hitlers Nazi Germany ran a hate the Jews thing based on a book that a manufactured to? get people to hate Jews.
Even now that book, invented and untrue drives whole people to hate them.
Hiding guilt so very often is why conspiracy's start, after a while some of the first inventors need not help it along the very people who complain about lies spread them without knowing.
I too fear conspiracy's ,Joseph Goebbels may not have been the first to invent them, but he used them.
And today we have at any time a thick fog of lies covering the truth.