I have previously refered to the world of the conspiracy thoerist and espoused my belief that most thoeries are lacking any evidence that would survive any credible examination. Since then economies and financial institutions have gone belly up leading to the reserection of one of the oldest conspiracies, namely the accusation that there is a jewish banking cartel, by the usual bunch of anto-semites and neo-nazi's spouting the usual crap AND THEY ALL TYPE LARGE CHUNKS OF THEIR RANTS WITH CAPS LOCK ON as if that lends credibility while in no way making them seem even more insaine.
Here's another exhibit on a different topic from the entertaining spEak You’re bRanes site.
When they're not thinly disguised racist drivel, I really enjoy well thought out conspiracy theories. They are interesting thought processes, and for fun I like to make up plausible conspiracy theories for everyday things. For example, if the bus is late, try working out a theory on why this is part of a plot against you by the Illuminati/Martians/NSA/Bilderberg/etc. :)
ReplyDeleteA lot of theories fall down on the evidence as you say, but some of the best ones have a good reason for the lack of credible evidence. Generally those that blame governmental cover-ups can point to the counter-evidence and claim it is deliberate misinformation from those responsible.
Damn, Pandora beat me to the mark on this one with a much more eloquent comment than I had planned for myself. I was also gonna say how fun the conspiracy theories are but I prefer the ones that just are totally off the wall but have been still well thought out. I think that one of the better ones (since Panadora already mentioned the illuminated ones) has got to be The Flying Spaghetti Monster. Gotta love the Pastafarians.
ReplyDeleteIt's surprising the number of folk who refuse to let go of a conspiracy theory - even when it's been thoroughly debunked.
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's anything wrong with taking a different viewpoint on news/history per say, but equally, there comes a point when... well, it just gets all rather silly when there's no evidence and (typically) only a website to back-up these claims.
That said, one online mag I used to follow, on author would deliberately create conspiracy theories around the news for a laugh. He was alarmingly good at it.
ps: FNORD. :-)
I used to work for a foreman who loved to start a rumor at the beginning of a 9 hour shift just so he could see not only how long it took before it came back to him, but how much it evolved in the process.
ReplyDeleteThis was in a relatively closed environment; when you put it out here on the 'net it grows and evolves at a cube rate!
Someday it will be quoted as gospel, most likely by some politician somewhere...
alan
I did think of creating my own and seeing how long it takes to spread. Sadly the real ones floating about are stranger (sometimes as a cover for their prejudice) than any I could make up.
ReplyDeleteAs you say when it gets debunked, the debunker gets added to the conspiracy.