Dameyo

Madman or voice of reason?

// March 4th, 2009 // Conspiracy Theories, Knowledge

Introduction to Conspiracy Theories

What Franklin actually warned against at the convention was that the US government “can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government, being incapable of any other.”

Writers such as Gore Vidal see this real prophecy being fulfilled in present times and filmmaker, Michael Moor, has given maximum exposure to similar claims. Anti-Americans and anti-Zionism are promoted by academics such as the 1999 Benjamin Franklin Medal winner, Noam Chomsky, who himself is accused of conspiring to deny the Nazi Holocaust with long-time associate Robert Faurisson and fellow neo-Nazis.

Chomsky defined conspiracy theory as the “intellectual equivalent of a four-letter word… used by the people who know that they can’t answer arguments and that they can’t deal with evidence.”

To be a conspiracy theorist is to be paranoid, marginal, crazy and uniformed. No wonder that Mel Gibson played the sterotypical role in the 1997 film, Conspiracy Theory. But to be uniformed is no long the case. Conspiracy theorists can inform themselves and cut through the official disinformation, to arrive at conclusions which dare to confront the orthodox versions of events.

From such theories, real criminal conspiracies are often revealed and the methods if conspiracy theory have become a modern tool in investigative journalism. The failure of the mainstream press to cover such matters, proves to some that it has become corrupted by the other three Estates: the Church, the Aristocracy, and the Capitalists. Investigative journalism and conspiracy theory have now become the Fifth Estate, protecting freedom of thought and freedom of speech.

But how are we to explain the crazier theories taking root? Theories are used in the sciences, and stand a good chance of being proved through rigorous investigation.

Alas, this is not usually the case in theories about conspiracies. Perhaps the problem lies in the use of the word theory. The Germans have a word, Verschworungsmythos, which translates as “Conspiracy Myth” and this more going for it. Perhaps conspiracy world is an updated version of ancient myths where monsters and the gods of Olympus and Valhalla have been replaced by aliens and the Illuminati of Washington and Buckingham Palace.

To some conspiracy theorists, such as David Icke, Benjamin Franklin represents the evil Reptilian aliens form another dimension that have controlled Earth’s history. Is this an example of a “poor person’s cognitive mapping?” Think of this the next time you stare at Franklin’s face on a $100 bill.