I ran across Connor’s post on the Bohemian Grove earlier this afternoon and watched the two videos (David Gergen and Richard Nixon). I also read the Wikipedia article.
This reminds me of the bit about astronauts never landing on the moon (and I’ll admit that when I heard that, I went to my moon book and the front cover had a picture where everything had a shadow but the flag, which was quite odd), or JFK’s assassination, or Area 51, or the 9/11 internal collapse theory.
Now, I don’t mean that all of these are necessarily in the same class — some may be quite true, others patently false — but they’re all conspiracy theories. Being a lover of stories, I find this sort of thing exciting (like living a movie ;)). But the skeptic in me doesn’t really believe in any of them. The romantic, on the other hand, wants desperately to believe, but reality usually isn’t that cool. :) Truth is not as strange as fiction, most of the time. But that’s why we have fiction, so we can enjoy these alternate worlds where things like that do indeed happen.
Part of me has wondered whether escaping into the world of fiction is bad (irresponsible, etc.). But over the past few years I’ve become quite convinced that reading fiction has helped me a live a fuller life, become a more complete person, and understand other people better. Moderation in all things, I suppose. What do y’all think?
[tags]conspiracy theory, fiction[/tags]
Comments
Yeah, the more you look into some of this stuff, the more it seems like it could make a good fiction thriller novel.. and then you realize.. oh crap, this stuff is real?!
Conspiracy theories should be prayerfully studied, taken with a grain of salt, and definitely talked about with “moderation in all things”. There are too many UFO nutjobs out there that give conspiracy “theories” (or as Benson called them, conspiracy “facts”) a bad name.
P.S. You have the anchor attached (#more-139) on the link to my post, and so people might not see the beginning of it.. might want to take that off so people don’t wonder what the heck is going on :-P
Speaking of fiction and conspiracy theories, I can’t help but recommend the Dan Brown novel generator. Just refresh for instant conspiracy theories!
I have to disagree with you on your assertion that fiction is usually stranger than fact. I tend to find that truth is often far more strange and impossible-sounding than anything we can make up.
Also, my skepticism is what makes conspiracy theories appeal to me, not what makes me discount them–whether or not they’re ultimately true or even plausible, they offer a challenge to the “facts” we too often accept without enough skepticism.
And I don’t think escaping into fiction is at all irresponsible; as long as you can transfer what you learn there into the real world, it can be valuable.
I too love conspiracy theories, for the very reasons you gave. They’re also an interesting study in reasoning–the ways the conspiracy theorists arrive at their conclusions versus the way the general public does and the way conspiracy skeptics do. I haven’t gotten around to doing a study of this yet.
Connor: Fixed. Sorry about that. :) Do you have a reference for that Benson “conspiracy facts” quote? (Just curious.)
Liz: LOL :)
Katherine: Good, I’m glad someone disagreed with me. :) I do think that truth is often not quite as strange as fiction, but sometimes it’s far stranger. And sometimes it’s about the same. So perhaps truth has a wider range? And yet some fiction is just as strange. Hmm…
Anyway, you have an interesting point on skepticism and conspiracy theories. I agree that all too often we accept things wholesale without giving them adequate thought.
Andy: That would be quite a fascinating study. Let me know when you get around to it. :)
Benson’s talk refers specifically to the BoM. Here is the quote:
“Joseph Smith said that the Book of Mormon was the ‘keystone of our religion’ and the ‘most correct’ book on Earth (Doctrinal History of the Church, Vol. 6, p. 56). This most correct book on Earth states that the downfall of two great American civilizations came as a result of secret conspiracies whose desire was to overthrow the freedom of the people. ‘And they have caused the destruction of this people of whom I am now speaking’, says Moroni, ‘and also the destructions of the people of Nephi (Ether 8:21).’ Now undoubtedly Moroni could have pointed out many factors that led to the destruction of the people, but notice how he singled out the secret combinations, just as the Church today could point out many threats to peace, prosperity, and the spread of God’s work, but it has singled out the greatest threat as the godless conspiracy. There is no conspiracy theory in the Book of Mormon–it is a conspiracy fact. Then Moroni speaks to us in this day and says, ‘wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you . . .” (Ezra Taft Benson, CR, April 1972, Ensign, pg. 49-53)
The term “Conspiracy Theory” has been twisted and distorted to be something tantamount to “conspiracy lunacy” or “conspiracy nutcase”. This has been done intentionally to undermine any investigation of the truth. The mainstream media has utilized this doublespeak and and slight of hand so well that most members of the church can’t decipher truth from deception. Ezra T. Benson said that the liberals have made it so that it is unpopular to talk about freedom in our own church. Discussion of the Constitution has been removed from Sunday school lessons and priesthood manuals. We need this kind of dialogue more than ever in the history of our country and church.
Joseph Smith was right when he said there would be …” an apostasy from the original principles that were laid down to preserve basic freedoms” . (William O. Nelson, The Charter of Liberty, Deseret Book Co, pp 1-2)
Also, J. Reuben Clark JR. said that there are wolves amongst us and they wear the habiliments of the priesthood. This couldn’t be more true.
So when speaking of conspiracy we need to understand that the tales coming from the government are merely conspiracies. Much of what we are told is baseless and with no proof or documentation. We only need to go along with whatever is said because all the alphabet intelligence agencies are so omnipotent and omniscient, and they know what is best for us—or do they?
Connor: Thanks for the quote.
D.Lamb: Is everything that comes from the government a conspiracy, then? I find that hard to swallow. One slight problem with polarized positions is that it contributes to the perception of conspiracy theory as the “conspiracy lunacy” you mention. Both the mainstream media and the conspiracy theorists themselves are doing this, interestingly enough.
While I don’t agree with everything the governments of the world do (and I think we’ve got to talk on a global perspective now, since there are more nations than just one :)), I don’t think that all of them (including our own) are wholly evil. There is good and there is bad. A blanket condemnation does no good, methinks.
That doesn’t mean we ignore or brush off the bad that has seeped into the system, of course. I do believe there are secret combinations among us — prophets of the Lord have said as much — but I don’t know to what extent they’ve infiltrated the American system. Perhaps they’re mostly in other countries at the moment; perhaps they are in control of the U.S. government. I don’t know.
What I do know is that any charges of conspiracy need to have hard evidence backing them up if they’re going to make it past the conspiracy lunacy censors. “Much of what we are told” — examples, please? We can’t just label the government as a conspiracy nest and leave it at that. It’s not fair, nor is it good scientific method. And it will convince only a few.
but I don’t know to what extent they’ve infiltrated the American system. Perhaps they’re mostly in other countries at the moment; perhaps they are in control of the U.S. government. I don’t know.
Ben: should you care to learn more about to what extent the infiltration has occurred, I highly recommend either of the books authored by Ken Bowers (who is LDS).
Hmm. It doesn’t seem that my trackback is working. I always thought it was a fickle system anyway. For what it’s worth, if you aren’t sick of hearing from me, I have a few thoughts on the subject (as I always seem to).
http://blog.nucleartoiletpaper.com/sigma/?p=87
Connor: Thanks, I’ll look into them.
Shaun: I have all trackbacks put in a moderation queue, so they won’t appear until I approve them. It’s my only way to fight back against the 30-60 spam comments/trackbacks I get each day. ~sigh~ So no, I wasn’t censoring you. :) Here’s my comment on your post, cross-posted here:
Excellent post, and I have to say that I agree completely. The world has changed, and there’s no reason why a new world order would have to be a bad one (or at least any worse than what we’re currently under). It seems more likely that the secret combinations are small groups like you mention — terrorists and such. I find it hard to believe that there’s a global scheme to take over all the world governments and become Communists or something. More plausible is the simple idea (and it’s probably true) that people and governments are trying to work together to create a more unified world with more peace and less war. Not every government, of course, but many of them. And I’ll stop here because I’m not informed enough to speak intelligently on the matter. :)
Throw in your two cents