Hello Darkness! The Official Blog of Helen Keller

Folks, the Comment Corner is proud to present the following piece posted by myself in the forums here for all to read as part of the ongoing Comment Corner comments on conspiracy theories, their inherent problems and what you, the fanaholic, can do to help insulate the world from their rabid paranoia.

Conspiracy Theory Part II

Once again, conspiracy theorists (CTs) wrap themselves in a quest for the "truth" by establishing an ethos that sets them as the salt of the earth, drawn into a battle against a large sinister Goliath up to nefarious schemes. They employ simple archetypes to explain things: good versus evil, truth versus lies, weak versus the strong with, fuck, the salvation of the world in the balance. The world is reduced to these archetypes as are complex events in the world. A few simple truths which stem from all CTs.

1. Sell emotion first. I don't know how many times I've said this in regards to conspiracy theories but it's arguably the most important point. With regards to the New World Order, the emotion being sold is one of duplicit slavery to the NWO. That is, the average Joe is completely unaware that his free will has been usurped from him and his destiny is now in the hands of an all powerful global government. It's a scary thought and the sophist rhetoric employed appeals to the average Joe.

2. Scare the reader away from primary sources. The next step in establishing conspiracy theory is to render any and all primary sources as tainted, untenable, enemy-filtered or otherwise invalid. In this, the CT will isolate the uninitiated from anything else and then deconstruct their world view, slowly reconstructing it with their own. Consequently, nobody interested in pushing the NWO as real will ever advise a reader to go and check out the UN website or get the minutes from the last General Assembly or request anything from the side being slandered (which would only be fair). Instead, ANYTHING adduced to the contrary of the NWO will be dismissed as tainted, misinformation, disinformation, propoganda or any other buzzword which will result in the wholesale discrediting of a primary source. Then, the CT will deconstruct the reader's world view with sophist rhetorical questions like "Isn't it convenient that..." or "How could ALL of these witnesses be wrong..." or "The government has lied before, what makes you think they wouldn't do it again?" Despite flying in the face of logic, these questions march on. Then, after sufficient doubt has been achieved, the CT will introduce their conspiracy and reconstruct the worldview with such fare as, "The NWO engineered that" or "Such a quick end to the conflict was the work of the NWO" or "Anybody with any knowledge died under mysterious circumstances, who could have the muscle to pull that off? The NWO." Badda-bing badda-boom, you've got yourself a brand new convert.

3. Treat criticism of the theory harshly, the critic harsher. Despite styling themselves as heroes in search of the "truth", no CT will ever incorporate new knowledge into their theory. Contradictory evidence is rashly and harshly dismissed, not countered, despite the contradictory evidence being "true". "Truth" is a moniker, not a goal. If questions as to the veracity of the conspiracy theory continue, then the critic him/herself can be dismissed as a dupe or a plant. The difference between dupe and plant being that the dupe has been taken in by the conspirator's lies, they won't "see" the "truth" or they run from the awesome power of the conspiracy. A plant is somebody from the conspiracy itself spreading confusion, disinformation and other propoganda to discredit the CT.

4. Don't be afraid to recycle discredited evidence. Too often, old information previously used which was discredited can be dusted off after a few years and presented again as fresh new insight into the conspiracy, ready to be debunked again.

5. The "truth" is a moniker, not a goal. Consequently, be prepared for abridged quotes which tell a rather different tale in their full context, both sides of a story will NEVER be presented, the side being slandered will never be sought to clarify anything, conspicuous editing of documents to alter their meaning or intent and passing judgement on complex technical issues with little to no formal education in the area are all commonplace among CTs. Remember, they are there to push their agenda, not discover the "truth."

6. The alleged conspirators are damned if they do and damned if they don't. There is no "win" for somebody alleged to be part of a conspiracy. If there is supposed evidence which inculpates the person/group/organization, it will be repeated ad nauseum from on high by all CTs. If there is evidence which exculpates the person/group/organization, said evidence will be immediately dismissed as a forgery, trickery, disinformation, you get the idea. A common tactic employed by CTs is to highlight discrepencies in testimony between people as evidence of the conspiracy rather than evidence of human error. However...

7. Conspirators are infallible. In the execution of a conspiracy, the most complex plan can be executed with no error by a cast of hundreds or even thousands. The timing is precise, there are no unexpected x-factors confounding the execution, everything can be explained according to a master timetable drafted by the conspirators to account for simply EVERYTHING.