hi all. whats new with you? man the turnover seems really high on this site sometimes... but Ive also noticed, nothing at all happens unless you post. then everything happens!! so, once again, I post therefore I am..
todays topic, Conspiracy 101. it really does amaze me how people talk about conspiracies as if they are some kind of weird, exotic occurrence. any serious, or even casual student of history would understand that they are quite frequent. you get several major ones per decade, on average, and maybe more depending on who's president, haha.
but, our educational system is partly to blame. it fails to communicate basic concepts. the educational system is neither designed nor intended to cultivate critical thinking students. "the purpose of education is not to create intelligent students, but to create obedient workers". I forget who said that. big bonus points to whoever can trace the quote.
oh well, I did create this blog partly out of a spirit of public service. you know, the same thing that motivated obama to run for prez of the US. we're all alike in some ways right?
william gibson, one of the great cyberspace writers, semifamously said "the future is already here, its just not evenly distributed". a similar concept applies to conspiracies. there are undiscovered conspiracies already taking place right now, they just havent "reached maturity" (accidental or deliberate disclosure) yet.
the concept of conspiracy is similar to that of gradients. it is possible to keep information secret, and various structures exist to do so, such as corporate secrecy, military compartmentalization, intelligence agency techniques, terrorist plotter cells, etcetera. however, all methods are imperfect; news inevitably leaks, and more so in the cyberspace age.
so these structures exist to try to create a membrane or decrease the rate of flow of information. ie, create high gradients of information centralization, isolation, containment. a sort of "info discontinuity" where you go from no information to full information, or something in between.
defined in this way, a conspiracy is just some major planned operation or objective that hasnt been exposed yet. typically a criminally oriented one, but I tend to define the term a little more liberally.
defined in this way, conspiracies are rampant and almost natural occurrences, even ubiquitous.
another major problem with conspiracy is the tendency to Move the Goalposts. you hear about some conspiracy and then say, "oh, that cant be a conspiracy because I heard about it. other people know about it". but this is a basic rejection of the reality of information dissemination.
we have the tendency to think that what we know now is real, and previous history was not real. but there was a previous, real history in which we did not know [x]. people have a hard time remembering that they didnt know something, so to speak. [now Im starting to sound a little like Moonbeam Rumsfield with his known knowns and known unknowns or whatever...]
heres the bad news. [the previous stuff is just pablum.] conspiracies are much easier to carry out if the public is fat and lazy, in their bodies and minds. obesity of body and mind. psychological obesity.
so, sit on your couch and watch tv every night, mentally live in the hollywood fantasy world, while those you entrust with your tax money, savings and pensions go off on military adventures, invest in bizarre/corrupt "financial innovation", or invest in get rich quick/ponzi schemes formerly known as Mortgage Pools or Collateral Debt Obligations (I can feel your eyes glazing over right now!).
speaking of hollywood, of course it has its own stereotypes. there are many conspiracies in the movies. how about that famous one in Star Wars where luke skywalker blows up the death star in his xwing fighter?? then theres mel gibson & julia roberts. loved that movie, and I felt it was a breakthrough for hollywood even though gibson came across as a near-schizophrenic.
then theres the latest 2012 incarnation with woody harrelson, who goes out in a blaze of glory.... so all you ladies out there, wondering what I look like, just picture me as a cross between mel gibson and woody harrelson... =)
of course, I could yammer on endlessly on this topic, but Ill keep it brief today. have much more important things to do. I was gonna watch Tila Tequila on dvd. she's hot & cute & bisexual. cant beat that man. did you see her video? all my stripper friends, all my girlfriends, we all want the same thing.. wanna love without gettin burned....
anyway, for those of you who missed out on this basic lesson of History 101, I give you two recent links... Cracked Magazine for the short version and InfoWars for the longer version.
Beam me up scotty, theres no intelligent life down here. --Captain Kirk
7 Insane Conspiracies That Actually Happened
http://www.cracked.com/article_15974_7-insane-conspiracies-that-actually-happened.html
33 Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out To Be True, What Every Person Should Know…
http://www.infowars.com/33-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true-what-every-person-should-know/
World's Greatest Spy Capers
http://photo.newsweek.com/2010/the-worlds-greatest-spy-capers/intro.html?GT1=43002
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Juliet Waters
the traveler
Nocheapshots
Darla Carmichael
Jeanine T. Abraham
Zaki Hasan
Salon.com
Comments
so of the 33 or so listed, which ones do you reject? and why?
"We are grateful to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Time Magazine, and other great publications whose directors have attended our meetings and respected their promises of discretion for almost forty years. It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subject to the bright lights of publicity during these years. But the world is now more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government...
It would have been impossible for us to develop our plan for the world if we had been subjected to the lights of publicity during those years. But, the world is more sophisticated and prepared to march towards a world government. The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries." - David Rockefeller, Speaking in June, 1991 meeting in Baden, Germany
A letter written by FDR to Colonel House, November 21st, 1933
"History records that the money changers have used every form of abuse, intrigue, deceit, and violent means possible to maintain their control over governments by controlling money and its issuance." - James Madison
"Most Americans have no real understanding of the operation of the international money lenders. The accounts of the Federal Reserve System have never been audited. It operates outside the control of Congress and manipulates the credit of the United States." - Barry Goldwater
"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs." - Thomas Jefferson
"You are a den of vipers. I intend to rout you out and by the Eternal God I will rout you out. If the people only understood the rank injustice of our money and banking system, there would be a revolution before morning." - Andrew Jackson, 1828 (I assume just before the assasination attempt on him.)
"The Federal Reserve Bank is nothing but a banking fraud and an unlawful crime against civilization. Why? Because they "create" the money made out of nothing, and our Uncle Sap Government issues their "Federal Reserve Notes" and stamps our Government approval with NO obligation whatever from these Federal Reserve Banks, Individual Banks or National Banks, etc." - H. L. Birum Sr.
"Whosoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce. And when you realize that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate." - James A. Garfield
ah hah, and so why does the bilderberg mtg require strict secrecy enforced with armed guards? I guess they are talking about the latest polo teams or something.
Obama Information Czar Outlined Plan For Government To Infiltrate Conspiracy Groups
http://www.prisonplanet.com/obama-information-czar-outlined-plan-for-government-to-infiltrate-conspiracy-groups.html
p.s. I did just post an article from his website, just because I don't find him to be credible doesn't mean that nothing at his website is accurate.
caracalla conservatively labels conspiracies as whatever the MSM or his own govt tells him is a conspiracy..... way to go!! way to think yourself out of a paper bag!!
I like your response, I haven't mentioned to many folks until recently that I really am not the biggest fan of Alex. I hope his heart is in the right place and it is just some of his tactics that are off putting...
The response I've been getting when I mention to people that Alex Jones is not the most credible person, has been almost 100% universal agreement! Lol...
but-- alex jones fights for what he believes in. which is more than can be said for a lot of blow-dried anchordroids.
"he who does not stand for something will fall for anything"
--MLK!!!
the bernie madoff CONSPIRACY. this operation fit ALL the basic criteria of a conspiracy. it was massive, and was ongoing for maybe half a decade or more. but it was never DESCRIBED in the media as a conspiracy. the SEC never got anywhere close to discovering it either, despite more than one investigation. isnt this phenomenal????
not only that, but once detected, the govt was pretty ineffective in identifying and bringing ALL the players to justice. it seemed that there was some inclination to just put madoff in jail for life, focus on him as the scapegoat, and completely evade more difficult questions like "where is the money" and "who else is complicit"?
but the media prefers to call it a "ponzi" scheme which it was.... however, it doesnt do justice.
;)
You remind me of my brother in law in Ohio who is a computer scientist / conspiracy buff. Does your name begin with "D"?
I find some of the arguments of the 911 truther movement to be interesting (esp the bldg 7 stuff), but I think it's still too much of a cultural hot potato; it is far easy for regular folks to dismiss truthers as crazy nutjobs, the same way JFK & RFK conspiracy buffs were marginalized for many years, because the collective grief of the nation makes it too sensitive a subject. I think some more distance from the events of 2001 will be necessary before most people will take that research seriously. Professionals outside of Hollywood are loathe to "out" themselves as doubters of the official story, because of the stigma associated with the subject. What do the truthers hope to accomplish besides preaching to the choir?
This is not the case with the numerous, more obscure conspiracy theories. So I choose to pick my battles, with the idea that minds may actually be changed in more modest ways, when opportunities present themselves.
And I am always suspicious of Alex Jones, that there is a deeper agenda with some of his work -- for example both he and Beck are on the "sell gold" bandwagon. Jones (like Beck) is a capitalist, and the stories he promotes help sell ads for gold dealers, flouride removal kits, etc. There is a lot of overlap between the Left and Right in conspiracy-land, and I am a little creeped out by those who remind me of the air force colonel (was his name Jack Ripper?) in Dr. Strangelove who was so concerned with his "precious bodily fluids".
Also, why is Jones still around and thriving after all these years if there wasn't some covert way that his work serves the interests of the powers that be? I'm not saying that he is knowingly a tool of the people he seems to attack, but they can manipulate the media in strange ways, i.e. by choosing what to leak to get the dogs on the wrong trail, so to speak. It is hard to know what is reliable and what is not in any high profile media source. The wackier conspiracy theories serve the interests of the conspirators by undermining credibility of the movement, just as violent radicalism undermines the credibility of activist organizations. Much of the UFO stuff is an inside joke in the Air Force -- they periodically leak suggestive documents about just to keep the fires of the imagination stoked, and its all a smokescreen covering up much scarier terrestrial operations.
I think the best way to know if someone is on to something or not is (sadly) how long they live after they publish. Some of my favorite conspiracy books were written by people who subsequently died under mysterious circumstances. The fact that Alex Jones is rich and fat of his journalism career just doesn't jive with my gut.
I picked up on one on the NPT last month : routine demonizing of NPT signatories by the holder of global WMD overkill : U No Hu. Some more to chew over
http://opitslinkfest.blogspot.com/2009/07/perception-alteration.html
think this is a misreading... the web site infowarnews has gotten way better over time & more professional looking (flash plugin! wow! even time mag doesnt have one), but it still looks like a mostly shoestring operation to me, and he's rarely seen outside of narrow channels in the MSM etc.... so yeah, he's not getting shut down by the Police State, but neither is anyone paying him much attn either. in fact, thats the point where he needs to start worrying-- when a lot of ppl start listening to him....
IJ-- yeah, I do think the biggest conspiracies involve people that are killed over preserving the secrecy of the information. there a few cases of that I could cite. I also agree with you about the use of "decoys" or "smokescreens" in which the past becomes so obscured that its impossible to discern truth from fiction. and yeah, I am somewhat giving up hope on 911 ever being exposed even though scientific evidence exists for nanothermite etc.... the trick is to try to be in a better position once the Powers That Be strike again, and make it harder and harder to pull of conspiracies because "the people are watching"....
I believe there are significant conspiracies that will never be revealed due to the "sands of time" problem, but I also think that there is some kind of momentum of information/Truth such that possibly, in part because of cyberspace etc, conspiracies may be more difficult to carry out. and if the public can overcome its Psychological Obesity. there are occasional events where the public does pick up the scent and support aggressive investigations, and the dominos fall.
it is a rare event, rarer than the conspiracies themselves, but it does happen, there are many other cases of conspiracies successfully exposed-- the list of 33 I give, all are basically in this category, although I think they are not *fully* exposed.
so the thing about conspiracies is, to counter them, be like the spider and the fly. cast a web like the spider, make it strong, make it able to catch the fly when it shows up. the spider goes into virtual hibernation sometimes for weeks or months at a time, and can live without anything, and then it wakes up and springs into action when the fly gets caught in the net. 911 is now 8 years ago. imagine the next one. what shape will it take? who will be involved? who are the players? what will they try this time? how will it play out? as I recently wrote, the mutallab incident seems to suggest a recent "shape" or direction....
I am not saying A.J. is corrupt exactly, OR that he is bigger than he is, but he IS a big fish in a small pond; as internet purveyors of conspiracy go, he is Godzilla.
Thus, if you are Uncle Sam, you have to either contain him or destroy him. My feeling he has been contained. He clearly has an audience of enough people that he has lured at least 3 sitting congressmen and one former governor to go onto his show. When people want the "fringe-voters", they use his podium.
Mel Gibson's character's newsletter did not have the same impact as Jones' show by any stretch of the imagination, yet the M.I.B. were willing to "off" his subscribers (admittedly, as fiction it's a different ball of wax).
To the extent that AJ's subject matter and personality are "over the top", he persistently undermines the credibility of his own message. As a hot-headed caricature of a conspiracy nut rather than a model of rational discussion and debate, he is the preferred figurehead for a movement deemed irrational by society at large. The powers that be would rather have AJ piloting the ship of fools than someone with strong credentials and a track record of respectable achievements outside of the "fringe".
The truly dangerous media personalities (from those who are those who operate from positions of power and respect, and then do the unthinkable and expose crimes of the powerful. Case in point -- had Dan Rather not been fired and disgraced for getting too near the truth about G.W.B.'s dereliction of duty during 'Nam, how much furter woul his work have taken him?
Ive been reading AJ ever since his site started. I remember when it was much more low-budget and low-profile... but a much better looking web site does not imply a bigger operation necessarily, it just implies better aesthetics.
I dont know why you think he's "rich"... again, probably a big misrepresentation. you seem to focus on the catch 22 of conspiracies, similar again to what I wrote in the essay. "if Ive heard about it, it cant be a conspiracy." similarly, "if a lot of ppl listen to alex jones, then he must be compromised". AJ is indeed a big fish in the internet ocean, but thats not saying alot. I would guess his name recognition among random americans is still low. he is not really much of a threat to anyone.... seems harmless....
set up a web site like alex jones and expose the real conspiracies that you know exist and are still being silent on. heck, why dont you team up with alex jones? stab all the backs of those who stabbed you in the back. burn all your bridges. imagine what REAL journalism might look like, the uncompromised pull-no-punches type. just do it.
but actually the late nite talk show thing is really a case of the remaining animals fighting over the shrinking watering hole. the pond is getting smaller so to speak. people just dont watch late nite tv as much, nor any tv for that matter. you see this shrinking pool effect all over television right now. a new media system is being born, and we are seeing some of the dying embers of the last establishment structure turning to ashes.