Be a Proud Conspiracy Theorist!
CT thoughts - by SpookyOne
These are some brief thoughts about the use of the term 'Conspiracy Theory', a slur that can freeze people's minds, and why the term itself, as a slur, is stupid. This is about how people's minds generally operate and how thinking about complex, or politically charged issues, often comes down to one's psychology and assumptions - your mental operating filters or programming - rather than simply your 'level of intelligence'.
When it comes to thinking about things in every day life people do so in a very compartmentalised way. The brain is often switched on in a professional setting, where you may be required to engage in various levels of analysis, or critical thought, but this does not translate to the wider world.
In the wider world, to get by, we make a lot of assumptions and take things for granted. We tend to default to our already held assumptions, and authority, so that we are not paralysed by over thinking when it comes to day to day activities. For many this mode of thinking is difficult to set aside when something contrary to what we believe arises.
More than simply a robotic process, one's adherence to this line of thinking is wrapped in emotion.
Rather than objectively evaluating new material as it comes to hand the first reaction of an individual is often one of emotional reluctance, especially if the new material is complex, 'out of left field' (unfamiliar), or politically charged/unpopular.
This psychological reluctance to consider something new can be played upon by critics of the new material when they use emotionally charged terms that discourages others from taking an interest. If someone has declared something a Conspiracy Theory then minds tend to shut down. It does not help that this term has been conflated with mental illness, which is why it's used. However, the very use of such a term is stupid when one actually considers what it means and how our society operates.
The fact of the matter is that in work, and politics, we CONSPIRE to get things done ALL THE TIME.
Things are not run via a democracy. Things are run by small groups of people that make decisions so that certain objectives are fulfilled - so that a particular view/argument, side or group, ultimately 'wins'. In doing so they often keep their discussions confidential and therefore conspire.
Consequently, we must expect any big crime, or organised crime, to be conspiratorial in nature, where we must not exclude the idea that criminals can be operating within trusted areas of society. We've seen plenty of evidence of admitted corruption when it comes to failed corporations, fallen Governments, or rotten institutions in the (recent) past. We must be mindful that we don't take an exceptionalist view of these events - that they can only happen in other countries or in the history books.
The strawman counter argument to the fact of big conspiracies is that 'someone would talk', implying that they cannot exist because they'd all be revealed by insiders, or by those adjacent, speaking out. However, as we know, sometimes the secrecy surrounding a bigger conspiracy does fail - when things collapse - or when we find hard evidence that partly reveals what happened. So we know these kinds of conspiracies do happen.
The big problem, when it comes to insider revelations, is that we are often dealing with murder, huge thefts, and/or powerful individuals and/or captured institutions. In such situations we can expect the truth to be kept hidden. Those involved don't talk because they'd be implicated in committing terrible crimes, where captured institutions (particularly in a Security State) routinely engage in damage control, or where other conspirators would kill anyone that speaks out, including those adjacent of the crime (and where they kill troublesome independent investigators).
It's undeniable that conspiratorial action is common in our world. The Conspiracy Theory slur is dumb. It simply plays upon ideas of wild fantasy and mental illness - it's not reflective of commonly occurring actions that play out all the time, ones we should seriously consider.
The slur is also used in a blanket way and does not delineate between one instance of corruption compared to another. Some claims have more evidence to support them than others. As always, each issue, or point of argument, needs to be evaluated on its own individual merits. Reacting negatively to an issue, without further thought, if someone labels it a Conspiracy Theory, is an emotional reaction, not a rational one.
Power corrupts, and attracts the corrupt. We must be wary of the machinations of those who have made it to high positions in our political structures and institutions. Whatever they do is going to be conspiratorial in nature and they are NOT going to broadcast it to the wider world.
We live in dangerous times. There's signs and warnings of corruption all about us. The world needs people thinking clearly in order to navigate our way out of the chaos and not hoodwinked by psychological misdirection.
[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, September 7, 2024.]
