Valid Conspiracy Theory

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 10:47 AM 1/13/00 -0500, Charles Brown wrote:
>I was reading an article in the bourgeois media yesterday and it made some
mocking reference to a "conspiracy theory" as an explanation for some media
event. With that it is fully dawning on me that the bourgeois propagandists
have succeeded in selling some of the U.S. left, such as it is and
reflected on this list, on the idea that there are too many conspiracy
theories circulating around as explanations of various public events and
incidents. This came up recently here with all the ostrichlike responses to
the idea that John F. Kennedy was assassinated according to a conspiracy by
the rightwing in the federal government, probably J. Edgar Hoover, etc.
Below is another brief, valid analysis of an actual and important political
conspiracy and assassination right under the noses of the naive "left". 

Charles, everything depends how you define "conspiracy."  If it means any
concerted action that is not totally transparent to th epublic - then yes,
the world is nothing but conspiracy, but the term simply becomes
meaningless - it means most conceivable human action, but none in
particular.  

Even if you narrow your definition to planning and executing actions that
are illegal, you still have a problem.  Is planning bankrupty in case of
adverse business conditions a conspiratorial act?  Is planning an unlawful
demonstration?  Would not revealing important material facts about a
product qualify?

It seems that outside the areas clearly and unambiguously identified as
criminal, such as assassination or subversion of a legally elected
government, the application of the term "conpiracy" is not at all clear.
Moreover, the term has a strong emotive component that often obscures its
meaning - people may reject your argument because of that emotive component
without even considering its substance.  For example, if I hear phrases
like "Jewish or UN conspiracy" or "world government" I simply stop
listening, regardless of what the speaker has to say, because the chances
are that it's bullshit.

Adorno et al. identified propensity toward accepting consipratorial views
of the world as a typical element of "authoritarian personality."  They
link authoritarian personality to the person's tendency to see the world in
terms of personal volition rather than objective principles.  They
attribute that to authoritarian practices in child rearing e.g. when the
child's treatment in the family depends on the whimses of the parents
rather than established principles (i.e. "because I say so" instead of
"because it is the right thing to do.")  I would add that such views are
enforced by charismatic leadership, personality and celebrity cults -often
perpeptrated by the media, especially those targeting the audiences with
lower levels of eductaion (cf. National Enquirer).  


>From that standpoint, conspiratorial beliefs tend to be a part of petty
bourgeois mentality.  

wojtek