Scott: Couldn't agree more, but that doesn't mean those in power don't use conspiratorial methods when they deem it expedient.
Chip: <<Certainly there are conspiracies in history, but history is not controlled by conspiracy, it is shaped by complex forces involving economics, culture, natural events, and random action.>>
Scott: Of course this is true, but conspiracies have and do play a role as instruments of those complex forces. One could substitute the word "elections" for "conspiracies" in your sentence and it would be equally valid - but no one dismisses elections as a part of the process of how state power works etc. (Quickly before the howls of protest - I don't see conspiracies playing anything like the role that elections do, so nah.)
Anyway I guess the answer is no, you don't think they're worth pursuing - fair enough. But you really didn't answer the question as to their existence. In fact you grant that they do.
I've no doubt that the rise in populism also brings with it historically conspiracy theory. Stands to reason, because these are periods when masses are in some kind of turmoil about their situation and questioning the powers that be.
It seems to me that the importance of understanding that conspiracies do happen has to do with puncturing the illusions that people have as to who and how they are controlled and governed. To be sure understanding the class nature of the state is much more important than realizing that the ruling class uses illegal means - but sometimes the latter is helpful prelude to the former.
There are certainly people in the libraries with their heads up their butts trying to find out who killed Kennedy and you're right, they won't find much. (Though I've yet to hear a rational explanation for the "magic bullet.") And I would add, that for those who want to do away with capitalism for a better world, it would be a complete waste of time except maybe to satisfy your curiosity. (There is a whole entertainment industry built on this.)
I would guess that a very significant percentage of people believe that the government and business use illegal and secretly planned ways of manipulation and planning and removing roadblocks. But they have no proof. If they did, however, it would puncture many illusions about the legitimacy of those who rule.
Take an example from Chicago that I always wanted to ask you about. I noticed, at a sit-in I participated in at Dan Rostenkowski's office just after you had left Chicago, that some police officers sported little pins on their collars that did not look to be a regular part of the uniform - for example a skull and cross bones kind of motif on one of them. Very expensive looking small pins. Just before I was arrested I asked one of the officers about it and got a very defensive reaction.
It got me wondering if there are "secret" clubs in the Chicago Police Department. Not enough to pursue it very hard, but just curious. Certainly the presence of secret societies in police departments is nothing new - and does not change their role in the state, nor their tendency towards police brutality etc. - but to the degree that they do exist, if folks knew about them they might be more willing to question how the police operate and they might be more inclined to join a movement for a civilian review board.
Just one example of a conspiracy that was uncovered and did make a splash - Olie North and the Contras - remember that one? The exposure of that conspiracy did have the effect of weakening, for a time, US imperialisms ability to maneuver. Of course they got over it quickly and found new ways - but it's all part of the class struggle - lots of people who got their eyes opened by that event, still have them open today, still count themselves among those who are progressive. Yet the media and some others attacked those who went after the story as conspiracy nuts.
Ditto the story about the CIA and crack. That reporter has been pilloried many places as a conspiracy zealot.
Of course there was that Watergate thing - seemed to have played a role for a time. Even to this day in terms of what people are willing to believe about their government.