http://www.questionsquestions.net/documents2/conspiracyphobia.html
Almost as an article of faith, some individuals believe that conspiracies are either kooky fantasies or unimportant aberrations. To be sure, wacko conspiracy theories do exist. There are people who believe that the United States has been invaded by a secret United Nations army equipped with black helicopters, or that the country is secretly controlled by Jews or gays or feminists or black nationalists or communists or extraterrestrial aliens. But it does not logically follow that all conspiracies are imaginary.
Conspiracy is a legitimate concept in law: the collusion of two or more people pursuing illegal means to effect some illegal or immoral end. People go to jail for committing conspiratorial acts. Conspiracies are a matter of public record, and some are of real political significance. The Watergate break-in was a conspiracy, as was the Watergate cover-up, which led to Nixon's downfall. Iran-contra was a conspiracy of immense scope, much of it still uncovered. The savings and loan scandal was described by the Justice Department as "a thousand conspiracies of fraud, theft, and bribery," the greatest financial crime in history.
Conspiracy or Coincidence?
Often the term "conspiracy" is applied dismissively whenever one suggests that people who occupy positions of political and economic power are consciously dedicated to advancing their elite interests. Even when they openly profess their designs, there are those who deny that intent is involved. In 1994, the officers of the Federal Reserve announced they would pursue monetary policies designed to maintain a high level of unemployment in order to safeguard against "overheating" the economy. Like any creditor class, they preferred a deflationary course. When an acquaintance of mine mentioned this to friends, he was greeted skeptically, "Do you think the Fed bankers are deliberately trying to keep people unemployed?" In fact, not only did he think it, it was announced on the financial pages of the press. Still, his friends assumed he was imagining a conspiracy because he ascribed self-interested collusion to powerful people.
At a World Affairs Council meeting in San Francisco, I remarked to a participant that U.S. leaders were pushing hard for the reinstatement of capitalism in the former communist countries. He said, "Do you really think they carry it to that level of conscious intent?" I pointed out it was not a conjecture on my part. They have repeatedly announced their commitment to seeing that "free-market reforms" are introduced in Eastern Europe. Their economic aid is channeled almost exclusively into the private sector. The same policy holds for the monies intended for other countries. Thus, as of the end of 1995, "more than $4.5 million U.S. aid to Haiti has been put on hold because the Aristide government has failed to make progress on a program to privatize state-owned companies" (New York Times 11/25/95).
Those who suffer from conspiracy phobia are fond of saying: "Do you actually think there's a group of people sitting around in a room plotting things?" For some reason that image is assumed to be so patently absurd as to invite only disclaimers. But where else would people of power get together - on park benches or carousels? Indeed, they meet in rooms: corporate boardrooms, Pentagon command rooms, at the Bohemian Grove, in the choice dining rooms at the best restaurants, resorts, hotels, and estates, in the many conference rooms at the White House, the NSA, the CIA, or wherever. And, yes, they consciously plot - though they call it "planning" and "strategizing" - and they do so in great secrecy, often resisting all efforts at public disclosure. No one confabulates and plans more than political and corporate elites and their hired specialists. To make the world safe for those who own it, politically active elements of the owning class have created a national security state that expends billions of dollars and enlists the efforts of vast numbers of people.
Yet there are individuals who ask with patronizing, incredulous smiles, do you really think that the people at the top have secret agendas, are aware of their larger interests, and talk to each other about them? To which I respond, why would they not? This is not to say that every corporate and political elite is actively dedicated to working for the higher circles of power and property. Nor are they infallible or always correct in their assessments and tactics or always immediately aware of how their interests are being affected by new situations. But they are more attuned and more capable of advancing their vast interests than most other social groups.
>From: Shane Taylor <s-t-t at juno.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
>Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Fisk avoiding facts? really?
>Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2003 09:13:05 -0600
>
>cian wrote:
> > The really odd thing about conspiracy theorists, is this
> > childlike belief that every loose end can be tied up, and
> > that contradictory facts/stories are impossible. Instead
> > they dedicate lives fearlessly, and pointlessly, to hammering
> > down every awkward contradiction. It seems like a waste,
> > though I guess no more than any other hobby. It does tend
> > to manifest itself in a more generalised paranoia. I've
> > noticed for instance that acquaintances of mine have seen
> > conspiracies in their personal lives, as well as on a more
> > general scale. Odd.
>
>Indicting the world to exonerate themselves, perhaps?
>
>This is worth reposting:
>
>"A phrase (it often happened when he was exhausted) kept cycling round
>and round, preconsciously, just under the threshold of lip and tongue
>movement: 'Events seem to be ordered into an ominous logic.' It repeated
>itself automatically and Stencil improved on it each time, placing
>emphasis on different words -- 'events _seem_'; 'seem to be _ordered_';
>'_ominous_ logic' -- pronouncing them differently, changing the 'tone of
>voice' from sepulchral to jaunty: round and round and round. Events seem
>to be ordered into an ominous logic. He found paper and pencil and began
>to write the sentence in varying hands and type faces."
>
>-- from _V._ by Thomas Pynchon
>
> > Or howabout: Its odd that the passports were found so easily.
> > Followed by an investigation into how likely that was (without
> > jumping to conclusions in advance).
>
>Like David Corn said of Mike Ruppert: he can't tell the difference
>between evidence and a lead. Actually, it is more like the inability to
>distinguish a _conviction_ from a lead.
>
>-- Shane
>
>
>________________________________________________________________
>The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
>Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
>Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!
>___________________________________
>http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
_________________________________________________________________ Gift-shop online from the comfort of home at MSN Shopping! No crowds, free parking. http://shopping.msn.com