[lbo-talk] meat for 9/11 conspiracists]

[Charles Brown]

From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>


>But how does one explain the vibrancy and the appeal that 
>conspiracism has had for many on the left and among progressive 
>circles in recent years?

It's a lot easier than dealing with the complexity of real life - the 
complicated ways that classes and institutions work, the role of 
contingency and chance, etc. It provides a highly simplified way of 
understanding the world - a small group of omniscient and almighty 
people run things, and the rest of us are mere pawns. Of course, if 
they're omniscient and almighty, there's little we can do to resist 
them (though you gotta wonder how the conspiriacy theorists have 
managed to figure it all out). So it's really a counsel of despair, 
as I believe Brad DeLong once described neoliberalism.

^^^^^^
CB: But you are not saying anybody on this list takes this approach, are you
?