[lbo-talk] The Problem of Conspiracy Theorists at the Anti-War Meeting Yesterday

[Robert Wrubel]

Robert: it depends on how one holds the conspiracy
theory.  I hold it lightly, as one hypothesis among
many.  I also hold the possibility that Al Qaeda
exists,how extensive, unified and effective it is, and
that it did the deed on 9-11, as a hypothesis.  I dont
mind holding a bunch of hypotheses in mind at once,
even incompatible ones, since history will prove most
of them wrong, or will never provide decisive proof of
any of them.
But I agree with what you and most of the respondents
here have said about conspiracy theorists -- they seem
to need simple explanations, and they're irritating in
discussions of complex issues.

--- wrobert at uci.edu wrote:


> Ironically, I had heard about this same meeting from
> a friend of a friend
> and had the same response of despair.  To get to
> this question though,
> conspiracy theory operates on a logic of expressive
> causality.  Rather
> than looking at global capitalism as a complex
> overdetermined disciplinary
> system, blame is placed at the feet of a small group
> of men who are seen
> as being nearly omnipotent.  Conspiracy occurs
> within capitalism, however
> it cannot explain the basic mechanisms of the
> system.  I was just at
> Mayday books (a Mpls radical bookstore) and all the
> people who have worked
> there now buy into this stuff.  I really can't
> understand how people who
> are ostensibly Marxist could buy into this stuff....
> 
>                                 robert wood
> 
> 
> > Yoshie:  why not 9-11 conspiracy theorists?  The
> > anti-war position or movement is multi-layered. 
> The
> > deeper you go with it the more solid your
> opposition
> > should be.  On the most superficial level the
> > Democrats say the war was "mismanaged".  The next
> > level down would be popular demands to bring US
> troops
> > home.  Neither of these levels touch the morality,
> > legality or causes of the war, nor the issue of
> > permanent bases in Iraq, nor the possibility of a
> new
> > war with Iran.  The deepest level is opposition to
> the
> > entire political/economic complex that produces
> wars,
> > and many 9-11 conspiracists are on that level,
> though
> > not all.
> 
> 
> 
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