![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Conspiracy Theories
Aug. 11th, 2006 11:33 pmAs Damon Wayans' "Homey the Clown" character said, it's a conspiracy. C-O-N ... spiracy.
What interests me about the theories, of course, is not so much their content, but the interplay around them from critics and supporters. An example of what I'm talking about is on display in Ann Althouse's blog.
Most amusing is, of course, the smugness with which they point out the glaringly obvious, an obviousness so glaring, in fact it can only have come from one palce: Hollywood. In case you don't fee like reading the blog entry and associated commentary, let me boil it down for you: The final proof for the nonexistence of a 9/11 government conspiracy is... drumroll... the disaffected college student who has been mainlining crackpot theories and turning his binges into YouTube fodder is, in fact, still alive.
Subtlety and nuance must not be in the commenters' repertoire.
Now, I don't believe there was a government conspiracy to destroy the World Trade Center and Pentagon and who knows what else, just to foment war against "those darn brown people." Of course, there was a conspiracy to commit acts of terror that day... it just happened to be a conspiracy of some disaffected Saudi extremists, not Dubya and his hand-rubbing, gleefully-chuckling cronies. In fact, this morning in between doing some kind of actual work, I read an excellent disassembly of the "Loose Change" video that has been making its rounds through the IntarWebs. (One of my younger brothers even had a link to the video in his away message at one time. Dunno about that kid.)
But that said, the merits of the conspiracy aside, the "because he isn't dead yet" argument lacks imagination and, the smugness with which it is offered points to a real lack of critical thinking in the whole enterprise. I mean, to turn the logic of that argument back on itself, if a government conspiracy that is so flexible, creative, ruthless, imaginative, patient, and cunning as all that were to be found out, what makes you think their first (or even ninth) response to it would be to kill the originator? Isn't that, like, the biggest of red flags that Homey the Clown was right?
Isn't that what thinking people call "creating a martyr"?
So, it's an argument that fails the first test of logic, and yet it's being bandied about by InstaPundit and Ann Althouse and their sycophantic fanboys. (Not that having them is a bad thing; I could go for some myself. Not to mention fangirls.) It's smug, and thoughtless, and just plain dumb.
I mean, I agree with Scalzi that there are more important things to worry about than government conspiracy theories and 36% of Americans are out of their minds to believe in them. But I also think that the theories are outstanding mental exercise, and the perfect practice for when someone does get sneaky. I mean, in theory, the vibrant skeptic community in general is doing just such a thing, honing their skills for when something really can stand up to their Wonder Twin-style combination of skeptical powers.
But it's also another topic on which to demonstrate mindless allegiance to a particular identity or ideology and that, really, has to stop.
What interests me about the theories, of course, is not so much their content, but the interplay around them from critics and supporters. An example of what I'm talking about is on display in Ann Althouse's blog.
Most amusing is, of course, the smugness with which they point out the glaringly obvious, an obviousness so glaring, in fact it can only have come from one palce: Hollywood. In case you don't fee like reading the blog entry and associated commentary, let me boil it down for you: The final proof for the nonexistence of a 9/11 government conspiracy is... drumroll... the disaffected college student who has been mainlining crackpot theories and turning his binges into YouTube fodder is, in fact, still alive.
Subtlety and nuance must not be in the commenters' repertoire.
Now, I don't believe there was a government conspiracy to destroy the World Trade Center and Pentagon and who knows what else, just to foment war against "those darn brown people." Of course, there was a conspiracy to commit acts of terror that day... it just happened to be a conspiracy of some disaffected Saudi extremists, not Dubya and his hand-rubbing, gleefully-chuckling cronies. In fact, this morning in between doing some kind of actual work, I read an excellent disassembly of the "Loose Change" video that has been making its rounds through the IntarWebs. (One of my younger brothers even had a link to the video in his away message at one time. Dunno about that kid.)
But that said, the merits of the conspiracy aside, the "because he isn't dead yet" argument lacks imagination and, the smugness with which it is offered points to a real lack of critical thinking in the whole enterprise. I mean, to turn the logic of that argument back on itself, if a government conspiracy that is so flexible, creative, ruthless, imaginative, patient, and cunning as all that were to be found out, what makes you think their first (or even ninth) response to it would be to kill the originator? Isn't that, like, the biggest of red flags that Homey the Clown was right?
Isn't that what thinking people call "creating a martyr"?
So, it's an argument that fails the first test of logic, and yet it's being bandied about by InstaPundit and Ann Althouse and their sycophantic fanboys. (Not that having them is a bad thing; I could go for some myself. Not to mention fangirls.) It's smug, and thoughtless, and just plain dumb.
I mean, I agree with Scalzi that there are more important things to worry about than government conspiracy theories and 36% of Americans are out of their minds to believe in them. But I also think that the theories are outstanding mental exercise, and the perfect practice for when someone does get sneaky. I mean, in theory, the vibrant skeptic community in general is doing just such a thing, honing their skills for when something really can stand up to their Wonder Twin-style combination of skeptical powers.
But it's also another topic on which to demonstrate mindless allegiance to a particular identity or ideology and that, really, has to stop.