WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION:

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

--- Kevin Walsh, NACAZAI Editor

Conspiracy theories are spread to hinder our critical thinking skills, our ability to analyze the situation objectively, and our ability to discern real dangers from false dangers and to discern relevant issues from irrelevant issues. Conspiracy theories usually take advantage of the distrust of authority figures many of us justifiably have. Government officials have been shown to be dishonest in the past, so it is easy for us to believe rumors of a cover-up or falsification by the government on any of a number of issues. Scientists, engineers, physicians, and other intellectuals have often acted as prostitutes for the establishment, knowing who is the source of their grant money and salaries, so it is easy enough for us to disbelieve that which they represent as scientific truth and fall for pseudoscience promoted by demagogues who claim to be revolutionary. We are all brought up to revere certain historical figures and institutions, whether or not they are worthy of that reverence, so if something went awry regarding that figure, we are often prone to believe conspiracy theories that tend to either vindicate that figure and show a corrupt establishment connived against him. Sometimes a conspiracy theory will point out a danger that is real but blow it out of proportion completely, so that people obsess over that minor danger and forget far greater dangers.

The John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories are an example of obsession with the irrelevant and promotion of the cult of an unworthy person. Kennedy was a truly evil man who nearly started World War III. There was very little good about him, and people need to dispense with that intellectual baggage. Whether or not Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone assassin or even had anything to do with it is completely irrelevant. If he did it, he was a national hero; if he didn't, then the two shooters on the grassy knoll or whoever else may have been involved were national heroes. They should have our gratitude in their anonymity, and that should be the end of the matter.

The 9/11 conspiracy theories are a more recent type of institution or person conspiracy theory, and it rests on the erroneous assumption that there was anything wrong with the September Martyrdoms. Most of those in the Pentagon and the Trade Center were guilty of the crimes of imperialism, and those few who weren't were an acceptable level of collateral damage. The institutions themselves were certainly worthy of destruction. It boggles the mind that anyone would think that paid government agents would take action that would certainly result in their own deaths (i.e. piloting aircraft into buildings). Only the most dedicated and genuine anti-imperialists would do such a thing.

The chemtrails conspiracy theory is an example of a lack of confidence in our institutions to the point of extreme illogic. It posits the notion that contrails actually contain deadly chemicals which are spread as part of a genocidal plot by the government and the military. Of course if this went on for very long, we would soon be showing symptoms of something, but what is even more incredible is that a government would want to destroy its own tax base or that any military officer could be persuaded to do something that would kill everyone, even his own relatives and friends.

There is the food poisoning conspiracy theory that claims that recent outbreaks of food poisoning are a genocidal plot. Of course, if you look at the statistics, only a small number of people have actually died from these outbreaks out of a population of 300 millions. This is not a desirable situation, but genocide is made of sterner stuff, and one is still more likely to die in a traffic accident or some other mundane cause than from food poisoning. This conspiracy theory distracts people from a far more likely cause: That globalism and free trade might cause the importation of third world hygene standards.

There is the conspiracy theory that vaccines are a genocidal plot to poison us and that vaccines cause autism. Vaccines have demonstrably saved hundreds of millions of lives over the course of human history from the first smallpox vaccine in the 18th Century to the present. If autism is being diagnosed more frequently, the diagnosis criteria are often very subjective, and it is still a rare disorder. No link between autism and vaccines has been found.

The world is not run by conspiracies. Secrets that large are just too hard to keep. The crimes of imperialism are committed in plain view. Let us remain focused on those crimes and analyze them objectively and critically, so that we can better resist them.