-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.trufax.org/paradigm/conspiracy.html <A HREF="http://www.trufax.org/paradigm/conspiracy.html">When Is A Conspiracy Not a Conspiracy? </A> ----- When Is A Conspiracy Not a Conspiracy? When Some Authority Says So � 1999 Denise Breton and Christopher Largent The backdrop of the rant: It�s the evening of June 8, 1999, and we�ve just watched the Bill Moyers PBS special, "Free Speech for Sale." Yes, valid issues were raised and interesting points made about the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (in which an estimated $70 billion worth of publicly owned airspace�the so-called digital spectrum�was given away to big corporations). But what got our goat was an exchange between Bill Moyers and Dean Alger, the author of Megamedia. Having laid out the facts that (a) megacompanies buy out other megacompanies and (b) have interlocking ownership of smaller companies (interlocking boards weren�t mentioned, though), Bill Moyers concluded (rightly) that (1) not only do fewer and fewer companies own more and more media sources, but (2) since their ownerships overlap, they don�t compete with each other. Quite the contrary, they�re on each other�s teams. He even had a clever graphic showing these few megacompanies� symbols all crowding together, like some chummy club. But because what�s owned here are newspapers, publishing companies, television and radio stations, the public never hears about all of this. And if stories arise that threaten the profits of any one of these interlocking companies, those stories don�t get reported. The chummy club really knows how to keep a secret. (It�s amazing there�s anything to report on the news.) Having laid out this monopolist�s dream, Bill Moyers then posed a leading question to Dean Alger to the effect that this situation doesn�t imply some conspiracy, does it? To which Alger replied, "There doesn�t have to be a deep, dark conspiracy..." behind this "age-old problem" of certain people trying to amass wealth and power at the public�s expense. Now, let�s see if we get this straight. A few companies (the chummy club crowd) amass more and more wealth by using their already existing wealth to steal $70 billion from the public and use their control of the media to make sure the public doesn�t hear about it. It�s a theft pulled off by a colluding few that remains a secret. But it�s not a conspiracy. The people who run these megacompanies are just, well, greedy. And this concentration of ownership just, well, happened (probably a new step in Darwinian evolution or something). After all, it�s cost effective for these companies. If you own the media reporting on you, then who needs to spend money on PR firms? We can�t tell you how relieved we are to hear this. It�s as if someone rides into your neighborhood with huge weapons, steals your home, and pushes you out of the neighborhood, then tells you it�s not an invasion, you can feel relieved. "Well, I may have been driven out by these big weapons and lost everything, but thank God it wasn�t an invasion." So a cabal of megacorporations may scheme behind our backs and use their influence to get more power and use this particular power to further enslave our minds while picking our pockets, but thank God it�s not a conspiracy. These people are just in the age-old game of going after more wealth and power. Doesn�t that make you feel better? The subtext here is pretty clear: we just have a problem with a few greedy folks. There�s nothing more serious than that going on. So don�t think any more about it. This greed stuff has been going on for centuries, and look, we�re all still here. Forget all those people who tell you to look more deeply. Forget that you have ears that can hear, eyes that can see, and a mind that thinks. Just hear, see, and think what we tell you�"all the news that�s fit to print." We�ll even tell you about the bad stuff, and see, it�s not that monstrous after all, is it? We can tell you where to file it in your mind (under "greed"). So just listen to this program, discuss it with a few friends, maybe read a book about it (especially the ones we mention on our show), and then go back to your life. We�ll continue to run the world for you. After all, there�s nothing you can really do to stop us (another recurring message in the show, delivered with all seriousness and concern, but delivered nonetheless). Now, we don�t pretend to know what Bill Moyers� intentions are in a program such as this. But we do know the impact the program has on us, and it looks suspiciously like being led down yet another proverbial garden path. So the conclusion of our rant is this: if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it won�t turn into an eagle by Bill Moyers or Dean Alger saying it�s not a duck: "There�s no conspiracy here!" With our thanks to Merriam-Webster�s 1998 Collegiate Dictionary, we�ll close with a few dictionary definitions: Conspiracy: 1) the act of conspiring together; 2a) an agreement among conspirators; 2b) a group of conspirators Conspirator: one that conspires: plotter Conspire: plot, contrive 1a) to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or an act which becomes unlawful as a result of the secret agreement; 1b) scheme; 2) to act in harmony toward a common end Conspiration: 1) the act or action of plotting or secretly combining; 2) a joint effort toward a particular end Conspiracy of silence: a secret agreement to keep silent about an occurrence, situation, or subject especially in order to promote or protect selfish interests. Responses to the Above : Steve Lehman: You're right on target with the rant. And the REALLY scary part is that Bill Moyers is supposed to be one of the GOOD guys. Yet his interest in defending some large measure of our perceptual status quo (which has, after all, been pretty good to him) overrides his journalistic impulse to dig for the truth, and pulls him up short just at the most critical point, the point where he's ready to take the leap to root causes. I particularly like your invasion analogy. It IS about being told how to mentally categorize experience. And of course it's the same idea you discuss in the "How We Respond to Pain" essay: FIRST, "it's not really pain"; SECOND, "okay it's pain, but it's no big deal, it'll go away"; THIRD, "okay, it's pain, and it does hurt, but if you just go to the mall and buy some stuff (take a pill, watch TV, drink a quart of Vodka) it'll feel better"; and FINALLY, "okay, it's pain, and it's bad, and let that be a lesson to you--if you continue to misbehave and ask questions and try to make sense of things, then you're just getting what you deserve." FIRST, "it's not a conspiracy"; SECOND, "okay, it's kind of a conspiracy, but not really--it's just greed"; THIRD, "okay it's technically a conspiracy, but nobody's meeting in smoke-filled rooms or Swiss chalets plotting all this out, it just sort of happens naturally"; and FOURTH, "okay, it's a conspiracy, but it's so big you can't possibly do anything about it, so go to the mall, have a martini, etc." Corporate America uses this progression every day, and if you persist in discussing the pain or the conspiracy or the fundamental lack of integrity in the process or the self-destructive nature of our behavior, they just shake their heads and give you your walking papers, because you obviously just don't have the right stuff to work for such a dynamic, high-powered, positive-thinking, progressive enterprise as (fill in the blank). Links to Related Material : Truth By Decree ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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