The Baha'i Studies Listserv I think it is weird when people try to dismiss conspiracy theories as a category. Every claim is either true or false on its own merits. The US government really has performed medical experiments on Blacks and Latinos. The CIA really has worked to overthrow different democratically elected governments (Mossadeq, Arbenz, Allende). There really are organizations (like Skull and Bones, the Carlyle Group, etc.) which manage to bring together powerful people and decision-makers in ways which are not completely public or accountable (or straight-up secret). The RAND corporation really has been advocating that the the US support some kinds of Islam over others in the world.
I agree with you that simplistic binary thinking is a problem but I'm not sure I would say it is a defining property of conspiracy theories. On the one hand you definitely have folks who think that the conflict between Democrats and Republicans is a fight between good and evil. On the other hand, there is probably somebody out there who views world events as the product of a complex, multi-front rivalry between the Reptillians, the Illuminati, the Catholic Church, the Circle of the Black Thorn, the Masons, the Priory of Sion, the Mafia, the Bildebergs, the Rothschilds, the CIA and the elders of Zion. Also you have folks like Chomsky who don't invoke colorful villains with complex competing agendas but basically look at the world with a class perspective and basically look at US foreign policy as being manipulated by wealthy business interests. On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 5:10 PM, Matt Haase <[email protected]> wrote: > The Baha'i Studies Listserv > > Conspiracies do exist in the world. There is evidence and proof to > demonstrate that, but there is a difference between a conspiracy theory, and > a conspiracy theory. The former is about searching for evidence and actual > facts about certain events and situations in order to find the truth, and > the latter is a worldview about how history itself works. Conspiracy > theories view the world as a binary state. There are definite good guys and > definite bad guys. There is no gray area. There is a hidden Elite of evil > souls who want to globalize the world into a totalitarian dictatorship for > different reasons, depending on who is talking. For David Icke, they are > reptilian shapeshifters. For Alex Jones, they are "Nazis and Kabbalists." > For William Cooper, they were "socialists", "ufos" and "New Agers." The > problem with conspiracy theories (the conspiracy theory of history itself), > is that the world isn't that simple. Sometimes things just happen, and there > was no hidden hand orchestrating it or causing it to happen. Conspiracy > theories are also fundamentalist in that they don't allow for any kind of > dissent. If you question someone like Alex Jone's or David Icke's research, > they will just accuse you of "working for the Elites" themselves, and thus > your opinion doesn't count. > > > On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 4:56 PM, Stephen Gray <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> The Baha'i Studies Listserv >> >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_World_Order_(conspiracy_theory) >> >> I remember president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was pointed out as in league with >> George Bush as being parts of an orchestrated plot to take over the world. >> But, the more I looked into it the more plausible it became. >> >> http://www.taroscopes.com/miscellanous-pages/weapons.html >> http://www.taroscopes.com/miscellanous-pages/weapons-additional.html >> >> Any one familiar with quotes of MA? >> >> __________________________________________________ >> You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] >> Unsubscribe: send a blank email to >> mailto:leave-532578-953325.e9a9b042dd227e4657deb0ff0d384...@list.jccc.edu >> Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to >> [email protected] >> Or subscribe: >> http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st >> Baha'i Studies is available through the following: >> Mail - mailto:[email protected] >> Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st >> News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st >> Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] >> New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > __________________________________________________ > You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] > Unsubscribe: send a blank email to > mailto:leave-532593-68452.e157d5dc5efabb63696f251595c88...@list.jccc.edu > Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to > [email protected] > Or subscribe: > http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st > Baha'i Studies is available through the following: > Mail - mailto:[email protected] > Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st > News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st > Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-532652-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
