The Baha'i Studies Listserv Game theory practically analyses the behaviour of the state and various state actors. We need not look any further. A clear line must be drawn between the evil the state commits, and crackpot conspiracy rubbish.
On Wed, Oct 13, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Gilberto Simpson <[email protected]> wrote: > 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-532652-2252138.e4e5d946abcacf25aa28f5ab2e5fb...@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-532715-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@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]
