Me:
> > overemphasis on neoliberal ideas) and even toward conspiracy theory
> > (that stuff about the Mont Pelerin group). I thought that he was

Sandwichman wrote:
> How is it "conspiracy theory" to point out that specific groups of people
> deliberately and very successfully campaigned for an ideology? Would it be a
> "conspiracy theory" to say that the Bolsheviks were instrumental in the
> course taken by the Russian Revolution?

NO. I did NOT say that he actually presented a "conspiracy theory."
Rather, I said that >>Monbiot _leans too heavily toward_ philosophical
idealism here ... and even toward conspiracy theory (that stuff about
the Mont Pelerin group).<< [emphasis added]

A conspiracy theory would say that the Russian Rev. was caused by
outside agitators, those dern Bolshies. It would ignore the disastrous
results of the Russian Empire's entry into World War 1, the revolts by
sailors, peasants, and workers, etc.  Such a theory would be the polar
opposite of a "structural" or "inevitability" theory which would
ignore human agency entirely.
-- 
Jim Devine / "In the years since the phrase became a cliché, I have
received any number of compliments for my supposed ability to 'think
outside the box.' Actually, it has been a struggle for me to perceive
just what these 'boxes' were — why they were there, why other people
regarded them as important, where their borderlines might be, how to
live safely within and without them." -- Tim Page (THE NEW YORKER,
August 20, 2007).

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