“In Politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, it was planned that way.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt
Conspiracy:
1) An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful or subversive act.
2) A group of conspirators
3) Law. An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.
4) A joining together or acting together, as if by sinister design
And here is another definition by a conspiracy theory debunking author – just for balance.
Conspiracy Theory:
A disturbing, unconventional theory that introduces secret intentions in areas where most have not previously considered that possibility.
Let’s talk about Conspiracy Theorists. You know, wacko, crazy lunatics like Galileo, Copernicus, Darwin, Woodward and Bernstein—People out of touch, out of the mainstream, mocked and ridiculed by their contemporaries for postulating wild and unconventional theories....like Gravity, like the Earth is NOT the center of the Universe, like Judas really was up to no good, like Nixon really did order the break-in to the Democratic headquarters, like the Senate actually can be a dangerous place to visit on the ides of March...if your name is Caesar, like political foes really do put poison in your soup... if your name is Yuschenko, and so forth.
Al Qaeda could meet the definition of a conspiracy theory......Shadowy terrorist networks conspiring in secret to harm, kill, destroy and overtake all Americans or Infidels. Doesn’t mean we have to snicker and sneer at the CIA for creating TTIC to theorize about them. Doesn’t make them wacko conspiracists just because the paper trail may still be thin, or much of the solid evidence incomplete. The FBI, CIA, NSA, TTIC, etc. are professional conspiracy theorists. No one’s laughing at them. They don’t even have a particularly impressive record of being accurate with many of their theories.
On their Most Wanted Terrorists http://www.fbi.bov/mostwanted/terrorists/terbinladen.htm site,
the FBI has yet to list Osama Bin Laden as responsible for September 11th attacks; his last listed crime being the African Embassy bombings...
The evaluation of a conspiracy’s merit or likelihood of existence should be based on logic, evidence, deductive reasoning... and, like any crime – Means, Motive, Opportunity.
A conspiracy is nothing more than a planned deception. Those who choose to believe such things do not exist are denying the course of history and the corruptibility of man.
There are countless examples throughout history of people who were derided in their time for outlandish or eccentric new ideas and theories—only to be vindicated later when they were found to be accurate An overview demonstrates inarguably that there are indeed conspiracies in the world, and that theorizing is in fact a necessary prerequisite to any conceptualizing.
Rene Descartes—“I think; therefore I am”
17th Century Philosopher and Rationalist, Rene Descartes believed strongly that a man should firstly attempt to DOUBT everything-- up until he arrived at the first principles which could NOT be doubted. In Descartes’ era, the new sciences of mathematics and deductive reasoning predominated, heavily influencing Rationalist philosophies. It was a good recipe to prevent being hoodwinked in any case. Healthy doubt and suspicion—when not shrouded in paranoia or irrational fear-- lead to scientific probing, then to trial and error to confirm or dismiss the initial suspicion, eventually resulting in the final outcome.
The rational is what differentiates a delusional conspiracist from a reasoned one. For instance, one can believe in the Iran-Contra Conspiracy without losing any sleep thinking Ollie North is out to destroy you with his evil ray gun. One can believe election technology is in dire need of security improvements and open to vote manipulation without breaking into a sweat of panic that Diebold is plotting to kill you or your family.
For the record—this writer has never been abducted by aliens, photographed UFOs, encountered Big Foot or heard voices telling me to do strange and provocative things. I do not practice Santeria or belong to any cult or secret organizations. I do not think people are spying on me or following me with malicious intentions, even when they are! And it is important here to establish that there’s a tremendous distinction between the sightings of little green men abducting you to their spaceships, and the citing of scientific reports and analyses from Computer and Information Scientists.
In the end, which is worse: The idea of having a few maligned folks snickering at you and calling you names.....Or losing the ideology of a democracy in America that is representative of the people?
If you’re going to be “getting over” anything....get over THAT. The fear of being called a Sore Loser or a Conspiracy Theorist. Don’t get over the fear of having elections left wide open electronically as a free-for-all for anyone who seeks to interfere in democracy. Don’t get over the fact that the appalling lack of security in these systems, now demonstrated time and time again, is still being unheeded, going unheard, and yet unpronounced by a pathetically anemic and ineffectual press.
Get over sticks and stones.
People, both criminal and political and everything in between, do indeed plan, scheme and plot in private to do injurious deeds for their own gain, and to cover their tracks in doing so. The Conspirators.
Others do sense the secret plotting and undermining and attempt to break the case open through study and conjecture. The Theorists.
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.” -Woody Allen
Meet the Rogues’ Gallery:
Galileo & Copernicus—Wild-Eyed Theories?
Galileo & Copernicus both held some radical wild-eyed theories in their day for which they paid dearly. They believed that the earth and the other planets revolved around the sun. Crazy ideas.... So crazy that Copernicus refused to ever publish his works until he was dying, to avoid severe penalty from the Church for committing Heresy. Nearly one century later, Galileo had the dubious advantage of the use of a telescope in his studies, which forced him to recognize the irrefutable fact that the solar system was indeed heliocentric and not geocentric, that the sun did not move, and that the earth did, that the moon reflected the sun’s light, that moons revolved around Jupiter, and many more theories that displeased the Church and Ptolemy’s ghost to no end. Because of these fanatical and revolutionary ideas he held, Galileo was denounced to the Inquisition, imprisoned, and later forced by the Church to recant—to publicly deny that the earth moved. Ever the rebel until the end, it is said that immediately following the issuance of his statement, Galileo muttered under his breath.... ”And yet, it moves.”
The Mafia—A Conspiracy Theory?
Prior to Joseph “Joe” Valachi’s 1963 Congressional testimony acknowledging for the first time the very existence of the Mafia
(La Cosa Nostra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Valachi ), Americans could and did claim that the Mafia itself was nothing more than a Conspiracy Theory....that it didn’t really exist. Former FBI head Hoover called it just that—a Conspiracy theory.
The Valachi testimony however, blew the lid off the mob’s cover, making them no longer invisible to the public eye. Proving they were real.
Queen Elizabeth of England-- Conspiracy Theorist?
After 18 years of plots and threats against Queen Elizabeth of England, she was finally vindicated when her spymaster, Francis Walsingham, at last obtained the proof that was needed to have former Mary Queen of Scots and six co-conspirators executed for having plotted with fellow Catholic advocates to overthrow Elizabeth and rid England of its Protestant Queen by assassinating her. All were found guilty of High Treason. Conversely, nobody sneered or snickered at spymaster Walsingham, he was, instead, respected and appreciated for his skills.
Martin Luther King—Conspiracy Theorist?
The FBI, operating on the theory that Martin Luther King was a communist and fostering other communists in his civil rights movement, began phone tapping and spying on King in 1962. They bugged his home, office, hotel rooms and tracked him everywhere for five full years, seeking to expose his supposed ‘communistic plotting’. Sidetracked, agents veered into King’s private life and marital affairs as well, using reports of extramarital liasons to discredit King. Hoover’s FBI threatened King, claiming they would publicly reveal his private information if he did not cease his civil rights work. King responded to the accusations; “There are as many communists in this Freedom movement as there are Eskimos in Florida.” To which Hoover replied, “Martin Luther King is the most notorious liar in the Country.” We’ll know more in 2027 when the FBI surveillance tapes are unsealed.
Richard Clarke—Conspiracy Theorist?
Al Qaeda are coming, Al Qaeda are coming! The modern era Paul Revere figuratively galloped through the halls of the White House and the National Security Council directly on the heels of George Bush’s Inauguration, sounding the alarm...that was not heeded.
As the Chief Conspiracy Theorist – er, I mean Chief Counter Terror Czar for four administrations, Clarke’s keen instinct and intelligence sources had convinced him that urgent action was needed on Al Qaeda...yesterday. In January of 2001 he wrote Condoleeza Rice—“urgently, underlined urgently” requesting a Cabinet level meeting regarding an impending Al Qaeda attack. He got no Cabinet level meeting, but instead was granted an audience with Pentagon’s then Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, three months later, the following April. Per his interview on 60 Minutes, Clarke had reiterated to the Deputy Secretary the need to pursue UBL and Al Qaeda, to which Wolfowitz replied, “No, no, no, we don’t have to deal with Al Qaeda or Usama Bin Laden, we have to talk about Iraqi terrorism against the US.”
CIA Director George Tenet chimed in during June, July & August of 2001- citing an increase in chatter, also predicting a major attack coming against the US - somewhere-- in the weeks and months ahead Still no Cabinet level meeting or meeting with the President for his chief terrorism advisor. Richard Clarke never got to brief the President on the subject until September 11th. Following the airing of the 60 Minutes program, a ‘senior White House official’ told 60 Minutes that Clarkes’s story amounted to no more than “sour grapes”. The Pentagon also wrote the show to call Clarke’s allegations about Bush and Afghanistan “absurd”.
Intellectuals on The Reich—Conspiracy Theorists?
In his annual New Years Eve speech in 1938, less than one year before the onset of World War II, Joseph Goebbels chided the nation of Germany, telling them that the “so-called intellectuals” who warned of impending crises in Nazi Germany were but a small, weak, deluded faction of the population who’s “carping criticisms focused on laughable trivialities.” It was the original “Girly Men” speech.... He went on to further discredit these intellectuals—why, they didn’t even believe in the “greatness of our national German future” and “they believe that crises and unavoidable tensions” were on the way. For all of their judicious distrust of Hitler, these wary and perceptive citizens were castigated by Goebbels as nothing more than a band of complaining sore losers and “backwards intellectual Philistines”.
Woodward and Bernstein—Conspiracy Theorists
Four months after the now infamous 1972 Watergate break-in, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein penned an article for the Washington Post reporting that the act was indeed part of a massive spying, sabotage campaign--- carried out by Republican operatives on behalf of President Richard Nixon. A conspiracy, if you will. They had already linked the burglars to Nixon’s reelection committee (CREEP) and in the interim were doubted by fellow journalists. Other newspapers at the time had dismissed the story, referring to it only as a “caper”. Despite their thorough research, interviews and evidence brought forth, Carl Bernstein recently stated [at the University of Texas in February, 2005] that people didn’t believe the stories they were writing. Then when television first picked up the story and ran with it....they still didn’t believe it, including the bulk of the journalistic community, who remained skeptical. White House correspondent Helen Thomas’ theory was- “People wanted to believe Nixon”. The spin following John Dean’s whistleblower testimony was that it was merely “one disgruntled employee’s word against the President of the United States”. Sour Grapes, Mr. Dean? A common technique employed by actual conspirators/ criminals to get hounds off their scent trail once they start barking at the ankles. It was only in the last weeks, one full year later-- after the Butterfield tapes came out-- that people finally caved and believed Nixon was, in fact, lying all along. There was no other option at this point as the tapes themselves revealed that Nixon was behind the break-in, and that he and his staff were steeped in other related illegal activities. Nixon resigned in August 1974 and Conspiracy Theorists Woodward & Bernstein were vindicated.
Artemidorus—Conspiracy Theorist?
Only one person knowingly betrayed the secret conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar—Artemidorus—who handed Caesar a scroll as he passed him en route to the Senate meeting that day. The note within would have revealed to Caesar the treacherous plot to kill him hatched by the conspirators, Cassius and Brutus---had he taken the time to read it. In his haste and his pride, however, Caesar does not read the warning. Nor did he heed the soothsayer’s earlier admonition to “Beware the Ides of March”. And that same morning when his wife Calpurnia recounts her nightmares, fearing for her husband’s safety, she begs him not to go to the Senate-- Caesar chooses to dismiss her fears and head out despite them. On that stormy March day in Rome, Julius Caesar’s life ended in a brutal blood bath that could have been averted had he not dismissed one lone “Conspiracy Theorist” who was out to save him....Artemidorus. Perhaps Caesar feared he might be mocked...
Democritus— Mad Scientist?
In the 7th Century BC, Thales-- known as one of the recognized seven wisest men of Ancient Greece (The Seven Sages)—postulated that the Earth was a disc that floated upon the seas, like wood upon water. However, in order to hedge his bet, he had a backup theory — that the Earth was a plant-like organism that grew up out of the water.
He was one of the most revered thinkers of his time.
A few centuries later, another ancient Greek mathematician and physicist, Democritus, was formulating his theories that there were these little particles populating all matter which he called “atoms”—meaning indivisible—that were in constant motion and present in infinite numbers. He didn’t originate the concept of the atom, but expanded it to include Space also as being comprised of atoms. He theorized the origin of the universe was the result of atoms colliding, forming larger bodies. Democritus sought to dispel the belief in the Greek gods of his day, which he’d seen only as devices introduced to explain phenomena that science had otherwise not yet explained. His unpopular ideas got little support at the time... He was no Thales, as Thales had commanded enormous respect amongst his Greek colleagues. Democritus on the other hand was snubbed in Athens by the very people he came to visit; “I came to Athens, and no one knew me.” Even Aristotle so disagreed with Democritus’ ” atomism”, he was moved to forge a formal argument against it. As Rodney Dangerfield would put it—Democritus got no respect!
Today, on the approach into the city of Athens, along the roadside, one passes by the imposing Democritus Nuclear Research Laboratory. Oh, Sweet revenge, how late you do arrive.
Dr. Robert Goddard—Out of Touch Whacko?
Physicist and rocket scientist Dr. Robert Goddard theorized in the 1920’s that a rocket could function in a vacuum at high altitudes. This idea earned him the ridicule of the New York Times who mockingly discredited him by saying that Goddard “lacked the knowledge ladled out daily in our high schools.” The Times and other press of the day smugly dubbed Dr. Goddard a “mad scientist” and moved on to more newsworthy stories. After Lindbergh had convinced Guggenheim to finance Goddard’s experiments in Roswell, New Mexico, some of the laughter began to die down. But it wasn’t until 1969 when Apollo headed to the moon that the New York Times issued its formal apology to Dr. Robert Goddard—the “mad scientist”-- who had been correct all along.
Warren Buffet & John Templeton—Conspiracy Theorists?
Beginning in 1996, the Great Dot Com Bubble http://www.amconmag.com/2002_11_04/banking.html grew and then burst, stripping $8 trillion of apparent wealth from the American markets. The preeminent market players of the late 20th century—Warren Buffet, Julian Robertson, George Soros, John Templeton— all warned investors of the stock market bubble and its pending burst. At the April 2000 Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting, Buffet issued his admonitions. John Templeton’s caveat to the Miami Herald forecast sufficient doom; “This is the most dangerous period in financial history.” But no one cared about history, and the dire warnings of these respected veteran investors went unheeded. Besides, investing in Dot Coms was wildly fun! By late 2000, the telecommunication and technology stock bubble had finally burst, and Conspiracy Theorists Buffet and Templeton were redecorated with their due respect as financial prognosticators.
Nelson Mandela---Conspiracy Theorist?
During the time of the Apartheid regime in South Africa, Nelson Mandela – in his courageous struggle against racism-- was considered by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher to be little more than a terrorist. As if oppression of the black majority were only a hyperbole he and the ANC had created to justify acting out or conspiring against the South African government. In 1961 Mandela challenged the Apartheid regime to convene a national convention and to forge together a new constitution based on democratic principles wherein all South Africans could be represented, not only the white minority. The government response was a large military mobilization. Mandela and the ANC, as a last resort, took to arming and training themselves in defense, and Mandela ended up imprisoned for over 30 years for incitement to strike, leaving the country illegally and sabotage. Today, he has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and is commonly regarded as a heroic freedom fighter.
In closing this chapter on Conspiracy Theorists, I would humbly, but not without humor, invoke the pithy retort of Sir Isaac Newton when confronted with any of his many skeptics. “The difference between us”, he points out, “is simple---“
“I have studied these matters-- and you, Sir, have not.”
-Sir Isaac Newton
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