Recently I’ve had facebook debates with friends regarding ‘Conspiracy Theories’ after they posted articles or pictures that I then commented on.
For instance, there is this graph:
and this recent article published on the BBC’s website that asks;
Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?
Firstly the graph:
It covers many topics such as 9/11, JFK’s Assassination, Secret Organisations, Hollow Earth, Alien Visitations etc. and lumps them together as if all of these subjects deserve to be squeezed into a box labelled ; Conspiracy Theories.
My problem with this ‘humorous’ graph is that it appears to be designed as a general dismissive smear on anyone who questions what I call; Accepted Truths.
Many authors of these articles, and indeed some who have responded to my comments on them, claim to be scientifically minded, and judging by their comments, hold what could be described as a fundamentalist materialist science worldview.
They will dismiss any account of a paranormal or spiritual experience and will only allow their view of what is deemed possible within our ‘reality’ (let alone what is ‘reality’!) to be dictated to them by science.
(In fact I’ve noticed they will also like the same specific entertainers and authors Eg; Derren Brown, Tim Minchin, Richard Dawkins, Robin Ince, to name but four. I guess it’s because the aforementioned are all Atheists? It’s not exclusive obviously, i’m a fan of Derren myself)
People who hold such a view of the world and the ‘Human Experience’ tend to believe there is no substance to what have been labelled ‘conspiracy theories’ because they are used to being told by the ‘science community’ what ‘reality’ is and, by authority figures such as government officials, what ‘accepted truths’ are without having to look into the facts and evidence themselves
(which is surely in itself unscientific?)
They will claim in their articles and comments that it’s more comforting for ‘Conspiracy Theorists’ to believe in a conspiracy rather than to believe that random things happen in this world.
What?!
It’s hardly more comforting to face evidence that elements within our governments could have been involved in the events of something as horrific as 9/11.
Where’s the comfort there?!
I would turn that comment around and apply it to them:
It is more comforting for them to believe that there is no weight to any of these topics, that the U.S government has told them the truth about 9/11, that science can explain ‘paranormal’ experiences, that governments and big corporations have their best interests at heart, never lie to them, always protect them and that in turn, anyone who does question these ‘Accepted Truths’ spread by officials via the mainstream media are just ‘conspiracy theorists’ or in the case of experiencing paranormal events; deluded.
It is the comfort of authority saying;
“Nothing to see here. It’s just conspiracy theorists spreading their theories. Nothing for you to worry about. There’s no truth to be found. Move along. We’re keeping you safe from the bad things out there.”
It is the comfort to be found in the safe thought process of; I don’t believe it’s possible, so it can’t be.
Yet many with that view would disagree with my last statement, claiming that they know politicians lie and big corporations are only concerned with profits etc.
But even with that being the case, they are still unwilling to even look at the evidence presented of a specific government cover-up or a specific corporate corruption and will not want to face the possibility that something like 9/11 may have evidence of government lies and cover-up involved in its detail.
With paranormal experiences, ‘debunkers’ who were not present at the event or have not even spoken to those involved are given air-time on TV and Radio/Internet to dismiss the accounts of people who have experienced such things as NDE’s (Near Death Expereinces) UFO’s, Ghosts etc. because they have a view that is seen as being scientific just because it is in opposition to the possibility of the reality of these paranormal experiences.
However, this explanation or dismissal of a paranormal event as hallucination or mind playing tricks or even blatant lie on behalf of the experiencer, is in fact just an opinion based on what the ‘debunker’ may or may not believe to be possible in this ‘reality’ of ours.
Unfortunately many of those who have these fundamentalist materialist science views expect to have their view taken seriously because they bandy about the term ‘science’ and cite principles such as ‘Occam’s Razor’,
yet are unwilling to use the scientific method to look at and analyse the actual evidence or even do any research into these topics.
Applying Occam’s Razor to an event is an exercise in laziness because it stops you having to look at the evidence or do any research and lets you accept what you believe as being most likely as the explanation based on that opinion.
Again; I don’t believe it’s possible, so it can’t be.
Hardly scientific.
Science has done and continues to do amazing things, yet those who hold a Fundamentalist Materialistic Science world view will of course not accept that there are experiences we can have that can’t be explained scientifically. Will science one day be able to explain everything?
Fundamentalist materialistic science believers would say; yes. Such is the power of their belief.
The BBC article mentions what it calls; ‘a major new Cambridge University project to investigate the impact of conspiracy theories on democracy.’
It cites as its two main examples; The Assassination of JFK and the events of 9/11.
Both these cases have clear evidence of cover-up, whitewash and blatant lies in their official accounts and in both cases the term ‘Conspiracy Theory’ has been used as a control mechanism to dismiss those who point out the lies, whitewash and cover up.
You only have to watch the Zapruder film of the JFK assassination to see the official story doesn’t have credibility and you only have to watch the multiple films of the three towers ‘collapsing’ on 9/11 to call into question the official account of that day.
In fact the 9/11 Commission itself claimed obstruction, falsehoods and cover-up from the government in their attempts at investigation.
So with 9/11 we have basically the myth of an official investigative consensus of the events of that day held up by the mainstream as the true final word on 9/11, not to be questioned and to be accepted as Gospel and used to dismiss anyone who questions this myth as a ‘Conspiracy Theorist’.
An illusion of fact constructed of myth used as a weapon of Truth.
It’s a shame that there are so many journalists writing articles published in mainstream media outlets speaking about the possible ‘harm’ of conspiracy theories or attempting to examine ‘the psychology of conspiracy theorists’ rather than using their investigative and journalistic talents to look into the evidence of events such as 9/11 or even ask questions about the mythical official story.
Instead these ‘Accepted Truths’ and myths of truth go unquestioned and continue to be used as a foundation for articles to ridicule those who do research into the detailed evidence and dare to question the official accounts of these events.
When you have the 9/11 Commission members themselves speaking out against their own ‘investigation’ and over 2,000 Architects & Engineers questioning the official account of the three towers ‘collapse’, on the basis of those two instances alone, the events of 9/11 should be elevated from the offensive box of ‘Conspiracy Theory’ and investigated properly.
Otherwise supporters of this mythical official account of 9/11 and those who dismiss evidence that contradicts official views on any of these subjects are behaving like Cesare Cremonini & Giulio Libri, refusing to look through Galileo’s telescope, refusing to look at the evidence.
Or as Galileo himself put it:
“I wish that we might laugh at the remarkable stupidity of the common herd.
What do you have to say about the principal philosophers of this academy who are filled with the stubbornness of an asp and do not want to look at either the planets, the moon or the telescope, even though I have freely and deliberately offered them the opportunity a thousand times?
Truly, just as the asp stops its ears, so do these philosophers shut their eyes to the light of truth.”
Ripples In A Pool Of High Strangeness 