Tag: Uncategorized

Patent Conspiracy #1

So, a terrorist plot foiled in the UK, eh? How long before the conspiracy theories start abounding over that one? Well, not long, I reckon.

I waiting for the really grand ‘America/Britain made it up’ conspiracies, the theories that claim this is all an attempt by Western governments to control their population. Or that the ‘supposed terrorist plot’ was ‘produced’ to divert attention away from ‘other issues.’ In fact, if the latter is true then I’ve got that conspiracy theory wrapped up already.

Want to hear it? Good.

The supposed terrorist plot to bring down commerical passanger liners travelling between the UK and the USA was, in actuality, masterminded by the New Zealand Labour Party. Scared that the continuing election spending scandal would hurt the chances of re-election, the Labour Party quickly put into action a plan they had been sitting on for several years. Indeed, the speed at which they were able to enact this plan probably shows that the recent meeting between Senator John McCain and the Honouable Winston Peters, held beyond the gaze of TVNZs intrepid reporters, was actually a planning session for this very event (seeing that this also advances the New World Order conspiracy that will allow the Bilderberg Group and the Trilateral Commission to take control of America and Europe and instate a secular humanist government that will force the teaching of evolution to our children, legalise gay marriage and, of course, destroy the family unit).

And so forth.

08/11/2006

Finding It

When I’m not uncovering the conspiracy theory on conspiracy theories I can often be found teaching. It’s an enjoyable job; well, both of them are, and rewarding in their own special ways. When the two perfectly harmonise… Well, cliches such as ‘a joy to behold’ et al begin to creep out.

Over the last few years I’ve been able to structure a few classes around Conspiracy Theories (although my favourite ‘success’ in a related vein was teaching Forteana to Medical School Students; few people can ever have claimed to have done that). This has recently lead, or so I am assured by a colleague, by a surge of Conspiracy Theory treatments of common philosophical subjects. Due to the fact that we really can’t reveal the contents of student essays to outsiders I’ve just now removed the amusing reference to a certain Classicist-turned-Philosopher everyone has heard of being given the Conspiracy Theory make-over. Pity really; it’s very funny.

The point of this is, and it’s a major concern, that people who set out to find conspiracies always locate them. Actually, that statement is patently false; a lot of CT skeptics set out to find evidence of conspiracies and don’t find them. What I should be saying is that if you think there is a conspiracy at work the evidence of it becomes apparent. I’ll have much more to say about that in the coming months. The worry is that most of the people who end up studying Conspiracy Theories end up as believers. Kevin Thornley, one of the principal writers of the ‘Principia Discordia’ ended up as a Libertarian Conspiracy Theorist who believes Lee Harvey Oswald and himself to be the result of a pre-Nazi Occult Breeding Programme (‘Conspiracies, Cover-ups and Crimes,’ (First Edition) Jonathan Vanakin, Paragon House Publishers, New York, 1991, Chapter 1). This from the man who wrote ‘Oswald,’ a book in support of the Warren Commission findings.

So, will I end a believer? At the moment I’m most likely to call myself an agnostic; I can happily go either way but I’m not currently holding on to any hypothetical global conspiracy theories (although I know of some interesting local ones about my University). Still, lots of former agnostics are now in the camp of believers…

Time will tell. Until then I still have the fun and frolics of a book claiming to give a ‘good, Bible-centric, reading of conspiracy theories’ to read. Remember; I read this suff so you (hopefully) won’t have to.

06/28/2006

Pithy Introduction

I’ve been interested in ‘Belief’ now for several years. As a former dualist theist turned quasi-deist materialist I’m both curious as to how people form beliefs and hold on to them. I’ve moved from believer to sympathetic believer to skeptic and I’ve come to the conclusion that people are irrational no matter which side of the fence they actually sit. Conspiracy Theories (probably likely to be known as CTs hereafter on this blog) are a good example of exactly this kind of ‘thing.’ Whether you are a believer or a skeptic, right wing or left, Penn Jillette or Lyndon LaRouche you have likely bought into at least one conspiracy theory. If you haven’t… Well, you just aren’t paying attention. Fact: conspiracies have occurred, are occurring and will occur again in the future.The question is whether it is rational to believe in them.Ontology and Epistemology is my game; ontology tells you exists, which events are occuring versus those that aren’t. Epistemology (well, theories within epistemology) explain which of these ontological facts you can be said to have warrant, or rational belief, in. Thought experiment: assume that there is a God (ontological fact in this experiment) but that this God has given us no evidence of its existence. God exists but there is no reason to believe in it. Second thought experiment (an historical one): Observing the heavens you realise that the Sun is stationary and it is the Earth that orbits it. Prior the invention of the telescope you would be hard pressed to show that this theory is better than its rival, geocentric model. Belief is contextual; without a telescope to show that the orbits of the inner planets and outer planets support the idea that the Earth is between them and orbitting around the Sun the rival theory is equally as rational. Wrong but rational.Rationality, as a philosopher will tell you, isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.I’m writing a PhD dissertation on Conspiracy Theories. I’m curious as to whether we should, or should not, believe in a) the existence of Conspiracy Theories in general and b) the existence of specfic Conspiracy Theories. My research is primarily on the philosophical material, i.e. the epistemology, but you can’t help but read about and into the pyschological and sociological aspects of Conspiracy Theories. As I can’t really deal with that material in my dissertation I’m going to blog it instead. Think of ‘All Embracing but Underwhelming’ as a series of research notes that, I hope, will be written up in a nice, easy to understand manner.So, without further ado, let the blogging commense.

06/09/2006