THE INNER WORLDS OF CONSPIRACY BELIEVERS by Bruce Bower deals with the thoughts and attitudes of people that believe in conspiracy theories. The piece begins psychologist Viren Swami of the University of Westminster in London analyzing the need of people to believe in conspiracy. As Swami states, “Often, the proof offered as evidence for a conspiracy is not specific to one incident or issue, but is used to justify a general pattern of conspiracy ideas.”
Nothing but psycho-babble. Swami shows himself to be ignorant of the basics of how people in the real world view life. Of course people are suspicious of their government. They have been lied to hundreds of times. Why believe anything they say at this point? The very Founders of our government told us to be vigilant because the natural inclination is towards tyranny. With the misnamed Patriot Act and the later, Military Commissions Act, we see this dark cloud looming closer.
Bower makes the observation that the mindset of a conspiratorialist is, “A belief that the government is covering up its involvement in the 9/11 attacks thus feeds the idea that the government is also hiding evidence of extraterrestrial contacts or that John F. Kennedy was not killed by a lone gunman.”
Here Bower uses two issues central to American’s distrust of government—the Kennedy assassination and the attacks of 9-11. Take this point made by John Farmer, Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission:
"At some level of the government, at some point in time...there was an agreement not to tell the truth about what happened."
And also:
"I was shocked at how different the truth was from the way it was described...The tapes told a radically different story from what had been told to us and the public for two years...This is not spin. This is not true."
Thus, we have the Senior Counsel to a government investigation alluding to a conspiracy.
Bower, in mentioning delving into the Kennedy assassin, has waded into foreign waters. Because the last official government investigation, The House Select Committee on Assassins concluded in their final report: "The committee believes, on the basis of the evidence available to it, that President John F. Kennedy was probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. The committee is unable to identify the other gunman or the extent of the conspiracy." For some reason this little fact is ignored. (Please review my article, The Little Girl and the Missing Train to see how conspiracy is not such a kooky idea after all.)
How about the idea that people believe in conspiracies because they actually happen? Was not Abraham Lincoln killed as a direct result of a conspiracy? Did not John D. Rockefeller conspire to control all oil production in America? Did not Andrew Carnegie scheme to control all steel production in this country? Was not Watergate a conspiracy that forced the first and only presidential resignation? Even the 9-11 attacks were based on a conspiracy created by an evil genius Saudi millionaire brooding in his mountain lair in Afghanistan. (Interestingly enough, rarely defined as a conspiracy by the coincidence-is-all crowd.) But it’s the “official” story as told to us by our alleged “betters.”
Quoted in the article is sociologist Ted Goertzel of Rutgers–Camden of New Jersey. “Arguments advanced by conspiracy theorists tell you more about the believer than about the event,” Goertzel said.
Which of course is hogwash. Tell that to the lead Watergate investigators or the lead investigators for the HSCA. These people deal in evidence to determine the truth. Goertzel then goes on to lamely accuse conspiratorialists of not needing much in the way of facts to support their suspicions. Seems a lot of what Goertzel is inclined to do in his reasoning.
People like this cannot admit that belief in conspiracy is good thing. What does he do when real intrigue comes along?
As usual this group of wise men never look into the needs and minds of people like themselves who deny conspiracies exist at all. Why not look into the psychological traits of people that want to believe a government that lies to them constantly? Or, that most events in life and history are merely coincidence?
Once again, we are being told that conspiracy is the domain of kooks. I would attest that anti-conspiracy is the domain of those that cannot handle the truth.
Sources
Sciencenews.org; Fonzi, Geaton, The Last Investigation; Gaffeny, Mark H., The 9/11 Mystery Plane; history-matters.com
John Farmer's book, The Ground Truth: The Story Behind America's Defense on 9/11, will be published in 1/10.
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