November 17 2007

Just about everybody likes a juicy conspiracy theory. The darker the intrigue, the faster the story will spread. Why are such ideas so popular?

One reason is that some conspiracy theories have a basis in fact. The CIA and the intelligence agencies of other nations really have been involved in murder, torture and sundry other horrors around the world. The auto companies really have done their best to kill the electric car and to sabotage public transit. Oil companies actually have paid some scientists to deny global warming, so that we'll all stop worrying and go back to refueling our gas guzzlers. These are what I call "plausible conspiracy theories". Whether a specific story is true or not, it isn't hard to believe and you don't need to shut down your critical thinking entirely to accept it.

Other conspiracy theories are farther out. Lee Harvey Oswald didn't act alone and he was funded by (fill in the group here). Elvis Presley faked his own death and is now living happily in (fill in the location here). Osama Bin Laden is secretly working for George W. Bush. Oops! Sorry. That one is true.

Americans are especially fond of conspiracy theories. A few years back, the American TV show The X Files told us every week that North America was awash in space aliens, werewolves and too many other monsters to count. All of this was being hushed up by sinister groups within the Government. Why would they want to keep all of this secret? Because those guys were baaad.

I think Americans like conspiracy theories because they want to believe that they can control their own lives. If we're all being manipulated by a secret cabal of evil men, we might be able to find out who they are and defeat them. The idea that we live in a random universe where we can be destroyed any time by forces we don't even understand... Well, that's way scarier than any conspiracy.

Personally, I tend to be skeptical of conspiracy theories, though it's hard for me to think clearly when those Martians next door keep sending invisible rays through the walls to turn my bones to jelly.

What about you? Got any good conspiracy theories? Sorry. I forgot. You can't tell me anyway. THEY won't let you.

George

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