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Monday, September 5, 2011

Another side of conspiracy theories

Saturday's blog posting had some fun with the Watch Unto Prayer conspiracy theory Web site, which is produced by someone named Barbara Aho. Aho is by no means an idiot -- she does a lot of research and doesn't write badly -- but it's hard to take her judgment seriously when you notice that she treats the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as an important document.

Some conspiracies (or at least government secrets) are real, however. Gary North obviously does not believe the official account of what happened at Pearl Harbor and how it got the U.S. into World War II (Robert Anton Wilson did not, either) and thinks the nation would benefit from a careful investigation of what happened during the 9/11 attacks.

North writes, "My point is simple: every Establishment rules in terms of lies, spin, and cover-ups. Most of the citizenry is vaguely aware of the lies and the spin on this or that minor matter, but voters side with the regime on the big lies. To do otherwise is to call into question their own wisdom. I is to admit that you were successfully taken in on some major matter -- you and millions of others. This undermines the religion of democracy. It means that republican patriotism is based on widespread gullibility. "Fool me once, shame on the government. Fool me 20 times, shame on me." So, once the masses have adopted the Official Party Line, to abandon it means abandoning your old self and your old world of political legitimacy. It means that you are now on your own -- an outlaw, a pariah."

North also argues it's very difficult for people in academic to question accepted historical truth.








1 comment:

Unknown said...

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion seems like an important document when looking through the lense of propaganda studies. It certainly played a role in perpetuating a state of fear, paranoia, anxiety and hate amongst the ignorant and helpless. If we deem The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a text not worth our attention, will the problems caused by the work and others like it go away?

Questioning accepted historical truth seems equally important as examining The Protocols as a once (and perhaps still) effective work of propaganda. Just don't forget that one must not only question accepted history but critically weigh the alternative histories against each other as well.

It seems foolhardy for one to abandon a previous preconception regarding historical truth only to settle upon a radically opposing preconception without further inquiry.

The Truth is that history is a nightmare [perpetuated by an extra-dimensional race of reptilian overlords] from which we are trying to awake.