From the Review, June 2006:
- A conspiracy does not have to be illegal; it can merely be wrongful or harmful.
-
The term 'conspiracy theory' was invented by elite media and
politicians to denigrate questions or critical presumptions about events
about which important facts remain unrevealed.
- The intelligent
response to such events is to remain agnostic, skeptical, and curious.
Theories may be suggested - just as they are every day about less
complex and more open matters on news broadcasts and op ed pages - but
such theories should not stray too far from available evidence.
Conversely, as long as serious anomalies remain, dismissing questions
and doubts as a "conspiracy theory" is a highly unintelligent response.
It is also ironic as those ridiculing the questions and doubts typically
consider themselves intellectually superior to the doubters. But they
aren't because they stopped thinking the moment someone in power told
them a superficially plausible answer. Further, to ridicule those still
with doubts about such matters is intellectually dishonest.
-
There is the further irony that many who ridicule doubts about the
official version of events were typically trained at elite colleges
where, in political science and history, theories often take precedent
over facts and in which substantive decisions affecting politics and
history are presumed to be the work of a small number of wise men (sic).
They are trained, in effect, to trust in (1) theories and (2) benign
confederacies. Most major media political coverage is based on the great
man theory of history. This pattern can be found in everything from
Skull & Bones to the Washington Post editorial board to the Council
on Foreign Relations. You might even call them conspiracy theorists.
-
Other fields - such as social history or anthropology - posit that
change for better or evil can come as cultural change or choices and not
just as the decisions of "great men." This is why one of the biggest
stories in modern American history was never well covered: the declining
birth rate. No great men decided it should happen.
- Homicide
detectives and investigative reporters, among others, are inductive
thinkers who start with evidence rather than with theories and aren't
happy when the evidence is weak, conflicting or lacking. They keep
working the case until a solid answer appears. This is alien to the
well-educated newspaper editor who has been trained to trust official
answers and conventional theories.
- The unresolved major event
is largely a modern phenomenon that coincides with the collapse of
America's constitutional government and the decline of its culture.
Beginning with the Kennedy assassination, the number of inadequately
explained major events has been mounting steadily and with them a steady
decline in the trust between he people and their government. The
refusal of American elites to take these doubts seriously has been a
major disservice to the republic.
- You don't need a conspiracy to lie, do something illegal or to be stupid.
