An Entertaining, Headlong Plunge
Into the Truly Suspicious Nature of the World
Just relax. This, we promise, won't be another breathless rant about the conspiracies which seem to perpetually encircle us modern Americans. At least, it won't be some half-baked ranting and railing about this particular conspiracy or that one. Instead, in a way consistent with MeanMesa's enduring appetite for over views, you know, "big pictures," historical trends and the like, this posting will attempt a few conclusions about conspiracies in general.
Further, because the precise conclusions we are seeking here must, somehow, remain within the bounds of the posting's title, we shall consider exclusively American conspiracies. Even further, and by the genteel path of something of at least a fleeting, existential disclaimer, (Whew! What a string of conditional logic...) MeanMesa will, right away, legitimize all this paranoia with the simple possibility that some of these may, in fact, not even be conspiracies.
"Not even be conspiracies?" Indeed, with so many disparate opinions all chanting in this "conspiracy choir," the gradations of rationality of each of the "choir members" introduces the reconciling prospect that some of these events actually "amount to exactly what they appear to amount to," even when reviewed more cooly with the advantage of a calming interlude between their occurrence and their analysis.
The Current State of Conspiracy Discussions
To present a short list of examples, MeanMesa will enumerate only a few of the most commonly encountered conspiracies presently "roaming about" in contemporary America. Those will be, of course, what may be considered "barnyard conspiracies."
Always Available, Historic "Barnyard Conspiracies"
1941 - The "Surprise" Attack on Pearl Harbor
1963 - The "Mysterious Vulnerability" central in the Assassination of JFK
1964 - The Escalating Viet Nam War based on the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident"
2000 - The "Legal Necessity" of GWB's Supreme Court Presidential Appointment
2001 - The "Coincidental Dis-Armament" of SAC during the 9//11 attack
2002 - The "Validating Certainty" of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction
2000 - The "Legal Necessity" of GWB's Supreme Court Presidential Appointment
2001 - The "Coincidental Dis-Armament" of SAC during the 9//11 attack
2002 - The "Validating Certainty" of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction
Naturally, any citizen who has had one beer too many in an American Legion bar will be able to easily greatly expand the list. Also, unlike other discussions of such"conspiracy theories," MeanMesa offers no "revealed, new information." In fact, if there were such "new" information, or, at least, if there were "much" of it, these perturbing, yet attractive, little "urban legends" would escape the convenient definition of being a "theory" altogether.
So, this post isn't so much about the as-of-yet-"un-revealed" secrets which might validate such matters as it is about the way we, as Americans, handle the process of either living with them or resolving them. Hardly a "burning question of the day," these large, dramatic cases from these examples cited really represent "conspiracies of convenience," that is, matters requiring very little investigation which can be discussed to produce the desired dramatic response any time there seems to be nothing else to do.
For those with an appetite to indulge in this casual "conspiracy baiting," the moments of very modern times present their own opportunities. Contemporary topics may arise from radio pundits, Southern preachers or old Generals and ossified Legislators who haven't had a good time since either Leviticus or the Cold War.
Clearly, more than a few of these examples -- if our suspicions were to turn out to be factual, or, even a little factual -- would represent near mortal blows to our national underpinnings of transparency, justice, good intentions and the like. However, the history of such stories of partial revelation suggest that we take a very unlikely approach.
Rather than "rising to the occasion" with a swift, decisive impulse to "shed the light of truth" to such potential insults, we Americans tend to prefer to immediately forget such grave threats in favor of slowly migrating them back to the much less challenging realm of late night beer sessions and blustering, righteous moaning. Exaggerating? Consider each of the example's gravity in comparison to, say, a Chinese invasion of California.
It seems that the only threats we can "take seriously" must be, somehow, similar to one or more of our famous "movies" about either World War II or vampires, aliens, psychopathic masterminds or similar ilk. Otherwise, our national hubris -- as we continually indulge it in the model of "elbow grasping, street junkies" who need more 'medicine' -- seems to relentlessly convince us that we, as a nation, are so powerful that we need not expend any effort at all.
That is, that any effort on our part to "settle" such matters is utterly unnecessary because we are so mighty that none of these quite material attacks on our way of life can actually harm us even in the least little, inconvenient bit.
Our infatuation with such a response is nothing new. However, when we tally up all the "little crimes" we have never settled, the total inertia of the resultant mass becomes rather compelling.
Now, as we settle into our Lazy Boys for the evening "news," we have been wonderfully anesthesized by voices from everywhere, from the State Department to the Defense Department, with soothing propositions that this newest "conspiracy" is nothing more than, yawn, another minor, toothless drama with absolutely no serious consequences at all.
"Keep moving. There's nothing to see here. Move along, now."
The idea is simple. Rather than actually considering any of these latest revelations seriously, we need do no more than simply forget them for a while, then later regurgitate them as nothing more than another convenient outrage to be taken up at one of our beer drenched, late night "conspiracy festivals."
At this point, MeanMesa would take the opportunity to post just a little excerpt from the essays -- and the thoughts -- which are foundational to the actions of Mr. Assange, the foolishly brave author of this last unsettling "touch of reality." (The source link is provided at the end of the content.)
To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not.
We must understand the key generative structure of bad governance. (See Footnote - below)
We must develop a way of thinking about this structure that is strong enough to carry us through the mire of competing political moralities and into a position of clarity.
Most importantly, we must use these insights to inspire within us and others a course of ennobling and effective action to replace the structures that lead to bad governance with something better.
http://iq.org/conspiracies.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/20070110200827/http://iq.org/conspiracies.pdf
Thanks to Jason Lewis for pointing to this in his Mail On Sunday report.
For those with an appetite to indulge in this casual "conspiracy baiting," the moments of very modern times present their own opportunities. Contemporary topics may arise from radio pundits, Southern preachers or old Generals and ossified Legislators who haven't had a good time since either Leviticus or the Cold War.
Effortless, Contemporary, "Lesser Conspiracies"
Still Fun to Debate Endlessly
The President's Birth Certificate
The Islamic "Victory Mosque" in New York
The Homosexual Agenda
Utter Falsehoods about Gun Control, Taxes and the Economy
Imaginary Plays in Football Games
The War on Christmas
The Obama Tax Negotiations
Exactly How We Handle Such Matters
Clearly, more than a few of these examples -- if our suspicions were to turn out to be factual, or, even a little factual -- would represent near mortal blows to our national underpinnings of transparency, justice, good intentions and the like. However, the history of such stories of partial revelation suggest that we take a very unlikely approach.
Rather than "rising to the occasion" with a swift, decisive impulse to "shed the light of truth" to such potential insults, we Americans tend to prefer to immediately forget such grave threats in favor of slowly migrating them back to the much less challenging realm of late night beer sessions and blustering, righteous moaning. Exaggerating? Consider each of the example's gravity in comparison to, say, a Chinese invasion of California.
It seems that the only threats we can "take seriously" must be, somehow, similar to one or more of our famous "movies" about either World War II or vampires, aliens, psychopathic masterminds or similar ilk. Otherwise, our national hubris -- as we continually indulge it in the model of "elbow grasping, street junkies" who need more 'medicine' -- seems to relentlessly convince us that we, as a nation, are so powerful that we need not expend any effort at all.
That is, that any effort on our part to "settle" such matters is utterly unnecessary because we are so mighty that none of these quite material attacks on our way of life can actually harm us even in the least little, inconvenient bit.
Our infatuation with such a response is nothing new. However, when we tally up all the "little crimes" we have never settled, the total inertia of the resultant mass becomes rather compelling.
The WIKILEAKS Revelations
Our Latest Effort at "Ignoring"
Now, as we settle into our Lazy Boys for the evening "news," we have been wonderfully anesthesized by voices from everywhere, from the State Department to the Defense Department, with soothing propositions that this newest "conspiracy" is nothing more than, yawn, another minor, toothless drama with absolutely no serious consequences at all.
"Keep moving. There's nothing to see here. Move along, now."
The idea is simple. Rather than actually considering any of these latest revelations seriously, we need do no more than simply forget them for a while, then later regurgitate them as nothing more than another convenient outrage to be taken up at one of our beer drenched, late night "conspiracy festivals."
At this point, MeanMesa would take the opportunity to post just a little excerpt from the essays -- and the thoughts -- which are foundational to the actions of Mr. Assange, the foolishly brave author of this last unsettling "touch of reality." (The source link is provided at the end of the content.)
Introduction
To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not.
We must understand the key generative structure of bad governance. (See Footnote - below)
We must develop a way of thinking about this structure that is strong enough to carry us through the mire of competing political moralities and into a position of clarity.
Most importantly, we must use these insights to inspire within us and others a course of ennobling and effective action to replace the structures that lead to bad governance with something better.
Footnote
Everytime we witness an act that we feel to be unjust and do not act we become a party
to injustice. Those who are repeatedly passive in the face of injustice soon find their character corroded into servility. Most witnessed acts of injustice are associated with bad governance, since when governance is good, unanswered injustice is rare. By the progressive diminution of a people’s character, the impact of reported, but unanswered injustice is far greater than it may initially seem. Modern communications states through their scale, homogeneity and excesses provide their populace with an unprecedented deluge of witnessed, but seemingly unanswerable injustices.
to injustice. Those who are repeatedly passive in the face of injustice soon find their character corroded into servility. Most witnessed acts of injustice are associated with bad governance, since when governance is good, unanswered injustice is rare. By the progressive diminution of a people’s character, the impact of reported, but unanswered injustice is far greater than it may initially seem. Modern communications states through their scale, homogeneity and excesses provide their populace with an unprecedented deluge of witnessed, but seemingly unanswerable injustices.
Source:
CRYPTOME
31 July 2010
These essays on conspiracies by Julian Assange (me@iq.org) were retrieved today from his website iq.org. The first from the currently active site, dated Novermber 10, 2006, and the second at archive.org, dated December 3, 2006.
31 July 2010
These essays on conspiracies by Julian Assange (me@iq.org) were retrieved today from his website iq.org. The first from the currently active site, dated Novermber 10, 2006, and the second at archive.org, dated December 3, 2006.
http://iq.org/conspiracies.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/20070110200827/http://iq.org/conspiracies.pdf
Thanks to Jason Lewis for pointing to this in his Mail On Sunday report.
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