All conspiracy theories are alike in positing redundant explanations where straightforward ones will do, and in maintaining that known historical sources must be lies.
…
Once you dispense with the normal canons of evidence - not authority, but evidence - then you are prey to the irrational. Applied to politics, irrationalism and obscurantism have caused and still threaten horrors.
Clearly, conspiracy theories in politics are and ever have been formulated and propagated by people who already loathe the supposed conspirators. The theories are driven by prejudice, not evidence.
I sometimes wonder about the intersection between 9/11 conspiracy theorists and terrorist sympathisers. There are two different prejudices in play, and you’d think they might conflict. But you never hear anyone say:
I used to be an anti-Semite – but since Mossad destroyed the World Trade Center, I think the Jews are pretty kosher guys. Go Israel!
Odd, that.
No comments:
Post a Comment