For those who don't experience any déjà vu on reading the title, it is a take on popular children's movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. This post on my blog regards conspiracy theories, examples of which I find immensely interesting and usually, equally inane. In the world where conspiracies are the norm, Roger Rabbit is always framed. In the world where conspiracies are the exception (also known as the real world) however, he almost always isn't. Why then, if my surmise is correct, do such theories grip our imagination? Well, they sure do make for interesting coffee table topics, don't they? That's probably the reason why. Anyway, over the course of the next 3-4 posts (I have successfully broken up my discourse), let me expound on some popular theories, and the reasons why conspiracy theories are usually fallacious.
I finished reading Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum last week, which draws exhaustively on Europe's history of the Dark Ages, to satirize conspiracism. His protagonists try to ridicule conspiracy theorists by deliberately linking different groups of people at various points in European history, and thereby inferring a comprehensive, world-changing conclusion. Much to their amazement and horror, the very people they are trying to spoof end up believing them, with some funny and some not-so-funny results. I also saw the documentary Zeitgeist, which elaborates on various 'conspiracies' that institutions have spun to keep us under their control. It was with these stories at the back of my mind that I decided to analyze conspiracy theories and try to figure out what it is about them that grabs our attention, every once in a while.
At the very outset, let me say that the normal human being laps up everything that is served to him in the newspaper. The conspiracy theorist is a completely different animal. His beliefs follow one or more of the following patterns: appearances deceive; conspiracies drive history; nothing is haphazard; the enemy always gains; power, fame, money, and sex account for all; and the tagline of the very unimaginatively titled movie Conspiracy Theory (a 1997 Mel Gibson starrer), 'What you know could kill you'. Don't such plots catch your eye? They sure do, because, like my life, your life is probably boring too, and such stories bring a lot of excitement with them. There is another belief that pervades all such theories, a belief that is potentially their greatest failing - that all significant events have significant causes. But more on that later, when I try to systematically show where conspiracy theories usually go wrong.
There are a few well-known conspiracy theories that have been doing the rounds in the past century. While most of them have never been proved (or disproved), a few of them have turned out right. Most notable of these was the text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was purported to be an authentic Jewish text by the Russian Tsar's Secret Police in 1903. The material contained in this text was the main reason for the rise of anti-Semitism. The document was proved later to be a fake, but alas, this happened only after the horrors of the Holocaust, which, in a slightly trivial sense, this conspiracy was responsible for. So, are conspiracy theorists justified? Yes, one would say. Except for the very tiny minority of them which are true, the rest make for very attractive reading. One does feel nice pointing out flaws in such theories. Many such theories abound, most 'world-changing' (and hilarious from time to time) being the 9/11 conspiracy theory family, the Bible Code, the Pearl Harbor theory, Paul McCartney is Dead (he'll surely die laughing, if not anything else), the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax, and various New World Order theories. I could talk about each of these at length, but Wikipedia contributors have done a much better job. Instead, I will talk about a few of them later, when I try to show where they fail.
There are a few well-known conspiracy theories that have been doing the rounds in the past century. While most of them have never been proved (or disproved), a few of them have turned out right. Most notable of these was the text The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which was purported to be an authentic Jewish text by the Russian Tsar's Secret Police in 1903. The material contained in this text was the main reason for the rise of anti-Semitism. The document was proved later to be a fake, but alas, this happened only after the horrors of the Holocaust, which, in a slightly trivial sense, this conspiracy was responsible for. So, are conspiracy theorists justified? Yes, one would say. Except for the very tiny minority of them which are true, the rest make for very attractive reading. One does feel nice pointing out flaws in such theories. Many such theories abound, most 'world-changing' (and hilarious from time to time) being the 9/11 conspiracy theory family, the Bible Code, the Pearl Harbor theory, Paul McCartney is Dead (he'll surely die laughing, if not anything else), the Apollo Moon Landing Hoax, and various New World Order theories. I could talk about each of these at length, but Wikipedia contributors have done a much better job. Instead, I will talk about a few of them later, when I try to show where they fail.
That's it for now, though. Next time, I shall write about the common mistakes that one sees in run-of-the-mill conspiracy theories. But I hope you can appreciate the qualities of such pulp fiction which invariably draws us towards it. 'So you like reading Sidney Sheldon? You'll probably like this fantastic new book that I read, which shows how the local convenience store is an integral part of a plan to overthrow the world ... and its not even fiction!' Brilliant stuff, eh?
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