On the Subject of Conspiracy Theories
Sep. 16th, 2004 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
forsythWith the Capital Letters intended.
Why Conspiracy Theories? Because this whole little post has been floating around in my head for a while, sorta. Because of the things I see on the web, and because they're common in stories and games
So, for starters. Firstly, conspiracies happen. Ask Julius Caesar. or the British, in 1776. Or tons of other examples you can find from history, where people conspired for various things. Heck, we have laws in the US about conspiracy, so obviously, it exists.
But that's not what people think of when they hear Conspiracy Theories. They hear the capital letters, and jump to JFK/Elvis/Illuminati/Trilateral Commission/Antarctic Space Nazis/Atlantis, etc. Which is more dramatic, to be sure, and great fun for stories, but probably less than completely accurate.
But wait, I hear you say, you're a Discordian, the Illuminati are your natural enemies! How can you not believe they're real? Well... Because they're not, that I've seen. I'll let you in on a secret. To Discordians, or at least this one, the Illuminati are a metaphor. Not literal. A metaphor for all the groups that want to keep people dumb and afraid and orderly, because that benefits them. Not real.
But wait, I hear you say again, and I'm getting tired of being interrupted, didn't you just say there's groups that actually want to do that?
Well, yes. But that doesn't mean the Illuminati are real. They don't work together as part of some vast conspiracy controlling the world from the shadows. They just gain something from keeping people dumb and orderly. Doesn't mean they're controlled, or even have the same other goals. Lemme introduce you to a concept. Self-interest. People and organizations generally do things that will benefit themselves. Which means that if it benefits, say, Microsoft, to break the law and squash competition and technical advancements, they'll do it if they think they can get away with it. The car companies will keep from making more efficient cars as long as people are buying the old ones and not demanding the new ones. You can get almost all the same results that way as with some giant conspiracy running everything. It's the Revenge of the Invisible Hand!
Occam's razor, people. Pick the simplest explanation. If something can be explained by things like people just being greedy bastards, that's slightly more likely than a secret organization running the world. Or another quote I like, "Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence" (which has much bearing on current US politics, but that's another topic).
So wait, I hear you saying yet again, I just said at the beginning that conspiracies happen, now I'm saying they don't? No. I'm saying there is no Conspiracy, in the capital letter, metaphysical white guys around a table in a smoke filled room sense. Little conspiracies happen all the time. When people co-operate in secret, it's a conspiracy. So yes, companies sometimes do buy up new technologies to protect their current investments. Or, in the case of the RIAA/MPAA, try to sue them out of business. Self-interest, not Illuminati.
Now, do I specifically KNOW there's not a cabal of white guys in a smoke filled room somewhere controlling everything? No. It's nearly impossible to prove a negative, something UN inspectors know, much to all of our sadness. There's lots of things that go on in government and international relations, and much of it involves governments, intelligence agencies, etc, conspiring against or with each other. But if you go own the path of "The Conspiracy Controls Everything," you end up with the problem, much like with many other kinds of paths where you have to accept everything on faith. "There's no evidence of a Conspiracy." "Ah HAH! Well that's what there'd be if there WAS a Conspiracy, see!" At which point, logic no longer has any hold over the person and arguing with them is futile. Just like no matter how often some things get debunked, their adherents will go "Doesn't prove anything, they were setting out to keep people from believing it!" When you can dismiss any evidence to the contrary, or lack of evidence, you don't have to trouble yourself any more about whether or not it's true.
On the other hand, sometimes the simplest answer IS a conspiracy. When, I leave as an exercise for the reader.
Oh yes, I said I'd mention stories and games. Conspiracies show up often in those, because it basically gives you a pre-set plot structure. Start the character(s) at the edge of the conspiracy, then they poke about, finding out new things about the conspiracy and moving up the rungs toward the top and the Epic Final Showdown. It'd be nice sometimes if reality worked that way, kinda, but it usually doesn't. Which is probably for the best.
Of course, I could just be saying all this since I work for the Conspiracy, to keep people from believing they exist. But I wouldn't do that, would I? Fnord.
Why Conspiracy Theories? Because this whole little post has been floating around in my head for a while, sorta. Because of the things I see on the web, and because they're common in stories and games
So, for starters. Firstly, conspiracies happen. Ask Julius Caesar. or the British, in 1776. Or tons of other examples you can find from history, where people conspired for various things. Heck, we have laws in the US about conspiracy, so obviously, it exists.
But that's not what people think of when they hear Conspiracy Theories. They hear the capital letters, and jump to JFK/Elvis/Illuminati/Trilateral Commission/Antarctic Space Nazis/Atlantis, etc. Which is more dramatic, to be sure, and great fun for stories, but probably less than completely accurate.
But wait, I hear you say, you're a Discordian, the Illuminati are your natural enemies! How can you not believe they're real? Well... Because they're not, that I've seen. I'll let you in on a secret. To Discordians, or at least this one, the Illuminati are a metaphor. Not literal. A metaphor for all the groups that want to keep people dumb and afraid and orderly, because that benefits them. Not real.
But wait, I hear you say again, and I'm getting tired of being interrupted, didn't you just say there's groups that actually want to do that?
Well, yes. But that doesn't mean the Illuminati are real. They don't work together as part of some vast conspiracy controlling the world from the shadows. They just gain something from keeping people dumb and orderly. Doesn't mean they're controlled, or even have the same other goals. Lemme introduce you to a concept. Self-interest. People and organizations generally do things that will benefit themselves. Which means that if it benefits, say, Microsoft, to break the law and squash competition and technical advancements, they'll do it if they think they can get away with it. The car companies will keep from making more efficient cars as long as people are buying the old ones and not demanding the new ones. You can get almost all the same results that way as with some giant conspiracy running everything. It's the Revenge of the Invisible Hand!
Occam's razor, people. Pick the simplest explanation. If something can be explained by things like people just being greedy bastards, that's slightly more likely than a secret organization running the world. Or another quote I like, "Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence" (which has much bearing on current US politics, but that's another topic).
So wait, I hear you saying yet again, I just said at the beginning that conspiracies happen, now I'm saying they don't? No. I'm saying there is no Conspiracy, in the capital letter, metaphysical white guys around a table in a smoke filled room sense. Little conspiracies happen all the time. When people co-operate in secret, it's a conspiracy. So yes, companies sometimes do buy up new technologies to protect their current investments. Or, in the case of the RIAA/MPAA, try to sue them out of business. Self-interest, not Illuminati.
Now, do I specifically KNOW there's not a cabal of white guys in a smoke filled room somewhere controlling everything? No. It's nearly impossible to prove a negative, something UN inspectors know, much to all of our sadness. There's lots of things that go on in government and international relations, and much of it involves governments, intelligence agencies, etc, conspiring against or with each other. But if you go own the path of "The Conspiracy Controls Everything," you end up with the problem, much like with many other kinds of paths where you have to accept everything on faith. "There's no evidence of a Conspiracy." "Ah HAH! Well that's what there'd be if there WAS a Conspiracy, see!" At which point, logic no longer has any hold over the person and arguing with them is futile. Just like no matter how often some things get debunked, their adherents will go "Doesn't prove anything, they were setting out to keep people from believing it!" When you can dismiss any evidence to the contrary, or lack of evidence, you don't have to trouble yourself any more about whether or not it's true.
On the other hand, sometimes the simplest answer IS a conspiracy. When, I leave as an exercise for the reader.
Oh yes, I said I'd mention stories and games. Conspiracies show up often in those, because it basically gives you a pre-set plot structure. Start the character(s) at the edge of the conspiracy, then they poke about, finding out new things about the conspiracy and moving up the rungs toward the top and the Epic Final Showdown. It'd be nice sometimes if reality worked that way, kinda, but it usually doesn't. Which is probably for the best.
Of course, I could just be saying all this since I work for the Conspiracy, to keep people from believing they exist. But I wouldn't do that, would I? Fnord.
