I wish to address the idea of conspiracies and conspiracy “theories.” They are two different subjects but have an element in common. A conspiracy is something we are all experienced and familiar with, while a conspiracy “theory” is an idea that threatens religious faith. Those who do not believe in conspiracy theories are people who trust excessively and who fear being marginalized. They are both credulous and fearful.
Here’s a common conspiracy we are all familiar with: The car dealership. When we walk on a lot, we are walking into a trap. The people who sell cars for a living have studied us and our habits. They have an automatic advantage. They know what they want; they know what we want. We, on the other hand, though distrustful, are not privy to their inside knowledge of how we normally behave. Ergo, a conspiracy exists, and the trap is relatively easy to spring.
But it gets a bit more complicated. The dealership wants to preserve its reputation for honesty so that future customers are not scared off. So they allow us our illusions. When we fall into the trap, we should emerge thinking we negotiated cleverly, were forceful and that we got a good deal. Otherwise, the car dealership will not long prosper.
Car sales people have a low reputation, just as do politicians, and for the same reason. We intuitively know they are untrustworthy and get the best of us, but cannot admit that we have been personally outsmarted without great discomfort.
The car dealership conspiracy exists in various forms in most enterprises. All that is required is a person or persons with inside knowledge and the ability to shut up about it. Those who talk out-of-school are immediately fired, shunned and ostracized. Within the business world, the conspiracy is usually called a “business plan.”
A conspiracy “theory” far transcends merely getting scammed in the marketplace. Such a “theory,” in American parlance, is a countercultural idea. The most powerful religion in the United States is not Christianity, but rather Americanism. A conspiracy theory is a notion that people worked together to attain un-American objectives.
But they do, twice before breakfast every day, and all afternoon and evening. And again, the key is that they know how we think, what we want. They know how to play us. We think they are like us, and so cannot fathom that they would be as evil as any tyrant or mass murderer in history. We know very little about them, but science is advancing. The idea of a significant percentage of sociopaths among us is now more widely accepted.
The movie “Goodfellas” is a nice exposé of sociopaths. But in Scorsese fashion, it overemphasizes willingness to commit violence without remorse, and pays not enough attention to the quiet law-abiding sociopath. These people live among us, study us, know how to imitate our emotions. They have families and dance at charity balls. They are mostly male, and many women find them exciting and attractive and are willing to endure their coldness for the sake of fun ride. The characters of Goodfellas, supposedly based on a “true story”, were uneducated and dirt poor, but realized that they could easily ignore laws and live comfortably. They share inside knowledge, “Cosa Nostra,” or “our thing.” It’s shared understanding of each other and of normal people.
Take the same people, give them a good civic upbringing and excellent education, and their thing only gets bigger. Rather than just a few local thugs, we are now dealing with people with access to real power – our law enforcement, courts, military and intelligence agencies. They have studied us deeply, and rely on more than mere intuition about normal people. They know our weaknesses and our thought processes.
While we tend to expect that our leaders share our values and ideals, sociopaths, who instantly recognize one another, know to play that as a weakness.
9/11 was a conspiracy, and we all agree on that. This is key, however: The official story is that it was a conspiracy among 19 Arabs and a guy in a cave. That is not a conspiracy “theory” because it does not challenge Americanism. It only becomes a “theory” when people suggest that it was not a conspiracy among Muslims, but rather Americans.
The facts about that day are slowly emerging, and evidence now heavily favors an inside job. At least Cheney and Rumsfeld were involved, but George W. Bush was probably kept out of the loop, as even though he blew up frogs with firecrackers as a kid, he has a weak intellect. That look on his face on that day speaks of a man as surprised as the rest of us.
The buildings that fell that day could only come down in that manner by use of explosives. It’s painfully obvious. The planes, which were probably pilotless drones, were a mere distraction used to cover controlled demolition. And if indeed the planes were drones, what happened to the real planes and more importantly, the crew and passengers? They are no longer among us. Were they put in a room and gassed? They were murdered in cold blood. How it was done is a mystery.
That is all frightening, I agree. Most people who are exposed to the evidence suffer fractures in their religious faith. At that point they either come around or go deep into cognitive dissonance. Most people never see the evidence, even as it is hidden out in the open, easily accessed.
Conspiracies such as 9/11 are not uncommon. They abound throughout history. It usually takes such an event to trigger a war, as weak countries are too smart to attack strong ones. If Iran today elects to attack an American war vessel with a speed boat, it’s easy to see that it’s a false flag operation. But most Americans will not see it. Americans easily accept conspiracies when Americans are not involved. Reichstag, false flag attacks on Nazi Germany, communists under our beds, the Maine, Tonkin … whoa! Hold on there! I’m deviating! The last two were not conspiracies! Those are only theories.
If you accept the nineteen Muslim conspiracy, rather than the conspiracy theory about Americans being behind 9/11, here is what you buy in to, according to Paul Craig Roberts:
[19] young Muslim Arabs outwitted not only the CIA and FBI, but also all 16 US intelligence agencies and all intelligence agencies of US allies. … In addition, they outwitted the National Security Council, the State Department, NORAD, airport security four times in the hour on the same morning… caused the US Air Force to be unable to launch interceptor aircraft and caused three well-built steel-structured buildings, including one not hit by an airplane, to fail suddenly in a few seconds as a result of limited structural damage and small, short-lived, low-temperature fires that burned on a few floors.
That’s just one conspiracy, of course, but a pretty big one, as it effectively unleashed the US military on the globe without restraints and gutted what was left of the Constitution. The ease with which the official story falls apart is troublesome, but not for intellectual reasons. It’s easily seen as a sham. All that is required is perhaps a 5% open mind and exposure to evidence.
But to go there …what happens? It is similar to getting up on an altar on Sunday and saying that Jesus never existed and this stuff about dying for our sins has no intellectual basis! The issue is not one of intelligence, as sane religious people are more often smart than not. It’s a matter of faith, group coherence, fear of both ridicule and ostracism. Religious faith, or American exceptionalism, is the key.
Conspiracies happen every day in every way. They have nothing to do with conspiracy “theories,” which are expressions of doubt in our religious faith. Belief in conspiracies is accepted and normal. Belief in the evil of American power is not acceptable and is subject to social discipline.
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PS: I enjoyed a bit of macabre humor after reading Kemmick’s comment below – not about him, but rather the fact that George W. Bush had been shuffled off to Florida that day (and then around the country), probably to keep him out of the way. But the humor is this: He was reading a story book to children. Was that an inside joke? Was he being mocked?
Piece of Mindful 
I think Paul Craig Roberts should ask, “All that immense preparation, the secret removal and murder of hundreds of passengers, the necessity of suppressing any leaks among the thousands of individuals who had to be in on this, the use of “drone” passenger jets (!), the incredibly difficult preparations for the demolition … and they couldn’t fake a photo of Bush being ‘as surprised as the rest of us’?”
You pose on an expert on sociopathy, but your own pathology has eaten your brain.
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Leak suppression … fear of death, incarceration, loss of pay and retirement. Immense preparation … done in the open. Thousands of individuals? Compartmentalization. Most had no clue what was up. Drones? Look at the pictures. My “pathology?” I do not fear ridicule from the likes of you, in a profession that rewards credulity.
Again, a 5% open mind …
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No investigation always creates legitimate suspicion. 9/11 and the anthrax attacks cannot be resolved without outside, independent investigation with full and transparent government cooperation. Mission accomplished (the ends) cares nothing for how it happened (the means). The U.S. Constitution and whole notion of “the rule of law” is indeed in tatters, which was no accident. Otherwise, it would be met with a highly focused, unified effort to restore what’s been lost.
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As George Carlin said when he talked about this stuff, it is fun to speculate, but pointless, as power never investigates itself. My solution is to have the Russians investigate 9/11, the French 7/7, and the Chinese that mysterious and deadly apartment building bomb in Chechyna.
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So now buying and selling cars is a conspiracy, eh? I guess you are still feeling burned over buying that car for your kid. Well, I hate to tell you this but you got stiffed because you are stupid. You could have educated yourself on the process of buying or selling cars, how dealerships work, and what the best possible price would be for a particular vehicle. But, no, you would rather play the paranoid-schizophrenic victim.
As for the rest of your ravings in this post, all I can say is, you are pretty close to a visit from the white coats. I imagine your family has already discussed the idea of having you involuntarily committed, but they probably want to avoid the stigma and are just hoping you do not do anything that will bring you to the attention of the authorities.
PS: Your mind is so open your brain fell out a long time ago.
— Max
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We buy off of Craigslist from private parties.
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Excuse me. I thought you were talking about your actual experience with car dealerships, as if you had some firsthand knowledge.
I guess you sucked us in again.
Anyway, you should be more circumspect when you write about government conspiracies. It is a good bet that your writings are going to be evidence in some legal proceeding against you, either a civil action to send you to the funny farm or a criminal action when you finally go off the deep end and start acting on your delusions.
— Max
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Idiot – we use craigslist because of experiences with car dealerships. Of course I have had experience, and of course I can see through the charades. It’s very studied and manipulative. Honest people need not apply. It’s bottom rung stuff – car salesmen are one step above homeless. They do what they do to survive.
And, as I said to Jack, nut up or shut up. I get very fed up with people with wave-of-the-hand knowledge who in actually don’t know Jack. That would be you, having nothing, casting dispersion.
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“Wave-of-the-hand knowledge”—that’s rich, coming from you, the Grand Master of Superficiality.
When you post a logical argument based on proven facts, rather than being based on your paranoid and hate-filled opinions, I will respond accordingly. But until that time, all you will get from me is derision and satire.
— Max
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I know this much about you: you haven’t looked at the evidence. Those who have are not so sanguine.
Nut up or shut up.
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What is your position on UFOs and extraterrestrials being covered up by the govt?
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I think that riducule is unbecoming and that you ought to stick to subject matter. Nut up or shut up.
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I’m not ridiculing you. The evidence of govt coverup of Ufos is extensive.
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The idea that we are visited by aliens is ludicrous, so sightings of ufo’s have to be either mistaken identity or human-created vehicles. Aeronautic technology is virtually all done for military purposes on the taxpayer dime, so that advances are not shared with the public. (We only know about the U2 and Stealth bomber by accident.) I do recall that some scientists from “Area 51” finally had their security muffles removed, and talked about secret aeronautical programs from back in the 1950’s. And no, there were no UFO’s. Just human stuff.
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Thats what they want you to believe. The really secret stuff is highly compartmentalized. It will never get out. You are ridiculing it, the same thing you accuse others of doing regarding your theories.
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OK – I’ll take you at face, and probably regret it. The sheer numbers rule out intergalactic travel. But suppose we could travel to other planets? Which ones? If we pick up a signal and head out today, by the time we get there that society would have disappeared. (It is probably gone by the time we detect the signal.) Intelligence is a self-defeating quality, an evolutionary quirk, and societies such as ours probably self-destruct. We’re well along that road.
So whatever is going on is a local phenomenon. There is highly classified research, most all of it done for the military. Even the Apollo program, if Carl Sagan’s suspicions were correct, was merely a cover to develop weapons-bearing ICBM’s. The technology currently under development has to be tested, and so the most remote area possible, an area in Nevada was chosen. Occasionally something has appeared that cannot be explained by our current grasp of technology. But it is the secrecy around it that creates the rumors of aliens and flying saucers. There is a human explanation for everything, and technology in development that we cannot yet comprehend.
As the old men who testified in my link demonstrate, secrets are well-guarded. The government can and does keep them, securely.
Now, if you lay in wait with a trap regarding idle speculation about secrecy and things going on behind the scenes, it is time. Have at it.
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Well you do lay yourself open for a trap and that was partially my reasoning in asking you this because it does turn the tables on you. You have preferred conspiracies which you take at face value and others that you dont. You see it though so there is no reason is pushing that aspect any further.
I think you are right and you are wrong. I would say the sheer numbers actually guarantee the existence of life forms capable of intergalactic travel and applying human standards of technology or behavior to hypothetical forms of life is fallacious. That being said I do agree with you in the sense 99.99% (at least) of any activity of this sort reported can be explained by anything from human psychology to covert govt activity. I think the govt finds it useful to have people claiming they saw a ufo when they may have experimental technology being tested. In general its a useful non-threatening (to power) outlet for human anxieties.
But….there are many things that can’t be adequately explained and instances where govt coverup of something other than govt military activity can be inferred.
And just as you presume the govt would and can coverup all things 9/11 than you have to admit the presumption would be just as strong they would and could coverup all things extraterrestrial.
All that said I do not believe with any certainty our govt has evidence of extraterrestrial life that they are covering up but I also dont discount the possibility.
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The 9/11 stuff is out in the open and easy to see, the denial psychological in nature and also due to people refusing to look at evidence. But when people do look at the evidence, they are troubled.
What you are talking about is obscure, not something people encounter every day. It’s a far cry from thugs running a false-flag operation to intergalactic travel.
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I dont agree, i think there are more similarities between the two issues than you care to admit to yourself. Most of the 9/11 inside job conspiracy ‘evidence’ does not stand up to much scrutiny.
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I think you hit the nail on the head, Jack. There are conspiracies that some people like, and conspiracies that some people dislike.
Now, if you could somehow come up with an extraterrestrial conspiracy between, say, Dick Cheney and some aliens, or between any major US corporation and aliens, Mark Trotsky would love that.* He would swearing up and down that the “truth is out there,” and that we are all idiots for not accepting the “facts.”
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* As I recall, there might already be a conspiracy theory about where Intel got the idea for the microprocessor. As for Dick Cheney, according to the evidence that is out there, the “friend” he shot while bird hunting was actually an extraterrestrial, who automatically healed his human skin disguise within minutes. This is why “Harry Wittington” did not die from a shotgun blast a less than 30 yards and why doctors could not remove the shotgun pellets from his body.
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I make no claim on “facts”, as there are few to be had. But the 19-Arab conspiracy doesn’t hold up well on examination. Each time that you ridicule without resort to evidence, your stock goes down.
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I do not have time to disprove what cannot be proved, mainly because I am spending all my time trying to figure out who actually wrote Shakespeare’s plays.
Obviously, the writer who put clocks in Caesar’s Rome, billiards in Cleopatra’s Egypt, gave Bohemia a seacoast, and sent Prospero from Milan in an oceangoing vessel is not from this planet.
You are right: Some things do not “hold up well on examination.”
— Max
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Reptillian shapeshifters…all of them.
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I’m going to tag in Steve t to deal with you on that stuff.
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Is that how you make your escape? Steve is like you, smart and yet susceptible to the big lie. He cannot imagine that Americans would murder Americans. He relied wholly on authoritative pronouncements (NIST and Popular Mechanics) to say that everything had been debunked. That too was an escape clause.
So either deal with the evidence, or merely admit you do ‘t want to go there and have no desire to look further. I understand that, and leave you to your devices, whatever gives comfort.
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I’ve looked further I just don’t have the desire to hash it out with you bit by bit again. There is nothing new to discuss.I agree there is more to it than the official story you and I just diverge on particulars.
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Understood, tough predicament. But it’s not about evidence, which is slam-dunk. It’s about sea change. One little bit of evidence, for instance the passport found in the rubble, is enough to undermine the official story. So there isn’t much to argue about. It’s just that feeling of betrayal, of seeing illusions evaporate, that is hard. Been there.
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Au contraire, jack – it is the 19 Arab evidence that does not hold up to scrutiny. Much of it does not even pass the giggle test (a hijacker’s passport found in the rubble at ground zero, for instance.)
As to counter-explanations, naturally without serious investigation and access to physical evidence, people are unable to exactly reconstruct events. It can only be said with reasonable certainty that it was an inside job, that the buildings were professionally demolished, that whatever hit the Pentagon was not a jetliner, that one of the airplanes that hit the towers was a drone. One phone call from board the jetliners is known to be nonexistent, another faked. Thermite was found in the debris, molten metal was observed for weeks after the attack. Passenger lists showed no Arab names. And on and on.
What happened that day? Something, but not that.
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I found a remnant of that story.
http://dalje.com/en-world/former-staff-speaks-out-on-area-51-secret-base/251658
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Yeah Craig.
Got some firecrackers stuffed in frogs stories?
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Not that accuracy matters to you, but the frog story is documented. Animal cruelty is a telltale sign of a sociopath. But get real – Bush was just a pretty face.
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Just about the time when I was to school him on the mechanics of Social Security.
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Having a Schmitty night, are we? You’re making even less sense than usual.
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Nope, I’m just sacking cats for the river.
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Truth is, Swede, a get a sense of a nice person behind your facade and despite the cruel comments you made about Roger Clawson. I imagine you taking care of your livestock and being kind to the people in your sphere. Now, if you had not read that book by Ayn Rand, I think you’d have a better grasp of how the rest of society functions. We all need and feed each other. You are no more drowning kittens than I am eating puppies. At least, I hope that is the case.
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Questions for Brain Dead Liberals on Animal Cruelty:
1. How far down in the Animal Kingdom does your philosophy reach?
2. What do you think of people who set anthills on fire, gas mosquitoes, or deliberately take antibiotics to destroy helpless little bacterium?
3. Do you think PETA is a mammal-centric organization and cares nothing for vegetable life?
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The fact that you pull the wings off flies does not bother me. I do not care about the fly. But the pleasure you take in it is unsettling.
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I see. So killing animals is OK, as long as one has the proper frame of mind.
You sound like a Nazi, dude.
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[Invoking Godwin’s Law was the only way I could figure out how to end this ridiculous thread.]
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We are talking about the phenomenon of the sociopath, or a person who, for whatever reason, has no conscience. They are dangerous and need to be Identified, if for no other reason to protect ourselves. After all, there is no “cure.” One aspect of the condition is, in childhood, a tendency to abuse animals for pleasure. George W. Bush did this. It is only evidence, not conclusive. That’s all this was.
If you are a person without conscience, you likely know you are different than most, and realize that you don’t need to play by rules. This is why, in the post above, I refer to people who understand us well even as we don’t understand them. They have us at an advantage.
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