A beautiful deconstruction of "conspiracy theory" doublethink
The guardian.co.uk opinion page currently features a brilliant article from Dan Hind which is a response to an earlier article by Charlie Brooker, titled "So, you believe in conspiracy theories, do you? You probably also think you're the Emperor of Pluto".
The first article broke all records for online responses, topping out at 1,700. From my casual glance through it doesn't appear that Charlie Brooker has much support from the readership.
links:
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/17/september11 www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/14/september11.usa
While Charlie Brooker draws on all the usual stereotypes and prejudices against "conspiracy believers" as mentally unstable social outcasts who irrationally cling to the idea of secret knowledge in order to improve their self esteem, Hind deconstructs the concept, demonstrating that recent policies of the current U.S. Administration (especially with regard to Saddam Hussein and WMD) have been informed by unsubstantiated and irrational conspiracy theories.
When you think about it, much of the fear mongering over Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions can be viewed as conspiracy theory too.
During the Cold War there was a widespread conspiracy theory about the threat of Communist world domination. These beliefs informed the policies of the Menzies era in Australia and led to censorship and the erosion of civil liberties.
Indeed, the view of 9/11 put forth by the 9/11 Commission and the Military Commissions at Guantanamo could correctly be described as "conspiracy theory" too, since there is no evidence other than the confessions of men who have have been held without due process for up to six years, tortured and dehumanised to the point that their testimony is now legally worthless.
Dan Hind's article, unlike David Coady's casual dismissial of 9/11 Truth as "irrational conspiracy theories", leaves the question of which conspiracy theory is correct unanswered - which is at least a more intellectually honest response to the "knowns" and "unknowns" of 9/11.