You know, it might be a worthwhile project to sort of map what you’re talking about it. I’m not suggesting just you, but all of us. I mean, sociologically, I find the whole thing really fascinating.

How very funny and synchronistic. Today I started to construct a social network of blogs, based primarily on blogrolls. I completely surveyed your blog, as well as a few others that are well known to you, before I gave up. The most difficult part is conducting the surveys, since it requires translating URLs to unique IDs, which gets to be difficult once there are even a moderate number of entries. (It’s also fairly difficult to automate.) I can send you the database I have so far, if you’re interested in doing something with it. Maybe it can be passed around.

Once there is a data set of sufficient size, constructing the map shouldn’t be too difficult. Good algorithms for that sort of thing should be easy or at least easy to find.

However, while I may never know who killed Kennedy, I CAN figure out why so-and-so lied to me about this or that. And when I expose the lie, I not only move on with my life but I also end up having the upper hand over those people who lied to me. Suddenly, my trust in them is gone and they no longer have any control over my feelings.

This goes along with what I wrote in the previous post. Exposing lies convinces yourself and other people that conspiracies exist and lies are told (whether or not we can ever piece together the actual conspiracies beyond a shadow of doubt, or determine the truth behind the lies.)

I started out thinking that conspiracy theory was just modern mythology. I have been very surprised to discover a more consistent narrative than I would have suspected.

I have had several examples of it in my life, instances where friends and/or family members intentionally kept information from me, for fear that I would not be able to handle the truth. I would wager that these incidents are the motivation behind my fascination w/ conspiracy theories.

However, while I may never know who killed Kennedy, I CAN figure out why so-and-so lied to me about this or that. And when I expose the lie, I not only move on with my life but I also end up having the upper hand over those people who lied to me. Suddenly, my trust in them is gone and they no longer have any control over my feelings.

Ironically, I’m less paranoid in my everyday life than in my conspiracy modes, and yet more personal conspiracies have occurred with me than political ones. The CIA is not out to hurt me, but that girl who lied when she told me she didn’t cheat on me surely was. Maybe I should redirect my paranoia towards the ones who do the real harm, the ones we suspect are on our side.

I think that I get my practice at scoping out BS from the conspiracy sites, and then I apply them to my everyday life. Hours spent mulling over the Second Gunman on the Grassy Knoll have helped me to be less gullible in my daily interactions with con artists, scammers, and liars.