8 Reader Responses

1. SubstanceM Says:
   September 5th, 2006 at 3:34 pm

   This comment came about because someone said they didn’t believe humans were capable of sustaining something like “a conspiracy” for “more than a few years”.
   My response was that humans are capable of maintaining institutions over long periods, and I used the U.S of A as an example of an institution maintained over 200 years. Religions longer. I see a difference in many ways (secrective vs. non-secretive) but the capability to maintain an idealogy or set of beleifs, rules, whatever is def possible. So what I guess I have to add now is another example, the military. Whatever you think that “it” is as an entity, it is for sure a set of training, rules and guidelines, methods, procedures, continuity planning, etc that humans have conceived then maintained and executed over long time periods.
   To add to this, the military has classifications - general rank, and clearance for information access based on job type. The “need to know” rule. Within the military, you are only trained to know what you need to know according to your particular role as a cog in the machine. You may spend an entire career in the military and not “know” about something that is going on the entire time….Now I don’t see that as a conspiracy as much as a necessity, but the methodolgy could easily be applied to “how to build a conpiracy that doesn’t fall apart in a day”.

2. Gamine Says:
   September 5th, 2006 at 3:40 pm

   “The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it.”

   –Joseph Mengele

3. David Says:
   September 5th, 2006 at 3:58 pm

   We may run into semantic difficulties from the get-go here, Tim, although your post is something to definitely ponder.

   Dry and rambling as this approach my be (from thefreedictionary.com):

   con·spir·a·cy Pronunciation (kn-spîr-s)
   n. pl. con·spir·a·cies
   1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.
   2. A group of conspirators.
   3. Law An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.
   4. A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design: a conspiracy of wind and tide that devastated coastal areas.

   –

   gov·ern·ment Pronunciation (gvrn-mnt)
   n.
   1. The act or process of governing, especially the control and administration of public policy in a political unit.
   2. The office, function, or authority of a governing individual or body.
   3. Exercise of authority in a political unit; rule.
   4. The agency or apparatus through which a governing individual or body functions and exercises authority.
   5. A governing body or organization, as:
   a. The ruling political party or coalition of political parties in a parliamentary system.
   b. The cabinet in a parliamentary system.
   c. The persons who make up a governing body.
   6. A system or policy by which a political unit is governed.
   7. Administration or management of an organization, business, or institution.
   8. Political science.
   9. Grammar The influence of a word over the morphological inflection of another word in a phrase or sentence.

   –

   re·li·gion Pronunciation (r-ljn)
   n.
   1.
   a. Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe.
   b. A personal or institutionalized system grounded in such belief and worship.
   2. The life or condition of a person in a religious order.
   3. A set of beliefs, values, and practices based on the teachings of a spiritual leader.
   4. A cause, principle, or activity pursued with zeal or conscientious devotion.
   Idiom:
   get religion Informal
   1. To become religious or devout.
   2. To resolve to end one’s immoral behavior.

   –

   cul·ture Pronunciation (klchr)
   n.
   1.
   a. The totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought.
   b. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population: Edwardian culture; Japanese culture; the culture of poverty.
   c. These patterns, traits, and products considered with respect to a particular category, such as a field, subject, or mode of expression: religious culture in the Middle Ages; musical culture; oral culture.
   d. The predominating attitudes and behavior that characterize the functioning of a group or organization.
   2. Intellectual and artistic activity and the works produced by it.
   3.
   a. Development of the intellect through training or education.
   b. Enlightenment resulting from such training or education.
   4. A high degree of taste and refinement formed by aesthetic and intellectual training.
   5. Special training and development: voice culture for singers and actors.
   6. The cultivation of soil; tillage.
   7. The breeding of animals or growing of plants, especially to produce improved stock.
   8. Biology
   a. The growing of microorganisms, tissue cells, or other living matter in a specially prepared nutrient medium.
   b. Such a growth or colony, as of bacteria.
   tr.v. cul·tured, cul·tur·ing, cul·tures
   1. To cultivate.
   2.
   a. To grow (microorganisms or other living matter) in a specially prepared nutrient medium.
   b. To use (a substance) as a medium for culture: culture milk.

   –

   Possible commonalities: “authority,” “power,” “institution(s)”…and I like the last few definitions for “culture,” with all their biological and possibly negative connotations.

   You can possibly intimate where this can lead.

   Human beings strive for “freedom,” or at least that’s one tale our culture or beliefs try and sell us.

   But what >is

4. David Says:
   September 5th, 2006 at 3:59 pm

   Looks like, thanks to my use of a bad character, the end of my post got cut off…if you could restore it Tim, much appreciated.

5. Justin Hart Says:
   September 5th, 2006 at 5:14 pm

   Interesting cause I just got done reading the new Time magazine’s article “Why the 9/11 Conspiracies Won’t Go Away,” by Lev Grossman. It dismisses the conspiracy theories about explosives in the Twin Towers, WTC 7 having explosives, a missle hitting the Pentagon, and the fighter jets being told to stand down — as well as dismissing the conspiracy video Loose Change (I haven’t seen this film, but it’s supposedly on the net). What do y’all think of these theories?

6. unthinkable Says:
   September 5th, 2006 at 8:02 pm

   It may be that there is no other conspiracy existant than simply the perpetuation of our society!

   Perpetuation of civilisation, yes. Society, no. Society is just friends and family; it’s natural. Civilisation is an ideological infection that causes its hosts to run around enslaving people to protect them from imaginary monsters.

   I would argue not that civilisation is the only conspiracy, but that all conspiracies stem from that.

   We’ve been cultured (domesticated) for thousands of years. It certainly hasn’t been a flawless (nor completely secret) operation, but it didn’t have to be. The mistakes of the system allow it to learn and let us think that it isn’t really happening at all.

   Remember after 911 the advice from on high was that we should all just keep working and shopping. Like we even need to be told anymore.

   Oh snap. I said “civilisation is an ideological infection that causes its hosts to run around enslaving people to protect them from imaginary monsters.” OK I just now realised that’s exactly what family is, so there is no difference, so this ‘conspiracy of society’ is a natural phenomenon, as is the inevitable teenage rebellion.

   Now I get why so many conspiracy theories involve families protecting their own interests, and why so many conspiracy theorists want to wallow in teenage angst and burn the house down.

7. alistair Says:
   September 5th, 2006 at 11:12 pm

   those who don`t believe in conspiracies have never been in a civic planning department or been involved in a lawsuit.

8. Tim Boucher Says:
   September 8th, 2006 at 5:17 pm

   Oh snap. I said “civilisation is an ideological infection that causes its hosts to run around enslaving people to protect them from imaginary monsters.” OK I just now realised that’s exactly what family is, so there is no difference, so this ‘conspiracy of society’ is a natural phenomenon, as is the inevitable teenage rebellion.

   Now I get why so many conspiracy theories involve families protecting their own interests, and why so many conspiracy theorists want to wallow in teenage angst and burn the house down.

   Would love to see you develop this angle further as I think there is really something to it!