Conspiring to Believe?

Cough, cough, splutter, sniff, A-Tisch-OO

Coo, dusty here isn't it?

I know, I haven't been here for ages; busy, busy, you know how it is.  Today I was musing (bad habit that) and my brain wandered off into one of those strange mazes where you turn random corners, hit dead ends and generally chase your own thoughts until suddenly you reach the centre and find....

Usually something you had never imagined.

Or is that just me?

Today I wandered off on conspiracy theories.

What is it about conspiracies that make them so attractive?

I was introduced by a colleague to a web-site that declares it has 'proof' that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by the American government to give them a reason to invade Iraq.

Now for me, the horrible terrorist attacks that the world has been subjected to are bad enough if they are the product of the workings of deluded souls who believe there is no other way to achieve 'freedom' or 'God's will'.  To believe that a government would be willing to murder thousands of random people just to have a reason to start a war that would kill hundreds more people is down-right frightening.   I don't want to even think about it let alone believe it.  But some people do. 

So what makes this sort of conspiracy theory so attractive?  Perhaps it is the fact that it provides motives and meanings for events that, however horrible, are ones we can grasp as being to some extent understandable.  The fact that it either frees us from any responsibility (I didn't vote for them so it can't be my fault) or gives back an illusion of control (This organisation can bring them down and stop it happening again, join us!).

So how old are conspiracy theories?  Well, looking though history they seem to have existed as long as man.  After all, what are Gods but the ultimate conspiracy theory?  'He/She must be a bad person or God wouldn't punish them' seems to be a recurrent theme.  The Roman and Greek gods were very human in there spiteful behaviour towards people and the echoes of that thinking seem to appear in modern 'superpower' theories.  Think of the Da Vinci code,  the 'Men in Black', etc..  All have 'technology' or 'power' beyond the norm; modern day magic and miracles?  One thinks 'no, that is rubbish' while those nettles of plausibility raise stinging blisters on ones certainty.

Whether there is a God who is more than an antique conspiracy theory I leave to you to decide.  If you are a true believer then may your God bless you and care for you.

Me, I find the thought of all these terrible things happening while there is an omnipotent, omniscient being in charge even more terrifying than the idea of a power-crazy, shadowy organisation bent on ruling the world having the sort of power often attributed to them by the latest conspiracy theory.  To each their own.  I give you free permission to laugh at me when we are all queueing up on Judgement Day.