CONSPIRACY THEORIES
Whether you are just tossing around ideas, or you’re deep down a conspiracy hole, the feeling is the same – the rug is pulled out from under you and at the same time the wool is pulled over your eyes; it’s a disorientating house of mirrors. We want to look critically at this complicated human reality. We know that people lie, cheat, and manipulate, but we also know that people tell the truth, are honest, and forthright. Most people are a mix of these qualities, so it’s dam hard to figure out what is what. We have to question this crazy world because it is crazy.
Fifty percent of Americans believe in some kind of conspiracy theory. A conspiracy theory is an explanation that makes reference to hidden forces or agendas to advance some manipulative goal. Some conspiracy theories, when first described, were outlandish but as time fortified the information, they became history or fact, like the Watergate conspiracy in 1972.
Conspiracy theories have been floating around but mostly endorsed by the far left. We are seen as “way-out-there” people. It is because we are critical and look outside the box. Whether it be UFOs, JFK assassination, or the twin towers being an inside job, we have genuine curiosity and information to back it up.
What is so disturbing is that the right-wing is taking on the critical tactics of the hippie. Where we are seriously looking into things trying to find out what is going on, the Right is just making things up to create smokescreens in order to confuse people. So now all conspiracy theories are lumped into the sack with any crazy idea that is meant to swirl the mind instead of enlightening.
As the tables are turned, and the white privileged patriarchy loses ground, they are picking up the tactics of the Left. These tactics have been painstakingly developed by the Left, but they are being wielded not with truth and equality but with lies and white privilege. Now the woke counterculture is on the same platform as the ultra-conservatives.
It’s really a scrambled egg salad; the ultra-right protesting, criticizing the powers that be, and suspicious of the news they get. They have tainted the tools because they do it with lies, hate, and violence, where the counterculture has been mostly on board with nonviolent methodology and science.
We are in the midst of a turning point where the racist, patriarchal, white American is seeing their complete control of power starting slip away. Conspiracy theories are often rooted in some kind of facts, but with the unlimited ability to repost just about any unfounded comment, conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen. The right has created a crazy hairball of blame-theory. There is no information to back any of it, and if it has some factual basis but indites conservatives - they just twist it around and blame it on the left. (I wonder where they got this, maybe from a X-president?)
So now hippie spiritualists are being caught up in the right-wing conspiracies because they use a lot of the same wording and hooks. It is a profound mirror for us. We have to look at what we have created and try to find grounding. Maybe taking people at face value for a minute might help us stop spinning. Maybe believing in our leaders and science might center us. It doesn’t mean everything is fixed, but it just stops us from cycles of fear and mistrust.
When looking into a conspiracy look at who endorses it. Just like when you vote, the measures can seem really great, but when you look at who is backing it, that tells you what the real agenda is. Consider carefully if you want to be bedmates with those who endorse the theory.