[Peace-discuss] A note on conspiracy theories

[David Johnson]

I agree with all of the examples this author cites as actual " conspiracy
theories ".

The problem is that the term " conspiracy theory " has been so misused by
establishment defenders to dismiss any exposure ( based upon facts ) of the
misdeeds of the wealthy and powerful, that it has lost its relevancy.

David J.

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Subject: [Peace-discuss] A note on conspiracy theories


Mark Fenster, Conspiracy Theories : Secrecy and Power in American Culture
(U. of Minnesota P., 1999, 282 pp.)   
[ Ph.D. in communications, UIUC; Yale law ]

>From the jacket front flap: 

Fenster argues that conspiracy theories are a form of popular political
interpretation and contends that recognizing how they circulate through mass
culture helps us better understand our society as a whole. To that end, he
discusses Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style in American Politics, the
militia movement, The X-Files, popular Christian apocalyptic thought, and
such artifacts of suspicion as  The Turner Diaries, The Illuminati Trilogy,
and the novels of Richard Condon [The Manchurian Candidate].  

Fenster analyzes the "conspiracy community" of radio shows, magazine and
book publishers, Internet resources and role-playing games that cultivate
these theories.  He believes that conspiracy theory has become a thrill for
a bored subculture, one characterized by its members' reinterpretation of
"accepted" history, their deep cynicism about contemporary politics, and
their longing for a utopian future.  
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