Conspiracy Theories

April 27, 2013

Missouri Dept. of Conservation

The events in Boston, two weeks ago, numerous conversations I’ve had with forum friends in the doomer community every time such events happen and a conversation with a poster to the comments section of last week’s blog post have set me to wondering, over the last few days, whether I am, in fact, a conspiracy theorist.

The answer I’ve come up with is a fairly firm, “No.” For example, I don’t believe 9/11 was a vast covert operation by elements of the government – much to the chagrin of some of my doomer friends. On the other hand, I do think it entirely possible that elements of the government, whether through simple hubris or deliberate choice, ignored warnings that led directly to the attack, then used that attack quite deliberately to whip up public support for wars against both Afghanistan and Iraq and the building of a massive security apparatus to protect itself as the Empire enters decline.

Nor do I believe that every notable incident, from mass shootings to hurricanes and super storms is a red flag, black ops, HARRP induced, UN sponsored attempt to take away our “freedoms”. However, I do see these incidents used ever more frequently as propaganda tools in which we are encouraged by the government to see danger everywhere, trust each other less and give up ever more “freedoms” – in the cause of national security – on our own.

In that sense, it really doesn’t matter at this point, whether or not the government committed any or all of these events. Either way, they have been successfully used by the government to accomplish those things noted in the previous paragraph with surprisingly little backlash from the average American.

As I pointed out last week, I do find it curious that the government does not see, nor are we pressed to see the hugely more dangerous and deadly actions of risk-taking bankers, greedy corporate boards and careless company executives as greater threats to the life of the nation than a nineteen-year-old “terrorist”. Of course, the needs those insiders to perpetuate itself at home and abroad, whatever danger they pose to those of us who comprise the nation.

While the mass shooter, the careless company executive and the terrorist are capable of the same amount of damage to the homeland, in terms of lives lost or damage to infrastructure, only the terrorist presents a direct challenge to the story of benign intervention around the world, that the Empire tells about itself. And that challenge is especially threatening to an Empire entering collapse.

Which brings us back to conspiracy theories. Why doesn’t the Empire see those stories as a threat? Surely the rantings of Alex Jones, Glenn Beck and, perhaps, even those similarly minded doomers I know, represent a threat to that story as well, don’t they?

Probably not. For one thing, they don’t have the same traction – at home or abroad – as stories of evil terrorists out to destroy our freedoms. Nor do they challenge the story of benign intervention by the Empire in the same way as direct attacks by individuals from nations who have been ravaged by those interventions, but are too powerless to declare an outright war.

And, in their own way, such conspiracies are useful to a fading Empire in keeping us divided and afraid. Even as the costs of problems such as diminishing resources, climate change and economic instability increase, we become increasingly unable to mount a challenge to the spending priorities of an Empire that must now defend itself, at any cost, from the very enemies it has created.

Eventually, if history is an accurate guide, the expense of defending the Empire will prove so costly to the average American, that even the story of benign intervention will not quell our anger. At that point, we become the enemy. If we are so busy divining the entrails of the latest conspiracy theory as to whether this piece of legislation or that one will be the one that will let them take our guns away, sell us out to the UN/Illuminati/black helicopter guys, turn our property over to Monsanto/Goldman Sachs/Exxon Mobil or open the gates to the Democrats/Republicans anti-gun/pro-gun/ Christian/Muslims/Atheist crackpots trying to take over the country, we will never see it coming.

At that point, they won’t bother with new laws to do any of the above, if they feel the need to do them. At the point where the Empire finds itself desperate enough that we’ve become the enemy, they will simply kick in the door (or its equivalent) and twist the laws already in place to justify it. If they feel justification is necessary. Historically, that’s what empires in collapse do.

So, no, I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist – not that I think governments can’t and don’t conspire. The Empire is in decline; it will do what is necessary to protect itself in that decline from enemies both foreign and domestic. All the conspiracy theories about who, what, how and when will not change that if those unhappy days comes in our lifetimes. All they will do is keep us too divided to recognize what’s happening.

My personal theory is, it’s better to spend whatever time we have between now and then, planting our gardens or securing our food supplies, finding ways now to do more with less, making our homes less energy dependent, finding ways to use things we might have thrown away, getting to know our neighbors, localizing our needs and making our communities stronger. I just think those things are far more useful to us (though probably more difficult and less entertaining) than picking through conspiracy theories.