In case you were unaware there are fantastic sets of conspiracy believers running about in American politics right now. (Okay there are a lot more than two, but I’m only going talk about these two at the moment.)
Truthers – who believe that the US Government, and usually G.W. Bush specifically, was behind the attacks on the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon on September 11th 2001. That the whole idea that it was perpetrated bye arab terrorists is a lie created to justify war.
and
Birthers – people who think that Barrack Obama was born in Nigeria and not in the United States and therefore is ineligible to be president of the United States.
On the web I caught a bit of a argument between some on the right and some on the left as to whose conspiracy nuts were nuttier. Frankly this sort of argument is meaningless. It has all the validity of arguing who would win in a fight between the USS Enterprise and The Battlestar Galatica.
However I did find it amusing to see that the two sets on conspiracies meshed with the political philosophies of their believers.
People on the Left tend to think that government is an efficient capable entity, able to solve all manner of problems with speed and practicality. (And there are many things that government should do and some that government does better than the private sector.) The Truthers, generally on the left, believe that the government is capable of such a grand conspiracy . It would be an amazing military operation to pull off such an attack and not leave clear fingers prints.
People on the right tend to think that private businesses and individuals are more capable and better problem solvers than government. It’s natural that their conspiracy – and Birthers tend to be on the right — would emphasize the power and forethought of the individual. That Obama’s parents certain that there baby would be president someday would take such diverse steps as faking a birth certificate and planting birth notices in local papers to cover baby Barrak’s true birth is simply amazing work that could only be performed by gifted individuals and never by a committee of paper-pushers.
What you believe also reveals more about yourself and your worldview than you expect it to.
I have a good friend who is a contracted government employee in computers. She is a major fan of print and televised science fiction and fantasy BUT she was never able to really get into and enjoy “X-files” because(and I quote her) “every third show invovles a government conspiracy regarding aliens, psychic phenomena, and the truth and the truth is that the government is made up of people who can’t keep their mouths shut. This is why there is security regulations about what we are allowed to discuss and when.” (She has a fairly high security clearance, as she is dealing with military computer software.) It is significant that a good part of her job exists because of the inefficiency of our government – she helps the targetting software of one branch of the armed services talk to the targetting software of another branch of the armed services because, naturally, two branches of the military of the same government COULDN’T POSSIBLY DEVELOP SOMETHING TOGETHER!! If our military is this messed up (and it is) then the 9/11 conspiracy theorist are up a creek without a paddle if they think that could be pulled off by such a FUBAR organization.
The Birthers share similar problems.
I am growing increasingly depressed over the unbridled stupidity and laziness of our species. I must plan for my future suicide before I am incompetant and at the mercy of these yahoos (somewhere in my 70’s, I expect.).