Not exactly a conspiracy theory, but here's mine: We all know that the mass media tends to put out whatever entertainment brings in the most revenue, regardless of quality. The marketing industry is run by people with this priority. The contents of their media have limited emphasis on intelligence or insight because there's not enough return. The priority is "Eat at Joe's! Buy brand X! Watch Channel 57! Get butts in seats!" They're very good at doing all that, but they don't seem to exhibit much collective intelligence any other way. It makes sense because in marketing, the better seller will tend to get his way more than the smarter guy. So it's natural that the marketing industry will be populated with more "good sellers" and fewer "smart guys". Which makes it a challenge to market this stuff to people who are smarter than they are. How can you talk up to your audience? How can you mass-market to someone who's smarter than you are? The solution was this: They convinced the viewing public that it's okay to be dumb. Once you do that, you can convince the public of anything. It's not a conspiracy... it's just what happens when a marketing industry is given its own way: The world we live in now. The marketers have convinced us that their agendas are the most important things in our lives. Buy throwaway products and litter the landfills with them. (Oh, you have last year's model of smartphone? That's no good, you need this year's model.) Buy gas-guzzling SUVs. Watch this show. Watch this cartoon. (Oh, you mean dinosaurs and cavemen didn't live side by side? That's all right, it's all the same thing.) Who gets voted off the island on this week's "Survivor"? Snooki and Kim Kardashian comment on this month's fashion trends. HEADLINE! JonBenet Ramsey was actually Princess Di's love child by Michael Jackson. The world is coming to an end for this, that, or the other reason. (Oh, it didn't end? All right, it must be a different date.) Read my blog about conspiracy theories. That's my belief. We've become a world of the dumb leading the dumb. And there was no conspiracy. We did it all on our own.
I believe the assassination of Martin Luther King was a conspiracy. AFAIK, that's the only "conspiracy theory" that I subscribe to. I also think that Mark Fuhrman or another cop probably moved one glove from the murder scene to O.J. Simpson's property to be "discovered" there, but that's not necessarily a conspiracy.
Yeah I tend to think the only conspiracy theories that *may* hold water are the small scale ones, like the assasination of MLK, and, for me at least, Bobby Kennedy. When people start talking about the 9/11 attacks being a huge conspiracy I switch off. The most I would ever accept about 9/11 is that some people, somewhere, knew something was going to happen and let it because it helped their own agenda, but even that's a stretch.
There have been and are real conspiracies, but they tend to be really boring and/or incomprehensible, with no headline-worthy fun stuff like aliens or taking over the world. The Libor scandal of the past month, for example. Media and politics trying to control each other for another set of examples. But generally, it's just company profits as the aim - and obviously that's the whole point of companies, so you can't really call it something secret or unusual. Some of them are great inspiration and breeders of plot bunnies for us writers though. I think the closest I get to subscribing to any big-name conspiracy theory is being of the opinion that 9/11 was partially a get-rich-quick insider trading run on airline stock - by a short of cash Bin Laden, who needed new funds for AQ. Still means it was Bin Laden and al Qaeda who did it, though!
This is pretty much the bottom line. The sad thing is, conspiracy theorists with their paranoia and lack of logical thinking actually play into the hands of anyone in power wanting to cover something up. The 'Earth is ruled by lizards' crazies tar anyone thinking there may be things we don't know about the deaths of JFK or Marilyn with the same brush...
Mention of JFK and Marilyn reminds me to mention the other sort of real-life historically documented conspiracies that exist(ed) - ones made up on the fly just to cover people's/organizations' own asses when something fucked up...
I do not believe in conspiracy theories (of the type you are referring to). Some are entertaining to read about, but that is about it.
So like the dark ages but with the media as the cause rather than religion. Not really anything new. Plus, I think this oversimplifies things. Just to focus on media, for example, I don't think that marketing to stupidity is the issue, I think it more likely that marketing to youth has contributed (to what extent, I don't know) to a culture of anti-intellectualism. Marketing to youth makes sense, because of brand loyalty. Stupidity just happens to be a biproduct of youth. In fact, I think that with geek culture going mainstream, marketing is actually responding to that fad; at least in American advertisements there has been a trend toward the abstract and things like absurdist humor. But, like I said before, this way oversimplifies things. We also have a piss-poor educational system, a deeply ingrained disrespect for teachers, corrupt textbook publishing companies who cater to the anti-intellectualist agenda of the Texas GOP (this affects the whole country, for several reasons, but basically, what happens in Texas education ends up happening almost everywhere else in the country), and a very vocal hyper religious minority who get their ignorant footholds in pretty much every social sector -- none of that was caused by the media. I've never had a tendency to believe in conspiracy theories myself, but as a teen there were a couple that were sort of sacred cows for me. However, when I actually thought about them I realized just how absurd they were. I find the consistant pathological thought processes behind belief in conspiracy theories to be fascinating, though.
Mind. Blown... I'm about as anti conspiracy theory believer as they come. I just don't buy any of it.. I have a friend, whom, as a stay at home mom, has had FAR too much time on her hands and is starting to buy into some of them and I have to be very careful not to just poo-poo them to her face. She basically believes in the collective rantings of Alex Jones and is a big Occupy Wall Street supporter.. She's pretty much anti everything and believes that an asteroid is going to hit sometime in 2013... I have suggested she look at getting a job once her girls are both in school this fall... I think the internet and the 24 hour news cycle is largely to blame for a lot of conspiracy theories gaining popularity these days.. Before, they were just fringe beliefs circulated by low budget news letters and self published books.. Once the nets came about, it was off to the races and people like the above-mentioned Alex Jones and Jesse Ventura were able to gain "credibility."
Conspiracy theories are just peoples' attempts to make sense of otherwise meaningless, random events. It's more comforting to think that there's a plan that's being enacted, whether for good or ill, because then events are organized and meaningful. Conspiracy theories give people the feeling that someone is in control, and that's comforting. The reality is that there's no one in control, and that's scary. So, no, I don't believe in any conspiracy theories.
One of the stupidest conspiracy theories I've ever read is that crap about the Denver International Airport. I mean, come on.
It may be oversimplifying; this is not something I can really prove. Although I'm not sure what the practical difference is between "a culture of anti-intellectualism" and "a culture that says it's okay to be dumb." Remember, I'm not saying people are actually stupider; I'm saying they have brains and were convinced not to use them. When would you say that took hold? A few generations ago? By comparison, when did the mass media really get hold of society? Seems like a similar time frame to me. Not caused by it. Using it. When I referred to the people who "run" the media or mass marketing, I'm not necessarily talking about Turner or Murdoch. I'm talking about any party who has enough leverage with the media to sway a large segment of the population. Neither of your examples could have gotten this far unless they had that. I'm just very slowly becoming aware of what an enormous sea of garbage we're swimming in and how hooked on it we are. And that includes me -- I'm not claiming any particular superiority or wisdom here. I'm just hoping I can learn to see beyond the garbage someday. Oh, it is. When I was an older child and was ceasing to believe in Santa Claus, I still tried to rationalize his existence for a while by cherry-picking factoids in favor of him. Ignoring the biggest factoid of all ... where the presents come from .... This is a new one on me.
Wikipedia is your friend, if you fancy a good laugh: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_International_Airport#Controversy
I'm just debated out at the moment. There has been a lot of intense discussion going on around here of late. I think I need to revisit this thread in a week or so when my debating stores have been replenished!