The problem with most people is that they want to believe something which is more unbelievable than it really is. If there is a Holy Grail in any kind of reference to Conspiracy, it is the pursuit of truth. That seems to me all the justification needed for the existence of Conspiracy Theories and a conspiracy theory is just a theory and no more until proven as a fact.
We can readily acknowledge that a Conspiracy Theory involves two or more people joining together with the intention of undertaking something which is likely to be remain hidden, subject of a cover-up or undiscovered for sometime afterwards, perhaps forever. Almost every major event recorded in world history has been subjected to a conspiracy theory. The public interest in a conspiracy theory abounds when evidence available on public record does not reconcile with the logical or official interpretation of actual events.
Either we either believe in conspiracy theories or we do not. Nobody forces us. The modern reality is that in the name of investigative journalism, historical analysis and public entertainment, conspiracy theories perpetuate upon just about anything you care to name. The conspirator experiences some kind of emotional satisfaction and triumph in the communication of the theory to a captive audience which could be any one of us while we watch our television sets, listen to the radio or surf the internet.
Conspiracy theories are not usually speculated by idiots or by someone who has not stated some degree of logic and analysis for the theory. Many are, of course, downright hoaxes and are published with the intention of misleading us. If, however, an individual person can conspire with another because he or she does not want the truth to be revealed, why not a militia, a Government? Some of the conspiracy theories we hear about are perfectly credible, if we want to believe them, but the fact remains that the more we want to believe in those theories, the less credulous they actually are and certainly all the less convincing.
Conspiracy may or may not amount to a criminal act. It may be no more than manipulating an event or series of events to achieve a desired outcome. Imagine family members withholding information which could or would affect a birth marriage or death. It involves a very considered strategy, whether right or wrong, and may also involve a certain amount of paranoia on the part of the conspirator in wanting to believe in the conspiracy in the first place. The conspirator is paranoic because the common man is more likely to be skeptic of the theory than a converted believer.
It may be true that ‘Big Brother” is watching us – whoever ‘Big Brother’ is meant to be. It may be true that William Shakespeare did not write the Plays attributed to his name. It may be true that more than one person was involved in the killing of John F Kennedy and that aliens landed on earth at Roswell in 1948 or crashed in an English forest called Rendlesham in 1980. It may be true that Global Warming is a hoax. None of these Conspiracy theories can ever be proven, so the speculation of conspiracy theories goes on and on.
Some conspiracy theories are proven, of course. President Richard Nixons involvement in the Watergate phone tapping affair in the 1960s. The involvement of Guy Fawkes with others as conspirators for the Gunpowder Plot which so nearly blew up Londons Houses of Parliament in 1605. Karen Silkwood the American chemical plutonium technician. There have been many instances in the Courts.
Other conspiracy theories such as to suggest that Elvis Presley did not die in 1977, that Adolf Hitler escaped Germany in 1945 to either Indonesia or Argentina, that the Bermuda Triangle is a ‘rip in time’ and that the Egyptians built Stonehenge in England border on the absurd and far-fetched and confirm the notion that it only takes two people to form a conspiracy theory. After that, it can spread like wildfire to the multitude and it will remain a phenomena out of control because nobody knows the answer.
The ultimate objective of any Conspiracy Theory is that pursuit of truth. We have the right to know. In many countries of the world, there is legislation entitling us to freedom of information. Information is a powerful resource but it is not always accurate. The pursuit of truth or the desire to keep an open mind should not be shackled or in any way restrained because of the fear of not being believed. We all conspire every day in the pursuit of truth. That is a fact, not a theory. The outcome is not always what we desire or want .
Mr. Paul 