Conspiracy Theory, Espionage, and Psy-Ops (A Spectrum)

[guruilla]

Have you seen Matthew Fuller's Evil Media Studies book?

I haven't. It does sound like useful reading

Evil Media develops a philosophy of media power that extends the concept of media beyond its tried and trusted use in the games of meaning, symbolism, and truth. It addresses the gray zones in which media exist as corporate work systems, algorithms and data structures, twenty-first century self-improvement manuals, and pharmaceutical techniques. Evil Media invites the reader to explore and understand the abstract infrastructure of the present day. From search engines to flirting strategies, from the value of institutional stupidity to the malicious minutiae of databases, this book shows how the devil is in the details.
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evil-media

I had just ordered this one from MIT: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/what-algorithms-want

[JackRiddler]

Snopes is the first place I'd go for answers about UFOs!

Well, no. Obviously. It's a bit above their paygrade. But spoor attributed to Bigfoot? Rotting dead dog corpses washing up on Spanish shores? Did Pamela Anderson really write this? (Shock answer: TRUE!) Definitely! That's their wheelhouse, you know?

[liminalOyster]

Have you seen Matthew Fuller's Evil Media Studies book?

I haven't. It does sound like useful reading

Evil Media develops a philosophy of media power that extends the concept of media beyond its tried and trusted use in the games of meaning, symbolism, and truth. It addresses the gray zones in which media exist as corporate work systems, algorithms and data structures, twenty-first century self-improvement manuals, and pharmaceutical techniques. Evil Media invites the reader to explore and understand the abstract infrastructure of the present day. From search engines to flirting strategies, from the value of institutional stupidity to the malicious minutiae of databases, this book shows how the devil is in the details.
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/evil-media

I had just ordered this one from MIT: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/what-algorithms-want

Also looks excellent - thanks! Hope you get a chance to check out that "'Paranoid Libertarianism' vs 'Jackboot Neoliberalism'" thread I started. Lots of overlap with your new piece, I should think.

[MacCruiskeen]

Guruilla, I see what you're getting at with that post, but you might be wasting your energy to some extent. I'm convinced that the term 'conspiracy theory' itself is unsalvageable. No good can come of it. As Jamey Hecht argued long ago, it's "worse than useless as an explanatory category", and for precisely that reason it's endlessly useful to those with a vested interest in sowing confusion.

THE TERM ‘CONSPIRACY THEORY’

This phrase is among the tireless workhorses of establishment discourse. Without it, disinformation would be much harder than it is. “Conspiracy theory” is a trigger phrase, saturated with intellectual contempt and deeply anti-intellectual resentment. It makes little sense on its own, and while it’s a priceless tool of propaganda, it is worse than useless as an explanatory category.

http://qlipoth.blogspot.com/2007/07/wha ... s.html?m=1

(The link is to a short post I contributed to a group blog more than a decade ago.)

This is very good, and Mr Parry starts off on the right foot by placing the spooky confusionist cant term in scare quotes

Published on Dec, 5, 2018 Comments 40

In Defense of ‘Conspiracy Theories’

Max Parry

https://off-guardian.org/2018/12/05/in- ... -theories/

[mentalgongfu2]

I agree, the term "conspiracy theory" is completely worthless. It is used today only to discredit.

Those who write about conspiracies should find a new way to describe criminal conduct by groups or the hypotheses thereof. It won't stop the media from using this term as a thought-stopper, but the word "conspiracy" itself has become tainted in the public mind, even without the "theory" attached.

It bothers me to no end that America's prosecution system can throw around "conspiracy" as much as they want in criminal charges without so much of a blink of an eye when it comes to drug organizations, gangs, or anything relating to the underclass, but the same word is immediately discounted when the rich and powerful are connected to the events. I'd love to find a good way out of this linguistic corner, but I don't know what it is.

[Joe Hillshoist]

Hellyer told the Lazarus Effect podcast he believes the world's elite has the technology to reverse the effects of climate change, but is holding back from the public. When asked why, Hellyer said that the Illuminati wanted to help the petroleum industry.

The Illuminati are a group that conspiracy theorists assert controls the world's affairs and economy, and its members come from the worlds of politics, business and entertainment.

According to Hellyer, many members of the Illuminati have stakes in how well the oil industry performs financially.

'You have a got secret cabal that's actually running the world and they've managed to keep this technology under wraps until they can cash in the trillions of oil assets that they've got,' Hellyer said.

This is bollocks.

If there is one thing that will help the petroleum industry remain viable its technology to reverse climate change.

Its like when O'Brien tried to make Winston Smith believe 5 was 4. Accepting such a fundamentally broken premise makes you more open to external control. It interferes with your ability to think critically and leaves you open to manipulation by people who would have you believe things that aren't real.

If the Illuminati had the technology to reverse climate change the last thing they would do is hold it back when they could make money off licensing it and also selling more oil, coal and gas because climate change is no longer a threat. If there is any conspiracy here its that the Illuminati (of which Hellyer is obviously a member) don't have this technology but want you to think they do so you're less inclined to challenge the people who a - rule the world and b - can create such technology about climate change cos they will fix it soon enough.

IE this article and Hellyer himself are part of a conspiracy to prevent action on climate change thru the use of subtle psychological manipulation to convince people there is no need for action on climate change. That the powerful, the mighty, our betters, have the situation in hand and we don't need to do anything other than demand they release this technology. (Before it flies UFOs into 9/11).

[guruilla]

Guruilla, I see what you're getting at with that post, but you might be wasting your energy to some extent. I'm convinced that the term 'conspiracy theory' itself is unsalvageable. No good can come of it. As Jamey Hecht argued long ago, it's "worse than useless as an explanatory category", and for precisely that reason it's endlessly useful to those with a vested interest in sowing confusion.

1) It's the word conspiracy that, if anything does, needs rescuing

2) The aim isn't necessarily to salvage tarnished terminologies but to restore reason to the debate and start by using C-Theory as an example of schismogenesis, the deliberate polarization of points of view to render them both volatile and peculiarly inert or impotent (great combo, huh - so premature ejaculation becomes the norm in all forms of congress).

Those who write about conspiracies should find a new way to describe criminal conduct by groups or the hypotheses thereof.

I think that's probably true and to my mind there are two areas of nefarious group activities that get (prematurely) grouped together under the dread-C-Rubik: sociocultural engineering, and spycraft.

The one is partially open but naively (IMO) seen as well-intended or semi-benign; the other is acknowledged as a reality, even a sometimes criminal one, but woefully underestimated both in terms of scope and perniciousness.

IMO, the two intersect and to a degree work together, hence the profane idea of a grand Conspiracy, both correct and incorrect at the same time.