Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

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Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby coffin_dodger » Sun Oct 27, 2013 4:49 am

Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy? By Brian Wheeler Politics reporter, BBC News 27 October 2013

The more information we have about what governments and corporations are up to the less we seem to trust them. Will conspiracy theories eventually destroy democracy?

What if I told you I had conclusive proof that the moon landings were faked, but I had been told to keep it under wraps by my BBC bosses acting under orders from the CIA, NSA and MI6. Most of you would think I had finally lost my mind.

But, for some, that scenario - a journalist working for a mainstream media organisation being manipulated by shadowy forces to keep vital information from the public - would seem entirely plausible, or even likely.

We live in a golden age for conspiracy theories. There is a growing assumption that everything we are told by the authorities is wrong, or not quite as it seems. That the truth is being manipulated or obscured by powerful vested interests.

And, in some cases, it is.
'Inside job'

"The reason we have conspiracy theories is that sometimes governments and organisations do conspire," says Observer columnist and academic John Naughton.

It would be wrong to write off all conspiracy theorists as "swivel-eyed loons," with "poor personal hygiene and halitosis," he told a Cambridge University Festival of Ideas debate.

They are not all "crazy". The difficult part, for those of us trying to make sense of a complex world, is working out which parts of the conspiracy theory to keep and which to throw away.

continued...http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24650841


Of course, how silly of me not to have noticed - the problem is not corrupt politicians, corporate behemoths or an untouchable banking/financial system and a burgeoning body of proof that we are the guys in the black hats that is ruining everything - it's the 'destroyers of democracy' that point these facts out that are to blame!
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby justdrew » Sun Oct 27, 2013 4:55 am

numbskulls electing half-witted ignoramuses will probably do it in first. Hello, Cameron? really?
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby AhabsOtherLeg » Sun Oct 27, 2013 5:25 am

Hiya BBC. Thanks for indirectly admitting to the part you played in an obvious and serious world-altering conspiracy nearly 70 years after it happened.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23762970

Also, cheers for Hillsborough, Bloody Sunday, Savile, Orgreave, and Pat Finucane (and anyone who knew him).

I sincerely hope conspiracy theories won't destroy democracy in the way they have done in the past. Like with Iran-Contra, BCCI, Propaganda Due, and all that.
Last edited by AhabsOtherLeg on Sun Oct 27, 2013 5:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby Joao » Sun Oct 27, 2013 5:29 am

Twisted logic, black propaganda.
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby JackRiddler » Sun Oct 27, 2013 9:14 am

No, but the endless rotation of this exact same article once every X days through all media, and its automatic copy-pasting as a new thread every single time on RI (always using the original headline) is definitely destroying something. And there's no plan behind it, it's just reflexive herd behavior on our own part. The themes of these articles never vary and haven't varied in something like 30 years. I mean, imagine if everyone had at least shown the discipline to put all of these into one single thread (a discipline we have displayed in the past). That at least would be a citable resource. But every time - aren't you guys sick of always starting a new thread for these? Aren't you sick of always rewriting the same (90% correct) responses? This one is the second in as many days (after the Chomsky one yesterday). And is there a reason why those of you who feel compelled to inform the rest of us that the media published the usual today almost always use the original headline?
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby coffin_dodger » Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:30 am

JackRiddler » Sun Oct 27, 2013 2:14 pm wrote: aren't you guys sick of always starting a new thread for these? Aren't you sick of always rewriting the same (90% correct) responses?


The reason I started this thread as a stand-alone is because the BBC is THE state mouthpiece of the UK gov't and, I believe, has historically been well respected by many countries outside of the UK. The discontent surfacing here in the UK must be reaching a critical point for the 'mighty' BBC to even address this subject - something I haven't seen them do before. It's an excellent feedback mechanism for the BBC and gov't to gauge the general mood via the comments section - the most popular ones of which are supportive of the general conspiratorial meme.

I have a tip for you Jack - when you read a thread headline that makes you groan at the boring, repetitive nature of it - don't read it. You'll feel less agitated at my stupidity.
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby jcivil » Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:33 am

What democracy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfcfdt0jcWs
the above is Bruce Cockburn's "And They Call It Democracy"
It has an ad in front of it, which in most cases would make me not post it, but in his case I click on the (in this case Microsloth) ad thirty or forty times. Fak.

We just need to hew to the hard facts we have, even old, and hammer them. The CIA runs drugs. Fact Fact Fact... then proceed WMD was a lie, Fact Fact Fact.... then proceed Iraq had not relation to 9/11 and the "leaders said it did Fact Fact Fact then proceed.

If it is not a Fact

Do not push it, talk amongst yourselves.

9/11 was a scam Fact Fact Fact leave the theories out. (i.e. The Brits mobilized 30,000 marines and the largest fleet since the Falklands war five days before 9/11 headed for the mid-east. Atta's passport found on rooftop. NO REISTANCE to Attack. No defense of Pentagon. Bush said he saw the first plane hit. When the second plane hit the Secret Service did not move the prez from his publicaly known location (Dog that didn't bark article. MArine with the 'football' said, 'let's go.' S.S. said, "stand down". Fact Fact Fact.

All the folk who shriek about what they think may be 100%right but if it is not unassailable fact it should be kept in discussion groups. When theories are pushed, it is detrimental and possibly mostly disinfo agents pushing them.

"See the paid-off local bottom feeders passing themselves off as leaders Kiss the ladies shake hands with the fellows and its open for business like a cheap bordello And they call it democracy..."

Racist sexist corporatist money grubbing long ago destroyed democracy, methinks on Turtle Island 'round bout 1492.

We have had gains which we must safeguard, but the deathcamp elements, that has to go.
Stand Firm!
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby MacCruiskeen » Sun Oct 27, 2013 10:36 am

^^What Jack said. :thumbsup And it's been clear for decades. Why do we (all) still waste so much time?

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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby 82_28 » Sun Oct 27, 2013 12:41 pm

I think the reason we rehash this shit is because it is the gift that keeps on giving. It's not us. We're merely self-aware mirrors -- at least I am. I just got done watching, for instance, Face the Nation covering the JFK imbroglio as a conspiracy but I find the "admittance" of the conspiracy telling. They are in "paving over mode" of what we all know not to be the truth but most likely. They give it a veneer of objectivity and these acts themselves become a new conspiracy.

I was laughed off Metafilter a decade ago for even bringing up that Bush progenitors supported and profited off both "sides" of WWII. Now this is common knowledge in our "circles" and is no longer controversial. However, we are not the parties causing it. The conspiracy today is in why are we perpetually, annually reminded of it. We already know it's there, but it must be brought up time and time again with differing treatments as to the questions. It's just the re-writing of history and it can be done at will, different "plug-ins" applied to obscure the truth. The truth is that is that certain pageantries can be melded and molded around to suit the needs of something that is ultimately all fake.
There is no me. There is no you. There is all. There is no you. There is no me. And that is all. A profound acceptance of an enormous pageantry. A haunting certainty that the unifying principle of this universe is love. -- Propagandhi
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby slimmouse » Sun Oct 27, 2013 2:37 pm

In its current form, democracy is probably best summed up here,

Image

A synchronistic image WRT the OP
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby MacCruiskeen » Sun Oct 27, 2013 2:59 pm

(Btw, I certainly wasn't suggesting this thread should be abandoned or boycotted!)

82_28 » Sun Oct 27, 2013 11:41 am wrote:I think the reason we rehash this shit is because it is the gift that keeps on giving. It's not us.


I'd put it another way: They're the Pavlovs, we're the dogs. And a dog should know its master.

So, imo, the very first thing to do with any of these "studies" is to look at exactly what it is and exactly who's funding and running it. Let's see... The Big Important Reputable BBC informs the populace that this is a Big Important New Study by A Big Important Ancient University:

Brian Wheeler, Politics reporter, BBC News wrote:Mr Naughton is one of three lead investigators in a major new Cambridge University project to investigate the impact of conspiracy theories on democracy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24650841


Major! New! With three lead investigators! At Cambridge University!! Fuck me sideways, guv'nor, that can only mean serious, impartial science, with like really brainy total experts and stuff!!!

Follow the link:

The Leverhulme-funded project at the University of Cambridge, CRASSH

http://www.conspiracyanddemocracy.org/


Follow from there, with some difficulty, by googling "Leverhulme Trust":

http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/


Click on 'About Us':

About the Leverhulme Trust

The Leverhulme Trust was established by the Will of William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Brothers. [...]

http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/about/about.cfm


Click on 'The Trust Board':

The Trust Board

Trust Board members are recruited from the highest levels of Unilever, the descendent of Lever Brothers. This arrangement was requested by Lord Leverhulme himself, and over the following decades has ensured that the culture of decision-making at the Trust remains free from disciplinary interest, able to draw upon the wide experience brought by its trustees, and fully alert to the role of education and research in modern life. The Trust Board meets three times a year to consider applications for funding and once a year to review the Trust’s strategy for the future.

In making decisions about funding, the Trust Board seeks the advice of a range of peer reviewers and expert panels or committees who offer an assessment of the academic merit and significance of applications.

Members of the Trust Board

Mr N W A FitzGerald KBE FRSA (Chairman)
Sir Iain Anderson CBE FRSE
Mr A C Butler
Mr P J-P Cescau
Dr A S Ganguly CBE
Mr R H P Markham
Mr P G J M Polman
Mr S G Williams

http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/about/board.cfm


I could go on. Any of us could. We could find out more about the Director, and about the Three Lead Investigators, and about this (who are they referring to, exactly?):

In making decisions about funding, the Trust Board seeks the advice of a range of peer reviewers and expert panels or committees who offer an assessment of the academic merit and significance of applications.


...and so on and so forth. Maybe I will. It's quite an interesting exercise. It's good fun.

-----

tl:dr: -- The BBC's article should be retitled:

Giant Anglo-Dutch Corporation Throws Millions At Careerist Hacks To Promote Establishment Discourse

Formerly-renowned uni refitted to host Unilever jamboree. Much schlock, pap & bullshit already posted. Ultimate stringpullers stay shadowy.


The Unilever Website
"Ich kann gar nicht so viel fressen, wie ich kotzen möchte." - Max Liebermann,, Berlin, 1933

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." - Richard Feynman, NYC, 1966

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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby JackRiddler » Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:46 pm

MacCruiskeen » Sun Oct 27, 2013 1:59 pm wrote:
Giant Anglo-Dutch Corporation Throws Millions At Careerist Hacks To Promote Establishment Discourse

Formerly-renowned uni refitted to host Unilever jamboree. Much schlock, pap & bullshit already posted. Ultimate stringpullers stay shadowy.


The Unilever Website


Nice work!

I hate proliferation of the same thread over and over. By no means am I saying so because I want to see any mod-force applied. No, no. It's acceptable and everyone's within their rights. It's just annoying, especially because for the thread title people almost always employ the same bullshit headline as the propaganda piece. Maybe I'm more easily peeved about this than others. While our discussions on this tend to deconstruct it well, when we repeat the thread every time the same bullshit is recycled for another go I feel like we're just helping to propagate it.

It would be nice (but also not required) if anyone bothering to put these things here would also do the work MacC just did. Now that's the right headline for the thread treatment of the OP article!
We meet at the borders of our being, we dream something of each others reality. - Harvey of R.I.

To Justice my maker from on high did incline:
I am by virtue of its might divine,
The highest Wisdom and the first Love.

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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby MacCruiskeen » Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:11 am

Thanks, Jack.

Cambridge Unileversty, eh?... You should see the photos of the seven up-and-coming "researchers" employed to do the donkey-work on this Major New Project. One of them looks about 15, a couple of them are probably past 40, but practically all of them have already mastered the most important thing: The Corporate Rictus. (The youngest still has a nice genuine happy smile, but she'll learn.)

Compare the smiles of Russell Brand or Bill Hicks or Sophie Scholl or Naomi Klein. I'm just sayin'.
"Ich kann gar nicht so viel fressen, wie ich kotzen möchte." - Max Liebermann,, Berlin, 1933

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." - Richard Feynman, NYC, 1966

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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby MacCruiskeen » Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:56 am

Yknow, if RI was set up like Cambridge Unileversty's Major New Research Project, there'd be a "People" page here you could click on that would look like this:

- Big photo of Jeff at the top, in a $5,000 suit, looking solemn and statesmanlike.

- Biggish but slightly smaller photos of the four Mods below him, three of them in $1,500 suits, one in a $1,500 twinset and pearls.

- Snapshots of the rest of us below that, in dress-down-for-Friday gear, practising our rictuses and hoping for promotion.

And the BBC would report on our Research Project with [$5,000-]suitable respect.
"Ich kann gar nicht so viel fressen, wie ich kotzen möchte." - Max Liebermann,, Berlin, 1933

"Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts." - Richard Feynman, NYC, 1966

TESTDEMIC ➝ "CASE"DEMIC
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Re: Are conspiracy theories destroying democracy?

Postby Luther Blissett » Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:41 am

The Rich and the Corporate remain in their hundred-year fever visions of Bolsheviks taking their stuff - JackRiddler
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