Government Secrecy and Conspiracy Theories

Jun 05, 2006 20:24

Let me preface this by saying that I'm anything but a conspiracy theorist. In fact conspiracy theories piss me off a great deal ( Read more... )

information, crime, politics

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Comments 12

megalomello June 6 2006, 07:05:38 UTC
What about the Kennedy Assassination?

The people are the government...hasn't that always been somewhat of a joke?

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unsane1 June 6 2006, 09:34:58 UTC
What about the Kennedy Assassination?

What about it?

The people are the government...hasn't that always been somewhat of a joke?

heheh I guess I'm something of an idealist. :P

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megalomello June 6 2006, 18:43:00 UTC
Well, don't tell me you believe that lone gunman bullonay...

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unsane1 June 6 2006, 19:49:20 UTC
I haven't read enough on the JFK thing to have an opinion either way. But the secrecy and conspiracy theories involved is a prime example of what I'm talking about.

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igferatu June 6 2006, 11:34:40 UTC
While I think that explicit conspiracies are relatively uncommon (Enron, tobacco companies come to mind), it is only because they are typically unnecessary. When you live, work, and vacation, and marry in the same exclusive circles it is inevitable that your tacit agreements about how power should be wielded will outweigh any competitive appearances with each other. No matter who lives in the castle with you, you will all tend to agree on keeping the walls high and the crown jewels well guarded - everything else is theater.

You've seen They Rule, right?

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unsane1 June 6 2006, 17:23:12 UTC
Yeah I check that site out every few years.

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rantipole6 June 6 2006, 19:30:47 UTC
Well, there's conspiracy theories and then there's common sense coverups. I guess a conspiracy theory would be the "missile hitting the Pentagon" story and then a common sense conspiracy would be U.S. companies lobbying around behind the scenes looking to use 9/11 to their advantage.

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whythawk June 6 2006, 20:43:48 UTC
I've never thought that people were smart enough for conspiracies. Conspiracies usually are people being incompetent. In large groups.

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weemadharold June 10 2006, 14:46:50 UTC
It's interesting how different the connotations of 'Conspiracy Theory' are from its literal meaning. The official view of the events of September 11th 2001 is a conspiracy theory. If you posit that a group of people were behind something then that is a conspiracy theory. It's a shame that the connotations are now so pejorative. Defining something as a conspiracy theory (and thereby dismissing it) is an arbitrary and subjective stance whereas the term used literally actually has some descriptive value.

any information of value is blacked out anyway

What always surprises me is how much information they do reveal. The amount of conspiracies, cover-ups and general evil-doings released into the public record is amazing, although not quite as amazing as the way in which nobody seems to notice. It seems entirely possible that in a few decades there'll be documents released under the FIA proving that the US Administration were 100% behind the planning and execution of the 2001 events blamed on Al Qaeda and most people won't notice or care.

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