Introduction
by Chip Berlet
Every major traumatic event in U.S. history generates a new round of
speculation about conspiracies. The attacks on 9/11/01 are no exception.
There are real conspiracies throughout history, but history is not
controlled by a vast timeless conspiracy. There are powerful people and
groups in society, but they are hardly a "secret team" or a tiny club of
"secret elites." The tendency to explain all major world events as the
product of a conspiracy is called conspiracism.
Conspiracism can be used to critique the current regime or an excuse to
defend the current regime against critics. David Brion Davis noted that
"crusades against subversion have never been the monopoly of a single
social class or ideology, but have been readily appropriated by highly
diverse groups." When the government and its allies use conspiracism to
justify political repression of dissidents, it is called
"countersubversion." Frank Donner perceived an institutionalized culture of
countersubversion in the United States "marked by a distinct pathology:
conspiracy theory, moralism, nativism, and suppressiveness." The article
Repression & Ideology explains how conspiracism works when it is part of a
campaign against dissidents.
Conspiracism as part of an anti-regime populist movement works in a
different fashion. Populist conspiracism sees secret plots by tiny cabals
of evildoers as the major motor powering important historical events.
Conspiracism tries to figure out how power is exercised in society, but
ends up oversimplifying the complexites of modern society by blaming
societal problems on manipulation by a handful of evil individuals. This is
not an analysis that accurately evaluates the systems, structures and
institutions of modern society. As such, conspiracism is neither
investigative reporting, which seeks to expose actual conspiracies through
careful research; nor is it power structure research, which seeks to
accurately analyze the distribution of power and privilege in a society.
Sadly, some sincere people who seek social and economic justice are
attracted to conspiracism. Overwhelmingly, however, conspiracism in the
U.S. is the central historic narrative of right-wing populism.
MORE ON...
http://www.publiceye.org/b_conspi.html
Fuck is this ever long overdue!
