The secret? Conspiracy theories sell - Dave Mcginn

[greyl]

The secret? Conspiracy theories sell
Runaway success of self-help DVD, book a lesson in savvy marketing
Dave Mcginn, National Post
Published: Monday, March 05, 2007

snip>
If the secret of the movie is a well-known piece of pop psychology, why is The Secret so popular? Its phenomenal success says as much about the power of conspiracy in marketing as it does about people's endless desire to achieve health, wealth and happiness.

The DVD begins with a shot of a man in a tunic stealing away with a papyrus as a voice-over promises that an ancient secret, hidden from most of mankind, is about to be revealed. It is a secret that "they" have suppressed throughout the centuries because of its power, a secret known to Beethoven, Lincoln, Einstein and 19th-century robber barons.

This is the secret behind The Secret's runaway success: It is the Da Vinci Code of self-help, a run-of-the-mill premise cloaked in a conspiracy theory.
<snip
more, 2 pages

[The Lone Groover]

1. There is no such thing as a conspiracy...

...oh no...!

Greyl me old fruit. What is a conspiracy fact before its been proven?

Do you need the conpriracies in history list again?

[greyl]

2. What are you babbling about? Straw argument due to lack of reading comprehension, or

you simply didn't read what you're allegedly replying to.
Why bother replying with such a shaky argument?

[The Lone Groover]

3. So... you were in no way implying that...

..all conspiracies are invented to make money?

[greyl]

4. I'm not surprised that you've reached a hasty and unwarranted conclusion because

you haven't read the article.

[The Lone Groover]

5. Really?

This is a popular thread isn't it.

[greyl]

15. Yeah, really.

Your replies in this thread are evidence of posting ignorant and disruptive bullshit without any concern for reasonable discussion or truthfulness.

Mark Fenster, a professor at the University of Florida law school and the author of Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture, said such theories are not necessarily bad, unless they are used for pernicious purposes.

"It can become anti-democratic. It can become a distraction from much larger or more important questions," he said. "Conspiracy theories can be part of racist or anti-Semitic movements, and it can also lead to an obsession with things that don't actually exist."

[salvorhardin]

6. There's a difference

There's a difference between real-life factual conspiracies and paranoid conspiracy theories. That difference tends to lie primarily in the scale, scope and duration of the conspiracy. Real life conspiracies tend to be small (just a few people involved), with limited and defined goals and take place over a fixed amount of time. That's why assessing those three factors in regards to any conspiracy theory is a handy shorthand to ascertaining the plausibility of the particular conspiracy theory. Of course there's a significant gray area and the exact point at which plausibility transitions into implausibility is hard to say. Can 2 people pull off a conspiracy? Sure. Can 10? Probably. 100? Maybe. 1,000? Almost definitely not.

But when skeptics talk about paranoid conspiracy theories what we're really talking about is not specific theories, except to debunk them. Instead, what we really mean is what has become known as conspiracism in recent times. It's Hofstadter's famous "paranoid style" (read Hofstadter's 1964 essay The Paranoid Style In American Politics -- you might not agree with Hofstadter, but you should know what he says). It's a fixed, persistent worldview that almost all history and current events can be explained by conspiracy, by covert groups plotting for power in secret to the detriment of the "good" or the "righteous". For the conspiracist, this is the only historiographic tool they bring to the table. Institutional analysis, power structure analysis, class, economics, geography, chaos theory, sociobiology, social psychology... They're all out the window. For the conspiracist, all that matters is "Cui bono?" It's a grossly over-simplified view of the world and often leads to inaccurate conslusions.

Worse still, is that the conspiracist's belief that conspiracy is all one needs to explain the state of human affairs is so overwhelming, the desire for confirmation of that view so great, that not only are facts ignored, but spurious details are often constructed. Indeed, many times over people holding the conspiracist worldview have chosen to interpret fiction as fact. This includes some in the 9/11 Truth movement who view the Lone Gunmen pilot as a coded warning from those with inside information, and the poisonous persistence of The Protocols. David Icke's reptoid overlords are just the latest incarnation of Edward "It was a dark and stormy night" Bulwer-Lytton's 1870 novel The Coming Race.

So it's not that skeptics don't recognize the existence of conspiracies. We do, and we know they have played a powerful role in history. And the unprecedented in American history resort to secrecy by the Bush administration in domestic affairs as well as foreign does not give anyone confidence that elements of the Bush administration aren't conspiring for monetary and political advantage. It's just that skeptics recognize the limitedness of the petty conspiracy and consider its' role in context with other psychological, social, political, technological and economic forces at play, as well as the interplay between those forces. Additionally, we're given pause by the function of paranoid conspiracy theories as a narrative form of scapegoating (c.f. Berlet's Conspiracism As A Flawed Worldview). All too frequently, and with frightening speed, paranoid conspiracy theories can gain ground in the wider population and embedded in those paranoid fantasies are bigoted memes that are often used to justify persecution of religious, ethnic or racial groups. In so far as The Protocols inspired Hitler, the Holocaust is a prime example of a paranoid conspiracy theory translated into a moral panic and ending in atrocity.

So really skeptics should probably be more precise in their language when talking about paranoid conspiracy theories and perhaps use the term conspiracist theories instead to distinguish from factual conspiracies. Of course, for the dyed-in-the-wool conspiracist, none of the above will matter and any attempts toward precision will be unappreciated because anyone who counters their paranoid fantasies, no matter how polite, is obviously a disinformation agent shilling for the puppet masters.

[The Lone Groover]

7. "Real life conspiracies tend to be small (just a few people involved)"

Tend.
Thanks.

(Today is National Minimalist Day.)

[salvorhardin]

8. I'd appreciate your view on the rest of my post

Particularly on the nature of conspiracism, it's limitations and dangers.

[CJCRANE]

9. Manhattan Project.

Stealth Bombers.

The Holocaust.

These are conspiracies carried out by 1000's and kept secret from millions while they were happening.

[salvorhardin]

11. Were either of them *really* secret though?

The Holocaust I would argue was not a conspiracy per se but the result of a conspiracy theory translated into moral panic.

The Stealth Bomber was actually a very limited program. While thousands may have worked on parts for the stealth bomber, the number of people involved in its' design was actually relatively small. Also notice that its' construction was suspected by many long before its' existence was voluntarily revealed.

You are missing my point that conspiracies do exist but conspiracism (and conspiracist theories) are different from factual conspiracies in that they result from a fixed, persistent worldview.

[pauldp]

13. And how about Iran Contra? A Global Conspiracy

involving a Pakistani Bank run by Saudi billionaires
who laundered money and weapons for the US and our
sworn enemy Iran, the proceeds of which went to
support a terrorist militia in Central America
who were allowed to smuggle massive quantities
of cocaine into this country.

The fact that Iran Contra happened and would have
remained a secret had Hasenfus not been caught
I think rather mitigates your first point.

The criminals involved in Iran Contra got away
with mere slaps on the wrist - or nothing - or
a TV show if you're Ollie North.
What message did that send to the perps?
(many of whom now enjoy prominent posts in
the Bush administration)
So how is it paranoid to think the same cabal
may be up to something similar or worse?
Especially in light of the revelations of Sibel
Edmonds and other whistle blowers?

Legitimate concern about secret global criminal
networks should not be conflated with nonsense
spewed by con men like David Icke. It is the
world view of people who can't see the difference
that concerns me.

[The Lone Groover]

14. You missed out Israel.

Yes Israel selling arms to Iran.



That's a real pisser too!

USA - ISRAEL - IRAN - PAKISTAN - SAUDI ARABIA - NICARAGUA

Fooking joke! (not a funny one).

[The Lone Groover]

10. I think "tend" covers it. Thanks. nt

[CJCRANE]

12. To be honest

I accept your point. The problem is under Bushco a lot of things have happened that the paranoid "conspiracy theorists" of the 90's were talking about or predicting - torture, kidnapping, secret prisons, sexual deviancy (cf Abu Ghraib), endless war, unlimited surveillance, biometric ID etc etc.

So they're paranoia was in some ways vindicated. Under a Gore presidency these people would prob have remained more on the fringe. Bushco has literally brought the accused "shadow government" tactics into the mainstream.

[Contrite]

16. How puerile.

I haven't purchased a single "CT-related" product. Nor have I purchased products advertised by "CT-related" programs or sites.

So "conspiracy theories" don't sell me, per se.

And I certainly don't agree that investigations into what our government tells us "officially" is "anti-democratic" or distracting; in fact, I would strongly argue to the contrary. I certainly don't believe that it leads to a belief in things that don't really exist; in fact, I feel that I have been spoon-fed a steady diet of nonsense, BS and just plain lies. It is my desire to find the truth that compels me to investigate. Conspiracies are a historical fact, if one reads the definition correctly. "A conspiracy theory attempts to attribute the ultimate cause of an event or chain of events (usually political, social, or historical events), or the concealment of such causes from public knowledge, to a secret, and often deceptive, plot by a covert alliance of powerful or influential people or organizations."

The run-up to the Iraq war was a freaking conspiracy.

[The Lone Groover]

17. "The run-up to the Iraq war was a freaking conspiracy."

I never thought about it in those terms - but you are absolutely correct.

A conspiracy played out right in front of our eyes that not many - if any - would argue with.

[naboo]

18. you want to see profitable

check out the black ink on defense companies (aka war profiteers) as a result of the lie of 9-11. What a stupid article, are the people who write these things working for homeland security or are they just dumb?

[Contrite]

19. In this case, the author is some shlub that writes for this rag.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Post

A Canadian "conservative" newspaper, for which David Frum has also written.

On May 19, 2006, the newspaper ran two pieces alleging that the Iranian parliament had passed a law requiring religious minorities to wear special identifying badges. One piece was a front page news item titled "IRAN EYES BADGES FOR JEWS" accompanied by a 1935 picture of two Jews bearing Nazi-ordered identifying badges. Later on the same day, experts began coming forward to deny the accuracy of the Post story. The story proved to be false, but not before it had been picked up by a variety of other news media and generated comment from world leaders. Comments on the story by the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper caused Iran to summon Canada's ambassador to Tehran for an explanation.

On May 24, 2006, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Doug Kelly, published an apology for the story on Page 2, admitting that it was false and the National Post had not exercised enough caution or checked enough sources.<1>

Since Israel Asper's acquisition of The National Post, the paper has become a strong voice in support of the state of Israel and its government. The Post was one of the few Canadian papers to support Israel's invasion of Lebanon in its fight against Hezbollah. <2>

Canadian pundits argue whether The Post's unadulterated support of Israel is a legacy of its late founder’s political ideology or a shrewd business manoeuvre. <3>