On Conspiracy Theorists

(from The BC "The track of the storm" thread)

Illuminati conspiracy advocates are Dim Bulbs.

There is a problem when dealing with unstable people prone to fantasies and conspiracy theories, and make no doubt about it hard Leftists are (remember Lenin did pull off a genuine tin hat style conspiracy to overthrow the largest contiguous nation on earth.) The problem is in studying the dysfunctional while remaining objective. Cops face a similar problem. They have to deal with and associate with criminals, the manipulative and the disturbed, without losing their own attachment to reality. Another problem is the need to retain credibility before the public. We have to tease out the real threats from the dysfunctional fantasists on the Left. The latter provide noise in the system that the real threats can use for cover. Among those we hope are on our side we have to consider nuggets of useful information that can be offered by another set of dysfunctional, indeed mirror image, conspiracy theorists. While their motivations may be wrong their results may be important.

Isaac Newton was by some standards a lunatic obsessed with peculiar religious theories and Alchemy. Is it possible that the Illuminati conspiracy theorist can be correct about there being a threat from Maurice Strong and the anti-capitalist connections of Green politics influencing current American policy? Of course they can be right and the information they provide should be tested and applied if found useful, just as Newton's work is accepted despite his other peculiarities. That does not mean that we need to tolerate theories linking vast networks into conspiracies involving Satanists and the CIA. It is also important that if we refer to any such sources we do so in a very careful way that makes clear that we are considering a specific item from a suspect source. To do otherwise will be to expose ourselves to ridicule.

Is it possible that someone linked to Lyndon Larouche or Ron Paul's fringe supporters could be right about some threat? Sure it is but I would not trust them unless the information they offered had been very very very carefully inspected.

Oct 8, 2009 - 8:28 am