Naturally the common people don’t want war…but after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship…all you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
- Hermann Göring
Stop throwing the Constitution in my face! It’s just a [expletive deleted] piece of paper!
- President George W. Bush
We live in an age so drenched in information and technology that it’s virtually impossible to do something nefarious and remain undetected. Just ask the Tsarnaev brothers, who, after bombing the Boston Marathon finish line, were apprehended in part because everyone and his brother had a cell phone camera. That doesn’t even take into consideration the myriad security cameras along Boylston Street. Yet even with all of the information and technology, there are those among us wired to see the evil hand of a malevolent government behind every tragedy and/or terrorist attack. The Oklahoma City bombing was carried out by the federal government. 9.11 was an inside job. And the Boston Marathon bombing was a false flag operations carried out by government operatives out to rob us of our civil liberties.
That these and other conspiracies are prima facie absurd doesn’t faze those programmed to believe that the truth is out there…if only we could open our mind enough to see it. Facts and empirical data are useful to conspiracy theorists only insofar as they can cherry-pick the facts that comport with their preconceived notions. A conspiracy exists…because they’ve convinced themselves it is.
In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, there’s a growing community that’s coalesced under the #FreeJahar hashtag. These people are absolutely, incontrovertibly convinced that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been framed by the U.S. government. Why the government would do that is anyone’s guess, but in the minds of those who see conspiracy in every public event, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is innocent, the victim of an evil government.
I’ve tried to have a reasonable dialogue with conspiracy theorists, only to learn that it just isn’t possible. While the conversation may be civil, it doesn’t take long to realize that a conspiracy theorist clings to their version of the truth like a mama Grizzly Bear protects her young. They know what they know, and there’s no possibly of shaking that conviction. Facts that don’t mesh with their theory are dismissed or explained away, and the depth of their conviction can be impressive and often hypnotic. Unfortunately, it has little to do with the truth.
The reality is that there’s no arguing with a conspiracy theorist. They’re convinced that they KNOW the truth…and there’s no reasoning with the unreasonable. Facts will not convince them. Not all conspiracy theorists approach the frothing at the mouth unmedicated looniness of a Glenn Beck or Alex Jones. They’re out there, though…and they’ll spare no expense or brain cells to breathlessly try to convince us that our government is, with malice aforethought, trying to quash our civil liberties. Or destroy America. Or take our guns. Or institute One World Government. Or make Sharia the law of the land. Or turn America over to evil Islamofascists. Or drug our children by fluoridating our water. Or…well, there never seems to be an end to the conspiracies afoot.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev deserves his day in court, and our legal system will determine his guilt or innocence. It will be an open and above-board process, one that will allow reasonable people to ascertain that justice has been done. I have little doubt, however, that this won’t be nearly enough for the conspiracy theorists.
Because they BELIEVE.
Let me put it this way: if your main source of news is InfoWars or Glenn Beck’s Internet clown show, you might just be a conspiracy theorist and in need of dialing down the paranoia.
Of course, the fact that you’re paranoid doesn’t mean the government’s not out to get you, right???
