By Bob Goldberg.
For too long, students of conspiracy theories have focused on the men and women who weave events into plots. In targeting these “entrepreneurs” who sell conspiracy, we forget about the other institutions in our society that teach us to believe in cover-ups, plots, and conspiracies. Beyond the conspiracy theorists, are media sources and government authorities that shape our beliefs and make conspiracy products so attractive.
Television, radio, motion pictures, and the new social media entertain us with conspiracy theories. Conspiracy sells, commanding high market shares and big box office revenues. From the first blockbuster motion picture Birth of a Nation in 1915, to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in the 1930s to the current crop of films like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Davinci Code, Green Zone, and State of Play, film makers have convinced us that conspiracies exist, are common, have power, and threaten our very lives.
Add to these, the runs and reruns of X-Files, Fringe, Game of Thrones, Homeland, and Person of Interest. Don’t forget Jesse Ventura’s Conspiracy Theory program and the many “docudramas” about the Roswell Incident, the John Kennedy assassination, and UFOs. Talk Radio frequently welcomes conspiracy as a guest. A multitude of YouTube videos cast 9-11 as a government plot and circulate diverse conspiracy theories in living color. Seeing is often believing and film, TV, and videos make real our worst fears. The mainstream news media have found new competitors and are a step behind in making their case.
The third actor in our conspiracy triangle is the federal government. Authorities have raised suspicions and fears in several ways. They have played the conspiracy card throughout our history to mobilize citizens against enemies within and beyond our borders. Federal officials have cried conspiracy against Mormons in the nineteenth century; German-Americans and labor radicals during World War I; Communists in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s; Japanese-Americans during World War II; and African-Americans and student protestors in the 1960s. In confronting our adversaries abroad, American presidents have painted the world as black or white, good or evil, free or slave. This follows the script of the most proficient conspiracy thinker. Moreover, government action has fed a strong public perception of official abuse, dishonesty, corruption, and arrogance.
The signposts of alleged deception are well known and include such issues and events as: the Warren Commission Report on the Kennedy Assassination, the Air Force’s Operation Blue Book, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran Contra Affair, the Clinton Administration scandals, and the war in Iraq. This trail of broken promises and deceit has strengthened our long tradition of distrust of central authority and eroded faith in government.
This has become so acute, that conspiracy theorists have had great success in claiming government involvement in 9-11, the cover-up of extraterrestrial contact, and the creation of the AIDS virus. Some even decry so-called “false flag” events, allegedly plotted by government officials. These incidents, like the Nazi burning of the Reichstag in 1933, are supposedly designed to foment a crisis that would force suspension of the Bill of Rights and the arrests of patriots and the confiscation of their guns. All of this intended to make America a province of the greater New World Order Empire.
A public opinion poll conducted since the 1950s has measured this erosion of confidence. When Americans were asked sixty years ago, “Do you trust the government to do what is right, all or most of the time?” Seventy-five percent responded that they did trust the government all or most of the time. This figure has dropped dramatically in the decades since so that it stands today in mirror image with only 22% declaring their faith.
This sense of mistrust has not only touched the federal government, but the key institutions of American society – courts, churches, schools, universities, and businesses. When conspiracy theorists pose as courageous champions of the people, modern day Paul Reveres spreading the alarm against tyranny, their cause is a difficult one to refute. Conspiracy theories have left the fringes and breached the mainstream with large numbers of Americans convinced.
Conspiracy theories have been preached on the floor of Congress, on network news programs, and by national advocacy groups. When media outlets and government officials act as teachers and role models in conspiracy thinking, it gives credence to the plot weaver’s claims. And note, the Internet has created a global “echo chamber” that allows users to enter the conspiracy network.
Web sites, chat rooms, blogs, and YouTube videos create a linked, self-segregated world of the like-minded where no dissonance is found and confirmation rather than information is the goal. This all has profound effected American society. The loss of trust in authorities has gone beyond mere skepticism. Conspiracy theories demonize authorities and erode faith in national institutions.
Lacking faith in the integrity of adversaries, negotiation and compromise become impossible. Charges of betrayal and treason pepper debates. Thus, there is little to shield the President of the United States from accusations that he is, in turn, a Muslim, the Anti-Christ, Kenyan, or the Manchurian Candidate. The Tea Party and the Occupy movements, both of which sound conspiratorial notes in their platforms, reveal the fracturing of the American consensus. The center has ceded much of its power to those with less than moderate solutions.
Yet, there is still time to remember our common interests as Americans, to recalibrate our rhetoric and perceptions. We must cure our addiction to plot- driven entertainment. Our government must become more transparent and open to its citizens. And, we all must break old habits and inoculate ourselves through education from tantalizing and sensational conspiracy theories. If we don’t, the decade of the 1850s, another hothouse period of conspiracy thinking in history, holds some tragic lessons for us as Americans.
