reply to post by AndrewTB
You've nailed a thought that's been rattling around in my head...although I wouldn't have focused on any particular "CT"...still, I see that you
did as an example (at least, that's how I read it....)
I do not see the 'conspiracy theories' that abound, in the main today, as some sort of planned psychological operations....I view many of them as
mere 'fringe' manifestations, fueled by what has grown to be a certain element of paranoia, somewhat instigated by the immediacy of the Internet
age...AND 'twitter', etc....
To clarify the above: In some ways, I view a lot of the "conspiracy theories" as just the newer versions of what used to be (pre-Internet) known as
"Urban Legends".
Not to say there aren't some VALID things going on, under our noses (so to speak)...it's just many are so "out there" they act as a noise barrier,
in some ways.
A more pressing and prurient example is happening right now, IF you consider it a "conspiracy"....it is BP's hiring of mercenaries to patrol the
beaches in the Gulf, in order to 'sanitize' what might be snuck out by media...NOT that the media are complicit, because THEY are reporting on this,
even if it gets lost in al the other information....side aspect to this debacle is the BP prohibition on workers' using protective gear...
...but, I am ranting, and might be tending to drift, and bore as well...
Guess, best thing to summarize is....when it comes to "conspiracies" ATS
should be, as a role, a sort of 'clearing house', to
separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.
Chasing of tails on fatuous, un-substantiated rumours (which is what a LOT of the 'conspiracies' brought to fore on ATS amount to, sometimes) is
wasteful......
[edit on 15 June 2010 by weedwhacker]