I’ve suggested in previous musings that I’m not much of a fan of conspiracy theories. It’s not that people aren’t capable and willing to participate in a wide variety of minor conspiracies. We’re actually pretty good at joining together in small conspiratorial cells to advance our own interests, or conversely to thwart someone elses interests.
But, once the connivance grows too large, someone in the confederacy of schemers eventually shoots their mouth off, and the whole thing comes crashing down as law enforcement comes crashing in.
The acute difficulty we humans have keeping our movements unnoticed and our mouths shut used to be the end of any legitimate conspiracy. But things have changed, at least in the U. S. In the United States the theorists of conspiracy have evolved into out in the open, in your face, members of government, cult like factions where belief Trumps facts.
It’s an odd belief system in my estimation, where a lack of evidence isn’t proof that the conspiracy theory is nonsense, but rather confirmation that the conspirators are very good at whatever they happen to be up to. Equally as odd is the notion that somehow the responsibility to prove conspiracy absurdity doesn’t lie with the believer in the conspiracy. Instead, for some strange reason the onus is on the non-believer to prove the conspiracy is bullshit.
This probably explains why the most idiotic of conspiracy theorists are so dedicated to ignoring facts, and by extension, reality. Because nothing fucks up a good conspiracy theory faster than facts. But the various cults also have another Trump card they love to play. As soon as there’s a preponderance of facts you simply claim the providers of those facts are participants in the conspiracy.
Fake news media is a good example of this tactic.
There are actually a number of similarities between conspiracy theorists and religion. Faith, fundraising, fearmongering and fabrication being those similarities. A four F club if you will.
This affection for stop the steal and fighting everything associated with Covid is puzzling. So, I was watching the Americans argue about it on a couple of their news channels. After an hour or so of switching back and forth between Fox and everyone else, I noticed that I had a background theme song running in my head. It was an Elvis Costello tune renamed to Watching the defectives.
Seriously America, you need to get a collective grip. How can you find yourself in a situation where a state is hitting new Covid hospitalizations and the Governor of that state is actively selling anti Fauchi gear on his website? How is that even remotely acceptable? Isn’t the evidence from the last wave enough to maybe consider that yup, it looks like it’s happening again? Maybe if all the health care people decide that you know what? I’ve had enough. I’m not going to expose myself and my family to this risk again for people that think a cloth strip is an assault on their fucking freedom, and that getting vaccinated makes you a sheep or a Democrat.
Then all the ICU nurses and Doctors move to Vermont, or Canada or New Zealand.
Or.
How can you stand idly by as the right to vote is systematically dismantled and representation in government is gerrymandered to where a minority rules, and then nod your head approvingly as Tucker whines about minorities?
Speaking of voting. How can so many citizens and politicians still claim that fat Donnie won your last election despite all the audits and court cases? Somehow the belief is still there that a conspiracy was afoot to remove the man, and the way to deal with that is to claim fraud in districts he lost, but accept the results in districts he won?
And then there’s the insurrection thing. In terms of insurrections it was a small revolt, but it would seem to me that the amount of video footage alone is enough to remove any doubt that it actually happened. But somehow a spin has been applied to the event that depicts the day as a normal group of tourists, or of an insidious plot by liberal agitators to infiltrate the ranks of law abiding , apple pie, red, white and blue Trumpericans.
It’s amazing to witness from my Northern vantage point. It’s as if Americans have run out of things to argue about and so they’ve decided to argue about everything.
Including what’s real.
And if you’re going to argue about reality, then conspiracy theories come in mighty handy. Because when the visual, written and testimonial evidence doesn’t line up to your thought process, then your best option is not to argue the facts, but instead, just invent a more suitable reality.
I can’t speak for the average American, but to me the acceptance of this behavior as normal is either idiotic or straight up crackers.
I mean, how the hell do you expect to survive and thrive as a people, when you can’t even agree on the terms and conditions of reality? I’m not talking about the concept of discourse of disagreement. I see no problem debating the details or perspective of an issue. But in order to do that, you have to agree to some basic facts and that agreement isn’t even remotely close to happening in the good old U.S. of A..
Take covid as an example. You’d think that six hundred thousand plus dead people might generate a consensus about dealing with the virus.
But nope.
Americans have decided instead to fight in their senate and school parking lots about mask fucking mandates and vaccine passports.
So, after observing the Americans over the last few years I have a conspiracy pronouncement of my own. I think that the deep state has secretly added intellect suppressants into the American food chain and water supply.
And the whole country has become so challenged that insanity, inanity and Sean Hannity are the new normal.
Or.
The idiocy additives are even more insidious, and they the people aren’t less mentally adept. They’re just crackers. This scenario is even more dangerous by the way. It’s more dangerous because people are still maintaining skills like bomb making and weapons operations, but at the same time believe a cabal of pedophile communists are plotting to take their guns and make them infertile with fake vaccines.
Like I said…………….crackers.
Even the wealthy are crackers. Mike Lindell as an example. He’s a Ritz cracker. The evangelicals are Billy Graham crackers and the racists are Special KKK crackers. Californians are avocado wheat thin organic crackers and Wisconsin is cheese bit crackers. The rest of America appears to be plain old saltines. Pretty much white, pretty ordinary.
But still crackers.