The consolations of conspiracy
According to Richard Hofstader, a conspiracy theory is the paranoid belief in a vast plot dedicated to, or responsible for, the destruction of a whole way of life. The place to find western conspiracies after 11th September is, of course, on the internet.
Already embroidered into the fabric of anti-American rhetoric are the words of BBC journalist Greg Palast, which can be found on www.Network54.com: "The younger Bush made his first million 20 years ago with an oil company partly funded by Salem Bin Laden's chief US representative. Young George also received fees as director of a subsidiary of Carlyle Corporation, a little-known private company which has, in just a few years of its founding, become one of America's biggest defence contractors. Bush Senior, is also a paid advisor. What became embarrassing was the revelation that the Bin Ladens held a stake in Carlyle, sold just after 11th September." The notion of state involvement gets an even wilder airing on Conspiracyplanet.com which asserts that Bush's close associates sold all their airline stock prior to the attacks on the US.
The net has also been abuzz with the claim that CNN's footage of Palestinians celebrating immediately after the attacks was actually recycled footage of jubilation at the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The story originated with a posting on an anti-corporate website called the Chicago Independent Media Center (indymedia.com). Written by "Marcio," it stated: "a teacher of mine, here in Brazil, has videotapes recorded in 1991, with the very same images." In short, the theory ran, CNN's pictures were an attempt to stir up anti-Palestinian sentiment.
The invasion of Kuwait took place in 1990. But this error and the poverty of evidence haven't stopped the allegation being picked up all over the world. The BBC news website recently reported being inundated with e-mails making the same point as Marcio.
A similar world view emerges again and again in these online critiques. Although nails are occasionally hit on heads, what is more striking is that the same paranoia unites the analyses of militant Islamists, the far left and a fair swathe of the anti-globalisation movement.
A conspiracy theory is a palliative. It reassures us that violent death on a bright September morning is born of plan and purpose. The universe is not chaotic (or, by extension, godless); lone gunmen do not shoot presidents; a drunken driver could not dispatch a princess; and a group of cave-dwelling religious fanatics did not attack the US. As Hofstader says, to seek consolation in conspiracies stems from the feeling that one is powerless to influence one's own life. And where better to hear these anonymous, impotent voices? In the republic of paranoia that is cyberspace.
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