paranoia and conspiracy theories

[mglosup at randomc.com]

On 31 Jan 97 at 10:13, Tony Elias wrote:

> hello all

<much good material snipped>
 
> That's all good and well, but cionspiracy theory also has the unfortunate
> problem of being used against itself. It's very easy, and beleivable for
> "THEM" to label something as conspiracy theory, and thus invalidate it
> autmatically. This has happened to Chomsky on numerous occasions and he has
> no defence but to say that what he's doing is "institutional analysis" which
> is nothing like "conspiracy theory" so its a potentially dangerous thing i
> think, one which can work against the one that weilds it.
 
I hope by *invalidate* you mean in the minds of loyal consumers of 
THEIR propaganda.  THEY can and must denounce exposures as 
"conspiracy theories", "lies", or "communist propaganda" but that 
doesn't change theTruth.  Chomsky correctly differentiates his work, 
"institutional analysis" from "conspiracy theory".  I don't see how 
casual denials by THEM of well-researched and evidenced claims is 
intellectually "potentially dangerous" ...although it could lead to 
physical danger.  

BTW, Chomsky, who has no interest in JFK theories, has said that if he was 
really a paranoid conspiracy theorist he would believe that the whole 
JFK assassination conspiracy meme was hatched by the USG to keep the 
people occupied in a labyrinthe exercise while THEY go about THEIR
business unmolested.  "If they can get you asking the wrong 
questions, they don't have to worry about the answers"

Thanks,



Michael Glosup