What happens to a conspiracy revealed?

[kelber at mindspring.com]

What happens when a conspiracy is revealed to the public? Not much. What about anything has changed since Snowden's revelations? The shadowy group journalist Jeremy Scahill was investigating, Joint Strategic Operations Command - responsible for thousands of covert murders across the globe - was revealed and publicly lauded in the midst of Scahill's investigation. What happened? Nothing.

Today, another conspiracy is cheerfully reported in the NY Times in the guise of a story about business prowess:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/business/staking-1-billion-that-herbalife-will-fail-then-ackman-lobbying-to-bring-it-down.html?hp&_r=0

Which leads to the question: is it still a conspiracy if it's completely out in the open? Isn't the excitement of delving into a conspiracy the stray hope: "once people find out about this ..." 

Not sure that Pynchon answers this fully in any of his books. Sure, he points to a lot of tips of icebergs and facades: industry as the front for something much more sinister, on an almost metaphysical plane. We understand that his "They," while they may have specific servants, don't exist in any tangible form. Can't un-elect them, can't storm their chateaux. But the problem is, when "They" get too metaphysical, they start blending in with the metaphysical scenery - God, Nature, The Universe, Fate.

But what would happen if the really sinister characters were revealed? If there was a complete analysis of Scarsdale Vibe's or Brock Vond's doings on the front page of the paper of record, and it was treated as a celebration of ingenuity, rather than an indictment or a history-changing moment? To me, this is scarier than any "They" in Pynchon's writings, because this is really happening today here in our world. Pynchon's always known about these people. We all have. It's the casual acceptance of them that comes as a shock.

Laura

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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l