Legitimate distrust causes false conspiracy theories to catch on among a minority
Reader comment on item: How Consequential Are 9/11 Conspiracy Theories?

Submitted by Adam Holland (United States), Aug 13, 2006 at 00:57

Just as the misdeeds of the U.S. in Southeast Asia in the 1960s helped breed the first generation of modern conspiracy theories, the misdeeds of the Bush administration have provided fertile ground for the current conspiracy nuts. This is NOT to say that Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Bush are RESPONSIBLE for the conspiracy nuts. But I do believe that a nation that encourages misimpressions about the causation of important historical events in order to further a political agenda acts as a school for liars among the self-appointed spokemen for the powerless. And when the people no longer trust their government, they are much more succeptable to this sort of lie told against the government, however preposterous the lie may be.

I have also, very sadly, come to the conclusion that a large number of politically delusional people are unable to see the threat of radical Islamism and reflexively blame the United States for every ill in the world. When the facts can in no way support this world view, then new facts must be invented by them to maintain this illusion. This ideology seems to have self-destruction as its goal, and denial of obvious truth as the means of accomplishing this goal.

Thankfully, however, the idea that a majority of Americans will ever go over to the dark side of anti-American conpiracy theories seems extremely unlikely. The antidotes for these tendancies, a free and curious press and academy, are still too healthy to allow this infection to kill the patient. May it continue to be so.

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