I have long loved conspiracy theories. I find them endlessly entertaining, although, I recognize also that sometimes they turn pathological. So I was pleased when I saw this cool segment by fellow old-school blogger Ed Driscoll:
I hope he does more of these!
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i love it. "as my nutpicking and selective memory clearly shows, it’s the far left that has the REAL problem with conspiracy theories."
i think the same things that draw one to the fringe of any belief system, be it left or right leaning, is going to naturally incline one to indulge in conspiracy theories. the video is clearly well-produced, i just wish it offered insights as refined as its backdrop.
Sadly true, amazingly funny at the same time. Love the South Park bits.
I’d like to ask Bill Ayers what he and his friends are smoking or using.
Well 18% of Americans believe that the sun revolves around the earth.
Then there are the Christian fundementalists, some of which believe in rather unusual things, like Pastor John Hagee:
His latest book, Jerusalem Countdown: A Warning to the World, interprets the Bible to predict that Russian and Arab armies will invade Israel and be destroyed by God.
This will set up a confrontation over Israel between China and the West, led by the anti-Christ, who will be the head of the European Union, Pastor Hagee writes. That final battle between East and West – at Armageddon, as the actual Israeli location of Meggido is known in English – will precipitate the second coming of Christ, he concludes.
I really enjoyed that. Ed did a good job
Notice how he conveniently left out the The Clinton Chronicles and the Clinton Body Count
These right wing conspiracies don’t fit into his "left wing is obsessed with conspiracies" theme. Instead he tots out some old 1960s radicals that absolutely no one in modern American politics pays any attention to. Meanwhile relatively mainstream figures like Jerry Falwell that appeared in and promoted the Clinton Chronicles get no mention.
Might it have to do with "The Clinton Chronicles" and the "Clinton Body Count" being about 10 years out of date now? And that Jerry Falwell is, y’know, dead?
He’s right that at the moment, the nutjob fringe with most visibility is left wing. There’s also the perennial Nader Factor. But, if we get a Democrat president, I expect the right wing nutjobs to be out in force again, some of them making lots of money.
Ed Driscoll thesis here is that since the 1960 Kennedy assassination the left wing has become obsessed this conspiracy theories. He conveniently leaves out the whole 1990s right wing obsession with Clinton conspiracy theories.
Then to prove this left wing obsession with conspiracy theories he shows videos of Reverend Jeremiah Wright and a couple of 1960 era SDS leaders who no one under 30 has ever heard of and I honestly didn’t even realize were still alive.Â
This whole argument is intellectually dishonest. Both the left and right wing have their lunatic fringe elements. The main difference is the right wing lunatic fringe is much better funded and gets a much wider audience than the left wing lunatic fringe.
So right wing nutjobs like the John Birchers get tenured professorships like former members of the Weather Underground, and rightwing nutjobs get seats next to former Presidents at the Republican National Convention like Michael Moore did with Jimmy Carter at John Kerry’s 2004 shindig? Or is that not better funded or a much wider audience?
Did Keith Olbermann lose his job recently? (Well, OK, he only has maybe 12 nutjobs watching him on any given night, but it’s the thought that counts.)
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