Luke’s Change: an Inside Job (par Graham Putnam)
"Conspiracy theories are self-sealing and immune to contrary evidence. Incoming facts ricochet right off the tinfoil hat. Actually, a more accurate metaphor is the classic sci-fi alien that grows stronger when fired upon. Evidence against the conspiracy is only further proof of just how powerful the conspirators are."
"Staudenmaier defines conspiracy theories as a “tendency to hold specific and identifiable social groups responsible for what seem to be inexplicable aspects of the social world.” He sees conspiracy theories as a flattening of history, or a reducing of a complex institutional problem down to a simple problem of evil people."
"Parents like us make the decision to not vaccinate on very little factual information about the actual consequences of the diseases - massive pain, disability and death - and a lot of non-factual, emotive information from the internet stating inflated figures on the frequency and severity of adverse reactions and conspiracy theories about ‘evil’ doctors, governments and drug companies."
— Son’s ordeal was our fault, say parents - National - NZ Herald News
"AIDS denialism is one of several incarnations of denialism. All denialism is defined by rhetorical tactics designed to give the impression of a legitimate debate among experts when in fact there is none. Holocaust deniers claim that historians disagree about the evidence for Nazi mass gassings and systematic murder of Jews. Global warming denialists say that climatologists are torn by the evidence about climate change. 9/11 “Truth Seekers”, as clever a piece of branding as “pro-life”, say the collapse of the Twin Towers resulted from controlled demolition. Vaccine hysterics tell us that the science is split on whether vaccinations cause autism. And AIDS denialists say that scientists are in disagreement about whether HIV causes AIDS."
— Seth Kalichman - How to spot an AIDS denialist | New Humanist
"The speculations that disclosure of UFO reality would result in mass panic and disorder are not very convincing, especially as so many people apparently already believe in the space aliens. It is difficult to see how others would be particularly upset merely by the release of previously classified information. Surely if we are really being visited by ETs, it would be they who decided whether or not to place their reality beyond any doubt, not our politicians and security organisations. This book is fairly typical of other recent ones on UFOs, as it relies too much on cases which have been satisfactorily explained and uses obviously unreliable sources."
— THE MAGONIA BLOG: A.D. AFTER DISCLOSURE — B.C. BEYOND CREDIBILITY
"Ce qui commande l’adhésion à une théorie du complot, c’est l’idée que les autorités veulent étouffer l’affaire. On ne se rallie pas à ces thèses alternatives pour leur logique interne mais par opposition à la version officielle des faits, parce que l’on croit que les puissants s’évertuent à nous tromper. L’article suggère donc de prendre les théories du complot non pas comme un amalgame de thèses paranoïaques mais comme une véritable idéologie, une vision du monde et de l’histoire."
— Ben Laden et Lady Di sont morts-vivants… | Passeur de sciences
"comme c’est souvent le cas des théories du complot— les meilleurs artisans de l’affaiblissement du mouvement de la «vérité sur le 11-Septembre» sont les «truthers» eux-mêmes. Pour la bonne raison qu’il n’est pas possible à des théoriciens du complot d’être en désaccord. Si l’on n’est pas d’accord avec un théoricien du complot, c’est qu’on fait partie du complot."
“To change one’s mind when presented with evidence that contradicts one’s mind, is to be scientific, logical and rational. The CIA fucked up. No-one got fired. Condi Rice lied to the commission. Bush and Cheney would not testify under oath. No-one wants to take the blame for the incompetence that killed over 3,000 people.” (via No Emotional Attachment to 9/11 Theories - The Truth is Most Important - YouTube)
"«Je joue un rôle éminent dans leur démonologie, mais les gens eux-mêmes ne donnent pas l’impression d’être des cinglés. Ce sont souvent des gens qui à bien des égards paraissent très sincères, soucieux, patients. Ils ont simplement une obsession. Ils ne vous écoutent pas vraiment. Vous dites quelque chose et en face, la bande tourne en boucle.»"
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What distinguishes many of the contemporary conspiracy theories from their predecessors is that they portrait the home government, rather than foreign enemies, as the conspiring power. Lee connects this to the fall of communism, which provided a readily available symbol of the alien other, and the post Watergate cynicism.
Lee sees the rise of conspiracy theories leading to the twin, though superficially diametrically opposed, dangers of apathy and extremism, one fed by the sense that there is no point in taking part in politics because ‘they’ control everything, the second by the belief that one’s political opponents are not just wrong or misguided, but are the incarnate forces of cosmic evil who must be opposed by all means, including violence.
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