Wednesdays may be a conspiracy theory day, so I’d just like to take today to think about why conspiracy theories are important. I’ll be adding photos and links as the day progresses.

I recently came across a story in the Indypendent (Issue #75, August 31-September14, 2005) discussing conspiracy theories (CTs) and their role in political discourse. The title, Behold the Pale White Lie: Why Conspiracy Theories are Patriotic, got my hopes up and led me to believe that this would be about the positive role CTs play in the real world. The article instead posed arguments that I myself have heard many times, claiming how CTs are actually detrimental to finding out the truth, and not to mention racist and discriminatory.

Argument: Believing in CTs gives too much power to political figures when in reality, individuals and communities have a lot of power to change their situations. CTs take as a starting point that individuals are powerless and that there’s an ever powerful group of people pulling strings.

My response: Individuals do have a lot of power to change situations and their environments. However, in reality, there are groups of people who have an easier time doing it. One average person starting an independent television news-channel will have a much more difficult time than a Millionaire who already owns a few local newspapers, or has a parent who has a news-channel already.

Also, while one person is free to choose to live life however he or she sees fit, PEOPLE generally act in predictable ways and are therefore susceptible to outside manipulation.

Argument: CTs are inherently racist, assuming that people of color cannot influence the world, only to be controlled by the ever so powerful “West”.

My response: It’s racist to say that white, neoliberals are trying to control the world, and at the same time, its anti-semitic to claim that a group of Jewish people are trying to control the world…hmmm…something tells me a conspiracy theorist just can’t win.

Argument: CTs assume power-hungry villains who only exist to take over the world; they forget that for the most part, people are people, and deep down inside we’re all just human.

My Response: Deep down inside we’re all just human, and each one of us is just trying our hardest to provide for our family and friends and those who are important to us. This is what I believe lies at the heart of CTs, that is why people conspire to control the flow of money or power: so that their offspring and kin will be able to live a decent life.

Now let’s look at CTs and how they can help us understand major events in our lives. For instance, how many Americans think that the World Trade Center towers were actually blown up using controlled demolition? I would imagine not many. And for now, it’s considered a crazy conspiracy theory and would be judged horrific and disgusting if true. While one could theorize further and make the claim that the controlled demolition indicates that 9-11 was an inside job, for now I’m just focusing on the theory that the towers were in fact blown up by us (the US).

Larry Silverstein, owner of the World Trade Center Buildings, appeared on Frontline in the first few days after 9-11 and told interviewers (and the world) that he was asked if they should “pull” tower 7 (in other words, bring it down with a controlled demolition), and that he gave the go-ahead to have it pulled.

But what if it was? Would it do us any good to know? Obviously the American public wants to know something or else we wouldn’t have had the 9-11 commission.

I’ll leave it there for now, with only a theory that the World Trade Center towers were already rigged for demolition on the morning of September 11, based on spoken testimony of Larry Silverstein, Firefighters in the towers, Fox News accounts on the morning of the disaster, and Engineering analyses concerning jet fuel and the failing point of steel.

I won’t go so far as to say why the buildings were rigged, because we won’t know that until more people ask questions that only seem crazy until they’re on a television screen.