Conspiracy Theory

Whisper it and pass it on, they are out to get us. The best conspiracy stories spread quietly, underground, much as the events they seek to reveal. Occasionally they gain a foothold in the wider media where they spawn a demand for further information, but usually by then the plotters are dim and distant memories and the clandestine purpose consigned to history. But humans conspire all the time and keeping secrets is almost a part of our nature; from surprise birthday parties to overthrowing governments they are ever present.

But some people are not satisfied with your everyday machinations and seek the exotic; some even go ‘full-Icke’ over their research. And that phenomenon is becoming more prevalent. Once, all we had were libraries, so conspiracy nuts had to put in some long hours and hard graft to uncover truths, by poring over dusty tomes and painstakingly putting two and two together. But now we have the internet and where once the determined researcher was a lone figure, struggling to persuade others it is now the work of but a few tweets and a cobbled-together website to recruit believers.

The gold standard for a conspiracy theory is one that affects billions yet is unknown to all but a few. Ideally at least one of the few will have died in mysterious circumstances following an incautious disclosure. And like all the best novel plots, you have to work backwards; start with an ending then carefully interweave reality with a bit of fiction and use any piece of historical record as sources of evidence to support your after-the-fact suppositions. Once you have planted the seeds the blogs will grow; each product of imagination adding provenance to your claims.

Take this site, for instance, concerned with the shadowy objective of World Government and the – whisper its name - Coudenhove-Kalergi Plan. Here’s an extract:

“Although no textbook mentions Kalergi, his ideas are the guiding principles of the European Union. The belief that the peoples of Europe should be mixed with Africans and Asians, to destroy our identity and create a single mestizo race, is the basis of all community policies that aim to protect minorities. Not for humanitarian reasons, but because of the directives issued by the ruthless Regime that machinates the greatest genocide in history. The Coudenhove-Kalergi European Prize is awarded every two years to Europeans who have excelled in promoting this criminal plan. Among those awarded with such a prize are Angela Merkel and Herman Van Rompuy.”

Try to Google-search this fabled ‘prize’ and beyond Wikipedia mostly what you get are more blogs. Ah, but this proves that all the world’s media are controlled by the same silent forces that seek our destruction, they will claim. Perfect. Secret plan – check. Long history – check. Many of originators now dead – check. Lots and lots of ‘evidence’ all over the internet – Oh yes. Bingo; we approach full-Icke.

Full Icke

But of course, evidence is not proof. Supposed facts are not necessarily all they seem and in the murky world of Internet ‘historians’ two plus two can equal whatever you want it to equal. Maybe it is simple envy. Maybe impotent keyboard warriors have found common cause in their helplessness and they secretly crave power over the rest of us. So while others cry ‘no conspiracy!’ is that just what they want us to think? Could it be that it's the conspiracy theorists who are really plotting to take over the world?