busco la Verdad, el Bien, la BELLEZA, la buena literatura y el gran periodismo que se hizo en España lejos de la plebeyez y el mal gusto aunque nada de lo humano mes ajeno
busco la Verdad, el Bien, la BELLEZA, la buena literatura y el gran periodismo que se hizo en España lejos de la plebeyez y el mal gusto aunque nada de lo humano mes ajeno
busco la Verdad, el Bien, la BELLEZA, la buena literatura y el gran periodismo que se hizo en España lejos de la plebeyez y el mal gusto aunque nada de lo humano mes ajeno
2015-12-27
el papa francisco y hugo wast
ORO, 666. el papa Francisco y Hugo Wast. ¿Encuentros entre cristianos y judios tras los desencuentros de veinte siglos?
PUTAS TURCAS
INCENDIOS MENTALES
Mis incendios mentales me llevaron a controlar los vientos, domeñar las
aguas pero nunca podré cabalgar sobre el tritón de las maldades humanas las
traiciones las estafas, el puterío turco a renglón seguido las mafias rusas ¿y
quien hay detrás de estas mafias que han
convertido mis Españas en país de acarreo paraíso del delincuente? Cargar en
Castilla para descargar en Flandes. Nos la llevan. Estamos haciendo las diez de
monte. El enano funesto, el viejo enemigo, se ríe a carcajadas. Es el cachondeo
de siempre y aquí nadie hace nada. No mueve un dedo. Es tu problema, tío. I am
on my own. La nómina de fin de mes lo demás nada.
¿Qué madre parió a los bolcheviques?
Homúnculos de narices ganchudas caftanes talares ojos de fiebre que se
deslumbraron por las treinta monedas de los campos de Haceldama. Y se
desparramaron por el mundo, errantes, tramando conjuras, costeando guerras
propalando mentiras. Todas las mañanas le dicen al diablo:
-Oh rey del mundo aquí te traigo tantas almas.
La maldición sigue perenne.
Acantean, en sus ojos la misma saña de Judas que es de su raza, al crucificado
pero Él dijo cuando yo sea elevado a la cruz todo lo atraeré hacia mí.
-
No sufras, diacono, yo te elegí, yo te conferí el
sacerdocio de Melquisedeq. Clama no ceses.
Las palabras del Santo de los Santos
me cercioran en mis angustias de muerte. Los pontos, los nereos, los glaucos y
los hijos de la furia de Poseidón abrieron sus pulmones. Pasa de pronto la
ninfa Egeria pero no es más que un espejismo de consolación en medio de las
noches de alcohol cuando te picó una serpiente ojos de víbora y palabras de
mujer la cabeza apepinada, una fregona en una tasca que observa a la clientela
dende su cocina-cuchitril, hija de Bellido Dolfos, de Zamora la bien cercada,
una Euménide que no sabe leer, el pelo corto que trajina en los fogones de
Helgoro. Allí celebran sus reuniones todos los hijos de la gran puta, echan las
cartas en inanes aquelarres ni quito ni pongo rey, insufribles personajes y
Eolo tomaron el nombre de Manolo y es el tabernero carnudo capón marida de la
ínclita Leonor Euménide que le habla con reverencia y voz de pito.
-Una caña por favor.
-Que sean dos.
Pasan transeúntes despeados y desorientados jubilatas que no tienen donde
ir y por la avenida de Reina Victoria ya no bajan estudiantes. Quedan los
bulevares y algo de ilusión. Las ratas se han subido a los cajones y anuncian
la gran desolación. Una cañita de cerveza. Por favor que sean dos. Un pincho de
tortilla y un arenque no pueden calmar el hambre ni la sed de amor. Hay que
dejar hablar a lo-s perversos.
Juanito Madrazo, cuando la Leo Euménide lo insultó y le dijo que sus hijos
no eran suyos sino del lechero, estuvo a punto de sacar la charrasca. Pero la poderosa no la sacó. Hubiera caído en
su misma trampa. La navaja le tembló en bolso pero no abrió el alfanje. Hubiera
hecho justicia allí mismo. Le hubiera cortado la lengua al áspid. Nerea vino y
lo sacó del Helgomar y de menudo lío lo libro pero escupió el Juanito odio
eterno a los paletos que montan chiringuitos infames tupís comidas caseras
mesas de formica incómodos espacios. Que
se vuelvan pa Zamora estos cabrones.
Los confines de los mares son
inabarcables y tú oh alada ninfa estás más allá de mis fuerzas. Quería dormir
aquella tarde de julio y sumirse en un cielo de linfa y descender hasta los palacios
donde habita Neptuno pero en lugar de eso, el vino derramado y con unas cuantas
cañas al coleto, buscó las derivaciones del Babilonia donde un sultán aparecía
rodeado de huríes a 50 euros la copa. Putas turcas a las que ya él no
conseguiría hacer felices pues se le había acabado la mecha y tenía la pólvora
mojada. Ah Madrazo, vida, ya no puedes conocer la gracia de dios pero crédulo
incitó a una y las otras cien se invitaron, le descuajaron la cartilla. Corrido
y confundido por la gran estafa bizcó hacia las querencias de la madrugada
deslumbrado por la luz cadavérica de las farolas de neón. El amor confidente de
un beodo es una farola.
Amanecía. Las aceras de Gran Vía
estaban llenas de borrachos. Bajó hasta la fuente de Neptuno pero Madrid es un
mar sin olas donde naufragan todos los marineritos de agua dulce del mundo
todos los impostores. Putas. Putas.
Putas. Putas garitos y tabernas.
En su juventud un polvo costaba tres pesetas en el Cerro la Plata con las
viejas cantineras de la legión que servían su género en dosis de sífilis y de
permanganato. Ahora las meretrices extranjeras profesaban el robo y todas
exigen el condón cuando entonces se hacía a pelo.
Poseidón debía de habitar en alguna
parte en el fondo de los mares. Scylla y Caribdis se habían dado cita en el
golfo del Retiro y allí engullían a los borrachos viejos padres de familia sin
porvenir. Vio a la hidra entonces.
-¿Quién es esa que tiene siete
cuellos y siete cabezas?
-Scylla la llaman y su hermana
Caribdis es la que viene detrás resoplando con su gran bocaza de ballena.
-Entonces ¿esto no es Madrid?
-No es el estrecho de Messina
Voces daba el marinero que la muerte se lo llevaba y le ha respondido el
demonio al otro lado del agua. Iba a ahogarse en el furor del güisqui de
garrafón sin importarle nada su hígado. Invocó a los vientos y se presentó
Aquilón disfrazado de policía municipal.
-¿Qué pasa?
-Que esta señorita me acaba de
levantar toda mi cuenta corriente
-Te han tomado de pendejo
-Puede que sí pero Baco se contradice
con Venus y tú creías….
-Sí yo creía tantas cosas en la
vida…. Historias. Ahora ya no creo en nada.
-Vamos andando a la comisaría…
habrá que tramitar una denuncia. Ha quebrantado la ley.
-¿Qué mal hice?
-Hablar con las farolas.
-¿No se puede?
-Yo hablo con quien me salga
de….
-Va; eso se lo explicará usted
al juez
Denuncias… denuncias. Yo lo que
quiero es mi dinero que esta turca arrambló. Poco sabía Madrazo que esta es una
sociedad conflictiva. Jueces y policías se han convertido en sanguijuelas. Más
polizontes. Más rábulas y más incautos que Madrazo caen la lazada que les
tiende su puta vida
El policía dijo:
-¿Y de lo que te di?
-Con putas y rufianes me lo
fundé.
-Nunca aprenderás, viejo
escritor.
-Estoy escribiendo una novela
sobre los bajos fondos.
-No seas primavera. Eres el
cazador cazado y el novelista novelado. Te han cogido de primo.
-Ayúdeme guardia
-Yo te ayudaré pero antes
habrás de aprender tú a ayudarte a ti mismo.
Arrellanado en el coche celular vio que le cuadraban bien las esposas y que
el brete de la pihuela le iba como un guante a sus galindos porque había nacido
hijo de la gleba para ser forzado ser carne de cañón y el viaje a galeras le
era siempre reconocido. Los hados lo habían condenado a la poca fortuna. Irás
al país de irás y no volverás, morarás en la casa do no se come ni se bebe.
Para calmar su cólera por los seiscientos del ala que le había soplado aquellas
prójimas jineteras de la Habana Vieja chicas que vinieron de Ghana y Angola
meretrices peruleras y rusas y búlgaras muchas rusas las del Este se acordó del
nombre de todos los vientos y les fue repitiendo en el furgón policial camino
de la comisaría mentalmente el nombre de los vientos. Austro, Favonio, Aquilón…
Boreas y Aquilón son los vientos del
norte y Aquilón llega de las tierras do nace el anticristo por eso los diáconos
cantan el evangelio mirando para aquilón. Es el viento sin embargo el de vuelo
rápido el que marca la ruta de las águilas. Y se compagina con el Euro o viento
del Este el que trajo las putas y los engaños bolcheviques. El Euro es el que
eligieron los judíos para someter a Europa y a las cristiandades con sus
engaños. Por eso es un viento terrible y profanador. Soplaba el viento del este
en aquella noche de julio. De pronto se helaron todas las acacias de los
bulevares de Velásquez. Se lo dijo al poli que le condujo a la comisaría pero
el policía no era un agente del orden sino del desorden imperante. Además era
el cohén protector de las putas. Se había enamorado de una rumana de la calle y
decía que era su novia. Todo está corrupto pensó con horror el detenido y
suspiró porque soplasen otra vez los céfiros gallegos que en España siempre
trajeron el patriotismo, el que volverá a barrer a los argonautas, los sacará de
sus telonios mercachifles y de sus sinagogas. Luego Favonio hará el resto de la
labor. Acabará con todos los impostores y los hijos de puta y un día a doña
Aguirre habría alguien que la despeluje, tronzará las arillas de la serpiente
que se arrastra por la tierra informativa evoluciones y circunvoluciones de la
Sienene. Invocó a Némesis. Que venga Miguel con su espada de fuego y los
despeluce.
Es importante saber de qué dirección sopla el viento y hacia qué cuadrante
apuntan las veletas. Ese fue su error. El carecer de tales miramientos y en su
audacia se jugó la vida. Poco importaba aquella noche que lo desplumaran de sus
casi doscientas mil pesetas que fueron a parar al turco o a los bolcheviques a
los impíos implacables a sus comparsas a sus empresas de alubión. Por una vez
os tendréis que quitar la careta. Yo os desjarretaré malditos. El ángel de la
venganza tendría que llegar algún día y todos los Ángeles velarán por España y
volverán a traer al Maestro de Justicia en esta Madrid que es Sodoma y Gomorra.
Y Océano volverá a ser el dios de las aguas dulces. Se abrirán las compuertas
del agua de salud y manará raudal salutífero de la fuente Castalia no esta agua
pestífera y contaminada de cieno que avienta la peste porcina. Para ellos el
ser humano no es más un cerdo. Un goy. Se descontaminarán los ríos y se
edificarán puentes. La efigie de un dios protector en cada una de estas
construcciones. Rhea y Cibeles protegerán las cosechas. Y la Magna Mater se
paseará por Gran Vía en un carro de fuego del que tirará una reata de veinte
leones. Yo seré el auriga o automedonte de esa carroza:
-Yia… yia.
A golpes de rebenque echaremos de Madrid a todos los macarras, emplumaremos
a todas las putas. A Dionisio le diremos que se esté quieto en sus tabernas y
chiscones. Las bacanales quedarán proscritas. No habrá más Menades borrachas y
los sátiros y siluros quedarán sin oficio ni beneficio porque los maridos
guardaran celosamente a sus esposas. No más cuernos por favor. En la actualidad
en este putiferio que es Madrid toda la licencia y todo estrago tiene su
asiento. Mandaremos al Hades a los políticos. Pìncharemos a ZP con un
tridente. Ya le roen. Ya le roen por do
más pecado había y allí le darán de su medicina que es la alianza de las
civilizaciones.
A Rajoy de un puñetazo del ángel fuerte se le quebrará su mandíbula de
cristal. Al caganet Puchol lo instalaran como figura de nacimiento, decorativa,
y ahí se quedará para siempre adornando los diciembres por supuesto parlando
catalán. Los niños de Barcelona preguntarán a las noyas.
-¿Quién es ese señor que nos
hace un calvo con ese culo tan grande y ese ojo tan profundo?
-Hijo mío-dirán las abuelas-es
nuestro “president”
Al rey que no nos merecemos lo
esperarán en Arévalo para destronarlo con una gran pantomima. La historia de
España tendrá un nuevo pelele y su nombre irá unido al de Enrique IV y al del
gran felón su abuelo Fernando VII. Cerbero se los llevará a todos y habrá una
conducción solemne de monarca y de jerifaltes políticos y de periodistas a la
laguna Estigia. Allí resplandecerá la calva del pedrojetas haciendo pedorretas
y allí sí que no le valdrán maulas. Los magistrados serán condenados a hacer
puñetas y a los jueces les ahorcarán por los cojones y a las juezas les
rebajarán los humos con un tridente candente que sólo pincha en tetas y culos.
Y eso por toda la eternidad. Para siempre… para siempre.
Las Moiras entorno bailarán la danza
de la muerte y ataránles a la comitiva Hypnos (el sueño) y Tanatos (la muerte)
compañero inseparable de Eros, Castor y Pólux cabalgando el alazán de la vida y
a todos ellos les dejaremos en manos de Alecto (la furia por el remordimiento)
y Tisipore y Némesis administradoras de todas las venganzas se sentarán en el
gran escabel. Minos les tomará la filiación a las puertas del Averno y algunos
de ellos – ya veo a don Juan Carlos I dar vueltas como un pingajo en el gran
carrusel- serán condenados a las ruedas de Ixtion colgados por los pies y con
la cabeza abajo. Orcus o el Erkos será su morada y redil sempiterno. Su padre
moraba también en los infiernos y estaban al fuego muchos papas y cardenales.
Pudo ver en su visión de los condenados al propio Wojtyla con una escolta
de obispos y arzobispos y cardenales. Al bueno de Benedicto lo habían enviado
al limbo.
-¿Por qué?
-Por ser un papa que ni fu ni fa.
Y allí en su curia del limbo Rouco le hacía compañía con gran escolta de
neonatos. Muchos niños muertos había que estranguló la Bestia en el propio
claustro materno. La Iglesia oficial no supo decir no, ni se enfrentó al
peligro. Apostató de Cristo sustituyó la verdad de la Resurrección por una
patraña loca que se inventaron ciertos leguleyos y políticos los que ganaron la
guerra y la historia la escriben siempre los vencedores como un trágala para
los vencidos.
El estigma de la culpa les perseguirá eternamente. Se habían unido a ellos
deslumbrados por el brillo del oro y del poder. Ni que decir tiene que en aquel
lugar se hablaba inglés porque abundaban los americanos y los brits todos muy
circunspectos y al de por junto.
Pero Teseo volverá de nuevo a vencer otra vez al minotauro y Filomela la
amante desdichada se convertirá en ruiseñor y su canto dolorido y mañanero
recordará a todas las madres el dolor de los hijos muertos.
En esto llegaron a la comisaría que era como una gran estación de servicio
donde repostaban los delincuentes aquella noche. Era una casa con dos puertas
difícil de guardar. Por una entraban y por otra salían. A él lo introdujeron en
una mazmorra oscura que tenía una puerta verde y en medio una mirilla que se
abría de tarde en tarde para dejar ver el ojo amenazante de un centinela con
cara de pocos amigos. Al día siguiente lo trasladaron a los juzgados y una
jueza lo mandó a la sombra por nueve meses y un día. Madrazo cuando le llevaban
a presidio se acordó de un versículo del libro de Job que decía:
-Vermis sum et non homo.
Sí sentía más que un hombre un gusano pero ofreció alegre y animoso su
carne a la reja, contento de su martirio y de ser un verdadero justo de Israel.
Había proclamado la verdad. Por eso lo enchiqueraron y lo perseguían porque era
justo. En la cárcel aguardaría la llegada del Maestro de Justicia… oh que noche
la de aquel día.
27-xii- 2005
2015-12-26
una teoría sobre la conspiración que vive el planeta segun el "Guardian". El articulista nos da la razón a los que laboramos en este blog
“I remember reading about Final Fantasy VII, a movie I was really looking forward to. My initial reaction was disappointment that it was two years away – because by then we’d be under military control.” It was 2004, and Matthew Elliott was in deep. Elliott, from San Antonio, Texas, had first been drawn to conspiracy theories when he was 19, in the aftermath of 9/11. “It seemed unfathomable that we could be attacked,” he says today. In his quest to make sense of what had happened he came across the notorious “truther” movement, a current of opinion that lays blame for the atrocities at the door of the US government.
“The way most conspiracy theories are laid out, one thing always leads to another, so from there I became convinced that a ruling group called the New World Order orchestrated everything. This would all lead to martial law and a complete removal of our freedoms,” he says. A decade later, Elliott, now 34, is a “recovering” conspiracy theorist, having turned his back on a worldview that always posits some covert, powerful force acting against the interests of ordinary people. The change came gradually, but he thinks very differently now. “You can’t even get many of the 50 states to agree on things. Good luck convincing Europeans and Asians to get on board.”
Elliott’s reaction to the trauma of 9/11 was far from unusual. The attacks were so unprecedented, so devastating, that many of us struggled to make sense of them. Early reports were confused or contradictory: as a result some treated the official version of events with scepticism. A proportion of those in turn plumped for an explanation that would require fakery and coordination on a massive scale.
This shouldn’t surprise us: it’s a pattern that is repeated after every global shock, and in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, it has reared its head again. Within a day of the terrorist attacks on the French capital, blogs had been published arguing that they were the work of the government – a so-called “false flag” operation. The claims rest on the idea that Isis is the deliberate creation of western governments. More recently, the lawyer for the family of Syed Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters, fuelled conspiratorial speculation when he said: “There’s a lot of motivation at this time to emphasise or create incidents that will cause gun control or prejudice or hatred towards the Muslim community.”
Round-the-clock coverage of global events means there is a constant supply of crisis and chaos for us to interpret. Stories of strings being pulled by hidden hands are a staple of our entertainment, from Spectre’s Blofeld to the baroque conspiracy of London Spy, one of the most acclaimed British dramas of the year, which unravelled in a spectacular example of the paranoid style. It’s not that belief in conspiracy theories is becoming more widespread, says Viren Swami, professor of social psychology at Anglia Ruskin university: while the research hasn’t been done yet, he tells me, there’s lots of anecdotal evidence to suggest that belief in conspiracies has remained fairly stable for the last half-century or so. What has changed, however, is the speed with which new theories are formed. “It’s a symptom of a much more integrated world,” he says. The internet speeds everything up, allowing conspiracy-minded individuals to connect and formulate their ideas. In contrast, it took months for theories about Pearl Harbor to develop.
Karen Douglas, another social psychologist, echoes this point. “People’s communication patterns have changed quite a lot over the last few years. It’s just so much easier for people to get access to conspiracy information even if they have a little seed of doubt about an official story. It’s very easy to go online and find other people who feel the same way as you.”
Is everyone prone to this kind of thinking, or is it the preserve of an extreme fringe? Douglas reckons it’s more common than most of us realise. “Recent research has shown that about half of Americans believe at least one conspiracy theory,” she says. “You’re looking at average people; people you might come across on the street.”
That’s also the view of Rob Brotherton, whose new book, Suspicious Minds, explores the traits that predispose us to belief in conspiracies. He cautions against sitting in judgment, since all of us have suspicious minds – and for good reason. Identifying patterns and being sensitive to possible threats is what has helped us survive in a world where nature often is out to get you. “Conspiracy theory books tend to come at it from the point of view of debunking them. I wanted to take a different approach, to sidestep the whole issue of whether the theories are true or false and come at it from the perspective of psychology,” he says. “The intentionality bias, the proportionality bias, confirmation bias. We have these quirks built into our minds that can lead us to believe weird things without realising that’s why we believe them.”
“Whenever anything ambiguous happens, we have this bias towards assuming that it was intended – that somebody planned it, that there was some kind of purpose or agency behind it, rather than thinking it was just an accident, or chaos, or an unintended consequence of something.” This intentionality bias, Brotherton says, can be detected from early childhood. “If you ask a young kid why somebody sneezed, the kid thinks that they did it on purpose, that the person must really enjoy sneezing. It’s only after about the age of four or five that we begin to learn that not everything that everybody does is intended. We’re able to override that automatic judgment. But research shows that it still stays with us even into adulthood.”
For example, studies have shown that when people drink alcohol, they are more likely to interpret ambiguous actions as having been deliberate. “So if you’re at the pub and somebody jostles you and spills your drink, if it’s your first drink, you might write it off as an innocent mistake. But if you’re a few drinks in, then you’re more likely to think they did it on purpose, that it was an aggressive act.”
Like most personality traits, proneness to intentionality bias varies across the population. “Some people are more susceptible to it than others.” And, Brotherton explains, there is a small but reliable correlation between that susceptibility and belief in conspiracy theories.
External factors also play a part, of course. For Ryan, who asked that I omit his last name, the influence of a single charismatic individual was crucial. It was Johnny, a friend and bandmate, who showed him books and CDs about world government and “served as a guru of sorts”. At the same time as inducting him into the truther movement, “he was introducing me to music I’d never heard and really loved”. At the height of his involvement, Ryan says he believed a broad range of conspiracy theories, including “chemtrails” – the idea that the trails left by planes contain noxious chemicals intended to subdue or poison people; that Aids and Ebola were introduced by governments to control population; that the moon landings were faked; that a substance extracted from apricots called laetrile was an effective cure for cancer, but had been banned by the FDA and dismissed as quackery to protect the interests of Big Pharma. “I strained my relationships with my family badly. It’s always the ones you love the most that you want to ‘wake up’. I ended up in hugely embarrassing debates and arguments,” he says.
But beyond the anguish it caused for those close to him, were Ryan’s unorthodox beliefs harmful? Karen Douglas is wary of rubbishing all conspiracy theorising as dangerous. “Thinking in that way, it must have some positive consequences. If everybody went around just accepting what they were told by governments, officials, pharmaceutical companies, whoever, then we would be a bunch of sheep, really”. On the other hand, the effects of certain theories on behaviour can be damaging. Douglas’s own research [pdf download] has shown that exposure to the idea that the British government was involved in the death of Princess Diana reduced people’s intention to engage in politics. Similarly, subjects who read a text stating that climate change was a hoax by scientists seeking funding were less likely to want to take action to reduce their carbon footprint. And anti-vaccine conspiracy narratives make people less likely to vaccinate their children, a clear public health risk.
Should we try to stamp conspiracy theories out, then? Part of Brotherton’s argument is that they’re a natural consequence of the way our brains have evolved. Not only that, but trying to disprove them can backfire. “Any time you start trying to debunk conspiracy theories, for the people who really believe, that’s exactly what they would expect if the conspiracy were real,” he says.
Swami sees things differently. “Experimental work that we’ve done shows that it’s possible to reduce conspiracist ideation.” How? Swami found that people who had been encouraged to think analytically during a verbal task were less likely to accept conspiracy theories afterwards. For him, this hints at an important potential role for education. “The best way is, at a societal level, to promote analytical thinking, to teach critical thinking skills.” But that’s not all. When people have faith in their representatives, understand what they are doing and trust that they are not corrupt, they are less likely to believe in coverups. That’s why political transparency ought to be bolstered wherever possible – and corporate transparency, too. “A lot of people have trouble accepting a big organisation’s or government’s narratives of an event, because they’re seen as untrustworthy, they’re seen as liars,” argues Swami.
Improved teaching and changes in political and business culture would undoubtedly help. But conspiracy theories can be rejected for personal reasons, too. Ryan’s view changed with loss of his “guru”.
“I kinda dropped out of contact with Johnny after he got married and had a baby,” he says. “He was getting further and further into it, and I just couldn’t keep up with the mental gymnastics involved.” He started to look for alternative explanations – less exciting, but more plausible ones. “I looked at the people debating on the national level, for the presidency and such. No way these guys speaking in platitudes and generalisations could really be behind a global conspiracy to enslave or kill me. They weren’t doing a particularly good job of it either, considering how happy I was living my life.
“That was the epiphany, really. I was free. I was happy. None of the doom and gloom predicted and promised ever came.” For Ryan, by then 27, the bizarre ride was over. A world that pitted him against the forces of evil had all the appeal of a spy drama. But real life was less like a story – and in some ways more depressing. What does he think are the forces that really shape things? “Most of what is wrong in the world nowadays – well, I would put it down to incompetence and greed. A lack of compassion.”
“The way most conspiracy theories are laid out, one thing always leads to another, so from there I became convinced that a ruling group called the New World Order orchestrated everything. This would all lead to martial law and a complete removal of our freedoms,” he says. A decade later, Elliott, now 34, is a “recovering” conspiracy theorist, having turned his back on a worldview that always posits some covert, powerful force acting against the interests of ordinary people. The change came gradually, but he thinks very differently now. “You can’t even get many of the 50 states to agree on things. Good luck convincing Europeans and Asians to get on board.”
Elliott’s reaction to the trauma of 9/11 was far from unusual. The attacks were so unprecedented, so devastating, that many of us struggled to make sense of them. Early reports were confused or contradictory: as a result some treated the official version of events with scepticism. A proportion of those in turn plumped for an explanation that would require fakery and coordination on a massive scale.
This shouldn’t surprise us: it’s a pattern that is repeated after every global shock, and in the aftermath of the Paris attacks, it has reared its head again. Within a day of the terrorist attacks on the French capital, blogs had been published arguing that they were the work of the government – a so-called “false flag” operation. The claims rest on the idea that Isis is the deliberate creation of western governments. More recently, the lawyer for the family of Syed Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters, fuelled conspiratorial speculation when he said: “There’s a lot of motivation at this time to emphasise or create incidents that will cause gun control or prejudice or hatred towards the Muslim community.”
Round-the-clock coverage of global events means there is a constant supply of crisis and chaos for us to interpret. Stories of strings being pulled by hidden hands are a staple of our entertainment, from Spectre’s Blofeld to the baroque conspiracy of London Spy, one of the most acclaimed British dramas of the year, which unravelled in a spectacular example of the paranoid style. It’s not that belief in conspiracy theories is becoming more widespread, says Viren Swami, professor of social psychology at Anglia Ruskin university: while the research hasn’t been done yet, he tells me, there’s lots of anecdotal evidence to suggest that belief in conspiracies has remained fairly stable for the last half-century or so. What has changed, however, is the speed with which new theories are formed. “It’s a symptom of a much more integrated world,” he says. The internet speeds everything up, allowing conspiracy-minded individuals to connect and formulate their ideas. In contrast, it took months for theories about Pearl Harbor to develop.
Is everyone prone to this kind of thinking, or is it the preserve of an extreme fringe? Douglas reckons it’s more common than most of us realise. “Recent research has shown that about half of Americans believe at least one conspiracy theory,” she says. “You’re looking at average people; people you might come across on the street.”
That’s also the view of Rob Brotherton, whose new book, Suspicious Minds, explores the traits that predispose us to belief in conspiracies. He cautions against sitting in judgment, since all of us have suspicious minds – and for good reason. Identifying patterns and being sensitive to possible threats is what has helped us survive in a world where nature often is out to get you. “Conspiracy theory books tend to come at it from the point of view of debunking them. I wanted to take a different approach, to sidestep the whole issue of whether the theories are true or false and come at it from the perspective of psychology,” he says. “The intentionality bias, the proportionality bias, confirmation bias. We have these quirks built into our minds that can lead us to believe weird things without realising that’s why we believe them.”
“Whenever anything ambiguous happens, we have this bias towards assuming that it was intended – that somebody planned it, that there was some kind of purpose or agency behind it, rather than thinking it was just an accident, or chaos, or an unintended consequence of something.” This intentionality bias, Brotherton says, can be detected from early childhood. “If you ask a young kid why somebody sneezed, the kid thinks that they did it on purpose, that the person must really enjoy sneezing. It’s only after about the age of four or five that we begin to learn that not everything that everybody does is intended. We’re able to override that automatic judgment. But research shows that it still stays with us even into adulthood.”
For example, studies have shown that when people drink alcohol, they are more likely to interpret ambiguous actions as having been deliberate. “So if you’re at the pub and somebody jostles you and spills your drink, if it’s your first drink, you might write it off as an innocent mistake. But if you’re a few drinks in, then you’re more likely to think they did it on purpose, that it was an aggressive act.”
Like most personality traits, proneness to intentionality bias varies across the population. “Some people are more susceptible to it than others.” And, Brotherton explains, there is a small but reliable correlation between that susceptibility and belief in conspiracy theories.
External factors also play a part, of course. For Ryan, who asked that I omit his last name, the influence of a single charismatic individual was crucial. It was Johnny, a friend and bandmate, who showed him books and CDs about world government and “served as a guru of sorts”. At the same time as inducting him into the truther movement, “he was introducing me to music I’d never heard and really loved”. At the height of his involvement, Ryan says he believed a broad range of conspiracy theories, including “chemtrails” – the idea that the trails left by planes contain noxious chemicals intended to subdue or poison people; that Aids and Ebola were introduced by governments to control population; that the moon landings were faked; that a substance extracted from apricots called laetrile was an effective cure for cancer, but had been banned by the FDA and dismissed as quackery to protect the interests of Big Pharma. “I strained my relationships with my family badly. It’s always the ones you love the most that you want to ‘wake up’. I ended up in hugely embarrassing debates and arguments,” he says.
But beyond the anguish it caused for those close to him, were Ryan’s unorthodox beliefs harmful? Karen Douglas is wary of rubbishing all conspiracy theorising as dangerous. “Thinking in that way, it must have some positive consequences. If everybody went around just accepting what they were told by governments, officials, pharmaceutical companies, whoever, then we would be a bunch of sheep, really”. On the other hand, the effects of certain theories on behaviour can be damaging. Douglas’s own research [pdf download] has shown that exposure to the idea that the British government was involved in the death of Princess Diana reduced people’s intention to engage in politics. Similarly, subjects who read a text stating that climate change was a hoax by scientists seeking funding were less likely to want to take action to reduce their carbon footprint. And anti-vaccine conspiracy narratives make people less likely to vaccinate their children, a clear public health risk.
Should we try to stamp conspiracy theories out, then? Part of Brotherton’s argument is that they’re a natural consequence of the way our brains have evolved. Not only that, but trying to disprove them can backfire. “Any time you start trying to debunk conspiracy theories, for the people who really believe, that’s exactly what they would expect if the conspiracy were real,” he says.
Swami sees things differently. “Experimental work that we’ve done shows that it’s possible to reduce conspiracist ideation.” How? Swami found that people who had been encouraged to think analytically during a verbal task were less likely to accept conspiracy theories afterwards. For him, this hints at an important potential role for education. “The best way is, at a societal level, to promote analytical thinking, to teach critical thinking skills.” But that’s not all. When people have faith in their representatives, understand what they are doing and trust that they are not corrupt, they are less likely to believe in coverups. That’s why political transparency ought to be bolstered wherever possible – and corporate transparency, too. “A lot of people have trouble accepting a big organisation’s or government’s narratives of an event, because they’re seen as untrustworthy, they’re seen as liars,” argues Swami.
Improved teaching and changes in political and business culture would undoubtedly help. But conspiracy theories can be rejected for personal reasons, too. Ryan’s view changed with loss of his “guru”.
“I kinda dropped out of contact with Johnny after he got married and had a baby,” he says. “He was getting further and further into it, and I just couldn’t keep up with the mental gymnastics involved.” He started to look for alternative explanations – less exciting, but more plausible ones. “I looked at the people debating on the national level, for the presidency and such. No way these guys speaking in platitudes and generalisations could really be behind a global conspiracy to enslave or kill me. They weren’t doing a particularly good job of it either, considering how happy I was living my life.
“That was the epiphany, really. I was free. I was happy. None of the doom and gloom predicted and promised ever came.” For Ryan, by then 27, the bizarre ride was over. A world that pitted him against the forces of evil had all the appeal of a spy drama. But real life was less like a story – and in some ways more depressing. What does he think are the forces that really shape things? “Most of what is wrong in the world nowadays – well, I would put it down to incompetence and greed. A lack of compassion.”
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