Can't Tell the Article Subjects Without a Scorecard.His forthcoming book from which the WSJ piece was adapted-'Voodoo Histories: the Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History'-will no doubt contain even more useful information to help augment our instincts for nonsense. These characteristics help them to convince intelligent people of deeply unintelligent things.Īll of us who have been in the position that Aaronovitch describe appreciate his insights on what really lies behind conspiracy theories. These include an appeal to precedent, self-heroization, contempt for the benighted masses, a claim to be only asking 'disturbing questions,' invariably exaggerating the status and expertise of supporters, the use of apparently scholarly ways of laying out arguments (or 'death by footnote'), the appropriation of imagined Secret Service jargon, circularity in logic, hydra-headedness in growing new arguments as soon as old ones are chopped off, and, finally, the exciting suggestion of persecution. So, for everyone who has been, or will be, in that woeful position, I offer this short guide to how conspiracy theories work, the better to rebut them.Įven where conspiracy theories are not momentous, and may sometimes be physically (if not intellectually) harmless-such as with the gorgeous slew of nonsenses that prefaced 'The Da Vinci Code,' involving Templars, secret priories, hidden treasures and the bloodline of Christ-they share certain features that make them work. You on the other hand, have nothing but your instinct for nonsense. Many of us, of course, are not believers but simply find ourselves confronted at a dinner party by the man who just knows the 'real story,' and has arrived armed with his killer facts and certainty. Caroline threaded through the crowd at the party, looking for him. She made a split-second decision: she needed to find Klaus again. Bonnie might trust him, but Caroline was dubious. And all other Western democracies I would add.In yesterday's WSJ, David Aaronovitch wrote on the critical elements that nearly all conspiracy theories share (sub req): She had already been worried when she overheard Hayley on the phone with that sketchy Professor Shane. Whatever the reality, I agree with John McCain, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, when he said that the CIA’s report ‘should alarm every American’. Like me, Bolton is viewing this from outside so how on earth can he even begin to intimate that it was a false flag operation? Unless it was to stir up the mud at the bottom of the pond to muddy the waters and give Trump supporters a credible conspiracy theory to explain the conspiracy theory that they don’t subscribe to. In other words, this conspiracy which doesn’t exist but if it does exist then it was carried out by American intelligence in order to undermine Trump by undermining Clinton. And with a little help from Linus and Luke chapter 2, he discovers the true meaning of Christmas There's something subversive about Christmas. He buys the saddest tree that money can buy. Yesterday, John Bolton, the man tipped to be named as Trump’s deputy secretary of state said: ‘It is not at all clear to me, just viewing this from the outside, that this hacking into the DNC and the RNC computers was not a false flag operation.’ Everyone tells him he has to have a big, brassy tree and a flashy Christmas pageant. It would be called conspiracy theory!’ Well yes it would Donald except that said conspiracy theory would be believed by you and your Trump-pets.īut then it gets even more confusing. Trump himself tweeted today ‘Can you imagine if the election results were the opposite and WE tried to play the Russia/CIA card. There is nothing new in the accusation – Reuters was reporting it back in July – but what is quite interesting is Trump’s team’s reaction to the story. Last Friday, the American intelligence agencies announced that they had ‘high confidence’ that Russia had hacked the Democrat computer system and released embarrassing information in order to promote Donald Trump’s campaign.

Later on we ll conspire