So you know that neighbor of yours who's convinced the Bush administration blew up the World Trade Center towers? The one who's sure JFK killed Marilyn Monroe (or was it the other way 'round?) There's a method to his madness, according to David Aaronovitch's new book Voodoo Histories, which examines how such theories affect our perception of history.
From Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin's review: Such conspiracies "divert us from real threats. Fruit-loop perorations about explosives concealed in the elevator shafts of the World Trade Center distract Americans from the unimaginary conspiracy by Islamic fundamentalists to destroy us. And if the feds really blew up the levees during Hurricane Katrina, there's no need to examine the emergency preparedness of New Orleans' government, is there?"
Click here to read the whole review. And stop being so paranoid.
Well...conspiracy theories are almost always false. People can't keep a secret, and when conspiracies are the cause of bad things, the conspirators almost always get caught -- just ask the dolts who killed Lincoln. Still, I have to take issue with the notion that Islamic fundamentalists want to "destroy us." They don't care about us one way or the other. They want us out of their part of the world. If we went, they'd leave us alone. I'm not saying we should oblige them in any way. For one thing, if we stopped supporting Israel, the Islamic fundamentalists would initiate a new Holocaust. But the idea that we -- the United States -- is what the fundamentalists are sitting around thinking about us is just more American egomania.
Posted by: Chauncey Mabe | February 28, 2010 at 07:04 PM