Concerning Conspiracy Theorism

In this document I use my interleaved commentary format to counter Covid 19 vaccination conspiracy theories. My host in this case is someone I shall call Agent-Y. Agent-Y may (or may not) be a fiction or partly a fiction from my imagination, an agent provocateur invented to act as a sounding board for anti-conspiracy theory theory. I preproduce  the introduction to "Concerning conspiracy theorism" below.  

Introduction

This small book concerns the modern day phenomenon of conspiracy theorism. The layout of this book takes the form of an email discussion with someone I shall call Agent-Y. I think of Agent-Y as having projected themselves into the psyche of an advocate for conspiracy theorism and thereby giving us a window into their world view. But I must caution here that Agent-Y may or may not be a fictional or partially fictional character. That is, Agent-Y could be a figment of my imagination created in order to bring out the errors of the conspiracy theorist world view.

Conspiracy theorists seek to make sense of social reality with their “join-the-dots” explanatory narratives, narratives whose chief feature are shadowy and malign agencies who, it is alleged, subtly direct the course of history from behind their cover. These nefarious agencies, we are told, are hidden deceivers whose all but omniscient information and control is a major source of social angst.  The true motive of these hidden agencies is not always clear but the old-fashioned lust for power, wealth & glory is often implicated. But “glory” is problematical if power & wealth isn’t public. As we shall see this is just one aspect of conspiracy theorism which cuts across what we know about human nature.

This book starts with the Loveworld  news item which appeared in the January 21 edition of Premier Christianity magazine (See left). Loveworld is a Christian satellite TV channel that was airing false conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 virus. This group believed that the social dynamic surrounding Covid-19 to be the planned product of mysterious conspirators who have such exquisite information and control that they can both effectively rule and at the same time remain almost completely undercover to most us, except of course to the enlightened conspiracy theorists who can pride themselves in having cracked the code of appearances and seen behind the façade to the underlying secret of the “deep state” illuminati.

I have written articles criticising the “Fearlosophy“ behind conspiracy theorism elsewhere, but in this short book I enlist the help of the capable Agent-Y who has succeeded in getting into the psychology of the conspiracy theorist and reveals their inmost fears and thoughts that drive them.  Without the help of Agent-Y this work would not have been possible. The identity of Agent-Y is above top secret and this means that I can’t even reveal whether (s)he is real or just a fiction created by myself or someone else’s imagination. Agent-Y may or may not be my alter ego or the alter ego of someone who is working with me.

This book then, like conspiracy theory itself, may be a creative artistic license, a fiction, but which integrates itself into reality with probing tentacles. To quote H G Wells’ Time Traveler in chapter 16 of his book The Time machine……

Consider I have been speculating on the destinies of our race until I have hatched this fiction. Treat my assertion of its truth as a mere stroke of art to enhance its interest. And taking it as a story, what do you think of it?