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Conspiracy Nation
Correspondent: Peggy Knapp
American History is riddled with stories of secret plots, from the assassinations of four Presidents to the mysterious disappearances of Amelia Earhart and Jimmy Hoffa. In fact, the United States was founded on the heels of a conspiracy called the American Revolution. Americans have fostered a deep fascination with the unproven and the unexplainable ever since.
"I always say if the 70's were the 'me' decade, the 80's were the 'greed' decade, then the 90's have become the conspiracy decade."
-- -- Jonathan Vankin Author, The 60 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time
Lies, secrets and cover-ups are what many Americans have come to expect from their government. A recent poll shows that 74 percent of Americans believe the government is involved with conspiracies and cover-ups that most people will never know about. For many, the biggest cloud of suspicion hovers over the nation's capital, and for good reason according to author Jonathan Vankin. "Letís face it. Our government has done a lot of bad things, and a lot of them have come out on the record. You start from there, and then you think well, what are they hiding from us? And your imagination could really run wild.î
Conspiracy theories often do lead down some uncharted paths. A recent CNN survey shows more than a third of all Americans believe there is life on other planets. An almost equal number thinks aliens have visited Earth. In the 1970s, some people believed disco music was an invention of aliens meant to subvert humans with its repetitive rhythms and lyrics. In the 80s, others accepted a theory the seal and Latin words on the back of a one dollar bill were part of a conspiracy. Evangelist and former presidential candidate Pat Robertson wrote a book about it. He suggests ěnew world orderî is a code for a secret group that wants to replace Christian society with a Socialist dictatorship. There are also intelligent, educated people today that will swear Elvis Presley is alive and well. Are the true believers prophets or paranoids? Miami University Professor Art Jipson says it's a matter of what people are willing to believe.
"The people who believe in these conspiracies are more willing to accept explanations or context that are much more unusual and much more unconventional. They are doing the same process that we're all doing, but they're doing it in a radically different way."
Many of the more popular and widely accepted conspiracy theories sound much closer to truth than science fiction. Whispered behind the biggest news stories of the century are rumors, doubts, deception and fear. Did President Roosevelt know in advance that Japan was planning to bomb Pearl Harbor? Was there more than one gunman involved in the death of JFK? Did the Reagan presidential campaign conspire to delay the release of U.S. hostages in Iran? Did the Clinton administration try to conceal information in the apparent suicide death of White House Counsel Vince Foster? Did the government hang the Oklahoma City bombing on right wing militia groups to gain public support for cracking down on the civil liberties of these groups? The lines between fact and fiction are often blurred by the news media, movies and books loosely based on the real stories. For some people, the fact that a theory is being talked about in the media at all lends credibility and legitimacy to its accuracy.
"What's really occurring is a whole series of popular culture, of media issues, of real honest to goodness scandals that have occurred in the government, in popular culture, in civil society that make wider conspiracies believable and plausible," says Jipson. To tap into the newest information on an emerging conspiracy, look no further than your computer. The Internet has become a breeding ground for conspiracies. There are literally thousands of conspiracy web pages out there, from the serious to the bizarre. Addicted to lip balm? Check out the "chapstick conspiracy," a site that pays lip service to the notion that balm manufacturers are like drug pushers, trying to get you hooked. What about the secret history of Spam? There's an idea floating around about an intergalactic conspiracy to turn people into devoted Spam eaters.
"There's no quality control on the Internet. Anybody with enough money and enough access to resources and minimal equipment can launch a web site."
-- Prof. Arthur Jipson, Miami University - Ohio
Before the birth of the Internet, information was traded in the media, at government meetings and around the water cooler at work. Opinions were voiced by a familiar face. But net publishers can hide behind an anonymous computer screen. There's a lot you can do in cyberspace where there really is no reality. It's up to web surfers, the consumers of information, to check the facts. Let the reader beware.
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Related sites:
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- Lip Balm Anonymous
- Spam
- Jon Vankin's homepage
- CONSPIRACY NATION ARCHIVES
- Flouride Issues
- Gulf War Syndrome
- The United States' Secret Project To Breed Flying Elephants
- Make Your Own Conspiracy Theory
- Black-Ops
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