THE PARANOID NEWS.   An On-Line Newsletter.
Issue #2.  April 2, 1994.  
-----> "The Enemy is Ourselves." <-----
Written, published and copyrighted by psychospy@aol.com.
See bottom for subscription/copyright info.

In this issue...
     CONSPIRACIES

[Note: This file ends with "#####".  Check for truncation.]

----- THE FLUORIDATION PLOT -----

In the movie "Dr. Strangelove," rogue Air Force General Jack D. 
Ripper tries to explain to a British officer why he committed his 
bomb wing to a nuclear first strike on the Soviet Union.

   "Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled 
water or rain water and only pure grain alcohol?  Have you ever 
heard of a thing called fluoridation, fluoridation of water?  
Well, do you know what it is?  Do you realize that fluoridation is 
the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we've 
ever had to face?"

General Ripper sees himself as a man of principal, taking action 
against a global threat that the President and military Joint 
Chiefs refuse to acknowledge.  The Communists are attacking the 
free world not with bombs and guns but with a subtle and far 
reaching plot to corrupt our "precious bodily fluids."  The 
General decides that, as a responsible American, he cannot sit by 
and let the subversion continue.  If his superiors will not act, 
then his duty is to lead them.  On his own authority as Wing 
Commander, he launches a first strike against the Soviet Union to 
commit the United States to war and to destroying the enemy once 
and for all.

We may call the general "mad," but how do we prove it?  Is he 
hearing voices?  Is he losing control of himself?  Is he acting 
"irrationally"--in the sense of doing things without a logical-
sounding reason?  On the surface, the general seems as sane as you 
and I.  He exhibits no difficulty in communicating, caring for 
himself or performing his day-to-day duties.  It is only after we 
get to know him and hear his private thoughts that we begin to 
realize that something isn't quite right.

The general has developed a certain theory about the world:  The 
Communists are seeking to control the rest of us by fluoridating 
our water.  The goal of their evil scheme is not made clear, but 
apparently General Ripper has it all worked out.  He reports to 
Mandrake that he first recognized the plot "during the physical 
act of love."  He says he experienced a "profound sense of 
fatigue, a feeling of emptiness" following the encounter and 
attributed this sensation to the loss of precious bodily fluids.  
Perhaps the Communist fluoridation of our water supply might 
induce similar fatigue in the entire nation.  Further "proof" of 
the general's theory comes from his observation that Communists 
are never seen drinking water, only Vodka.

You may call his theory absurd, but try convincing him of that.  
If you could engage him in a debate, the general could probably 
supply a logical-sounding response to any objection you could 
raise.  You may protest that Communists do drink water:  Not long 
ago, the Soviet Premier visited the United Nations, and while 
listening through headphones to another speaker, he drank from a 
clear glass.  It wasn't water, the general would counter.  It was 
Vodka.

You could present the general with scientific studies indicating 
no health effect from fluoridation, aside from a long-term 
decrease in tooth decay.  A sham, he would say; the studies were 
conducted by scientists secretly working for the Soviets.  You 
provide specific examples illustrating that citizens whose water 
is fluoridated exhibit no greater fatigue or less vitality than 
anyone else....  But by now the general would begin to weary of 
your protests and wonder if you, too, were a party to the 
conspiracy.  Recognizing that the enemy could be anywhere, he 
might stop answering questions and hold his theory to himself.

The frustration of dealing with the general's "absurd" notion is 
that it seems to be supported by logic.  The general believes in 
his theory so completely that to him it isn't a theory at all.  As 
he sees it, the dire Communist plot to corrupt our fluids is the 
only conclusion a "sane" person could make given the evidence 
available.  Nothing you can say can convince him of any other 
possibility, and if you spend enough time with him, you may even 
begin to recognize the plot yourself.

That's paranoia.  Paranoid theories seem logical and possible--at 
least on the surface.  The Communists could indeed be attempting 
to poison our water supply.  Although the notion may seem far-
fetched, there is no way we can prove it isn't so.  There are so 
many different ways they could be doing it that no matter what 
approach you manage to disprove there will always be others that 
remain technically possible, or at least plausible enough to 
sustain an argument.

No matter what the crime may be, there are a thousand plausible 
theories to account for it.  Look at America's most popular 
conspiracy fodder, the JFK assassination.  Countless books have 
been written offering the "real" story behind that day in Dallas.  
General Ripper, had he lived, might have written one of his own.  
Each book presents a seemingly flawless body of evidence which 
neatly confirms the theory set forth by the author.  Who was 
really responsible for Kennedy's death?  It was the Mob, the 
Teamsters, the KGB, the CIA, big business, a secret world 
government, psychic manipulators, space aliens....  Some people 
even contend that Kennedy did not die at all but went into hiding, 
as proven by photographs recently published in the Weekly World 
News.

You may or may not believe that Oswald killed Kennedy and was 
acting on his own.  Only one thing is certain:  All the theories 
can't be right.  There can be only one truth, even if it is 
unknown to us, so most of those other logical sounding 
conspiracies have to be wrong.

The question is, if all such theories seem logical and appear to 
be supported by an irrefutable body of evidence, how do we know 
which ones to believe and which to discard?  Of all the people 
promoting their theories, how do we know who to listen to and who, 
like General Ripper, are dangerous and need to be removed from any 
position of power?  How can we predict which theories and 
theorists might lead us, in pursuit of their imaginary enemies, to 
a real Armageddon?

----- THE NATURE OF THEORIES -----

No one has a complete grasp of "reality"; the best we can do is 
catch a piece of it.  The tapestry of real life is so complex and 
noisy that we cannot pay attention to it all at once.  In life, as 
in a crowded train station, there are so many different things 
happening at once that we can't possibly absorb everything.  
Instead, we focus on whatever agenda we are currently engaged in 
and block out anything that isn't relevant to it.  In a train 
station, our agenda is to get somewhere; most of the other 
journeys, conflicts, crimes and dramas taking place on the 
concourse are lost to us unless they happen to delay our train.  
We deal with a complex world by distilling it into an idealized 
cartoon or moral melodrama that tells us what is important and 
what we should do next.

To navigate the complexities of life, we come up with a set of 
simplified theories about how the world works.  One simple theory 
is that people are motivated only by money, sex and power.  This 
notion may lead to fairly successful interactions in the fields of 
commerce, war and show business, but it doesn't predict everything 
people do.  More subtle and sophisticated theories will lead to 
more accurate predictions of human behavior.

No theory is "right" or "wrong," but some theories are certainly 
better than others.  The notion that the world is round may not 
explain everything, but it leads to more accurate navigation than 
the flat world model.  If people were entirely rational, they 
would select and reject theories based only on their utility.  If 
Darwin's theory of evolution leads to more accurate predictions 
about the forms of plants and animals than creationism does, then 
Darwin's is the one we should obey, at least until something 
better comes along.  

Of course, people are not entirely rational, and that is why 
creationism and other objectively impractical theories will not 
die.  People can select and defend theories for reasons other than 
utility.  They also seek to maintain an internal emotional 
balance.

If, for example, you have already invested your life in the 
pursuit of money, sex and power, it is unlikely you will be open 
to any other theory.  To accept the existence of a round world 
when you have already invested in the flat one is tantamount to 
admitting, "My life has been a waste."  Acceptance of the new 
theory would seem to take away everything you have spent your life 
fighting for, so when an excuse comes to reject it, you may prefer 
to return to the impractical status quo.

Theories can also create the illusion of pride and power when you 
otherwise have none.  They can alleviate feelings of inferiority, 
guilt and self-reproach by placing the blame for ones failures on 
some outside entity.  An impractical and self-destructive theory 
may be cherished and vigorously defended if it provides an excuse 
to the holder for his own personal failures.

This could be the true source of General Ripper's fluoridation 
theory.  There could be more than one explanation for his feelings 
of emptiness and fatigue following sex.  Maybe his relationship 
with the other party had something to do with it.  Rather than 
accept that the feelings were a result of his own inadequacies, it 
is much easier to blame the Communists.  They made an ideal 
scapegoat during the Cold War because they were a closed and 
mysterious society that provided unconstrained ground for the 
Western imagination.

Once grasping the theory that the Communists were somehow 
responsible for his personal void, General Ripper needed evidence.  
He looked around him, selectively, for ways that the Communists 
could be implementing the heinous scheme he already knew existed.  
Fluoridation was an easy target.  Indeed, this was a popular topic 
among real conspiracy enthusiasts for years after it was first 
introduced.  Fluoridation was a systematic government effort to 
introduce a foreign substance into the nation's water supply.  If 
you needed to find a conspiracy and did not fully understand the 
technical process of fluoridation, it would seem to provide an 
ideal opportunity for a worldwide plot.

Being able to see the conspiracy when no one else could may have 
given the general a sense of purpose and a desperately needed 
feeling of superiority.  Becoming Commander at Burpleson Air Force 
Base may have been the final promotion for this anonymous, mid-
level bureaucrat.  He was little more than an errand boy to the 
generals above him.  General Turgidson had trouble even 
remembering his name.  They did not consult with him on important 
issues and did not care what he thought about the Communist 
threat.  His special knowledge of the hidden fluoridation plot 
gave him the right and moral imperative to overrule his superiors 
and assume the position of leadership he may have felt entitled 
to.

Ripper's theory could have been correct.  Maybe the Communists 
were indeed poisoning the free world's water supply.  However, it 
is also possible the theory was a delusion, motivated only by the 
general's private emotional needs.  It could have afforded him 
face-saving escape from his private internal demons, even as it 
lead to his own death and the destruction of humanity.

----- THE CONSPIRACY CULTURE -----

At this moment, working in isolation, countless theorists are on 
the verge of putting it all together.  All they need is one or two 
elusive pieces, then the puzzle will be complete, and the world 
will be forced to admit the truth.  A number of these crusaders 
are still working on the JFK murder, while others have broken free 
into new, yet suspiciously familiar territory.

Did you think the President and Congress were running the United 
States?  Not true.  It is the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds, 
banded together in a secret society called, in various guises, the 
Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the One 
World Government and the New World Order.  Members or agents of 
this secret committee can be found on the boards of directors of 
every major international corporation.  The committee tells the 
President of the United States what to do, and he has to obey 
because he is a member also, albeit a low ranking one.  The 
committee uses a combination of fear and monetary influence to 
enforce its directives and keep all the major political, business 
and military leaders under its control.  

No major political event in the world happens by chance or without 
consent of the committee.  If Clinton beat Bush in the 1992 
elections, that was a decision passed down from above.  So-called 
"free elections" are a sham because the secret government controls 
all the TV networks and news outlets and can thereby manipulate 
what the populace feels and believes.  Keeping the people under 
control is a major concern of the committee.  With its 
representatives on the Federal Reserve Board, it controls the 
money supply and hence the ups and downs of the world economy.  
Recessions are not random but are carefully engineered the keep 
the average citizen reeling and prevent him from gaining too much 
power.

The disease AIDS is part of the plan, invented to reduce the world 
population.  Gun control is an evil aspect of the plot, intended 
to render the American people helpless against invading troops 
from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.  The Holocaust, 
World War II, the fall of Communism and the fire at Waco could not 
possibly have happened without collusion at the highest levels of 
world power.  In some cases--as with the Holocaust and the fall of 
Communism--the perceived event may not have happened at all; it 
was a massive media hoax to manipulate public opinions and advance 
the nefarious aims of the controlling elite.

UFOs, if they exist, are also part of the conspiracy.  In one 
theory, the secret world government is working hand-in-glove with 
the evil aliens; the committee permits the Grays to mutilate our 
cows and abduct our citizens in exchange for extraterrestrial 
technology and technical assistance in dominating the world.  Or, 
if you choose to believe an alternative theory, all UFOs are 
human-built craft invented and tested by the secret world 
government in preparation for yet another massive hoax.  Imagine 
if the people of Earth thought they were being attacked from 
space.  The planet could then be drawn together under a single, 
all-powerful New World Order which could thereby enslave the 
people without significant protest.

It's all part of the plan.  Nothing is coincidence.  Most of the 
population is too naive and subservient to recognize what is going 
on, but a few diligent researchers have put it all together.  Most 
of them agree that there is a far-reaching conspiracy at the 
highest levels of government, media and business to dupe and 
control the population.  Unfortunately, these researchers have 
difficulty agreeing on the exact details of the conspiracy and how 
it is being implemented.  Gatherings and conventions of conspiracy 
buffs rarely seem to go well because they tend to fight among 
themselves and accuse each other of being government agents.

----- REVERSE LOGIC -----

The difference between a constructive, "rational" theory and a 
self-destructive, "paranoid" one is that the first is formed by 
connected reasoning while the other is created by emotional needs.  
Although both may appear solid and logical, the paranoid theory is 
an impulsive reaction only draped in logic as an afterthought, 
like frosting on a cake.  In the paranoid theory, the conclusion 
comes first, based on a private need to enhance ones self-
importance and escape blame.  It is layered over with carefully 
edited evidence and rational sounding arguments as a way to make 
the whole confection seem more palatable both to the maker and to 
the others he wants to convince of his wisdom.  

The paranoiac seizes upon a theory as a way to get himself out of 
an emotional hole.  He doesn't consciously think, "I am choosing 
this theory to help my self-esteem," but certain theories just 
feel right.  As soon as the theorist lets the escapist ideas into 
his mind, he feels better about himself.  Conversely, abandoning 
such theories would make him feel bad again, so if one line of 
reasoning in support of the theory falls apart, he will 
desperately seek others to try to preserve his existing 
investment.

Each person has his own unique emotional needs; hence, there are 
almost as many conspiracy theories as theorists.  The common 
features usually include a vast hoax or cover-up that has fooled 
almost everyone except the theorist and a deliberate collusion 
among the most powerful people on earth to subdue or humiliate the 
average citizen, most notably the theorist himself.  The exact 
mechanism of this control is a matter of debate--or downright war 
among some competing theorists--but the core scenario is 
relatively constant.  All the theorist's personal failures are the 
result of the overwhelming government-sponsored armada arrayed 
against him.  The more powerful and intimidating the conspiracy, 
the more easily the theorist can say, "My failures are not my 
fault."

----- EVALUATING CONSPIRACIES -----

We cannot dismiss any theory simply because it draws 
unconventional conclusions.  At the frontiers of knowledge, 
anything is possible, and a wildly speculative conspiracy story 
could have a core of truth.  Still, theories themselves are a dime 
a dozen.  Anyone can dream one up, and simply the fact that it 
could be true doesn't mean that it is.  To pull us away from a 
more conventional set of ideas, the new theory has to both be 
logically sound and actually work.  It has to consistently 
generate better predictions than any other theory currently 
available.

Revisionism will not do.  Any theorist can look at the past and 
show how a certain event was "inevitable" and "part of the plan."  
Anyone can also proudly trumpet the accuracy of his past 
predictions, but he may be recalling only his successes and 
forgetting the times his predictions fell flat.  The evidence and 
predictive track record for any theory can only be judged in 
context.  Evidence presented by a theory's proponent is suspect; 
it may not be a lie, but any past event, removed from its context, 
can be made to support almost any conclusion.  To judge the 
evidence, we need to see all of it, not just the isolated parts 
the theorist chooses to show us.

We can dismiss a theory if the logical connections within it are 
weak and break down under stress.  A paranoid theory is one that 
usually sounds good when explained by its sponsor, but it cannot 
tolerate rigorous cross examination.  A emotionally-based theory, 
with evidence and reasoning appended only later, is often riddled 
with logical gaps.  The theorist usually senses these weaknesses, 
at least unconsciously, and tries his best to deflect attention 
from them.  If a theorist explodes in anger when asked a skeptical 
question, this may be a sign that the underlying logic may be 
flawed and the question indeed was a good one.

To evaluate conspiracies, or any other emotionally charged claims, 
we must look not just at the evidence but at the personality and 
intellectual discipline of the person making the charges.  In 
defense of a certain theory about the government's collusion with 
aliens, the proponent may say that it is based on confidential 
sources or some personal experience that cannot be corroborated.  
In that case, evaluating the theory may be impossible, but the 
theorist himself can still be reviewed.  If you talk to him about 
other topics and see signs of logical gaps and extravagant 
thinking in unrelated areas, that may be a hint that the theory in 
question is also flawed.  His unreliable nature may not prove that 
his theories are worthless, but it increases the noise-to-signal 
ratio and may make the investigation too costly to pursue.

Real conspiracies can happen, but they are rarely as efficient and 
far-reaching as the imaginary ones.  Most of those exposed in the 
past, like Watergate or Iran-Contra, seem little more than a 
desperate attempt by incompetent officials to cover up a 
politically damaging blunder.  Real humans at the highest levels 
of government, business and media never seem to be able to work 
together to the extent that the theorists propose.  The world's 
most powerful people, like the rest of us, seem motivated more by 
their own private emotional pressures than by any grand 
cooperative goal.  

Human society is, at best, a loosely structured chaos that mostly 
governs itself.  This notion, that no one is really in charge, is 
what most terrifies the conspiracy theorists.  Inside their 
fragile emotional worlds, they feel like worthless ants.  To know 
that the CIA is bugging their telephone and the secret world 
government is watching their every move at least confirms that 
somebody cares.

TO BE CONTINUED....

===== SUBSCRIPTION AND COPYRIGHT INFO =====

(c) Glenn Campbell, 1994.  (psychospy@aol.com)

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