It is usually very difficult to trace the origins of conspiracies. Much like the way urban legends are spread, finding out how a particular meme gets started is largely a matter of slogging detective work, tracing newspaper articles and wearing out shoe leather interviewing people.
It is believed that the very first hints of conspiracy involving Oswald and the JFK assassination could be traced to La Figaro L’Humanité, the communist party newspaper in France. A KGB defector in 1982 let on that the articles were part of a disinformation campaign designed to throw off suspicion of complicity by Moscow in the crime, something with which Kruschev was very concerned. (The defector’s reliability has been questioned on this and other matters).
A few months later, a small American publication called Ramparts began a series of articles using the La Figaro piece as a template to paste all sorts of conspiracies involving Johnson, the CIA, the Army, and large corporations. Other hard left magazines picked up on these theories and expanded on them. Even before the Warren Report was published, the paranoid left had a slew of conspiracy theories involving the assassination that fingered everyone but Oswald.
I bring this up because paranoia regarding the JFK assassination is one of the few semi- traceable conspiracies in modern history. Others have roots going back hundreds of years to the time of the Knights Templar and Illuminati and their beginnings have been lost to the mists of history. At bottom, all of these conspiracies posit the notion that powerful men using unseen and unknown methods control our destiny.
Today’s nuts inhabit both the right and left sides of the ideological spectrum with the left wing paranoids more prominent if only because of their target; George Bush and his Administration.
No? How’s that military draft coming, guys? And what about that fallout from our attack on Iran? You know, the one that was “imminent” at least three separate times over the last few years? And while we’re on the subject, have you sent your Christmas cards to your friends rotting away in those concentration camps you were so sure were going to be set up to house “regime” opponents?
I could go on, of course. There is no end to the wild nuttiness of the left when it comes to their paranoia about the Bush Administration. To hear them tell it, Bush is both evil genius and incompetent clown – a dichotomy most sane people would find laughable but which the paranoids on the left blithely run off at the mouth coming up with ever more outrageous “warnings” about Bush actions. The closer we get to the end of the Bush presidency, the more we hear of the “manufactured 9/11” where Bush would cancel the election of 2008 and rule by dictatorship.
There are going to be a lot of exploding heads on January 20, 2009 when Bush rides off to Texas.
Where does this idiocy come from? It comes from here:
In a new book alleging a campaign of slander and intimidation orchestrated chiefly by Hillary Clinton, Kathleen Willey points a finger of suspicion at the former first couple for the death of her husband, who was believed to have killed himself.Willey, who claims she was groped by President Clinton in the White House, acknowledged in an interview with WND today that she stands by the speculation she poses about her husband’s demise in “Target: Caught in the Crosshairs of Bill and Hillary Clinton,” set for release this week by World Ahead Publishing, WND Books’ partner.
Asked if she suspects her husband Ed, a lawyer and son of a prominent Virginia lawmaker, was murdered, Willey replied, “Most definitely.”
There is absolutely no doubt that Bush Derangement Syndrome’s roots can be found in the Clinton Derangement Syndrome of the 1990’s. And if this book is any indication, BDS will continue to run long after George leaves office:
Willey writes that after her husband’s death, her friend Carole in Colorado told her something she had not known. Ed had confided to Carole’s husband that he had taken a briefcase full of cash to Little Rock, Ark., during the presidential campaign.Willey said she was shocked but acknowledged her husband could have done it. Later she found a reference on a blog that explored illegal fundraising activities by the Clintons and noted Ed Willey was known for “handling large briefcases full of cash” as part of the 1992 presidential campaign.
She speculates: “I have no idea how anyone other than the Clintons would know that Ed might have carried cash in briefcases. So why would he be killed? Because he was carrying illegal money? That’s probably not enough reason. But what if, in his desperation, Ed had ‘illegally borrowed’ from the campaign?”
Willey herself brings up the obvious parallels to the Vince Foster suicide – which in Clinton Derangement Syndrome circles is listed as a “murder” despite numerous investigations by both Democrats and Republicans including independent counsels Fiske and Starr proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Fosters death was by his own hand.
The money is another issue. Willey wouldn’t be the first to have taken suitcases full of cash to Little Rock. But bribery and campaign financial irregularities are a long way from murder. And while the Clintons have been known to play hardball with opponents, Willey’s accusations are pretty slanderous. They were back then and they are now.
What CDS did was gather the kooks, the loons, and the nuts on the right under one umbrella with the internet as catalyst. Chat rooms and message boards acted as incubators where the latest preposterous theories about the Clintons were born.
And perhaps it’s no accident that BDS was born just when blogs began their rise to prominence. The archives of Daily Kos are full of diaries and posts that posit the most jaw dropping conspiracy theories about Bush. If the largest liberal blog could indulge themselves in such tripe, then clearly the way to fame and fortune in the leftysphere was to outdo the big guys in coming up with even more ridiculous theories of dark doings and evil abroad in the land.
It has culminated in the Rosie O’Donnell-Keith Olbermann axis of celebrity where those worthies feed hundreds of thousands of people a day a steady diet of BDS related claptrap. One wonders what poor Keith is going to do when Bush leaves office. Methinks he’s in for a fall since his “angry man” routine will be difficult to maintain if Democrats control everything.
Frankly, I’m surprised that Hillary hasn’t come in for more CDS than she has. Perhaps the loons are waiting for the general election campaign before letting loose. There are many bad things to be said about Hillary Clinton both personally and politically but what she and her husband were accused of during their tenure in office is so far beyond reality that it gives those of us who wish to critique Mrs. Clinton rationally a bad name. Those on the left who have spent the last seven years realistically critiquing the Bush Administration know what I’m talking about. It is easy to get lumped in with the nuts.
I feel for Kathleen Willey but she is wildly off base in her charges. I suppose I’ll hear it from some of my friends on the right but the fact is, tales of intimidation of witnesses, murder, burglary, and other illegal activities are largely anecdotal and have their origins in internet rumormongering. There is no credible evidence for it and thus, it is safe to dismiss much of CDS as the ramblings of paranoids.
The same could be said of BDS sufferers, of course. And given the polarization of our politics and general political nastiness abroad in the land, both Syndromes will probably be with us for a while.
7:45 pm
Conspiracy theories bring a sort of comfort to the losers of life, the ‘little man’ whos lost his way in the game. In their mind they think that if there are big conspiracies afoot, then that explains their inability to acheive success in the world. For these people, conspiracies take on a life of their own, because the wounded soul that espouses them needs the conspiracy to exist, whether or not there is a conspiracy in the first place or more importantly that there is a damn thing they can do about them even if they were true in the first place, which they almost never are or could be.
A conspiracy theory acts as a sort of ‘shadow puppet theater’ to the mind of the wounded soul. With a well wound “all seeing all knowing” conspiracy in action, these folks get to act out their twisted and irrational vision of the world which has all the reality of that found lit by flashlight in a tent made under the blankets in their childhood bedrooms late in the night; all while the wider adult world goes on oblivious to their pathetic theatrics.
11:42 pm
There is absolutely no doubt that Bush Derangement Syndrome’s roots can be found in the Clinton Derangement Syndrome of the 1990’s.
Nah, it goes back to the Birchers in the 50s and 60s.
6:31 am
Perhaps it goes back to Carter Adminstrations Gary Sick and the ” October Surprise”?
6:36 am
I didn’t make it clear enough but I was actually thinking along the lines of how the internet makes widespread conspiracy mongering – BDS, CDS, truthers, etc. – so much easier.
If you want the paranoid in politics, you can go back a lot further than the Birchers. I was thinking specifically of internet based movements that seem to feed off each other and reinforce each other.
7:19 am
[...] The conservative Rick Moran (who gave me the idea for the title of this post) reacts: Willey herself brings up the obvious parallels to the Vince Foster suicide – which in Clinton Derangement Syndrome circles is listed as a “murder†despite numerous investigations by both Democrats and Republicans including independent counsels Fiske and Starr proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Fosters death was by his own hand. [...]
7:59 am
I completely agree with this analysis. The internet has allowed these conspiracy theories to thrive by creating echo chambers in which people can see their wacky views repeated by others and, in their minds, legitimized. There’s also the phenomena whereby some people, upon seeing something on the internet, believe it must be true simply because it’s on the internet. The same can be seen in those who think online polls really mean something. I know such attitudes are made fun of, but many people who really think that way.
8:01 am
I’ll also add that CDS was to Free Republic what BDS is to Daily Kos.
8:06 am
CDS is a somewhat subtle but very potent tool for the Clintons, and will continue to be so in the upcoming election.
It affords both Bill and Hill the opportunity to take accurate and actual accusations and transgressions and throw them into the same “loony file” in which the whacky conspiracy theories actually do belong.
In short, the fantasies blunt the realities.
9:09 am
Re: the JFK assasination disinfo, L’Humanite is the French Communist Party newspaper. Le Figaro is a conservative organ, no?
9:12 am
Michael:
You’re right. Don’t know what I was thinking there.
Thanks.
9:15 am
>...Nah, it goes back to the Birchers in the 50s and 60s.
Nope, back to the Know Nothings. See, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics, ” by Richard Hofstadter,
http://nationalism.org/patranoia/hofstadter-paranoid-style.htm
and , “The Politics of Unreason :Right Wing Extremism in America, 1790- 1977, ” by Seymour Martin Lipset and Earl Raab, two neo-cons.
9:20 am
Here is a Le Figaro conspiracy theory, CIA AGENT ALLEGEDLY
MET BIN LADEN IN JULY
From ‘Le Figaro’ [1 November 2001]
Translated by Tiphaine Dickson
http://emperors-clothes.com/misc/lefigaro.htm
Emperors new clothes website is a treasure trove of conspiracy theories esp. about the Bosnian and Kosovar conflicts. The editor of the website was a Maoist loon in the late 60’s. Active in the Progressive Labor Party faction of sds.
10:56 am
A truly brilliant post. Thank you – I will share widely. I especially appreciate:
1) There are many bad things to be said about Hillary Clinton both personally and politically but what she and her husband were accused of during their tenure in office is so far beyond reality that it gives those of us who wish to critique Mrs. Clinton rationally a bad name. Those on the left who have spent the last seven years realistically critiquing the Bush Administration know what I’m talking about. It is easy to get lumped in with the nuts.
and
2) That Keith O has pretty much jumped the shark.
1:01 pm
Just an aside: I highly recommend James Ellroy’s “American Tabloid”, a mind-blowing novel that embodies some of the theories surrounding the JFK assassination and related events. It’s pure fiction, but gives amazing insights into the politics and attitudes of the time, and the interplay among the CIA, FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, the Kennedys, the Mafia, Jack Ruby, Dallas PD, Jimmy Hoffa, los Cubanos, Hollywood… AND there’s a sequel, “The Cold Six Thousand” that covers the period from the JFK assassination to the MLK and RFK assassinations. Really first rate entertainment. Fast-paced, hardcore, violent, very American.
1:51 pm
This is unfortunatley one of the few very bad results of the internet age. A forum for every kook, nimrod, person with an axe to grind, or soemone who just feels they are not important enought.
The internet and blog-a-sphere has become the perfect platorm for the Conspiracy Theoriest. What seems worse is that more-and-more people seem to get caught up into it all the time.
Like a famous comedian said a 1/2 century ago, “There is a Sucker Born every Minute”, is being proven so right.
1:04 am
You totally miss the point that the general incompetance, arrogance and stupidity of federal, state and local investigations are often at the root of many of the so called “conspiracies” which make the theories seem reasonable.
Your specific mention of Vince Foster is interesting in that the final Fiske report was never made public and a preliminary report prepared for Ken Starr which pointed away from suicide was reject by Starr for a more “politically correct” result. Combine that with all of the incompetence and arrogance with law enforcement and the white house behavior and you will find the term “CDS” to not always be accurate.
Vince Foster, Ron Brown and TWA 800 are three example of extremely flawed investigations and a great deal of arrogance on the part of the government.
While at the end of the day, the truth may be the same as the official position, but a reasonable person can still wonder if some other explanation is valid.
Now the 9/11 conspiracy theories, that is stuff for complete whackos!
7:20 am
Hm. I am not sure whether the “conspiration theory addiction” is sucker-only.
One of my colleagues at work is a total nut into conspiration theories. 9/11, Illuminati, New World Order and so on. Basically, we disagree on almost anything with regard to Islam, War on Terror etc.
However, he is no idiot. He is a very capable programmer with master degree in Physics, and he is a very clever person with original research & development ideas, reads Russian etc. Quite a libertarian in economical questions (rarer in Europe than in the US)
The problem with him is precisely his scientific/engineering mindset. He basically refuses to acknowledge that “shit happens” and that a lot of conflicts or international problems stems from short-sightedness of some politician or bureaucrat. He is mentally inclined to search for patterns and frameworks everywhere. Sometimes it borders on ridicule, like claiming that “the US politicians knew that after toppling of Saddam independent Kurds would attack Turkey, provoking military response and that this destabilization would be used to increase military spending of the USA and closer ties with Georgia and Armenia, which would provoke Russia” etc.
3:08 pm
#6
Ironically a recent broadcast of NPR’s On the Media had some discussion/debate as to whether the internet is actually encouraging people to seek/consider alternate viewpoints, or whether it will ultimately stratify into various echo chambers. The proliferation and popularity of liberal rant sites such as Crooks and Liars suggests the latter.
11:10 pm
There’s a slight difference between (some, not all) of the stuff usually classified as CDS and the BDS idiocy. In the former case, for instance, Kathleen Willey reported that her cat had disappeared, her tires had been slashed, and, after that, she was accosted by a stranger on a jogging path who asked about her cat, questioned why she didn’t “get it” and suggested that her children might be next.
The BDS folks claim that W’s policy (on, say, GitMo imprisonment of unlawful combatants) might lead to some US citizen who opposed W’s policies maybe in the future maybe being sent to GitMo and tortured. Or (unnamed thousands of conspirators in and out of the government) colluded to, in the dead of a single night, rig WTC7 to collapse on cue just after their buddies flew the jets into WTC1 and 2. Or that “powerful forces” in the Republican party would impose a draft if W were elected in 2004—when the only “powerful forces” suggesting same were high-ranking Democrats.
No specifics: like “my friend Bob is in GitMo right now, because he waved a “Kerry/Edwards” flag at a Bush rally” or “Fred W. Philbin of New Jersey was a demolitions expert who directed one of the WTC7 demolition teams.”
If Monica hadn’t saved her souvenier, she’d be just another byword in the endless “CDS” pantheon.
3:02 pm
Rick,
Have you looked at Jack Cashill’s site, his books and his articles. I didn’t know if he was a nut or the prize winning journalist he claims to be. So I asked Mark Tapscott (formerly at Heritage, now with the Washington Examiner). He said that Cashill is legit. If so, there is a whole lot of stuff that you dismiss as CDS that looks to be true.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone like you actually looked into the facts so that we could get an honest appraisal?
3:55 pm
All this is nothing new.
Old newpapers in Pennslyvania can be seen reporting Democrats referring to “Lincoln’s War” nearly 140 years ago.
6:47 am
[...] Blogger Rick Moran summarizes the phenomenon in this era of viciously partisan politics thusly: “What CDS did was gather the kooks, the loons, and the nuts on the right under one umbrella with the Internet as catalyst. Chat rooms and message boards acted as incubators where the latest preposterous theories about the Clintons were born. [...]