To the scientist, fundamental reality is the probabilistic world of the particle. Any outcome is possible in this world, the ‘reality’ we experience being just one of infinite possibilities, represented by infinite alternative universes.
To the average person reality is what his sentiments dictate. The artist sees aesthetic values the rest of us miss. The entrepreneur sees only possibilities to make money. The optimist sees good in everything, the pessimist bad.
Reality is a cauldron of conflicting concepts, ologies, ideals and whims. The reality is that, from the religionist to the scientist – from the spiritual to the material – reality is something we all conspire to produce.
SUSPICIOUS MINDS
Okay, here we go with another conspiracy theory theory. I have a mantra that ‘there’s nothing new; just variations on a historic theme.’
If this is true, then the mania for conspiracy theory today must have precedents in history. Indeed, because conspiracy theory is becoming so endemic in modern western culture, it must have been endemic in the past.
At the root of conspiracy theory we can find certain psychological states. Obvious examples are suspicion and paranoia. This is based around the perceived existence of a force or forces out to get you.
As a theory spreads, we can add a pinch of hysteria. Such a social requirement is needed to allow free transmission of an idea that, in normal circumstances, could be seen as absurd.
We must also add a gram or two of sensationalism. A theory must be extreme in order for it to rise above the general chatter. Paradoxically, the more unbelievable it becomes, the more it commends itself to be ‘true.’
There is, infact, a similar social force identifiable in history. It was a force that was popularly believed, and existed for millennia. It was a belief in malign forces out to get you, and it was so embedded in culture that we can all think of examples today.
That force was superstition. From the Devil trying to pervert your mind, to witches conspiring to curse you, superstition was often the guide to life, the universe and everything.
Of course, there is a major difference between superstition in the past and conspiracy theory today. In the past, the overall controlling culture of a society was the force for good that could save you, such as Christianity saving you from the Devil.
In conspiracy theory, it is usually the controlling force itself that is thought to be malign - it is often the government that is out to get you. But this reversal of malign forces can fall into a historic pattern itself.
Superstition existed in a mainly religionist culture. Today we live in its opposite – the materialist, scientific world. So it is feasible to argue that inbred suspicions would be reversed.
Today we like to class ourselves as rational beings, but conspiracy theory is beginning to show that we could be just as superstitious as we ever were.
WHEN AN EVENT IS MORE THAN AN EVENT
Let me upset all you conspiracy theorists. JFK was assassinated by a loner called Lee Harvey Oswald and Princess Diana died in a tragic car accident. Yes, I know, it’s so boring, but so is much of life. And maybe this is the point about such events.
The reality of the life of JFK and Diana was that they were far from boring. Rather, they were sensational; so to admit that their deaths may not be as sensational as their life is a bit of a let down. Maybe we need to invent something more, to do justice to who they were.
This does, infact, fit into a historical pattern. Although seemingly different people, JFK and Diana were charismatic and died tragically young.
The template for this kind of death was set two millennia ago with Jesus Christ, who was also charismatic and died tragically young. With Jesus, it was not acceptable that he could have a normal death, so almost immediately we find the beginnings of a conspiracy. Judas betrays him, and the Sanhedrin conspire to have him executed.
After the event, the death cannot, of course, be normal. Rather, he is Resurrected – he cheats death – and finally ascends to Heaven under his own terms. And in this way, the whole thing is sensational.
JFK and Diana share the sociology of the above – and in more ways than this. For instance, all three were in the business of changing society. Indeed, following them, society DID change. So could it be that it was the event of the death that became a catalyst for change?
If we accept this as a possibility, then we can see how additional factors are placed upon the death by a social need for them to be seen as iconic. Which brings us to a simple point about an event. Is an event a circumstance in itself, or does our appreciation of the event after the event become part of the event, too?
Basically, what I’m hinting at, here, is that there is a ‘relativity’ to an event which automatically takes into account the impressions people have of the event. And what is remembered is not the event itself, but a social history stamped upon it.
In times past the social processes involved formed new religions. Today, we live in a more secular society, so to satisfy the need to sensationalise a point of social change, we have invented conspiracy theory to keep the process going.
Hence, conspiracy theory may be a thing to be ridiculed by many. But it could well have an important social function. But I still think JFK was killed by a nutter, and Diana died in a pointless accident.
HISTORY – DON’T YOU BELIEVE IT
Conspiracy theory can thrive because nothing, in life, is certain. Indeed, I’m certain of only one thing. Nothing is certain. You could say I certainly can’t say that because the statement holds a contradiction. But are you certain about that?
Life has always been this uncertain, but if you read most history books, history seems to conflict with this, in that we tend to have a definite record of the past. But is that record true, or have historians conspired to provide the history we believe?
Take the Native Americans. Sixty years ago the general historic record spoke of them as savages. Since then our appreciation has changed. Popular history now denotes them as cultured people who were dealt a severe blow by the white man.
Our present view of Native Americans is no doubt correct, but only so because of the growing New Age with an appreciation of wider aspects of mysticism, and political correctness which takes a more inclusive view of minorities.
This tells us certain ‘truths’ about our historical record. First of all, history is written by the victor. But at any time in the future, history is re-written based upon the contemporary view of the historians revising it.
History therefore has no definite structure. History can so often be a conspiracy in itself.
POSTMODERN AND CONSPIRACY
‘Everything is under control.’ It is a comforting statement because there’s nothing to panic about. But if you look at it differently, it becomes frightening. It is frightening because, no matter what you do, it’s controlled – and by someone else.
The statement is beloved of conspiracy theorists. It contains all the paranoia and contradiction needed to disturb the mind. But it is also something else. It is a classic statement of postmodernism.
We’ve all heard the word, postmodernism, but few understand what it is. First developed in architecture to combat the drab uniformity of box-like modernist buildings, it was a movement that blurred the edges, mingling styles to produce more aesthetic structures.
By the 1960s postmodernism had invaded art and culture. Best seen in Andy Warhol’s pop art, traditional and modern were mixed, high and low culture merged into one and Pavarotti could sing a football anthem.
At the centre of this postmodern assault was irony. The real world was a bore, so let’s spice it up, provide contradiction and dilute everything that seemed to be defined. In a word, postmodernism is a joke, with the statue of David wearing pink sunglasses.
If you’re still confused, then welcome to the unreal world of the postmodern, where nothing makes sense because nothing is allowed to. But of course, when confusion and irony are in vogue, it is inevitable it will have a purpose, and will
spread like a virus.
We can see here that postmodern and conspiracy could be related. Conspiracy, too, blurs the edges, leads to confusion and is full of irony. So could the growing field of conspiracy theory be an outcome of the postmodern?
The postmodern had a distinct benefit to a certain movement that grew alongside it. This was mass consumer capitalism and moves towards globalization. For instance, tradition is based on local culture. So if postmodernism could blur the edges of tradition, allowing people to lose their identity, would that be good for consumerism?
There is no coincidence that much of Warhol’s art depicted consumer goods. It was a natural cultural exchange between art and new business. And as globalization gathered pace, local cultures and consumerism merged in the same way, leading to an impulse towards ‘sameness’ on a global scale – Warhol writ large in the world.
Today the merging is often complete, and can be seen in everything we touch. But the next logical step of the irony of postmodernism was to move into the political. For too long there had been a distinct politics of left and right. This was just too damn smooth.
Hence, from the mid-1990s onwards, new politics captured the centre ground, merging left and right politics, high culture and low, and being intrinsically linked to big business itself.
In the above we can see that a movement to ‘colour’ the drab conformity of the modern turned into an all-encompassing, global assault on tradition and culture. To say it is a conspiracy is to say it is led. It is the nature of postmodernism that nothing ever really is.
Rather, we live in a world of irony, where nothing appears what it seems and nothing can be taken for granted. But it is a world we brought upon – or sleepwalked into – ourselves.
So in conclusion, we can say that nothing is under control - which is maybe the point. Because everything merges, contradicts and is ironic, nothing is in control, including us. And when our own control is nil, something, somewhere, simply has to be to blame.
Nothing is under control, which implies that everything is.
About the Author
1955 (Yorkshire, England) – I am born (Damn! Already been done). ‘Twas the best of times … (Oh well).
I was actually born to a family of newsagents. At 18 I did a Dick Whittington and went off to London, only to return to pretend to be Charlie and work in a chocolate factory.
When I was ten I was asked what I wanted to be. I said soldier, writer and Dad. I never thought of it for years – having too much fun, such as a time as lead guitarist in a local rock band – but I served nine years in the RAF, got married and had seven kids. I realized my words had been precognitive when, at age 27, I came down with M.E. – a condition I’ve suffered ever since – and turned my attention to writing.
My essays are based on Patternology, or P-ology, a thought process I devised to work as a bedfellow to specialisation. Holistic, it seeks out patterns the specialist may have missed. The subject is not about truth, but ideas, and covers everything from politics to the paranormal.
I also specialise in Flash Fiction in all genres, most under 600 words, but also Mini Novels - 1500 word tales so full they think they're bigger.
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