David
04-24-2009, 01:08 PM
Conspiracy theories and paranoia
By Ralph Lord Roy
There always have been conspiracy theories, but could this be their “golden age” here in America? Commentators on radio and cable television report alarming news each day, warning that the country and its Constitution are under attack from its own government, keeping millions of their rapt listeners on edge. Add to this the impact of the internet where every variety of quirky thinking is available.
Paranoia has played a powerful and destructive role in world history. Back in ancient Rome, the emperor Nero stirred up a frenzy against early Christians when he accused them of setting fire to that city. In Medieval Europe scurrilous charges produced bitter bigotry and frequent violence, often directed at Jews but also leading to the slaughter of Muslims, heretics, and a bevy of alleged witches. The Nazi holocaust during World War II has come to serve as a synonym for catastrophe and evil.
The Free Masons have been a perennial target. Back in 1832 the sentiment was so strong that an anti-Masonic party fielded a presidential candidate who garnered 8 percent of the national vote. Some believers in a Masonic conspiracy continue to warn that its ominous symbolism is on the back of the $1 bill, including the “All-Seeing Eye” and “New World Order” (in Latin) printed underneath the pyramid.
In more recent years one conspiracy theory has followed another. Who actually was responsible for the death of John and Robert Kennedy? Martin Luther King Jr.? Marilyn Monroe? Princess Diana? Did NASA fake that 1969 landing on the moon? What secret and sinister forces really plotted 9/11?
The left-wing has its wild conspiracy theorists. A half-century ago, doing research for a book, I read thirty years of the “Daily Worker” on microfilm, a paper that bristled with the paranoia of the Communist left.
MSNBC carries the decidedly liberal views of Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow. Perhaps the most balanced political-talk telecast is MSMBC’s daily “Morning Joe,” co-hosted by the conservative former congressman Joe Scarborough and liberal Mika Brzezinski, and with a line-up of eminent guests voicing a wide range of opinions.
But the overwhelming majority of media commentators today are on the enraged far right, who are seeking to demonize President Obama nonstop and played a key role in the recent anti-Obama “Tea Parties” across the nation. They include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, G. Gordon Liddy, Bill O’Reilly, Bob Grant, and many more. They receive the strong support of the Religious Right, from such influential clergy as Pat Robertson, James Dobson and John Hagee.
During the 2008 presidential campaign Obama was accused of a wide range of transgressions, from being a covert Muslim in cahoots with terrorists to ineligibility to run for president because he allegedly had been born in Kenya. Since his election every speech he gives, every program he advocates and every trip he makes is promptly dissected, distorted, denounced and disparaged.
Among the most flagrant in this stable of naysayers is Glenn Beck, whose new spot on the Fox network has attracted an enthusiastic following. His chief commodity is fear, passionately threatening the apocalypse. Richard Poplawski, a white supremacist, recently murdered three police officers in Pittsburgh, then shot himself, convinced that Obama was about to confiscate everyone’s guns.
While no one can hold Beck or other commentators liable for such crimes, careless ranting can feed delusional minds.
Patriotic Americans of differing viewpoints have every right to evaluate President Obama or any other president, and vigorous debate of issues is important. I have serious qualms about some personnel and policies of the new administration, but with the huge problems, domestic and foreign, that it inherited we need to give it more time to figure things out before it is subjected to perpetual, pernicious and petty faultfinding.
Ralph Lord Roy of Southington is a retired United Methodist minister.
By Ralph Lord Roy
There always have been conspiracy theories, but could this be their “golden age” here in America? Commentators on radio and cable television report alarming news each day, warning that the country and its Constitution are under attack from its own government, keeping millions of their rapt listeners on edge. Add to this the impact of the internet where every variety of quirky thinking is available.
Paranoia has played a powerful and destructive role in world history. Back in ancient Rome, the emperor Nero stirred up a frenzy against early Christians when he accused them of setting fire to that city. In Medieval Europe scurrilous charges produced bitter bigotry and frequent violence, often directed at Jews but also leading to the slaughter of Muslims, heretics, and a bevy of alleged witches. The Nazi holocaust during World War II has come to serve as a synonym for catastrophe and evil.
The Free Masons have been a perennial target. Back in 1832 the sentiment was so strong that an anti-Masonic party fielded a presidential candidate who garnered 8 percent of the national vote. Some believers in a Masonic conspiracy continue to warn that its ominous symbolism is on the back of the $1 bill, including the “All-Seeing Eye” and “New World Order” (in Latin) printed underneath the pyramid.
In more recent years one conspiracy theory has followed another. Who actually was responsible for the death of John and Robert Kennedy? Martin Luther King Jr.? Marilyn Monroe? Princess Diana? Did NASA fake that 1969 landing on the moon? What secret and sinister forces really plotted 9/11?
The left-wing has its wild conspiracy theorists. A half-century ago, doing research for a book, I read thirty years of the “Daily Worker” on microfilm, a paper that bristled with the paranoia of the Communist left.
MSNBC carries the decidedly liberal views of Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, and Rachel Maddow. Perhaps the most balanced political-talk telecast is MSMBC’s daily “Morning Joe,” co-hosted by the conservative former congressman Joe Scarborough and liberal Mika Brzezinski, and with a line-up of eminent guests voicing a wide range of opinions.
But the overwhelming majority of media commentators today are on the enraged far right, who are seeking to demonize President Obama nonstop and played a key role in the recent anti-Obama “Tea Parties” across the nation. They include Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, G. Gordon Liddy, Bill O’Reilly, Bob Grant, and many more. They receive the strong support of the Religious Right, from such influential clergy as Pat Robertson, James Dobson and John Hagee.
During the 2008 presidential campaign Obama was accused of a wide range of transgressions, from being a covert Muslim in cahoots with terrorists to ineligibility to run for president because he allegedly had been born in Kenya. Since his election every speech he gives, every program he advocates and every trip he makes is promptly dissected, distorted, denounced and disparaged.
Among the most flagrant in this stable of naysayers is Glenn Beck, whose new spot on the Fox network has attracted an enthusiastic following. His chief commodity is fear, passionately threatening the apocalypse. Richard Poplawski, a white supremacist, recently murdered three police officers in Pittsburgh, then shot himself, convinced that Obama was about to confiscate everyone’s guns.
While no one can hold Beck or other commentators liable for such crimes, careless ranting can feed delusional minds.
Patriotic Americans of differing viewpoints have every right to evaluate President Obama or any other president, and vigorous debate of issues is important. I have serious qualms about some personnel and policies of the new administration, but with the huge problems, domestic and foreign, that it inherited we need to give it more time to figure things out before it is subjected to perpetual, pernicious and petty faultfinding.
Ralph Lord Roy of Southington is a retired United Methodist minister.