SOC: Are Conspiracies Stronger Than Truth?

Ian Goddard (igoddard@erols.com)
Wed, 25 Sep 1996 03:07:33 -0400


At 07:59 PM 9/24/96 -0400, James Daugherty wrote:
>
> When the first talk of a missle began to circulate right
> after the crash a high official in the FBI, I cannot recall
> his name now, announced that anyone within the Federal Government
> who thinks a missle was involved needs his head examined.

IAN: I recall this. Obviously this FBI official knew better, he had
to be aware of the fact that investigators were discovering many
missile witnesses. Yet, the FBI official is at the same time sending
a powerful "social signal" that "wrong thinking" is a sign of mental
illness -- i.e., of the need for having one's "head examined."

Right there we have an example of a source for the social ideation
that serious questioning of the govt-line is a sign of mental illness,
which in turn is a sign of perhaps the need of being locked up in the
lunny bin. An idea not endirsed by the state = a sign of insanity.

Such social ideation, which results in social alienation, is a
powerful disincentive for independent investigation and questioning
of authority. It's a Soviet style method of tarring anti-authoritarians
as inherently insane, ergo: ignore them or at worst lock them up. It
works very effectively, as almost anyone who's ever broached a
conspiracy theory regarding govt activities can attest.

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IAN GODDARD <igoddard@erols.com> Q U E S T I O N A U T H O R I T Y
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