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The Row Boat"Had we but world enough, and time..." *
Conspiracy5/14/2006 21:58:28When I was growing up my father was always reading conspiracy books about the Kennedy assasination. It was a lasting fascination but I also remember how happy he was when he finally stopped caring. I think it was because he read a certain book that finally convinced him that Oswald acted alone. Nevertheless the long line of books on our shelves about it, with such mysterious covers, always had some allure for me. A book I would definitely suggest is The Big Book of Conspiracies, along with any other from Factoid Books. As part of my little project exploring storytelling in the war on terror, the other night I watched the documentary Loose Change and since have been showing it to everyone I know. It felt like a whole world being opened, or that the old world, which never made sense anywat, was being peeled away to reveal a new one. In part it is an exploration into the possibility of evil, that our own leaders could kill us so horrifically, and it also fuels and transforms the preexisting polemic against them. It imparts an esoteric knowledge, which is some bizarre biological pleasure for a person to bear and coddle, like a mystical gnosis. Recently, when I was staying in a youth hostel in Santa Barbara, I happened to hear some men pulling out all kinds of articles, trying to explain all this to the pretty woman who worked there. I got interested and tried to join the conversation but they didn't really want to tell me. I guess like anything, even the truth or the hidden secret comes in a great deal of handy in erecting fresh power structures in mating narratives. As soon as I saw the film I ran to tell my girlfriend. The more fanciful the better, I suppose, as long as you can convince her of it. When I have traveled internationally, I hear the conspiracy stuff all the time. Where people want to believe it, and where it is easier to. The more I watch it and think about it, though, the less compelling the film's arguments feel. They construct a string of alternate narratives far more self-contradicatory (if only in its technical details) than the official story. Besides, the gripping storytelling of the 911 Commission Report is a tough act to follow, even by the esoteric. I wonder if a culture obsessed with finding conspiracies will only get better at making real ones. On the other hand, there is truth to the mythology that the conspiracy theorists are the vigilantes of democracy, of a nerdy cowboy kind. I like this and am willing to accept a certain romance about them. As the woman in the hostel discovered, I suppose, there is something sexy in the whole thing. There is also a powerful mysticism - the quest into the grand machine of power. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
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