I am not a fan of grand conspiracy theories. Not because I think people are too good for that, but because I think people aren't smart enough for it. It requires too much unity of purpose, intelligence and stability.
On some of the blogs I have been reading of late, there is a definite theme of conspiracy, especially around a particular ethnic group. Not a new idea. Some of the results that these blogs point are pretty easily observable fact; the motivations and mechanisms require a larger leap of faith, IMHO.
I don't at all doubt that certain ethnic groups --well, all human groups, when you get right down to it-- have predictable behaviors, attitudes and beliefs which tend to eventuate in predictable outcomes. It's called culture.
I suspect it is more a matter of culture rather than plotting: a group's relatively stable set of beliefs, skills and aptitudes, attitudes and values, and behaviors. Cultures can change, and markedly so, sometimes very rapidly. But the fact that we notice the change only testifies to a previous stability. Which tends to produce similar results.
Take two desolate islands, Iceland and the Falklands, and compare them to two tropical islands, Haiti and Madagascar. Might the cultures of the people living there have something to do with their conditions? Was it rude of me to notice that?
Culture functions just as effectively as conspiracy. Or even more basically, as Fred says, "Don’t look for a conspiracy when human nature is an adequate explanation."
On some of the blogs I have been reading of late, there is a definite theme of conspiracy, especially around a particular ethnic group. Not a new idea. Some of the results that these blogs point are pretty easily observable fact; the motivations and mechanisms require a larger leap of faith, IMHO.
I don't at all doubt that certain ethnic groups --well, all human groups, when you get right down to it-- have predictable behaviors, attitudes and beliefs which tend to eventuate in predictable outcomes. It's called culture.
I suspect it is more a matter of culture rather than plotting: a group's relatively stable set of beliefs, skills and aptitudes, attitudes and values, and behaviors. Cultures can change, and markedly so, sometimes very rapidly. But the fact that we notice the change only testifies to a previous stability. Which tends to produce similar results.
Take two desolate islands, Iceland and the Falklands, and compare them to two tropical islands, Haiti and Madagascar. Might the cultures of the people living there have something to do with their conditions? Was it rude of me to notice that?
Culture functions just as effectively as conspiracy. Or even more basically, as Fred says, "Don’t look for a conspiracy when human nature is an adequate explanation."
Funny how multiculturalism, which is supposedly conscious of cultural differences, also forbids consciousness of cultural differences that do not fit the Primary Narrative of oppressors and victims. PC giveth and PC taketh away.
- We are not allowed to note the consistent outcomes for spaces or institutions where Blacks become either demographically or politically dominant.
- We are not allowed to note the disproportionate participation of Jews in government, education and the arts, science, law and medicine, business and finance, entertainment and media and the typical outcomes associated with this over-representation. (They are 2% of the population.)
- We are not allowed to note the disproportionate influence of gays in certain spheres, including political ones, and the outcomes on traditional values and institutions. Etc.
[If by some freakish Time Machine, AmerIndians were infected with PC in the 18th/19th centuries, they'd have been prohibited from noticing that wherever White settlers showed up on their borders, sooner or later they (the Indians) would be dispossessed.]
Mitt Romney got in trouble recently by telling Israelis --a society dominated by Ashkenazi, ie European, Jews-- that it was their culture that enabled them to thrive. By comparison, the surrounding Arab sea remains backward and unimpressive. He was accused of racism, of course. But it's as clear as day that the combination of race and culture makes a huge difference there.
On the one hand, this means a Zionist conspiracy to keep the whole Arab world in the shabby state it's in (barring oil wealth, its only source of value and power)*. Or it might just mean that a people who combine a deep sense of specialness, extraordinarily high IQs, Western educations and values, and a sense of urgency, among other things, is likely to outpace a fatalist, tribal society with a fate-driven religion and a propensity for self-destructive resentment...and conspiracy theories.
Just sayin.
1 comment:
"I do not wish to imply that conspiracies never happen. On the contrary, they are typical social phenomena. They become important, for example, whenever people who believe in the conspiracy theory get into power. And people who sincerely believe that they know how to make heaven on earth are most likely to adopt the conspiracy theory, and to get involved in a counter-conspiracy against non-existing conspirators. For the only explanation of their failure to produce their heaven is the evil intention of the Devil, who has a vested interest in hell. Conspiracies occur, it must be admitted. But the striking fact which, in spite of their occurrence, disproves the conspiracy theory is that few of these conspiracies are ultimately successful. Conspirators rarely consummate their conspiracy."
Sir Karl Popper, 'The Open Society and its Enemies Volume 2'
- Trevor
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