All Embracing But Underwhelming…

Carla Binion, ‘ Conspiracy theories and real reporters’ in the Online Journal (www.onlinejournal.com/archive/06-17-02_Binion.pdf), 06-17-02

p. 1 - ‘June 17, 2002—Editor Bev Conover discussed cowardly Ivory Tower leftists, or liberals afraid to get their hands dirty by thoroughly investigating September 11 irregularities, in her June 4 article, “Has the Establishment Left become a handmaiden for the Republican Right?” Some of these leftists have recently bashed alleged “conspiracy theorists” for implying that events surrounding September 11 might be more than a series of intelligence slip-ups and coincidences.’
(The Cock-up Theory of History)

p. 1 - ‘Our own CIA and various presidents have participated in, and/or knowingly allowed, the Watergate conspiracy, the Iran-contra conspiracy, the domestic spying operation dubbed MHCHAOS, the CIA guns-for-drugs trade conspiracy, and a long list of other attacks on the American people. Does that automatically mean the CIA also participated in a September 11 conspiracy? Of course not, and no one has suggested that the CIA’s previous conspiracies against the public constitute “proof” that the agency also conspired regarding September 11. However, the previous conspiracies do show that our own CIA and government are indeed capable of conspiring against the American public.’
(Induction, Warrant, et al.)

p. 1-2 - ‘In October 2001 issue of The Progressive, (apparently before the amnesia [of the Left] set in) editor Matthew Rothschild wrote, “The United States does not have clean hands in the world. The history of the last fifty years is the history of U. S. war and repression in one Third World country after another. It is not an exaggeration to say that the United States has acted as a terrorist from Guatemala to Iran, from El Salvador to Vietnam, from Chili to Indonesia . . . To heighten the level of terror by waging all-out war against Afghanistan or any other country Bush is aiming his bombers at will serve no useful purpose.” Yet, today the same Matthew Rothschild says he wouldn’t impute extreme callousness to what he himself described as a terrorist-acting U. S. government, or to (in his own earlier words) the terror-heightening bomber, Bush?’

p. 2 - ‘The leftists criticizing “conspiracy theorists” should consider the following:

‘• Conspiracy theory is not inherently “crazy.” Any elementary logic text teaches that it would be a fallacy to believe all conspiracy theories are irrational merely because some
may be.

‘• The Ivory Tower leftists are not really logical or sane in their criticism. For example, they make their own illogical leap when they assume that all “conspiracy theorists” believe that any single CIA/governmental misdeed in itself constitutes absolute proof of further
misconduct.

‘• “Real” reporting can include—in fact, has ample room for—rationally speculative commentaries and even “leap of logic” pieces that serve as art—in other words, pieces that stimulate readers to examine a list of events, think, and then draw their own conclusions. Most readers know the difference between a writer speculating and asserting a fixed and final conclusion.’

p. 3 - ‘As journalist Michael Parenti has pointed out (Land of Idols, St. Martin’s Press, 1994) politicians and corporate leaders naturally work to further their own monetary and power interests, often in a “conspiratorial” manner. To believe otherwise is to believe in “Coincidence Theory” (the truly nutty idea that the interests of the very wealthy are magically maintained by chance, year after year); or “Aberration Theory” (the blind-to-historical-reality-notion that dirty CIA tricks are atypical departures from the norm); or “Stupidity Theory” (the irrational idea that the very wealthy and their intelligence-agency-protectors stupidly and repeatedly bumble their way into maintaining world domination, never using forethought); or “Somnambulist Theory” (the illogical view that world dominators sleepwalk through life without ever thinking of their vast wealth and how to keep it); or “Idiosyncrasy Theory” (the unthinking theory that “stuff just happens” in a way that furthers the interests of oil companies and other powerful folks—and that somehow it “just happens” the exact same way again and again over a long period of time.)’
(Interesting distinctions of the general ‘Cock-up Theory of History’)

p. 3 - ‘Parenti also notes that the CIA is by definition conspiratorial, “using covert actions and secret plans, many of which are of the most unsavory kind. What are covert operations if not conspiracies?” In his “Dirty Truths” (City Lights Books, 1996), Parenti [Land of Idols, St. Martin’s Press, 1994] points out that “conspiracy” can simply mean that ruling class individuals “are aware of their interests, know each other personally, meet together privately and off the record, and try to hammer out a consensus on how to anticipate and react to events and issues.”’
(Interesting classification of the CT. Is it the author’s or Parenti’s?)

p. 4 - ‘I don’t believe the Ivory Tower leftists are motivated by a desire to serve powerful interests, but rather by the fact that they buy into the institutional propaganda regarding so-called “conspiracy theories,” and by their fear of becoming associated with that widely misunderstood term. They should consider that all actual historical conspiracies (such as Watergate and Iran-contra) were lightly substantiated “theories” in the early stages of investigation.’