"Conspiracy Theorists"

[Stephanie]

Is this a Rove talking point? Is it required to be included in every news article about BBV and election fraud? What can we do about it? It's making me FURIOUS.

[DenverDem]

1. "Theory" hell!!

If it's true, it ain't a theory, kkkarl.

[genius]

15. It's Kerry's and the DNC's fault. They are making us look like idiots

They keep denying that Kerry could have won - that makes us look like a bunch of loonies. The sad part is that we are right - Kerry did win - and we are being flamed by our own side for telling the truth.

[DuckFan4ever]

21. Keep it up....

Keep the pressure on. If there is something there, they will start to sweat. Anyone who messes with the Democratic process should be jailed for a long time.

[DenverDem]

26. John Kerry is quietly investigating the fraud and will blow the lid off

when he has enough evidence.

Stop slamming Kerry, he's still working on it.

[intelle]

32. Speaking of Conspiracy Theories

Watergate was the "mother of Conspiracy Theories" back when only a handful of reporters were investigating it. Well, we all know that happened. Keith Olbermann may well be that lone reporter who uncovers the truth.

[dbonds]

34. Who will play Keith in the movies

I hope that is how it playes out. And I hope Keith is rewarded for his strength.

[andyhappy]

35. wasn't mel gibson in that movie?

I am sure he was in a movie called 'Consiracy Theory' and I am pretty sure that the tin-foil hat wearing wacko he played in that flick was completely right in all his paranoia!

[dbonds]

36. Mel was in a movie by that name.

He was a paranoid lunatic that was right. It was a conspiracy and he was crazy because of it. Mel and luny go well together.

[dbonds]

2. Respond with

Not a theory yet but a working hypothesis. Don't let them make 'conspiracy' prejorative. It is a legal term.

[mopinko]

3. we warned about this

long ago. this is how they will fend off the charges, "tinfoil hat" hahahahahahahah

[DuckFan4ever]

23. Don't give up.

Need to take the fight to the mainstream. Put pressure on the press to keep this going.

[nolabels]

4. It's a good way to find links

KKKarl is not going to get away with this one, I can feel it coming

[Sideways]

43. I Want To See That Smug Fat Disgusting Slob Exposed

NOW!:evilgrin:

[jackstraw45]

5. Of course it is...the RNC memo went out on Tuesday night

And the corporate media whores gleefully have run with it with all their might.

Do we need the UN to get involved? This is a BANANA REPUBLIC we're living in.

[Middle Finger Bush]

6. SOP

------ Excerpt from House of Bush, House of Saud, Craig Unger ------

As for BCCIs links to the Bush family, when political opponents suggested something was amiss, as Ann Richard's campaign did in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial race, it often blew up in their faces. "George W. Bush did not take proper precautions in choosing his business partners," says Jason Stanford, a former aide to Ann Richards, who lost the gubernatorial race to Bush. "Your average small-town preacher had better sense. These BCCI guys had some pretty bad criminal problems at the time, so there was a hint of trying to buy favors. Maybe they were hoping for a pardon-who knows?"

However, when the Richards campaign attacked Bush on the issue, they were assailed as conspiracy nuts. "Ann Richards has dragged her campaign into the gutter," said Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes. "We have no response to silly conspiracy theories". *Associated Press Worldstream, November 3, 1994

[Stephanie]

8. there you go

why come up with anything new when the press falls for the same old BS over and over and over again.

[hippiegranny]

9. "silly" is another perjorative

they throw out there to discredit the enemies of their lies.

[Karenina]

14. THIS

from the biggest *conspirators ever witnessed on this infected planet.

[glitch]

7. As opposed to 'Miracle Theorist' or 'Incredible Coincidence Theorist'

They've been using this particular ammo for so long to deflect from their most egregious crimes, it's pretty much lost it's firepower.

Proud to be a 'Conspiracy Theorist', at least it's reality-based.

[Generator]

10. I'm waking up the fact that

Democracy is a conspiracy theory. Like it's it real or just an illusion? Heh-I know you only get to vote if you are wealthy and white and you sign all the checkmarks correctly, and then only if the big leader AKA seretary of state AKA Republican operative says so and then only if they decide to count your ballot and then only if they count it correctly and then well...hey how about those Christian values..what a country heh? WHAT? There is a constitution and seperation of church and state.

Oh, how quaint.

It's a great country, and it's getting better by the second.

[philosofy123]

12. How did we get to that mess?

Below is an analysis to our dilemma.

The speaking in tongues/born again ideologies were not invented in the US or in England, these concept are taken directly from the bible, and exaggerated with "absolutism, and intolerance to anything different. To a great extent, this phenomenon resembles the Islamic fundamentalism/fanatic movement.

Knowing that our education system and the mainstream media are controlled by liberals, and the same thing in Europe; how these radical fanatic ideas did flourished and took roots so fast in the US and not in Europe. I am going to speculate here, and hope for you to correct me if I am wrong. First the Abortion Issue was stressed and talked about in "absolute unbending" terms. This conveyed the idea that the whole world is hinging on that issue, and nothing else. As that issue kept bubbling hotter, and hotter on the right; and as the mainstream religious leaders lined up to back opposition to abortion, and not to "capital punishment", it was apparent that the feminist opposition are the bad guys. Enter the second factor that is TALK RADIO! The appearance of right wing talk show (Rush Limbaugh) on the radio was also a great factor. As people were talking among themselves about the tyranny of the left leaning media, and complaining about "killing babies" as their preacher or priest called it, here comes a new three hours diatribe that affirms such stupid absolutism. Many Muslims support cutting the throat of an enemy infidel! That also came after years of radical preaching of absolutism.

First listening to Rush was mot a big deal as far as the left is concerned; it was only redneck type people who listened to that diatribe. Even good prestigious corporations did not advertise on such extremist show because they did not want to be known to support such divisive nonsense. Then, Rush managed to gain acceptance, and was followed by cadre of right wingers to the tune of 24x7 right wing propaganda that polluted and recruited millions of new radical right wingers. To vive an example, Rush refused to say one negative word about big SUVs, consequently the Bush administration would never touch that subject, and the population, who are observing the dramatic jump from $1 gas to $2.5 are curiously silent too. Mind you, this is directly hitting their pocket book, but, they are programmed robots. Another example can be found in some poor workers who lost their jobs to India, and have listened to the Bush administration defending such policy, but yet went to vote for Bush.

It has been more than a decade of activism absolutism, foaming at the mouth preachers on TV, and no organized response from the liberals.

Invading another country under false pretense, and wasting several hundred billion dollars, and thousands of casualties could have been easily considered an abuse of power, and an impeachable offense. However, no one on the left could have said such a thing in fear of being called anti-America.

The right used god/country to be on their side, and consequently castrated all the opposition. Anti-Semitics was cultivated as the most evil label to throw at people, and the Republicans managed to snatch such vial hate-filled label to throw against their opposition too. Once your support is absolute, and your followers are programmed robots, then you can do no wrong. Prince Machiavelli is preaching to the Bush regime to lie to the people for their own good.

[anamandujano]

20. I can back that up

My mother listens to hate radio and all the religious programs on TV 24/7. (To be fair there's not much else on since we're in Texas, the base of Clear Channel.) If it's a religious show, they tie everything into politics. The Democrats this and the Democrats that.

Whenever we have a discussion and I say something against the repukes, invariably she says "Where did you hear that, the internet?" Since my robo-mom doesn't have too many original thoughts these days, I know she was brainwashed to think of the internet as left wing or just plain crazy.

[Child_Of_Isis]

11. It means being able to think outside the box.

So, it's all good. I wear it quite well ;-)

[Minstrel Boy]

13. Magic Bullshit Theory

Posted this on my blog a few months ago:

Magic Bullshit Theory

Maybe you were thinkin' that it didn't matter
Maybe you believed nobody else would care
But once you've added every little lie together
You finally find the truth was always waiting there
- Steve Earle, "Conspiracy Theory"

High officials and their media proxies have been playing the "conspiracy theory" card for as long as there have been, in the popular sense of the word, conspiracies. Any doubt, see the CIA's instructions to media assets re: deflecting criticism of the Warren Report, discovered in 1977, ten years after it was distributed to all CIA station chiefs and marked with the instructions "DESTROY WHEN NO LONGER NEEDED."

Anything which deviates from the official story - any official story - as handed down by the White House is fair game to be slagged off as "conspiracy theory." Dispute the Received Version of Events, and this is how you get slapped down, and told in no uncertain terms that your line of inquiry is out of order, and you are possibly psychologically disturbed for pursuing it.

Kristina Borjesson became a former producer for CBS News by investigating beyond the official cause of the crash of TWA 800. Because, despite the

* more than 100 eyewitnesses who saw a streak of light ascending from the ocean surface impact the aircraft;
* FAA tracking of a missile-like radar return, and detection of a high-speed (Mach 2) ejection from the aircraft after the initiating event;
* localized re-crystallization of metal consistent with a missile impact, which could not be explained by the official breakup sequence;
FBI admission of traces of explosives PETN and RDX on cabin seats;
seat foam containing missile residue;
* report of French intelligence that the plane was downed by a missile;
* cover-up of a US Naval missile exercise off the coast of Long Island;
* radar track of an unidentified surface vessel speeding from the scene the moment debris began to fall, rather than assist with search and rescue

and more, Borjesson had become a "conspiracy theorist" for challenging the finding of a compromised investigation. For her efforts, she found her phone tapped and her car broken into, with only documents pertaining to the crash stolen. Events she would have had a hard time believing, had she herself not walked "into the buzzsaw":

The buzzsaw is a powerful system of censorship in this country that is revealed to those reporting on extremely sensitive stories, usually having to do with high-level government and/or corporate malfeasace. It often has a fatal effect on one's career.

Borjesson goes on to write that "anyone who doesn't buy the government's unproven theory...is a 'conspiracy theorist'":

Tacitly attached to the term "conspiracy theorist" are all kinds of other nouns and adjectives like "goofball," "nutcake," "bottomfeeder," "crazy," and so on. Using insulting and false labels to marginalize dissenting or politically incorrect voices is a ploy that government and corporations as well as the press use on a daily basis.

Witness the character assassination of Howard Dean. His well-founded charge that the White House was playing politics with terror alerts earned him the smear of "bizarre conspiracy theorist" from Bush campaign spokesman Terry Holt. (When someone is called a "conspiracy theorist" in today's America, "bizarre" is usually assumed.)

Observe how Scott McClellan spanks the White House press corp for challenging the lies respecting of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure:

QUESTION: Thank you. Can you describe what the United States knows about the conditions under which President Aristide left Haiti? Do we know, did he leave of his own? Was he forcibly --

MR. McCLELLAN: No, that's nonsense. I would just say -- I've seen some of the reports. Conspiracy theories do nothing to help the Haitian people move forward....

And again:

QUESTION: Congresswoman Maxine Waters told us that she had spoken directly with Aristide, who claims over and over again saying he was kidnapped, that the coup was completed by the Americans, they forced him out, they disabled his American security force; basically saying that he did not resign, he was forced out, America completed the coup.

MCCLELLAN: I think I just answered a question to that effect. As I said, it's nonsense, and conspiracy theories like that do nothing to help the Haitian people realize the future that they aspire to....

Here, McClellan is being pressed by Helen Thomas on the embarrassment of Bush's National Guard record, or rather, the lack thereof:

MCCLELLAN: ... And it was -- it's interesting to see the conspiracy theories that are out there, because there are certain privacy issues always involved when the National Guard or any government agency releases information.... I'm just amazed by the kinds of conspiracy theories that some have chosen to pursue. The facts are very clear. But there are some that are simply not interested in the facts. And the American people deserve better.

QUESTION: -- the personal record of a President is --

MCCLELLAN: No, hang on, Helen, hang on. I've said from this podium, if we have new information that comes to our attention that relates to this issue, we have made it clear we will share that information. You're asking me to go and chase rumors. There was a conspiracy theory....

Tucker Carlson is a master at beating this deafening drum. A selection from his Mockingbird-like work on CNN:

Why is Halliburton so darn bad? Well, that's a long story - a conspiracy theory, really - too complicated to explain here. Or, for that matter, anywhere.

...

It is the ugliest possible conspiracy theory and it's a destructive one, too. If you don't like Ashcroft's policy, attack them, critique them. But don't accuse him or any other American of knowing about 9/11 in advance. It's just too much.

...

So much is happening: Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest press conference, a court ruling on whether the recall will go forward, not to mention Gray Davis' latest conspiracy theory.

...

FRANKEN: And remember, they warned in February of 2001 that a catastrophic terrorist attack was coming? And remember what the president did? Nothing. He appointed...

CARLSON: That's part of your conspiracy theory, Al. But the fact is...

FRANKEN: No, no, no, that's not a conspiracy theory. That's a fact.

CARLSON: Well, it sounds a bit like a conspiracy theory.

Just as telling is what is not called a conspiracy theory. For instance, the Rovian smears by the so-called "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," who suggest John Kerry and others have lied for 34 years about his war record and is undeserving of his decorations, are rather "allegations", and supposedly worthy of our attention.

Conspirators don't lose sleep over conspiracy theories. It's the conspiracy facts that could get them in trouble. But that's unlikely, so long as "conspiracy" in American culture remains an entertainment genre. To move from the relative innocence of X-Files-like amusement to the hard experience of knowing one's government is a treasonous cabal requires a paradigm shift with a steep learning curve, awful implications and the promise of prompt marginalization. A Paranoid Shift, in Michael Hasty's words.

Who needs a magic bullet anymore, or three or four, when the magic bullshit does the trick just fine?

http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2004/08/magic-bullshit-theory.html

[Stephanie]

22. Nice work, thanks. I also remember your "Coincidence Theorist" post

It's just really alarming to see the phrase employed in EVERY news article today on the election fraud question. It's like someone dictated the tone.

[Junkdrawer]

16. It's code for:

"we hate to worry your pretty little head by talking about this, but, rest assured, none of the following could POSSIBLY be true."

[hippiechick]

17. Read "Rule by Secrecy" - Robert Marrs

Ok, I think he might be a bit :tinfoilhat: but he beautifully explains in the beginning of the book how the status quo has hijacked the term 'conspiracy theory' to equate it with a bunch of Elvis/UFO chasing whack jobs; when in reality, the Latin base definition is 'conspirare' - 'to breathe together'.

They have molded the image associated with that word the same way they turned 'liberal' into a term of derision.


:hippie:

[KT2000]

18. Ridicule is Rove's #1

tactic and it has been proven to work for them.
Ridicule back I guess - they are much more vulnerable because of what they are.

[Pacifist Patriot]

19. I have to agree unfortunately.

I wouldn't take it to the point of derisive mockery, but poking fun at the assertion sure couldn't hurt.

[Straight Shooter]

24. Nobody on the left is calling it conspiracy. We're calling it negligence.

We have been claiming that the machines are defective right from the start. We have been requesting a paper trail from the beginning. Those in charge of the machines are guilty of negligence for not testing the machines and having the software verified by uninvolved, nonpartisan third parties, and also for not providing a veriable backup document for the results.

The American electorate was used as a beta test group. This is exactly what software companies have been doing for years, but there is a world of difference between Microsoft windows being negligent in its software versus Diebold and ES&S being negligent. Give them the benefit of the doubt and call them sloppy, but the end result is the same.

What implicates the GOP and bush is the close network of connections between bush supporters and these evoting machine companies. If they had wholeheartedly supported Kerry, and the machines had skewed the numbers so badly from the exit polls -- even in Kerry's favor -- then the Republicans would be demanding exactly what we're demanding.

We want the truth. That's it. This cloud hanging over the election has got to be removed. Due diligence must be performed, those machines have to be examined, hardware and software.

We can also claim a "conspiracy of silence" by the right wing.

[pacalo]

25. Yes, it is!

It's a way of chipping away credibility in the event the Democrats contest the election.

Another talking point I've been hearing on the political talk show circuit is: Democrats are making fun of Christians. They're saying this without any qualification: That the Democrats aren't chiding the "Christians"; we are chiding the fundementalist hypocrites who voted for the man who will provide them with a premature Armegeddon. They're very anxious to go into the "Rapture".

[glitch]

27. Weren't BCCI, Iran/Contra, S&L fraud conspiracy theories too?

Sure, up until the time of indictment and conviction. Early days.

[mirandapriestly]

28. Washington Post Article calls Fraud Believers "conspiracy theorists"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41106-2004Nov10.html
I hope this hasn't been posted. The "conspiracy theorist" moniker seems to be what they have been told to use

[nolabels]

31. Let's call it Witchcraft instead :^)

Yea, but so was Enron, the S&L collapse, the Hitler's concentration camps etc

CONSPIRACY THEORY AS
NAIVE DECONSTRUCTIVE HISTORY

by Floyd Rudmin
April, 2003
newdemocracyworld.org


Floyd Rudmin is a member of the Psychology Department, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.


"Conspiracy theory" is usually used as a pejorative label, meaning paranoid, nutty, marginal, and certainly untrue. The power of this pejorative is that it discounts a theory by attacking the motivations and mental competence of those who advocate the theory. By labeling an explanation of events "conspiracy theory," evidence and argument are dismissed because they come from a mentally or morally deficient personality, not because they have been shown to be incorrect. Calling an explanation of events "conspiracy theory" means, in effect, "We don't like you, and no one should listen to your explanation."

In earlier eras other pejorative labels, such as "heresy," "witchery," and "communism" also worked like this. The charge of "conspiracy theory" is not so severe as these other labels, but in its way is many times worse. Heresy, witchcraft, and communism at least retain some sense of potency. They designate ideas to be feared. "Conspiracy theory" implies that the ideas and their advocates are simple-minded or insane.

All such labels implicitly define a community of orthodox believers and try to banish or shun people who challenge orthodox beliefs. Members of the community who are sympathetic to new thoughts might shy away from the new thoughts and join in the shunning due to fear of being tainted by the pejorative label.
(snip)
http://newdemocracyworld.org/conspiracy.htm

[libertypirate]

29. Who's Looney

Not me sorry I thought that +100% voter turn out was a red flag not a reason to sit back and ponder my eventual thoughts on the matter.

Or how about exit polls, which until Carl Rove got a hold of their conventional wisdom, were highly accurate indicators of our electoral process.

Another round of Kill Kill Kill the messenger. The drill is to hurry up and discredit the guy holding the facts.

Look you can't win an argument by complaining about the tactics of those you are arguing with. You have to point out how absurd they are being by playing loose with the truth. Make them look foolish for doing so.

[GettysbergII]

30. Quotes from Chairman R.J. and his apostles

The chuch today has fallen prey to the heresy of democracy.

R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law (Nutley, NJ: Craig Press, 1973), p. 747.

The goal is the developed Kingdom of God, the New Jerusalem, a world order under God's law.

R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law (Nutley, NJ: Craig Press, 1973), p. 357.

All religions segregate also...every religion asserts an order of truth and every other order is regarded as a lie."

R. J. Rushdoony, R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law (Nutley, NJ: Craig Press, 1973), p. 296.


Segregation or separation is thus a basic principle of Biblical law with respect to religion and morality. Every attempt to destroy this principle is an eff

ort to reduce society to its lowest common denominator. Toleration is the excuse under which this levelling is undertaken, but the concept of toleration conceals a radical intolerance. In the name of toleration, the believer is asked to associate on a common level of total acceptance with the atheist, the pervert, the criminal, and the adherents of other religions as though no differences existed.

R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law (Nutley, NJ: Craig Press, 1973), p. 294.

The (Biblical) Law here is humane and also unsentimental. It recognizes that some people are by nature slaves and will always be so. It both requires that they be dealt with in a godly manner and also that the slave recognizes his position and accepts it with grace."

R.J. Rushdoony, The Institutes of Biblical Law (Nutley, NJ: Craig Press, 1973), p. 25


The long-term goal of Christians in politics should be to gain exclusive control over the franchise. Those who refuse to submit publicly to the eternal sanctions of God by submitting to His Church's public marks of the covenant--baptism and holy communion--must be denied citizenship, just as they were in ancient Israel.

Gary North, Political Polytheism: The Myth of Pluralism (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1989), p. 87.

The battle for the mind, some fundamentalists believe, is between fundamentalism and the institutions of the Left. This conception of the battle is fundamentally incorrect. The battle for the mind is between the Christian reconstruction movement, which alone among Protestant groups takes seriously the law of God, and everyone else.

Gary North, Backward Christian Soldiers? An Action Manual For Christian Reconstruction (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1984), pp. 65-66 .

We believe that institutionally Christianity should be the official religion of the country, that its laws should be specifically Christian.

Rev. David Chilton, Church of the Redeemer, Placerville, CA.


The god of Judaism is the devil. The Jew will not be recognized by God as one of His chosen people until he abandons his demonic religion and returns to the faith of his fathers--the faith which embraces Jesus Christ and His Gospel.

David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Ft. Worth, TX: Dominion Press, 1984), p. 127.

[Karenina]

37. You're ahead of the curve GettysburgII!!!

Howard Ahmanson? Who da hell is he???

http://www.politicalamazon.com/cr-links.html

[GettysbergII]

39. Bingo! Now that R.J. is dead.....

Howard would be my choice as the center of malignancy in the dominionist cancer

[Carolab]

33. Conspiracy theory by definition

conspiracy simply means a group of people got together to plan something.

theory is a hypothesis about what they planned.

Do we or do we not suspect that people got together and planned something around this election? Or do we feel that this is a problem with the machinery used? That is the question. I know where I'm at. Do you?

[Stephanie]

38. Whore Media definition of "conspiracy theory" = it was on the internet

Most of the cites read "internet conspiracy theorists."

[snot]

40. Everybody

Pls read and tell me if it's too good to be true.

[snot]

41. Apologies; here's what I hope you'll look at

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x33601

[Mist]

42. Conspiracy theory

Another term for "pattern recognition." And I like the idea of pointing out, often, the media's "conspiracy of silence."