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Dave Lindorff: The End is at Hand (To Leftist Conspiracy Theories)

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seemslikeadream Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 08:09 PM
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Dave Lindorff: The End is at Hand (To Leftist Conspiracy Theories)
http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/lindorff/165

With the polls continuing to show Barack Obama holding a steady or even growing lead heading into Election Day, especially in the key swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Virginia, and with Democratic challengers looking strong in at least 10 Senate races and dozens of open-seat or Republican-held House races, it's looking like this will be a big win for Democrats, both in the presidential and the Congressional races.

Hopefully one thing such an across-the-board win will lead to would be a withering away of the self-destructive conspiracy-theory paranoia that has gripped much of the Left over the last eight years.

Once largely emblematic of the far Right, which saw black helicopters of the dreaded United Nations behind every mountain, Jews running everything, Communists working nefariously under every bed, fluoridation plots, an immigrant assault on the Anglo-Saxon gene pool, and a liberal cabal out to steal their assault hunting rifles, now the Left is awash in the same kind of fevered thinking.

Chief among the leftist conspiracy theories are that the Bush/Cheney administration was behind the 9-11 attacks, that the current administration has plans to cancel or annul the November 4 election and institute martial law, that there are plans for a "false flag" attack on American forces that will be used to justify an all-out war against Iran, that there is a false-flag terror attack planned inside the U.S. set for before the election, designed to throw the vote towards John McCain, that the Wall Street meltdown and subsequent bailout are a deliberate scheme to steal the nation's assets and funnel them into Republican pockets, and that Republican operatives have the technological capability, and plan to steal the current election by manipulating the results on the electronic voting machines used by many election districts. In a variant of the Right's anti-Semitic ravings, the Left attributes god-like powers to the Israel lobby and its formal lobbying organization, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)

Never mind that some of these conspiracies are mutually exclusive (if Bush and Cheney are going to declare martial law, they should have no need to steal the election), or that it's getting pretty late in the game for others to actually happen. The common thread running through these conspiracies is that "they" (the Republicans, AIPAC or the ruling corporate elite, as the case may be) have superhuman powers beyond our wildest imaginations, as well as flawless execution, and are going to achieve their evil ends no matter what we do.
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nomorenomore08 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 08:12 PM
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1. Well, maybe with Obama in office the paranoia will die down. Just a thought...
I mean, when your country is quite clearly in the hands of madmen, what could you really put past them?
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The Magistrate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 08:14 PM
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2. We May All Hope, Ma'am, That The Gentleman Is Right
Certainly he ought to be....
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That Is Quite Enough Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 08:16 PM
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3. And the Right is just getting warmed up.
Birth certificates, gun bans, communism again, African-Americans taking over the country, etc etc...

I'm a semi-regular poster on a conspiracy theory website (ATS to be exact) but every other thread over there is either "Barack Obama birth certificate proven false!" "Barack Obama uses Secret Service to silence dissidents!" "Barack Obama is the Antichrist - PROOF!" or other ridiculous claims. ATS has always been a right-wing website, but the surge in paranoia over there really drove me away.
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Wapsie B Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 08:17 PM
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4. Hey, you're revealing part of our evil plot.
Edited on Fri Oct-31-08 08:18 PM by bushwentawol
"black helicopters of the dreaded United Nations behind every mountain, Jews running everything, Communists working nefariously under every bed, fluoridation plots, an immigrant assault on the Anglo-Saxon gene pool, and a liberal cabal out to steal their assault hunting rifles"


Let 'em keep their guns till 01/21/09. Burn the Bibles first. :eyes:
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BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 08:23 PM
Response to Original message
5. Until proven otherwise, I will assume all my tinfoil hat theories are right...
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Wiley50 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 08:26 PM
Response to Original message
6. Lindoff is making the mistake of grouping the valid with the invalid
The 2000 and 2004 elections have been proven to be factual

But, to humor him, I hope they give up their plans for #3

just in order to humor the old fart


But from the suppresion we've already seen, I doubt it

But maybe sheer numbers will overwhelm their fix as it partly did in 2006
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stillcool Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 08:31 PM
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7. All or nothing...
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Downtown Hound Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 10:48 PM
Response to Original message
8. A lot of my tin foil hat ideas have been proven to be true
So I'll let my paranoia stay intact until I deem it no longer necessary. Hopefully an Obama presidency will help bring that day closer to reality.
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Cerridwen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-31-08 11:05 PM
Response to Original message
9. Ayup, I'm so glad I've been proven wrong again and again and...
Edited on Fri Oct-31-08 11:24 PM by Cerridwen
that vast right wing conspiracy - nope never happened.

The "religious" wrong isn't really going after birth control - yep, wrong again.

There really weren't any stealth candidates getting into positions of power to muck up - well, to muck up anything other than a few Secretaries of State, a couplea school boards here and there.

The vast right wing conspiracy that doesn't exist doesn't ever make book deals to launder money, catapult the propaganda and purchase the books in bulk to help with sales and ratings figures.

The whole idea that running a white woman against a black man being a neo-con/repub wet dream was just a bunch 'o hockum.

"Religious" institutions and churches have nothing to do with influencing elections.

The consolidated media would never act like a propaganda tool; they're just in it for ratings and money so they'll back anyone with the money.

It is NOT, NOT I tell you, the same groups attacking feminists, LGBT, minorities, the poor, and working people's rights.

Oh, and yes, it has now been proven that "trickle down" works well for the economy.

Whew! I'm so glad I was wrong. Can you IMAGINE the shape this country would be in if I'd been right?!

*sigh of relief* Another bullet dodged.

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