The War on Thought and Individualism
Victoria Hardy
January 16, 2008
What is truth? Is it only what appears on the cable news networks, the national evening news or in the mainstream newspapers? Does truth only become truth when it is checked and approved and then put before the masses? What if that approved truth doesn´t answer all the questions or perhaps even raises new ones, is it still the truth? And what about those people with the lingering doubts over the official story, are they insane or just troublemakers?
President Bush, in a speech before the United Nations on November 11th, 2001, said, "Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty." I didn´t hear this speech when it was made and at the time I fully believed what the television had shown me, but had I heard his words I would have sought out information on the conspiracy theories he mentioned, because I´m a curious person. Perhaps being curious isn´t very popular today, perhaps curiosity is a threat. People tend to label and categorize, I suppose it makes us feel secure and a lot of people believe that conspiracy theorists are crazy, ill informed or even potentially dangerous, but what if they just like things to make sense?
I think one of my greatest downfalls in this life is that I expect things to make sense, I like to understand the rhyme and reason of things and to do that, I have to look at all possible explanations, not just one. And I figure, mixed up in all those ideas and propaganda, the truth can be found. But I fear that a day will come when curiosity is no longer tolerated and thinking outside of the approved box will no longer be permitted.
In 2004 issue of Psychology Today, Kathleen McGowan has written an article entitled "Conspiracy Theories Explained" and the subtitle states, "Random events are deeply meaningful to paranoid schizophrenics. Is something happening in their brains?" The article begins, "Paranoid schizophrenics are prone to delusions, tales in which random events become deeply meaningful. Some believe in complex conspiracies; others think they are Jesus Christ." And then it continues to explain the research of Shitij Kapur, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and vice president of research at the Canadian Center for Addiction and Mental Health, in relation to the role of dopamine in addiction and schizophrenia. The body of the article does not mention conspiracy theories again, but the implication is pretty clear, people who question the official line are paranoid schizophrenics.
President Bush, in a speech before the United Nations on November 11th, 2001, said, "Let us never tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty." I didn´t hear this speech when it was made and at the time I fully believed what the television had shown me, but had I heard his words I would have sought out information on the conspiracy theories he mentioned, because I´m a curious person. Perhaps being curious isn´t very popular today, perhaps curiosity is a threat. People tend to label and categorize, I suppose it makes us feel secure and a lot of people believe that conspiracy theorists are crazy, ill informed or even potentially dangerous, but what if they just like things to make sense?
I think one of my greatest downfalls in this life is that I expect things to make sense, I like to understand the rhyme and reason of things and to do that, I have to look at all possible explanations, not just one. And I figure, mixed up in all those ideas and propaganda, the truth can be found. But I fear that a day will come when curiosity is no longer tolerated and thinking outside of the approved box will no longer be permitted.
In 2004 issue of Psychology Today, Kathleen McGowan has written an article entitled "Conspiracy Theories Explained" and the subtitle states, "Random events are deeply meaningful to paranoid schizophrenics. Is something happening in their brains?" The article begins, "Paranoid schizophrenics are prone to delusions, tales in which random events become deeply meaningful. Some believe in complex conspiracies; others think they are Jesus Christ." And then it continues to explain the research of Shitij Kapur, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto and vice president of research at the Canadian Center for Addiction and Mental Health, in relation to the role of dopamine in addiction and schizophrenia. The body of the article does not mention conspiracy theories again, but the implication is pretty clear, people who question the official line are paranoid schizophrenics.
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