A Foundation for Belief in Conspiracies
In times past, people were suspicious of their rulers. This was because, lacking a mass media, it was rumor which conveyed information, and rumor has no respect for authority.
In our world today, it is the media which we rely upon for our information, and even rumors have become subservient to the mass media. In those places of the world which lack the electronic infrastructure with which to convey the mass media, rumors continue, and governments seek to control the population through violent force. In nations such as ours today, the power of the media has become such that the government is able to control us so effectively that violent force is no longer required. As a result of this lack of violent oppression by government, we have been deluded into believing that we live in a democracy.
One element of the media’s focus over the last hundred years has been to discredit any theory which can be classified as a "conspiracy." As a result many people have come to view conspiracy theories with suspicion, rather than viewing government with suspicion. This is a very strange reversal of human opinion, and it is important to note that this is a very recent development in the history of mankind. Conspiracies have driven political direction since the beginning of civilization, and are the rule rather than the exception. It is a testament to the power of modern media that over the course of the last hundred years, a carefully controlled media has been able to condition the population into the belief that conspiracies are the last resort of those citizens who are either paranoid or unable to explain their own failures by any other means.
We need, therefore, to establish the true historical background of conspiracies, so that the reader can view the matter from the perspective of historical fact rather than the highly politicized modern mood. One of the most highly respected historians of our century, Carroll Quigley, wrote of the historical developments leading to the modern control of the media by political powers. In his book, "Tragedy and Hope", he explains that newspapers have been under the control of those with political agendas since 1890, and have been used for manipulating public opinion to support foreign wars. His book also gives the history of the formation of a secret society in 1891 which has influenced governments and world affairs ever since. The groundwork for conspiracies is well documented, and the reader should not be so simple minded as to think that conspiracies are the fabrication of unstable minds, when solid historical documentation supports their existence throughout human civilization.
Another point to consider is this: Why does the media in general discount conspiracy theories so consistently? If the media is not controlled, as I say it is, then would not each editor of each newspaper respond to each theory independently, and would this not result in a wide variation of the treatment of such theories? But this is not the case, and the media is very well coordinated in discounting conspiracy theory. This can only be considered as further proof that the media is centrally controlled.
The greatest hindrance the average person has in learning the truth about the world is his inability to put present developments into historical perspective. This is to say that lack of historical knowledge makes it hard for the average reader to step outside of the paradigms of his era, and this in turn makes it difficult to take a truly objective approach to studying historical fact. This is an important point simply because the present day manifestation of those events which many now regard as conspiracies are the outcome of secret societies which began one hundred years ago, at precisely the time when mass media was becoming a powerful social force. In fact, it is the author’s opinion that without mass media, the plans of these secret societies would have never become successful.
Michael Joachim Lucas
