Conspiracy Weariness

Article originally written March 4, 2o09, for binnallofamerica.com

I met up with an old friend this last weekend and we had a lengthly conversation over a couple of brews at a quiet local pub, reminiscing over past experiences that the two of us had shared. Of particular note was our discussion on conspiracy theory - and just how obsessive I was in my naivete, over every little thing I happened to hear or read in any one of the alternative news outlets available. It got me thinking just how much I've distanced myself from the conspiracy community lately, and how healthy it has been for me.

I recall a day when the paranoid rhetoric of several of the louder and angry conspiracy researches actually led to some degree of paranoia in my own life - which, upon reflection, seems utter madness. I remember when I saw chemtrails in the sky just how uneasy I would get, and being deeply concerned about the "Illuminati", and seeing negative esoteric symbolism everywhere. It got me thinking - just how many people have gotten into this paranoid rut and have not been able to find their way out of it? How many people spend their days stockpiling canned food and building a bomb shelter for the inevitable end of the world?

Now, certainly, I do not mean to target or attack any one person in particular - but having recently turned on the Alex Jones show, just to see what he was up to, I was rather dissapointed by what I heard. It seems he is still ranting about the same things he was years ago, still just as angry if not angrier, and still demanding that your purchase or burn his new videos to distribute in order to educate the public about how repressed they are.

It got me thinking - just how much good, if any, is this really doing? Worse yet are the plethora of researchers and writers out there who seem to do nothing but devote their time to decoding secret satanic hand signals, or ceaselessly examining dollar bills for encrypted messages, and again I ask - what is the point, what good does any of this obsessive nonsense do?

Naturally, almost all involved have some sort of agenda - whether it be a book to sell, a religious standpoint to try and reinforce, or some sort of political ideal which they wish to force onto the public at large. They seem so vehement about ending repression and replacing it with freedom - provided it is "their kind of freedom", and not yours. It always makes me shake my head when I hear the more extreme christian wing of the freedom movement preeching liberty and immediately dumping upon gay rights, open borders and drug legalization - some freedom, hey?

Certainly as well, none of these people seem particularly effective at getting their message across - since when is going out on the street with a bullhorn and yelling like a madman going to accomplish anything but make you and those with similar ideas to you look like absolute baffoons? Some of the yelling matches I've witnessed are akin to the Seinfeld episode in which two men fight ceaselessly over who is entitled to a parking spot - poo flinging matches between rigid dogmatic monkeys, little more.

I have learned that for me, freedom and liberation comes not through accepting some ideology that seems better then an old one, but rather in realizing that all ideology is inherently flawed by its nature, and anyone attempting to tell you how the world ought to be run is probably dangerously insane and should be avoided at all costs.

The most effective methods of changing the downward spiral our race seems to be embarking on is through creativity - expanding your own nervous system and leading by example, and doing what you can in your day to day life to liberate yourself and make a difference in the lives of those around you. Once this is understood, the notion of yelling at people on street corners seems laughably absurd.

Paranoia has never done anything but prevent one from living their lives, and a conspiracy community that seems to thrive on the amplification of the paranoia of those surrounding them is hardly one that I wish to consider myself a part of.