Conspiracy Theory: Changing Definitions

It’s been an age old rule of thumb in conspiracy circles that the most interesting things in the world happen when something far less cerebral, but more appealing to headlines is happening elsewhere.  When someone with a humorous name is parading embarrassment through every headline or when a scandalous murder trial is on every radio and everyone’s minds, this is when the strangest laws are passed.  It’s almost as though it’s some sort of conspiracy.  Of course we already covered in part one why using that word immediately makes the world a safe place for billionaires and political Goliaths hatching up their own plans.

So of course when the Anthony Weiner scandal and the Casey Anthony trial came up and started blasting readers and television viewers with a plethora of information, it seemed possible that something bigger was in the works.  And of course as has been the case so many times before, it seems there may have been something indeed.

We all heard about Strauss Kahn head of the IMF and how he had been imprisoned, but there was something even closer and even more disturbing in the works at about the same time.  The White House issued Executive Order 13575, the Establishment of the White House Rural Council.  The council would essentially oversee the actions of all developing land and rural communities which sustain the rest of the country through agriculture and several industrial products.  And if the standards of the council are not met, they can have government interference to change it to something they approve of more.

While it may not seem like a terrifying prospect to the 84% majority who live in urban areas, the management of private land through government intervention is arguably one of the greatest changes in our country’s administration since shortly after World War II since it covers such a wide area of land and has such potential drastic changes to each individual.  Understandably there was an immediate outcry before the item was drowned out in a sea of humorous and/or sensational news.

But then something strange happened.  Unlike the news coverage that ruled since the invention of Radio, even long after the event took place independent media outlets throughout the Internet began once again bringing attention back to this Executive Order despite the fact that it was neither current, nor sensational.  It was simply important.  And so once again the image of the news media as an outlet for only the insanely sensational, and those things which could only be summarized in a single headline once again started moving up through the cracks.  And those who were interested more in current events than soundbytes picked up on it.  And so the word conspiracy theory was once again dusted off and used in reference to anyone who suggested any potential negative outcome.

But this decade is where the word conspiracy theory will eventually change.  Just as terms of derision in the past were reclaimed and eventually became seen in a more positive light, the term so often used dismissively by the mainstream media is actually getting more people to tune in than tune out.  And while it may not be a profound revolution, it will allow a new thought pattern to arise.  People will be able to see the word for what it is.  A conspiracy theory is simply a speculation that independent associations of people may be collaborating on a plot to do something generally harmful and do so in secret.  And while we may be able to deny that any single conspiracy exists, the practice itself -as we have seen repeatedly throughout history – certainly does.