COMMENT POSTED TO AN ARTICLE IN THE INDEPENDENT
It's actually simple to explain, Mr. Ben Judah.
One, America has a population equal to five United Kingdoms.
So any subset is five times as large, too, and every human population has a
certain distribution of people with various mental disorders from simple
neuroses to totally disabling psychoses.
Thus, for so simple a thing as a propensity to unwarranted
suspicions there is a good-sized population in America. And they likely possess
above-average resources for publicizing their views.
Two, there are many critics who use the term, as you do,
"conspiracy theorists," which was deliberately coined as a put-down
of people and groups who have legitimate doubts and concerns over some events.
And many, such as yourself, are in a position to publicize your interpretation.
You effectively conflate people with legitimate views and concerns about events
with the unbalanced fringe types we find in every society. Doing that is simply
a form of propaganda.
You make this all the clearer when you use an expression
like “Trumpland,” an expression of contempt disguised as humor.
I've often wondered whether people with your views would
think the same way about a police detective pursuing a not-evident case or a “cold
case” or perhaps about a top spy investigating some just-hinted-at secret plot?
I suspect not. The contempt is reserved for those outside the establishment.
Only an extremely naive person believes that where there is
great power and large stakes in events, there is no great dishonesty and secret
manipulation. It happens to be that in America we find the greatest power and
the largest stakes anywhere. Does any reasonable person - one not engaged in propaganda
such as this piece of yours - not believe there then will be dishonesty and
secrets beyond what we find in most places?
Americans have been told lies a very great number of times
after manipulated events. You've only to review current events in this paper to
find examples - e.g., what Saudi Arabia is doing, what Turkey is doing, what
Israel is doing, and the American government's public version of each and of
its role in each?
But there are even more dramatic events involving
dishonesty. As someone who has studied in some depth the assassination of
President Kennedy, I can assure you we have never received the full truth
around those events (see footnote). Millions know that truth intuitively, and
so suspicion is a normal reaction.
What was Israel doing when the intelligence ship, USS
Liberty, was attacked intensively for two hours by Israeli planes in 1967?
There could be no mistake as Israel claimed because the ship was identified
extremely clearly and Israeli pilots had flown over before their attack and
acknowledged waves from the crew. Why
did American warships or planes not respond instantly to the ship's distress
calls? Something very underhanded was going on, something which has never been
explained.
In some such events, the truth dribbles out slowly over the
years, but not always. In the case of Pearl Harbor, it is pretty well proved
that the American government knew in advance of the attack. Indeed, the ships
were "parked" there by Roosevelt as a lure for Japan to attack,
something Japan previously had no intention of doing. Roosevelt wanted a war he
knew he could win and he got it.
If you were a citizen in Macbeth's Scotland or Hamlet's
Denmark, you'd have a pretty solid basis for some suspicions, although you
would never dare say a word and would have no resources to publicize your views
anyway.
The stakes in contemporary America make those historical examples
look puny indeed, and the amount of corruption and double-dealing are
proportionately larger. American politics alone are all about money - billions in
donations by special interests. Do you think that doesn't lead to immense
corruption and secret entanglements?
Actually, I'm not aware of any great change in human
character and the propensity to seize advantages over the centuries while
trying to hide the facts. Virtually all arrested people still plead innocent,
and we know a great many of them are not innocent. Perhaps, you have some
secret insight you have not given us, Mr. Judah?
