# Is the government secretly...(conspiracy theories)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 4, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737 "2000-04-04T14:09:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/1 "2000-04-04T14:09:00Z")
JFK, UFOs, The Freemasons and their quest for world domination…
2-parter:
\*\*1)\*\*Does anyone know of a good written history of conspiracy theory? What I’m after is an insightful look into why they are so prevalent in our society–something that explores our tendency to be suspicious more than the individual theories themselves.
My web search didn’t turn up much.
**2)** Does anyone have informed guesses/opinions on the subject? My specific curiosity of late is whether or not our love of conspiracy here in America stems from the post-WWII rise of covert intelligence and the Cold War, or if perhaps it’s a much older cultural phenomenon. I know that many people have conspiracy theories _about_ things that go back quite a ways (the freemasons and early government, for instance), but I don’t know when these ideas were formulated.
Thanks for any help.
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Ignorant since 1972
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/2 "2000-04-04T14:17:00Z")
Try the 1997 book _Conspiracy: How the Paranoid Style Flourishes and Where It Comes From_ by Daniel Pipes.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/3 "2000-04-04T14:28:00Z")
Not exactly what you’re looking for, but an overview of many conspiracy theories may be found in the 1992 book _It’s a Conspiracy! The Shocking Truth About America’s Favorite Conspiracy Theories!_ The author of record is the “National Insecurity Council” but the text is copyright Michael Litchfield. They were supposedly going to put out a sequel but I never heard if that happened. If it’s permissible to put commercial addresses on this board I can post it, otherwise email me and I’ll send it directly.
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/4 "2000-04-04T14:32:00Z")
OK, the _minute_ I opened this thread, an _In Search Of_ episode on the Kennedy assassination started. Hold me I’m scared!
I meant to add that the book I mentioned includes a conspiracy bibliography.
Another interesting book, which doesn’t go into conspiracy thinking to a great degree but you may find useful, is _Why People Believe Weird Things_ by Michael Shermer.
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### Author:  [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/5 "2000-04-04T14:55:00Z")
Thanks, Wendell and Otto–I’ll look into those books. _Why People Believe Weird Things_ is a great title! Even if it’s not on-topic for my question I’ll probably read it.
* * *
Ignorant since 1972
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/6 "2000-04-04T15:05:00Z")
I think a person (lady?) named Nesta Webster wrote about conspiracies back before the War.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/7 "2000-04-04T16:35:00Z")
Heck, Delia Bacon wrote about how Shakespeare was really Roger Bacon – an early conspiracy theory – in the late 19th Century.
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“What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet.
[www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman)
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### Author:  [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/8 "2000-04-04T16:48:00Z")
This could be a great thread. I think Americans are enamored of conspiracy theorys, because the government has such a sorry history of lying to its citizens. For example-Johnson in the Vietnam War -“I’m not going to send American boys to do what Vietnamese boys should be doing…” (1964-4 months later he launches into a disastrous 12-year war. Funny, how if the gov. just told the truth, people would have more respect for it!
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2000, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/9 "2000-04-05T05:40:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Does anyone know of a good written history of conspiracy theory?
## how could you trust it? Every _real_ book on conspiracy theories has been supressed by **the man**. All you can get in stores are ones by people who’ve sold out, or fakes put out by **them**. Chances are they have little antennas in them, for tracking purposes. Keep it away from me!
_It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._
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### Author:  [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/10 "2000-04-04T18:05:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by ZenBeam:
> \*\* how could you trust it? Every _real_ book on conspiracy theories has been supressed by **the man**. All you can get in stores are ones by people who’ve sold out, or fakes put out by **them**. Chances are they have little antennas in them, for tracking purposes. Keep it away from me!
> 😃 That’s the spirit!
> \*\*
* * *
Ignorant since 1972
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### Author:  [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/11 "2000-04-04T19:00:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> them. Chances are they have little antennas in them, for tracking purposes.
Antennas? What century are you living in? The bar codes are done in a special radioactive ink. That “scanner” really emits a burst of radiation that activates the ink and allows your every movement to be tracked. You’re assigned an ink “frequency” along with your social security number. That’s why George Bush had to act so surprised when he saw that supermarket scanner; he couldn’t risk letting on that he’d helped develop them back in his CIA days.
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### Author:  [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/12 "2000-04-04T19:09:00Z")
I like conspiracy theories because they seem to give good evidence that not all people wander through their lives without questioning what goes on around them. Allegations of conspiracy seem to be inextricably linked to the concept of a free society. And not without reason.
Today, many events we consider to be factual and well documented first evolved as conspiracy theories, including Aaron Burr’s attempt to steal the presidential election of 1800, the theft of the 1876 presidential election, and William Randolph Hearst’s maneuvering of the United States into war with Spain in 1898 (which was incited by another (probably incorrect) conspiracy theory, the sinking of the _Maine_).
It seems as if Americans live in fear of “the big lie,” and so we are constantly searching for evidence of such things. Sometimes, we find it.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/13 "2000-04-04T19:21:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Antennas? What century are you living in? The bar codes are done in a special radioactive ink.
It’s not an either-or question. You think there’s only _one_ conspiracy going on? _Now_ who’s being naive? :rolleyes:
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_It is too clear, and so it is hard to see._
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/14 "2000-04-04T19:38:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> My web search didn’t turn up much.
Of course it didn’t - what did you expect?
* * *
“there’s nary a dog alive can outrun a greased Scotsman”
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### Author:  [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/15 "2000-04-04T20:51:00Z")
Okay, here it is - the definitive website on conspiracy theories: [www.gate.cruzio.com/~blackops/](http://www.gate.cruzio.com/~blackops/)
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### Author:  [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/16 "2000-04-04T20:54:00Z")
hmmm…that didn’t seem to work. maybe this will: [http://gate.cruzio.com/~blackops/](http://gate.cruzio.com/~blackops/)
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### Author:  [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/17 "2000-04-04T20:55:00Z")
yeah, that works. good luck, but keep a low profile…
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### Author:  [@ignatiusjreilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ignatiusjreilly)
#### Post date: [April 4, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/18 "2000-04-04T22:50:00Z")
You might want to ask egkelley:
[http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/007092.html](http://boards.straightdope.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/007092.html)
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### Author:  [@aschrott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aschrott)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2000, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/19 "2000-04-05T00:24:00Z")
Hmmm…now that _IS_ a little scary. Thanks for the link, Johnny H.
Thanks to everyone for their input.
* * *
Ignorant since 1972
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2000, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-government-secretly-conspiracy-theories/9737/20 "2000-04-05T00:54:00Z")
Try _The Big Book of Conspiracies_ by Paradox Press.
My WAG is that conspiracy-mania got a big boost with the **end** of the Cold War. Americans have had an “enemy” of one kind or another since December 7, 1941. After 50 years & more , we define ourselves by what we oppose. We cannot get along, or even have a national self-image, without a “nemisis”.
So, lacking a foe, we **become the enemy**. We blame the Government (which, in reality, can’t deliver the mail on time, let alone keep a plot going in secret), or the UFOs , or THEM, or whatever boogyman we come up with for all the problems in the world. We don’t have an enemy; so, because we need one, we **make** one. “We have met the Enemy, and He is Us.”–Walt Kelly.
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You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment."-Bill Hicks
“You should tell the lies, live the truth and expose yourself.” - Bill Clinton
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