Categories
crime and punishment government transparency media and media people moral hazard national politics & policies too much government

Why Paranoia

Goofy conspiracy theories? Worth a chuckle, maybe. But not when they are about live, blood-​running-​in-​the-​street topics. Then, cries Kevin Williamson of National Review, “shame.”

Paranoia-​spinners “have failed to learn the sad lesson of Hillary Rodham Clinton,” Williamson warns. “When people have come to assume that every other word out of your mouth is a lie, it becomes very difficult to tell the truth effectively.”

Well, yes. But that cuts every which way, no?

Apropos of this, comedian Dave Smith, on his most recent Part of the Problem podcast, brought up Operation Northwoods, an early-’60s clandestine false flag proposal. 

“The operation proposed creating public support for a war against Cuba by blaming it for terrorist acts that would actually be perpetrated by the U.S. Government,” Wikipedia summarizes. “To this end, Operation Northwoods proposals recommended hijackings and bombings followed by the introduction of phony evidence that would implicate the Cuban government.”

This outrageous moral horror was actually signed off on by “responsible” people … such as the Joint Chiefs of Staff.* 

“Why do these conspiracy theories persist?” Dave Smith considers, referring to the trying-​too-​hard conspiracy conjectures such as the now-​infamous “crisis actor” hoopla. “Well, there’s … these conspiracies that are absolutely real — and you guys [in the media] have no interest in talking about them. And the only people who do talk about them are people like Alex Jones.”

Seeing governments lie and cover up the truth, while media too often turn blind eyes, everyday concerned folks are obviously more open to conspiracy theories.

Everyone should remember that it is the truth that will set you free.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

 

* It was signed by Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer and sent to the Secretary of Defense. President John F. Kennedy nixed it in 1962, and it was never implemented, thank goodness.


PDF for printing