AJ is awesome. but I’ve shied away from him since MISES.
I used to feel that conspiracies tell what’s wrong, or what could be wrong with the world
while libertarianism tells what could be right.
But in a libertarian world, almost no large scales conspiracies could happen anyway so… I find irrelevant now to dwell in that mess, even if everything Alex ever said on radio is true.
The Conspiracy Theory of History Revisited - Murray N. Rothbard
…
Far from being a paranoid or a determinist, the conspiracy analyst is a praxeologist; that is, he believes that people act purposively, that they make conscious choices to employ means in order to arrive at goals. Hence, if a steel tariff is passed, he assumes that the steel industry lobbied for it; if a public works project is created, he hypothesizes that it was promoted by an alliance of construction firms and unions who enjoyed public works contracts, and bureaucrats who expanded their jobs and incomes. It is the opponents of “conspiracy” analysis who profess to believe that all events – at least in government – are random and unplanned, and that therefore people do not engage in purposive choice and planning.
There are, of course, good conspiracy analysts and bad conspiracy analysts, just as there are good and bad historians or practitioners of any discipline. The bad conspiracy analyst tends to make two kinds of mistakes, which indeed leave him open to the Establishment charge of “paranoia.” First, he stops with the cui bono; if measure A benefits X and Y, he simply concludes that therefore X and Y were responsible. He fails to realize that this is just a hypothesis, and must be verified by finding out whether or not X and Y really did so. (Perhaps the wackiest example of this was the British journalist Douglas Reed who, seeing that the result of Hitler’s policies was the destruction of Germany, concluded, without further evidence, that therefore Hitler was a conscious agent of external forces who deliberately set out to ruin Germany.) Secondly, the bad conspiracy analyst seems to have a compulsion to wrap up all the conspiracies, all the bad guy power blocs, into one giant conspiracy. Instead of seeing that there are several power blocs trying to gain control of government, sometimes in conflict and sometimes in alliance, he has to assume – again without evidence – that a small group of men controls them all, and only seems to send them into conflict.
…
Yes that’s one big mistake I’ve done.
DOWN WITH THE ROTHSCHILDSSSS
… wait what did they do again?
EVERYTHING
oh ok.
IMO, whether or not the grand world government/Jekyll Island conspiracy theory is true or not, the more important point is that the centralization of government power over the past century has at least made such an action plausible, and that by itself should be reason enough for our gravest concern.
And why do you think the media loves to -falsely- portray most ‘conspiracy theorists’ like this?
Alex, contrary to mainstream opinion, has sober, well thought out, and solid theories, most of which involve laying the blame right at the doorstep of government.
And if Alex is government controlled opposition, he’s sure doing a poor job. His site and listener base keep on growing, his message is still solidly anti-government, and he has yet to lapse into any ‘weird’ (reptilian, alien, etc) theories.
Aids and gov?.. transmitted SIV from chimps used to grow the polio vaccine into african populations where the vaccine was being tested. SIV → HIV. Ground zero of the aids epidemic is right around the polio vaccine camps.
Maybe it was done on purpose. African governments ordered their people to show up to get vaccinated. Who knows why.
I’m reading David Icke’s book called Children of the Matrix: Interdimensional Lizards Who Run this World. And So Can You! (or whatever it is called).
Seems like a funny read so far.
Mises pieces said : whether or not the grand world government/Jekyll Island conspiracy theory is true or not
the desire for a world government is FAR from conspiracy theory. It has been proposed by intellectuals for a long time and is out in the open for anyone willing to look. With the IMF/WTO/Bank in place - The current push is for a single world fiat currency.
As has already been mentioned, Alex Jones (InfoWars.com / PrisonPlanet.com) does tend to connect some of the dots prematurely, and sometimes comes to conclusions that aren’t totally correct, but he shines a light in places where most do not.
As he often states, his primary concern is for people to be aware of what’s going on, rather than blindly believing what the MSM, government and the military-industrial complex tell you.
He’s on “our” side. He is anti-big government, pro-liberty, pro-personal responsibility, understands the Fed., IMF, WHO, & UN. We need more folks like him spreading the word.
haha COnza, I remember reading that before I ever knew who Rothbard was. It is the arguement I make to some of my more conspiracy minded friends.
I like AJ. He, like many makes connections that are more systemic than intentful. But I have learned a lot of things that I had no idea existed beforehand.
I’m not too big on conspiracy theories. The most justification I see in believing in them is because the government benefits from it. I don’t buy that. Not that governments benefit, but as them being the cause.
It’s like global warming. People say it is being manipulated by the government. One theory is that it is being manipulated by the governments, but one I find more plausible is that the science is true and government is trying to save the day.
"It’s like global warming. People say it is being manipulated by the government. One theory is that it is being manipulated by the governments, but one I find more plausible is that t****he science is true and government is trying to save the day. "
Wrong. Oh so wrong. And that’s just one source. Climategate doesn’t ring a bell? I mean have you even looked into the issue? Doesn’t seem like it.
Global warming is a scam, but as the quote above from Rothbard indicates these “conspiracies” arise bottom up and not top down. In other words, a bunch of researchers seeking funding who become objective allies of politicians seeking fear.
So when monopolistic providers of law, courts and taxation benefit massively from crises largely engineered by the scientific studies they themselves funded, the logical thing to do is to assume that everything claimed is basically true?
What I think is that he does not have any solutions. So he is no better than Glenn Beck.
What about the HAARP conspiracy theory of weather control. There was an equivalent set up in the Soviet Union, if I recall correctly.