Nanothermite and the World Trade Center
- Thread starter Jazzz
- Start date
he might not be in his heart of hearts, but he's part of a deeply anti-semitic conspiracy theory movement, so the purity of his intentions mean fuck all really. It's not like people haven't gone to great lengths to demonstrate how interlinked this is to old anti-semitic tropes and stereotypes.
It's like I'm sure there's been members of the BNP or EDL who are sincerely not racist, but out of belligerence or denial refuse to accept they're part of a racist political organisation that promotes racist politics, so it doesn't really matter too much whether they are or are not racist in their consciences, it's what they're a part of that matters.
It's like I'm sure there's been members of the BNP or EDL who are sincerely not racist, but out of belligerence or denial refuse to accept they're part of a racist political organisation that promotes racist politics, so it doesn't really matter too much whether they are or are not racist in their consciences, it's what they're a part of that matters.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Like articul8 and the labour party really. And I'm not kidding.
Badger Kitten
oof
Worth reposting. The Paranoid Style in American Politics published in 1964 by Richard Hofstadter.
http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/conspiracy_theory/the_paranoid_mentality/the_paranoid_style.html
It starts...
'It had been around a long time before the Radical Right discovered it—and its targets have ranged from “the international bankers” to Masons, Jesuits, and munitions makers.
American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wind. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics., In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant....'
And it ends
' Perhaps the central situation conducive to the diffusion of the paranoid tendency is a confrontation of opposed interests which are (or are felt to be) totally irreconcilable, and thus by nature not susceptible to the normal political processes of bargain and compromise. The situation becomes worse when the representatives of a particular social interest—perhaps because of the very unrealistic and unrealizable nature of its demands—are shut out of the political process. Having no access to political bargaining or the making of decisions, they find their original conception that the world of power is sinister and malicious fully confirmed. They see only the consequences of power—and this through distorting lenses—and have no chance to observe its actual machinery. A distinguished historian has said that one of the most valuable things about history is that it teaches us how things do not happen. It is precisely this kind of awareness that the paranoid fails to develop. He has a special resistance of his own, of course, to developing such awareness, but circumstances often deprive him of exposure to events that might enlighten him—and in any case he resists enlightenment.
We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well.'
I can't recommend the essay enough TBH. I think I was first put onto it here, years ago. So apologies if you have already read it several times!
http://karws.gso.uri.edu/jfk/conspiracy_theory/the_paranoid_mentality/the_paranoid_style.html
It starts...
'It had been around a long time before the Radical Right discovered it—and its targets have ranged from “the international bankers” to Masons, Jesuits, and munitions makers.
American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wind. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics., In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant....'
And it ends
' Perhaps the central situation conducive to the diffusion of the paranoid tendency is a confrontation of opposed interests which are (or are felt to be) totally irreconcilable, and thus by nature not susceptible to the normal political processes of bargain and compromise. The situation becomes worse when the representatives of a particular social interest—perhaps because of the very unrealistic and unrealizable nature of its demands—are shut out of the political process. Having no access to political bargaining or the making of decisions, they find their original conception that the world of power is sinister and malicious fully confirmed. They see only the consequences of power—and this through distorting lenses—and have no chance to observe its actual machinery. A distinguished historian has said that one of the most valuable things about history is that it teaches us how things do not happen. It is precisely this kind of awareness that the paranoid fails to develop. He has a special resistance of his own, of course, to developing such awareness, but circumstances often deprive him of exposure to events that might enlighten him—and in any case he resists enlightenment.
We are all sufferers from history, but the paranoid is a double sufferer, since he is afflicted not only by the real world, with the rest of us, but by his fantasies as well.'
I can't recommend the essay enough TBH. I think I was first put onto it here, years ago. So apologies if you have already read it several times!
frogwoman
No amount of cajolery...
I read "Warrant for Genocide" by Norman Cohn a while back about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and various other anti-semitic theories. It was published in 1967 but what it says is completely relevant to today. If you have not read this book please try and get a copy; i would say it is absolutely essential reading for anyone who wants to understand anti-semitism and understand conspiracy theories (although i'm not 100% sure about his theory for why this stuff exists). It is amazing how much anti-semitic nonsense is still repeated today which came about from the 1930s to the 1950s in the USA. They even believed that vaccination and gun control were Jewish plots. I would say that it demonstrates how these theories are inseparable from anti-semitism and their political context. It is astonishing how little it has changed since those days (something he himself remarks on in the book).
I know I go on about this stuff quite a bit on these threads but I honestly think this stuff is extremely dangerous and it is a gateway to the extreme right.
I know I go on about this stuff quite a bit on these threads but I honestly think this stuff is extremely dangerous and it is a gateway to the extreme right.
Idris2002
canadian girlfriend
I strongly second this point. I would also recommend Cohn's other books on the millenarian religious movements of late medieval Europe (and their violent anti-semitism). His politics were those of post-Second World War anti-Marxist liberalism, but he knew very well what he was talking about. In fact, I'd say that it's worth becoming interested in the subjects Cohn wrote about just so you can have an excuse to read him.
binka
!!!!!!!!!
so any day now really? i'll set a reminder to check again in another 5 years
Yossarian
⏭️
Not just kindred spirits but the man himself.
http://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/the-sandy-hook-owl-and-the-new-world-orderd.305212/
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