Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!
A day late, but that’s what happens when you have sporadic internet access. We spoke on matters Priory of Sion-y and muttered things about talking about NASA scientists revealing the truth, as well as covering JFK next time. No notes; either find yourself a copy of Clive Prince’s and Lynn Picknett’s ‘The Sion Revelation’ or have a gander at a back issue of the Fortean Times for some more details (issue 212, July 2006).
The Dentith Files: A United Europe
This week Matthew Dentith talks about the Priory of Sion, and their links to the supposed conspiracy of the formation of the European Union.
Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!
Well, that went well. I wrote a paper on the topic of Historical Conspiracies vs. Contemporary Conspiracy Theories. I’m not going to link to it (a draft thereof) because I’m hoping my new ‘Similar Posts’ plugin will do that for me. If it doesn’t, then, well, you can always use the search function of the blog to satisfy any curiousity you might have over the matter.
Next time; the EU and Conspiracy Theories thereof. The time after that, JFK. I like JFK; it allows me to talk about another love of my life, the Principia Discordia and one of its authors, Kevin Thornley.
This week Matthew takes a look at historic conspiracies and contemporary conspiracy theories. He compares the two and makes some conclusions about that can tell us about modern society.
Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!
Another fortnight, another radio slot. You’ll have to forgive the lack of posting at the moment; I’m in the midst of an office move and I’m ill (once again). Updating the blog is very much second fiddle at the moment to packing, writing and gazing (with dead, dead eyes) into a monitor.
Anyway, Climate Change. This material really isn’t entirely my own; I’ve cribbed most of it from the International Journal of Inactivism but I feel no guilt because a) it’s good and b) I’ve given credit where credit is due (and, as a late addition, I’ve extrapolated).
Also, beware the Battlestar Galactica spoilers. Sorry, FHG.
The Dentith Files
This week Matthew looks at climate inactivism, the climinati and genealogy.
Have a listen and then have a look at the International Journal of Inactivism.
Frankbi, of the International Journal of Inactivism (frankbi.wordpress.com) has been leading the charge to label Climate Change Skeptics as Inactivists. It’s logical, really; certain skeptics have labelled believers in Climate Change as activists, in part because it denotes people advocating we change our excessive lifestyles (which is very unAmerican) and in part because it taps into a certain meme beloved of Climate Change Skeptics; that modern day environmental activists are just socialist-cum-communist activists of yesteryear.
(Which we could delve into in the show if you want…)
Frankbi’s response is to label the skeptics Inactivists. If activism is bad, he says, then surely inactivism is good, and its rather fitting given what the inactivists want us to do, doom the human race by doing nothing whatsoever to mitigate, halt or reverse anthropogenic climate change.
Anyway, in the last month and a bit the International Journal of Inactivism, dedictated to inactivism, inactivists, inaction, and inactionology, especially with regard to global warming and mitigating it, has been working up a geneology of Climate Change Conspiracy Theories, those theories that claim that the IPCC and the general consensus in the scientific community that Climate Change is real and we are the cause of it, is nothing but an elaborate Conspiracy Theory by, well, sinister architects of doom.
(In an ideal world the Invader Zim “Doom†song would go here.)
So, who are these sinister figures and what can be said about them?
The first set of sinister figures are, of course, the US Senate who, under Al Gore, put financial pressure (by way of funding, grants and the like) to ensure that the “right” conclusions were being drawn. This, at least, is one of the many Conspiracy Theories put forward by Dr. Richard Lindzen. Now, Dr. Lindzen is a respected scientist but he does seem to have a bee in his proverbial bonnet about Climate Change. In 1992 he accuses Al Gore and his cronies of pushing an agenda. In 96 he accuses his enemies of incentivising climatologists to produce the new results (a new Humvee for every anthropogenic result, maybe) and in 2006 he simply labels climatologists (of the anthropogenic persuasion) of just being evil, out to scare politicians and the public. These, then, are the climate equivalent of the Gnomes of Zurich, the evil figures who just want to cause mayhem, the Loki figures of our age.
A seemingly more balanced Conspiracy Theory is put forward by Roger Pielke. He thinks that both sides of the Climate Change debate, the activists and the inactivists, are in it for their own good and that by making out that the issue isn’t settled then they can just generate all the more funding for themselves. This turns out to be an even more evil version of Lindzen’s latter Conspiracy Theory. The debate, to Pielke, is settled; there is no Climate Change occurring, but Activists continue to promote the idea that it is to get more funding and, worryingly enough, the Inactivists let them. All Climatologists, in this picture, are potential conspirators and none of them can be trusted, which is problematic since it seems we can’t say the debate is settled after all, giving that we can’t trust the pronouncements of scientists and politcal scientists like Pielke, who gets his information from the scientific community, is either a shill for the conspirators or just as easily fooled by them as you or me.
This Conspiracy Theory got a shot in the arm recently when the Heartland Insitute released its list of 500 scientists critical of anthropogenic climate change. When the scientific backlash started, with people claiming that their work had been misinterpreted, et al, the publisher, Dan Miller, released a statement which included the following:
In the highly politicized debate over climate change, it isn’t surprising that some scientists now regret that their own scholarly work has contradicted key tenets of the alleged “consensus” promoted by Al Gore and other global warming alarmists. I can sympathize with their plight, but I won’t be a party to their self-serving efforts to hide the implications of that research.
(Which means nothing a climatologist can say will persuade Dan Miller that he is wrong about them; nicely unfalsifiable…)
But wait, there’s more.
Did you know that Magaret Thatcher is a communist? Well, Richard S. Courtney, editor of a Coal Mining journal, certainly seems to think so. Thatcher set up the Hadley Centre of Climate Prediction and Research merely to make her view of anthropogenic climate change (she’s for it, which means she thinks it is happening but probably also likes that it is) legit and thus justify her weakening the power of the coal miner unions when she had her stranglehold on the UK. This is Conspiracy Theory can be found elsewhere, such as in the writings of Louis Hissink of the Lavoisier Group. The Lavoisier group has been described as a body devoted to the proposition that basic principles of physics, discovered by among others, the famous French scientist Antoine Lavoisier, cease to apply when they come into conflict with the interests of the Australian coal industry.
Of course, revenge is the best dish served cold and who better to get revenge than the Third World, who have also been blamed for the Climate Conspiracy Theories. Basically, the Third World seek to resurrent the New International Economic Order and make money of rich Western Nations by claiming that their lack of environmental control is destroying the Third World and could they have some money to fix things up, please. The enviromentalists, who are communists, after all, support the Third World kleptocrats as it means the destruction of the American way of life, which is the goal of any proper communist, don’t you know.
Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!
Well, it was slightly more than petty advertising. Next time I’m going to spread the love, so to speak, and talk about the International Journal of Inactivism’s Genealogy of Climate Conspiracy Theories. It’s fascinating material and I hope to do it a bit of justice.
This week Matthew explains how he goes about teaching critical thinking by using conspiracy theories and why it’s more important as a philosophy rather than psychology. If you’re into it Matthew’s course is starting very soon, check out the Center for Continuing Education for more details.
Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!
The Dentith Files
The man with his finger on the jugular of all alternative thinking returns with a special interview with Professor Charles Pigden.
The Otago University academic has a wide range of interests including Bertrand Russell, but he’s also written widely on conspiracy theories and he finds a kindred spirit in Matthew Dentith.
Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!
Another fortnight, another Conspiracy Theory. This week we discussed Chemtrails. Next time; (hopefully) the Masonic Plot to take over the Auckland region.
And a reminder that I’m still seeking a kindly soul to invest me with a copy of ‘Absolute Power.’
The Dentith Files
The part of the show where we get elbows deep into the most sub-marine areas of the human mind; Matthew Dentith looks at conspiracy theories and how they work.
This week Mathew looks at chem trails … is the government plotting to keep us docile and calm by using chemicals in the air? Are they? ARE THEY?
Notes on Chemtrails
Now, to my mind, chemtrails are examples of contrails…
However, some people claim that they don’t look nor act like contrails. They don’t seem subject to wind like clouds. They persist for long periods of time and they seemingly are formed in unusual ways.
What might they be for? Secret weapons? Sophisticated radar systems? Drawing a pattern of arcane symbols across the sky for nefarious, occult purposes (and some people believe that…) Mind control agents?
Now, agents introduced into the atmosphere at that height (30,000 feet or so) would be dispersed to what would seem to be too diluted amounts. Even if these chemical agents made it to sea level (at suitably active doses) everyone would be affected by them. This suggests an even larger Conspiracy Theory that includes the conspirators having filters or antidotes to the chemical agents in their houses, their cars et al.
(This is a lot like the claims as to why we have fluoride in our water system.)
How are these trails formed? Usually by planes, although some people claim they are produced by either anomalously small craft or, in some cases, by no obvious means at all.
In re being formed by planes, a lot of Conspiracy Theorists argue that the nature and number of chemtrails has changed in the last few years, but some of that might be to do with memory not being entirely a reliable source of past experience and changes in aviation. Advances in commercial aviation have lead both to more civil craft flying the skies and such craft employing better and more efficient engines, mostly moving from turbojets to turbofans, which are more likely to produce contrails-cum-chemtrails.
Chemtrails persist because they aren’t (necessarily) at the same altitude as the cloud layer; because they move at a different rate to clouds they look to be immobile and persistent. This is largely illusionary [this should read ‘illusory’]. In part this is because we aren’t particularly aware just how complex the wind patterns are. A thought experiment should suffice here; clouds move at a faster rate than the wind feels to us at ground level. This is because we have different weather conditions at sea level to that at cloud level.
A positive (benign?) Conspiracy Theory; chemtrails are a secret weapon against climate change.
Response: maybe the New World Order is combating climate change and making the population docile at the same time. Neither plans are mutually exclusive.
A common problem for Conspiracy Theories of this ‘size’ (i.e. malevolent global conspiracies orchestrated by our governments or the One World Government) is that we should expect giant leaks. A common response to 9/11 conspiracies is the money factor. To keep 9/11 quiet (which is a small Conspiracy Theory in regards to Chemtrails) you would, presumably, need to bribe an awful lot of people, and the question is, given the media interest in what happened on that fateful day, why hasn’t someone come for for obvious financial reward. For them not to have done so probably means that they’ve been paid to keep quiet, and paid sufficiently enough to that they can’t be persuaded to speak out. When you multiply out these payments to the group you are looking at a huge amount that should be obvious in the operating accounts of the USA (which it isn’t; we’re also assuming that people would speak out for money; the lack of public spirited aides who haven’t spoken out for the sake of the truth is another matter entirely). If Conspiracy Theories about 9/11 suffer this problem then Conspiracy Theories about Chemtrails would be even more subject to it.