Category: General

I’m Spying on You

So, a while back I installed a stats plugin for this blog, mostly to see if I could see where my link-tos were coming from.

It seems most of you are here for ‘Battlestar Galactica’ coverage. Which is nice and all, but it would be nice if there wasn’t such a gap between searches for BSG and Conspiracy Theories. I mean, this is meant to be an attempt at an academic blog.

(But, for you BSG fans, the ‘One Line Reviews’ will continue. I mean, they’re so informative…)

Anyway, this stats plugin allows me to give you the top ten search requests for this blog over the last month. I have to say that my favourite search term bringing people here is ‘conspiracy theories of god existence.’ I’m also fond of ‘unexpected spanish inquisition.’ I mean, either someone has ‘misremembered’ the Monty Python sketch or they’re doing research into the very strangeness of that European institution.

(Another favourite: ‘dolphin mating habits.’ I’m quite keen on the idea of being an expert in cetacean mating, especially cross species.)

The Top Ten Search Terms:

battlestar galactica
ultimate conspiracy theory
conspiracy theories and the conventional
mccloud dothers
battlestar
lost
“absolute power” wishart
“conspiracy theories and the internet
dentith files
mc cloud daugthers

The prevalence of searches for ‘McCloud’s Daughters’ (an Australian TV show) continues even further down the list. I wrote one post with the name ‘The McCloud’s Daughters Conspiracy‘ back in February and it seems to have made ‘All Embracing…’ a haven for fans of Outback Australian TV.

What else? Well, the most popular part of All-Embracing? My notes on Prof. Robert Nola’s Nietzsche as Anti-Semitic Jewish Conspiracy Theory. I’m somewhat curious as to why. My search terms indicate that people are coming here, if not for anti-semiticism, Nietzsche’s views on Judaism (or, at least, Nola’s interpretation of the matter). I don’t really want to be a one-stop-shop for anti-Jewish sentiment so I’m really hoping its an entirely academic interest being expressed by students of Philosophy seeking to find out more about Nietzsche and less about people searching for other holders of anti-semitic sentiments.

Well, that was mildly informative, wasn’t it. Real content soon.

06/02/2008

In which the author reposts a link from another site

I’m just regurgitating a link from Kiwiblog but whilst Mr. Farrar seems to have tongue firmly in cheek with the reference to Trevor Loudon being labelled a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy I link to this article from HeraldNet with a sense of relief (that the association has been noticed) and worry (that his vapid conspiracy theorising gets commented upon).

Gah.

And `Ha!’

It’s turning out to be a confusing day.

05/26/2008

Trivial update

I’m in the process of moving so there’s no real update this week. I also don’t (currently) have the internet installed in my new abode. So, in lieu of an post or a series of semi-witty remarks I’m just going to direct you to the ‘Motherlode;’ a piece on the generic Conspiracy Theory of the West. I shan’t pass comment on it, but you might want to, in the comments.

Not that you like to comment. Yes, I’m singling you out especially (but not you; you play nice).

Also, those of you reading this off of an RSS feed won’t know that I have a meagre page devoted to papers I have given, articles I have written and the like. It’s fairly empty but it might pass the time.

05/26/2008

I’m on the Case

Haha. Bad pun. Anyway, more George Case, this time from the eSkeptic of the 30th of December, 2004.

The blunt truth is that conspiracy theories very seldom make a solid case. Either they play on pre-existing prejudices (how corrupt you already take the government / the media / big business to be), or contradict each other (if the Iraq war is all about Halliburton contracts, then it can’t be about Judeo-Christian millennial fanatics within the Bush administration; if the Mafia killed JFK, then the Freemasons are off the hook), or defy rational dispute (so the more the supposed conspiracy is denied, the more obviously there is one).

Case makes one of the commonest mistakes possible in respect to claiming that holders of Conspiracy Theories actually believe. Most Conspiracy Theorists about, say, 9/11, don’t hold all the different permutations. Whilst there is some common ground, mostly that they do not believe the official story about how the Twin Towers collapsed, they don’t necessarily believe that everyone thus cited for it really happening are all equally responsible. No, like protestant Christianity, there are a multiplicity of differing opinions and views.

Conspiracy Theorists really aren’t that dumb.

More disturbing is Case’s almost flippant dismissal of people writing on the prevalence of Conspiracy Theories. He really does seem to think that writing about Conspiracy Theories is not worth our time, which is a bit odd, given that he’s gone to all the effort to write something that tells us that.

05/22/2008

Whoop!

Well, the galleys have arrived for my forthcoming Skeptic article and it’s a mighty four pages of the magazine (although half of one of those pages seems to have space set aside for an ad; I wonder what I shall be unwittingly endorsing?). I also have an illustration, apparently. Gods know what that will end up being. Hopefully something nice, like a pony, or a flower.

I’m one step closer to publication proper and, I must admit, it feels a bit weird.

05/16/2008

Green is the new Red Under the Bed

This genealogy of the development of Climate Change Conspiracy Theories is both humourous, telling and somewhat related to my recent debunk on Soviet plots in New Zealand. To be read, enjoyed and disseminated.

Towards a genealogy of climate conspiracy theories

05/15/2008