Conspiracy

I am amused when I read conspiracy theorists' Web sites. I do not dismiss many of the theories I see. Some seem self-evident to me. Others reach the outer limits of paranoia.

Othello and Iago

The attainment of power over other human beings necessitates conspiracy. Conspiracy is the bedrock of  politics as we know that activity. Conspiracy is part of corporate business. Conspiracy is a tactic and a symptom. It is a symptom of evolutionary competitiveness, transformed subconsciously by the frontal lobes of human beings. It is a tactic which can be replaced effectively with open callaboration and cooperation.

Secrecy, the main ingredient of conspiracy, is a defense based in mistrust and fear. Fear of what? Fear of anything. Some fears which lead to conspiracy, even at the highest levels of government and business, may well be rooted in the infancies of the participants in a conspiracy. Richard Nixon was an obvious example of a paranoic personality, formed by childhood insecurities, who relied on conspiracy to feel safe in power, lost through his own conspiracy when revealed.

If the U.S. government conspired to perpetrate a fraudulent assassination of Osama Bin Laden, for example, such a conspiracy would really have little relevance in reality to the problems faced by the nation. However, it may serve, if believed generally, to secure the continued power of an intelligent administration which has been undermined by economic disaster. Like it or not, this is the state of politics in the U.S. republic.

As a humanist, I would like to see a change in paradigm. My support for Candidate Obama was based largely on his speeches about transparency and accountability. My hopes for his ability to change the paradigm in Washington have dimmed significantly. However, I do not perceive him as entirely resigned to the old conspiratorial politics. His recent release of his birth certificate in response to the demeaning hectoring by the likes of Donald Trump, a king of conspirators, was a step in the right direction. It should have happened much sooner.

Light is an effective disinfectant. In my own life, living in the truth of who I am has brought peace and liberation. It has not brought affluence or power. This is often the choice in a world of dishonesty and secrecy, where brutal competition is prized as the epitome of what it means to be creative and successful. I believe the potential to be brutally competitive is an inevitable part of being a human animal. The wiring is all there in our brains, left over from days of battling for mates and day-to-day survival. My measure of my humanism is the degree to which I can overcome that instinctive urge in order to promote goodness and happiness with my labor and communication. To inspire rather than conspire.