kevin_standlee | Put Away Those Tinfoil Hats, Already

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I have of late despaired of people on all sides of the political spectrum who invent complicated conspiracy theories when there are perfectly straightforward explanations that make more sense and don't require a house of unprovable (or non-falsifiable) assumptions. Cheryl has posted a comment on this subject that, as usual, puts it better than I could.

It is apparently comforting to people to take faith in complicated conspiracies instead of straightforward explanations. I would remind people of Ben Franklin's quote about how three men can keep a secret. Conspiracies needing dozens or hundreds or even thousands of people to keep quiet seem mostly untenable to me.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: Fremont, California

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From:

http://users.livejournal.com/_darkvictory/

Conspiracies are fun to think about, but I agree they're difficult to believe in. It's hard enough getting something done when it's all above board and everybody involved has seen the proposal, a GANTT chart, and a list of tech support phone numbers.

From:

randy-byers.livejournal.com

I'm with you, which is one reason I can't get too worked up about the various elaborate vote-stealing (as opposed to vote suppressing) scenarios. On the other hand, I've wondered before whether a tendency toward paranoid conspiracy theories isn't a useful trait for a writer.

From:

edgreen86.livejournal.com

I'd be willing to believe the evil government conspiracy theories, if it didn't require believing its the same government that can't seem to manage the Post Office effectively.