I’ve called myself a fatalist–when faced with the intellectual challenge I frequently freeze, accepting the contradiction, but not changing my world view. But what if you fight, believing there are forces threatening your world?
Nowadays, we call these conspiracy theorists, and I reject them… not because I don’t believe there are powerful people with their own agendas trying to screw people over, but because I don’t believe that there is any level of coordination to achieve a certain goal. All you have to do is look at any large organization–let’s take the Libertarian party. We say we’re the Party of Principle, but there’s once you get past the basic principles, we’re very much divided. There’s the minarchists like me, who want a “night watchman state,” or “less government runs best.” There are fiscal conservatives, who just want us to pay our debts and run our government more efficiently. There are disaffected Republicans who just don’t like the social conservatives. There are those who just like to smoke pot. And there are those who are combinations of many of those same beliefs. If a third party can’t even get like minded people together to achieve a common goal, what chance does the Illuminati have?!
I frequently turn to the modern sage, Joss Whedon, for many of my quotes. He’s been controversial lately, but frequently, he likes to pontificate on his own beliefs in existentialism. If you don’t know Jean-Paul Sartre, let me have Joss explain it through some of his characters:
Gunn : What if I told you it doesn’t help? What would you do if you found out that none of it matters? That it’s all controlled by forces more powerful and uncaring than we can conceive and they will never let it get better down here? What would you do?
Anne Steele : I’d get this truck packed before the new stuff gets here. Wanna give me a hand?
Angel, Not Fade Away (2004)
Anne is the existentialist (and a minor recurring character). My interpretation of the philosophy is that if there is no God, and we are simply the end result of a series of happy accidents, then it is up to us to create the meaning for our own life. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t change the world, it changes us, and that’s sufficient.
But that’s my interpretation, but what if you interpreted like this? There is no God, but there are powerful people who are determined to keep the world as it is, which keeps the world from getting better. We could prevent hunger, but warlords are trying to control their vengeful minorities. We could solve homelessness, but rich people want bigger homes. Those elite are keeping the common people down to keep their lives better.
Is there truth in that? Absolutely! Take the recent GameStop short-sell stock manipulation. Wall Street came down HARD on amateurs who beat the hedge fund managers at their own game, and got their congressmen to change the rules that Wall Street itself created. But why did they do that? Was it some conspiracy? No, they just made money doing it, and they got screwed out of their money, so they got upset. They didn’t shut down Robinhood or prevent small-scale day traders. They just stopped this one thing. It doesn’t stop another smart cookie to find another loophole that hedge fund managers have been doing for decades… and they will.
Imagine that the Illuminati existed in this scenario. Not only would they plug the loophole, there wouldn’t have been a loophole to begin with! They would have found the leaders of this Internet uprising, and either silence or recruit them. They would have an Internet “hit squad” to seek out these potential threats and silence them before they became big… but they don’t, do they? Just like government, we all do two things well, “nothing and overreact.” The elites are just people in the end; selfish, flawed people, who might be brilliant in a particular area, but just as weak as the rest of us in everything else. And one thing humans do NOT do is play nice with others.
In other words, conspiracy theories are trying to make sense of nonsensical world. The sad truth is that there is no Illuminati and we are all manipulated by the whims of chance and greed… and isn’t that scarier than any conspiracy you’ve ever heard?
But “that’s like, your opinion, man.” What’s yours? Tell me in the comments below! And if you’re moved to read about the Libertarian future (without being preachy), pick up one of my books! Okay, my settings are not actually Libertarian, but my philosophy colors them. However, if you’re not ready to pay good money for my crap, download some of my stories for free! You’ll be glad you did.
Albigensia Press 
Complicated one. I largely agree with you. The trouble with conspiracy theories is that like any good lie, there’s a piece of truth woven into it. Some conspiracy theories are based on the inability to correct smaller, proven wrongs as an example. The inability to correct them proves there’s something deeper going on! Maybe they’re right, but not about the hows or whys. If one doesn’t understand economics or law, it’s easy to see exploiting loopholes as some different conspiracy. Maybe when you factor in the inability to get loopholes closed, they’re right in a warped sort of way.
Now the explanations that they come up with are a whole different matter, especially when you get into crap like David Icke’s reptilian nonsense.
Now, the idea that the filthy rich, etc… are a bit better organized than non conspiracy theorists would think, I’ll buy into. Classic Illuminatti level stuff, NO. I think ultimately they’d backbite each other out of existence at that level. Look at how many of the super rich are on the exact same page on various issues though and avoid stepping on each others’ toes. They spend obscene amounts of money lobbying for laws to create a world that really serves them and their needs. These are the same folks that own the media and paint anyone who points out their wrong doing as conspiracy nuts also.
I think originally ‘the elites’ saw people like David Icke as useful idiots to distract from their shady business deals, etc… If the shell that the truth is wrapped in is an idiotic lie, than it all is, right? Trouble is, the useful idiots are spreading out of control now. Their tactics of diversion and misdirection have taken on a life of their own and created a dangerous group of radicals.
The one “conspiracy theory” that may be true is the Russia angle. They’ve been playing both sides against each other, with both political parties denying involvement and pointing fingers at the other. Read Stalin’s writings and other material, and you’ll see that Russia’s standard tactic in flipping a country Communist is to destroy faith in it’s government, values, media and private enterprise.