Blog companion to my course "Conspiracy Theories, Skepticism, and Critical Thinking." Taught as part of the general writing curriculum at SUNY Geneseo.
Grading Season
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No update this week. The grading season is upon me and I have to deal with all of that. Next week, I'll be back on the Pale Horse.
The chapter begins like all of Cooper's chapters with a title and then a bunch of sub-titles. The title of this chapter is "Lessons from Lithuania" and then it subtitles with the Second Amendment--surprisingly the whole thing. Cooper does not ignore that inconvenient first half that modern gun fetishists concentrate on. He then goes on to Patrick Henry's famous quote, but again he gives the full thing: " I know not what others may do. But as for me, give me liberty or give me death." Cooper is unlikely to know this: it's very doubtful that Patrick Henry uttered these words. What we know is that he gave a speech in Virginia in 1775 which pushed the Virginia legislature toward desiring independence from England, but his speech was never recorded. The line comes from the recollection of people decades later. As much as I would like to attack Cooper for getting this wrong, I cannot do so, he would not have access to the scholarly research on the subject, a...
Protocol 13 The protocol continues the same idea that 12 focused on, the press as a means of control. This protocol is more in tune with the practicalities of this plan rather than the theoretical nature of "we must control the press." I commented last week that 12 was unique in conspiracy theory literature because it had more specificity than all of the other stuff that I've read. Sure, "None Dare Call it Conspiracy" had names and dates, but it was all pretend. Business magnates went to Russia therefore Rockefeller was in charge of Communism is how the argument went there and it felt rather hollow. 12 wasn't that, it was a single focus and a goal; 13 continues along that idea. My biggest complaint about 13 is that it is short enough that it should have been the final part of 12. I do not know if this to keep the reader engaged with constant section breaks or if the plagiarist just became tired. I know from years of blogging, that if I go over 1000 words I ...
This chapter is a cheat. It's one page, and Cooper is purporting that this isn't even his writing...again. The title of this chapter is, " ARE THE SHEEP READY TO SHEAR? Oklahoma H.B. 1750 TEST CASE FOR THE POLICE STATE." Two things thwarted my attempts to research this subject: paywalls and time. Oddly enough, I had plenty of time to do the research but the documents in question are not online. The Oklahoma legislature's website only goes back to 1993 and I need 1988. The University of Oklahoma which also maintains an archive returned a 404 error. So I decided to just find what I can about the bill and move forward. The further problem is that Cooper's source, Gary North , a new name to add to our gallery of conspiracy theorist; maintained a website but his own archives do not go any earlier than 2004. The article that North wrote, is on a website called the " McAlvany Intelligence Advisory " but that article is locked behind a paywall. For people i...
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