Conspiracy Theories, Skepticism, and Critical Thinking

Protocol 15 I remember as a kid being fascinated by a book cover that transformed step by step the symbol of the Freemasons into the Star of David. I didn't know precisely what it meant, I was sitting in the corner of the Waldenbooks at the local mall (because I'm old). I don't remember the title of the book but just remembering the cover can tell me what the book was about. Here the elder makes an explicit reference to other secret societies and names the Masons. It leads to an interesting problem.  First off, the Elder claims that there will be a coup d'etat which has been "prepared everywhere" for the " the same day" that will usher in the world government. It's a plan, and it's one that has been done before. Given that the original work is French in origin this has to be a reference to the arrest of the Templars. The Knights Templar (who I brought up last post as well) were arrested in one day in simultaneous raids whereever the French Ki

This week's post is late because I had to have an emergency appendectomy this week. I'm recovering well.  Protocol 14 I cannot to say that I've come across any real atheist globalist conspiracy theories. Sure, atheists (of which I consider myself) have some irrational beliefs. There is the Sam Harris problem of blending Islam with Islamic nationalism; there are some martyrdom issues (of which some are exaggerated, some fabricated, but there are legitimate causes of concern); but once we get into a large scale conspiracy theories they evolve (devolve?) into a weird religious position. Cooper has got his version of Christianity throughout this book. The Flat Earth conspiracy theory is fundamentalist Christian at its center (I should note that there might be a version of fundamentalist Islamic flat earth since it is flat in a literal reading of the Koran); and only the 80s and 90s UFOlogy circuits were non-religious. Cooper comes out of the circuit so I may have to revisit tho

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

Protocol 12 Number 12 is unique in that it is a long protocol, but it stays on track and  it actually contributes to a conspiracy theory. The entire protocol concerns the press and publishing, how the Elder controls it, and why it's important to do so. Modern conspiracy theories can take inspiration from this part. It's also very curious that Cooper hasn't bothered to emphasize any of the points made in this particular protocol because of a very strange plan that Cooper tried to implement.  Protocol 12 concerns the press, but in modern times we would just call this "the media." The reasoning is that there is no other media than the press in 19th century France where the Protocols originally came from. Conspiracy theorists have a predictable and ironic relationship with the media. The most obvious relationship they have is to call everything a lie and that the media is the tool of "them." In this case, it's the Jews, which are obviously in charge of e