the power of thought and the connotation of "conspiracy"

would anyone agree that the Word conspiracy carries with it is a connotation that something is either balogney far fetched nutty or off the wall and this simple use of the word CONSPORACY can cause people to dismiss the idea before even subjecting it to critical thinking ( i mean we have enough to think about in our lives anyway)

but what if we were to substitute the word ALTERNATIVE when talking about these theory's a word that carries less connotations. u can think of it as an alternative theory that suspects the official version as more immoral and misleading

i mean in a capatalistic world where the goal is money and success is often related to wealth, and where marketers make incredible use of psychology and the way they can modify i.e manipulate peoples perceptions and beleifs in an attempt to sell the most product, and thus be the most wealthy= successful why would this be at all surprising.

i beleve to different degrees we all use these "immoral" actions ( in varying degrees) to be successful in something (lie. deceive and manipulate) and then we do our best to justify those actions i.e to make money or its a dog eat dog world, then why should it come to anyone's surprise that the most succesful people or wealthiest who are the best at there art/ craft and where deception and shaping attitudes and behaviors (i.e manipulating is related to success wealth=rewarded) is at it's highest skill wise that the story's and accounts they give would not reflect these same qualities they rely upon for success (deception)

sadly the more success and power you have (often wealth) then the more authority and credentials you have and also trust and the more capability u have to be a little immoral and get away with it especially when this could actually help u be seen as a success wealth=success = reward

legitamine alternative theories are a dime a dozen and when u look at these theories from a more realistic perspective u get the chance to stare a capatalistic society in the eye and realize they lie all the time


[edit on 12-7-2006 by cpdaman]

I see what you mean. I've thought about that too, the word "conspiracy" itself implying that something is far fetched or unrealistic. But even if they changed it to "alternative" the same connotations would still be associated with it.

The terms "conspiracy" and "conspiracy theorist" have become equated with UFOs and the like, which most people would consider to be ridiculously nutty. That, and the generally inaccurate portrayal of the subject on television, in movies, and in the news has caused the general public to immediately label a subject as ridiculous when "conspiracy theory" is mentioned, and then come all the tin-foil hat jokes.

Personally, I am not ashamed to use the term to describe myself, but there are times when I use another term simply because I suspect the person I'm speaking to will be more open to it being described in a different manner.

There is a duplicate thread by the same author here. Please feel free to add to the discussion there.



cpdaman please check your U2U's (click here).

Closing thread.