Conspiracy Theories

A good look at the crop of conspiracy theories making the rounds. From the Christian Science Monitor:

On the hunt for a conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory has captured the public imagination. Often we are less interested in what politicians say or do than in attempting to decipher the hidden agenda that motivates their behavior.

Every Supreme Court nomination turns into a search for the skeleton in the closet or a trace of a conspiracy. No sooner was Harriet Miers nominated before rumors suggested that President Bush used her as a fall guy whose failed nomination would make it more difficult for liberals to discredit her more conservative replacement. The president may have more than one conspiracy up his sleeve. It has been suggested that the avian flu scare is promoted by the White House to distract the nation from a messy war in Iraq. Others hint that the pharmaceutical industry is behind it to profit from an explosion of demand for flu vaccines.

So true -- and there are lots of websites that support whatever theory you want to believe. One of my favorite movies was Conspiracy Theory with Mel Gibson. From the IMDB summary:

Mel Gibson is a New York taxi driver, who has a strange habit. He makes complicated scenarios of conspiracies and publishes them to the Internet. He keeps doing that, until something unbelievable happens: One of his "conspiracy theories" turns out to be real, and so he finds himself chased by the man hiding behind the whole thing.

Conspiracies are a fun thing to play around with but too many people take them seriously...