Hello Ronintetsuro,

My understanding of conspiracy was shaken radically when I heard a recording of a talk given by Lance deHaven-Smith, Professor for Public Administration and Policy at Florida State University (Edit: updated timestamp) . I will do my best to paraphrase what he says:

1. Conspiracy is a valid legal concept in many jursidictions. We use it all the time to denote groups of people coming together to commit crime. It is not some marginal, esoteric concept that belongs to the tin-foil-hatted.

2. Conspiracy Theory (and by extension Theorist as one who ascribes to it) has come to denote, usually with negative connotations, for a hypothesis that some result is the effect of a collusion of individuals participating in a Conspiracy.

3. Blanket rejection of all conspiracy theories essentially supports either a theory of one individual's action: the notion that the effect in question was achieved by a single person; or coincidence: the notion that said result is the effect of unrelated, uncoordinated forces.

Under this framework, the official explanation for the events that occurred on the morning of September 11th, 2001 is in fact a theory that suggests conspiracy - many hijackers conspired to act simultaneously to overtake several aircraft and fly them into prominent buildings.

Of course the above example is not what is meant when the term 'Conspiracy Theory' is thrown around in public discourse. The term has come to mean something more akin to a loosely supported paranoia about dominant groups or paradigms.

This is what I'm looking for. Yes.

So we can start off by deciding mutually that the word Conspiracy has been given dirt to harangue those who might dare entertain notions that don't fall exactly in line with what is popular or accepted.

I strongly recommend listening to the talk linked above. DeHaven-Smith makes some mention of a smear campaign against critics of the Warren commission who were decried as conspiracist (and communist for good measure) as the beginning of the use of the term as a pejorative.

I'm going to answer before reading the other comments in this thread, and try to give you a stream of consciousness answer, without editing:

When I think of conspiracy I first think of it with somewhat negative connotations - like crazy paranoid people with tin foil hats. Aliens, government plots, etc. From there I think of 9/11. I had an ex back in 2004 who watched one of the 9/11 documentaries and was instantly transformed into a paranoid, the government's one and only goal is to scare us into submission, hateful d-bag.

If I think about it deeper, I tend to think about it as a verb - the government conspiring or people conspiring and ganging up (think middle school girls) to people conspiring (think Enron.)

If I think deeper, I don't think of conspiracy in general as being a bad thing, but the people I associate the word with are bad connotation-wise. But I don't think it's always bad to be paranoid - there was a saying between some druggie friends and I "it's not being paranoid if they are actually watching." I do think it's bad if you let that paranoia or conspiracy theories take over your life; if your actions and decisions are dependent on your theories.

However, being aware, being careful, and being educated and using that to aid you in your decisions isn't bad. For example, if we were to learn that the NSA is actually actively reading every single one of my hubski/facebook/gmail/text message/phone call/etc. there would be a lot of "crazy conspiracy theorists" that would probably yell at the top of their lungs "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!"

But the value in being able to talk, text, interact online, etc is more valuable to me than the possibility that someone might be listening to the things say. And censoring myself or examining every word I type as if some one was plotting against me and piecing together every detail of my life seems like a way worse situation than it's worth. I think of Orwell and Doublespeak here.

Perhaps if I were involved with something that wasn't legal I might not see it the same way. ie: "hey man can you change the numbers that dictate the price of the entire world's loans for some leftover sushi." If they had even had a little paranoia in their blood, they might not be in the situation they are now. But considering that whole banking world is "too big to fail" / "too big to prosecute" perhaps they did think it, examine the risk/reward, and decide to not care, just like I don't let the possibility of some suit in the government reading my text messages rule my life.

Alright. So. Stream of consciousness enough for you?

Reading back, I realize I link conspiracy to paranoia way more than I thought I did. I do think that reading and educating yourself - whether it's with documentaries or forums dedicated to the "crazy conspiracy theories" has a lot of potential value. As long as you look at it as objectively as possible. Realizing that even the people making the documentaries have a motive and there is a producer asking questions, a director with an end-goal, and an editor who transforms it into a story people want to watch. If you take the information, decide how strongly you want to believe the pieces, and use that knowledge to help you make informed decisions about what you share about yourself, or online, or places you visit or the people you associate with. That is valuable. Questioning the system, having open eyes, making informed decisions, being part of a discussion, making sure other people ask questions, etc. That all has a lot of value.

Because if no one does this, then it will be a heck of a lot easier for people to get their way - whether it's a government suit, a middle school girl, or group of guys who control a buttload of money. And if it gets to that point, you have a bunch of sheep and a bunch of wolves, and the sheep are only valuable to the wolves, not to themselves.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience. As with all things, there are up and down sides to this. I agree that being objective is absolutely necessary. However, I think it's very important for people to remember that it is entirely possible to discuss an idea without accepting it first.

And that's really what I'm after, what we should all be after: discussion. No one person can say they know everything. And I've learned quite a few counter intuitive truths from listening to people who I wouldn't normally.

As long as you're willing to have an open mind, there's a truth about our world that can be discovered.

I was once offered a job selling home health care. I would have been responsible for convincing doctors to prescribe this company's home health care nurses to Medicaid recipients. Also, the same company tried to influence Drs. to prescribe those powered wheelchairs to the same patient class. The nurse would attempt rehab and then recommend the chair. Then the doctor would prescribe it. For every one that I was able to get prescribed, I would receive $400. This is why you see so many seemingly able bodied people in those wheel chairs.

There are corporate interests behind all of it. From the manufacturers of the chairs, the "home healthcare" companies that peddle them to docs and the doctors themselves. -lots of money being made. Should we blame the recipient or should we blame the power brokers that crafted the scenario to their advantage?

All are at fault IMO.

I always say take a big risk and travel/move while you can. As soon as you grow up you have a life, wife, kids, job stability, etc and your vacations are your only time.

After college i worked a bit and eventually broke up with my boyfriend. I spent a week at my parents and then immediately took off on a 3 month adventure to live in Sydney with no plan & a bit of money I had gotten from my security deposit. It was a time and life experience iI will never forget.

| I feel like I'm at a certain point in my life where I'm not really tied down anywhere and I should get out and try something new, because that option isn't always going to be there for me| -Amen. Very wise if you to realize this. I remember sounds_sound telling me that his brother had a hard time moving to Seattle because the people there were "cold," and hard to get to know. But since you've got family there, you should be alright.

Go for it!

Also, often where one friend goes, others follow. Perhaps you'll be the first of the group to head there and others will follow?

Good luck!

Yo homie, I live in Seattle. It's the fucking tits.

Forget the Twin Cities, fly from your friends, and you will have the experience of a lifetime out here. From reading your post I can see that you're ready for a change. I grew up in Montana and when I came to Seattle, I didn't know anyone out here. Not a soul. It was scary but it ended up being the best decision I ever made.

We're home to Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Hendrix, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Modest Mouse (well, Issaaquah is), and you can check out the history of these fantastic musicians at the EMP Museum, which looks frickin' awesome. There's also a ton of sweet science fiction stuff there, original shit from Star Trek and Star Wars and M&M's from space. Speaking of cool architecture, the Space Needle sticks out of our city like a totally bitching alien spacecraft. I'm actually waiting for that thing to take off one of these nights.

Oh shit, you enjoy smoking Mary Jane Wanna? Well guess what son? It's legal here! Cops don't give a rat's ass! So smoke on up! Hell, there's a group of rasta dudes that sit around at Pike Place all the time blazing up. I've bought weed from those guys.

Just gonna take a wild guess here--you enjoy consuming food. Well I've got good news. Seattle's food is incredible. We're right on the Puget Sound smack dab in the heart of the Pacific Northwest so that means fresh seafood out the ass. And if seafood isn't your thing, we've got other options too--Paseo in Freemont serves Cuban sandwiches that are off the chain. Dick's burgers are out of this world good, the best 2 A.M. drunchies you'll ever have. I'm Italian so I'm partial to Petra on 4th and Belltown for great Mediterranean cuisine.

Valve's here. Microsoft's here. Amazon's here. If you've got an interest/career path in the tech field, Seattle is the motherfucking place to be. Even if you don't, (like me for example) the thousands of guys/gals employed at those places are usually pretty chill. Hell, everybody in Seattle is chill--we're all stoned!

Sports fan? Me too. We've got the Mariners (who suck, but that means cheap tickets), Seahawks (do not suck, atmosphere is unforgettable) and the Sounders (cheap tickets, one of the most LIVE crowds at any MLS venue in the country).

Check out Almost Live's guide to living in Seattle. It's hilarious and John Keister, one of the writers/actors on the show, taught me how to write screenplays.

We're truly the only place in America where you can be a suicidal gay pothead, and not break any laws in the process! We're forward-thinking. Progressive. And it really doesn't rain as much as people say. More like, drizzle. I actually like the rain, but that's just me. Come to Seattle.

I'm loving this. It's so nice to see the styles, ideas and personalities converge. Fun. Great work to all thus far, this can go anywhere.... I'm excited to see where it ends up.