|
Gustave, it seems evident to me that certain sorts of religious belief, of what I may call the Triumphalist variety, make one more prone to conspiracy theories. I cited the example of fundamentalist Muslims trying to explain the decline of Islam since its heyday in the 15th century, and coming up with the conspiracy of Satanic forces of European imperialists, and more contemporaneously the Great Satan, i.e. the USA. Similarly, some, though not all, American fundamentalists think that it they should be ascendent, and therefore that the Zionist Occupation Government is nefariously acting as an agent of Satan to thwart their supremacy. It also seems clear to me that such proneness to conspiracy ordinarily plays into the hands of unscrupulous rulers, who are able to paint a dire picture of the forces arrayed against the faithful, and justify radical solutions. Look at Milosevic, who profits from the sense that the world is against Serbia. That is one reason why I can't understand why someone who cares about jingoism would promote a conspiracy mentality... |
