Conspiracies 'R Us

From my archived blog at donaldjeffries.wordpress.com

Note: This is another in a continuing series of previously published articles. Please subscribe to my primary Substack “I Protest” at: donaldjeffries.substack.com

All of us believe in some conspiracies. Many subscribe to the philosophy of the ultimate pessimist, that guy named Murphy, and his law, which observed that the other line moves faster. You know it’s going to rain after you wash your car, or painted something outside. The car’s going to need an emergency $500 repair, right after you get a $500 bonus. A gust of wind will come along and mess up your new hairdo. The list is endless.

Most people believe at least some things are rigged against them. They may not extend that to the system being rigged against average people everywhere, but in their own personal lives, they nod their heads knowingly when something goes awry. You play the same number all the time in the lottery, and the one day you don’t buy a ticket, are you surprised that it finally comes up? It’s only paranoid when you start talking about shadowy, powerful forces.

Every year, the world’s government, business, and media leaders meet in absolute secrecy at ritzy hotels around the world. The so-called Bilderberg group was never written about for decades, outside of the feisty weekly newspaper The Spotlight. Their existence was denied by all respectable people. With the advent of increased citizen journalism on the internet, these power brokers were filmed going in and out of these meetings. Intrepid reporters like the late Jim Tucker snuck inside and took their attendee list and agenda. Hearty citizen journalists gathered outside and attempted, almost always unsuccessfully, to interview the participants. Now, the Bilderbergers are a real thing, but you’re a “conspiracy theorist” if you believe the most influential people in the world meet for any significant reason.

In the summer, the elite hold another confab, in the mountains of northern California. For decades, it was “crazy” to claim that powerful, strictly male figures would get together in secrecy, and worship a giant owl. Then Alex Jones snuck into Bohemian Grove and filmed the “cremation of care” ceremony, which took place under a giant owl. Walter Cronkite was the voice of the owl for many years. But we’re still assured that they’re just getting together to relax.

I hope that I’ve shown conclusively in my books that conspiracies are not only very real, but are in fact the way that our leaders conduct business. They don’t know any other way. Their first instinct is always to conceal, thus the fact so many government files remain classified, for events that were, according to officials, random and non-sinister. They are so devoted to skullduggery and subterfuge that they can’t be bribed to do the right thing, as Jonathan Swift noted about the judges of his own eighteenth century era.

Since COVID-19, which I call the Greatest Psyop in the History of the World, hit, the world has gone full tyranny. While they are mandating that we wear masks which do nothing but dehumanize us further, their own collective mask has been lowered. No more benign pretenses. No more attempts to paint a rosy picture of a crumbling state of being. It’s full, in your face thuggery. An Orwellian overreach that includes monitoring the number of guests you have at holiday gatherings. The formerly bubbly ex-cheerleaders who populate American journalism have learned to bare their teeth and hiss angrily at any hint of dissidence.

Frank Zappa foresaw this years ago, when he said, “The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.” I believe we are at the point where the brick wall has been revealed.

For a very long time, the dichotomy between the way our leaders and their mouthpieces in the media presented reality, as opposed to the way it actually was for the vast majority of people, was laughably stark. No mention of the favoritism, corruption, and unfairness that permeated every institution. Just mindlessly upbeat portions of insignificant fluff, epitomized by excessive attention to the sports and entertainment industries.

But with the emergence of Donald Trump, what I call the Trumpenstein Project, designed to divide the country and kill any independent political movement, the fluff was replaced by angry newscasts that converted their typically dishonest reporting into nonstop editorializing. The late night “comedy” talk shows followed suit. A new nastiness, with Trump serving as a symbolic White everyman, was unleashed. The vitriol was relentless, out of all proportion, and in no way entertaining or uplifting.

With most people having bought into the Greatest Psyop in the History of the World, “conspiracy theorists” have been lumped together with “White Supremacists” and “racists” as enemies of what is indisputably a rotten, corrupt state. And yet those who buy into this demonization are “conspiracy theorists” themselves. Many subscribe to Murphy’s Law and politically, they are willing to accept any theory that features Donald Trump, or his supporters, as the villains. Many bought into the state sponsored “Russia! Russia! Russia!” nonsense. They also parrot the “insurrection” label that has been affixed to a group of Trump-supporters, armed only with cell phones, who were waved into the Capitol Building on January 6 by police officers.

These same anti-“conspiracy theorist” folks are strong supporters of the cancel culture. They not only don’t believe in free speech, they want people fired for using it, if they disagree. I have been “cancelled” myself, by an ever growing number of former friends and supporters. It’s hard to fathom when people who raved over you during an interview, or who wrote glowing reviews of your books, suddenly despise you enough to delete you on social media. All of us who oppose this “Woke” insanity are in danger of becoming what Orwell called “unpersons.” Conform or be banished.

I can’t change at this stage. I’ve been chasing down these rabbit holes since I volunteered for Mark Lane’s Citizens Committee of Inquiry as a starry-eyed teenage idealist in the mid-1970s. It’s hard to picture that world now; with civil liberties, personal freedom, much less crowded and a slower pace. The conspiracies and corruption I was discovering then seemed distant, unapproachable. Now, they are right in front of you, where you can almost touch them. You can almost feel the hot, rancid breath of the conspirators on your face. They might as well be bending over in front of us, inviting us to kick them, or shouting, “Yeah, so what? What are you gonna do about it?”

Humanity accepts things. The boss is crooked. The teacher plays favorites. Parents are abusive. Children are ungrateful. Wrong seems to prevail a lot more often than right. There is no justice in our courts. They won’t let you say that on television. Or in Congress. You can’t fight city hall. No good deed goes unpunished. Bad things happen to good people. Nice guys finish last.

And yet, boiling it down to specifics, those same people blanch at “9/11 was an inside job.” Or Sandy Hook. Or Pizzagate. Or massive fraud in the 2020 election. You think everything is a conspiracy. Why, yes. Yes, I do. When only corrupt and/or incompetent people have any semblance of power, they will conspire. It’s what they do, and all they know. They are incapable of doing anything decent, much as a good person is incapable of anything really bad.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. We can only cling to that kind of hope, because at present, as throughout recorded history, the meek have been cheated and trampled upon by the aggressive cretins that have always run things. A kind, empathetic leader is even rarer than a faithful Christian; one who forgoes wealth and possessions, turns the other cheek, and doesn’t judge.

It all boils down to waking up who we can individually. And, as Robert F. Kennedy said in his greatest speech, sending forth tiny ripples of hope. In doing so, these can coalesce into a tidal wave, capable of overturning any injustice and oppression. Until there are more people awake than asleep the corruption will continue. As Jim Garrison said about the CIA, they have no reason to change- it’s been very successful for them.

I don’t know if it’s better or worse with all pretenses gone. Some of us prefer being fooled. They liked Katie Couric and her ilk batting their eyes and laughing at inanities. Now, the face of the enemy is fully visible. Whether it’s an entertainer or a politician, they aren’t really pretending any longer to be otherwise than what they are; shills who work for those who misrule us. I guess that’s what Neil Armstrong would call “one small step” towards the truth.

I suppose most of us would prefer to know we’re being cheated on. But is it better to live a lie, if you’re happy not knowing an uncomfortable truth? We should all realize we’ve been cheated on, repeatedly, by this point. And people like me are messengers who often get killed delivering the message. As Tennyson wrote, it’s better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. Our trust has been betrayed. And nothing will change until a majority know it.