Impatience with Fools V2

The Conspiracy Cranks

Building on the previous column regarding impatience with the lack of public understanding of government, economics, history, politics and even how the world works, this version looks at some of the wackier rabbit holes. 

The sudden infatuation with politics and social commentary festering on the internet and social media has exposed a rank ignorance that I could have never imagined.  If any of us suffered under the illusion that most Americans are informed and knowledgeable about civic structure, history, politics and social dynamics, the last decade should be screaming siren alarm.   It's shaken my respect and patience with several whom I'd admired and it's made me fearful for our own self-government.

This shouldn't be a complete surprise.  One of the tenants of political communication and calculation is the slim top line messages that will break through to public consciousness.  But I'd always assumed that was because they were busy and distracted - not that they were ignorant. 

Now, internet swamps and social media have only confirmed how uninformed and pliable the American public has become - creating a tremendous danger to themselves, both individually and as a society.

To be sure; politics, history and social movements were part of my schooling.  I've spent 40 years involved in government and public policy and continue to study history and political theory.So I realize that my familiarity with the processes is more informed than for most.

Understanding civic structures, history, economics and legal structure might be too much to ask; but what we're frequently witnessing is just a lack of plain old common sense.   Indeed, the comments of some reveal not just an ignorance of history and the basis of American self-government; but expose a fundamental ignorance about just how the world actually works!

It most cases, it's not because they're ignorant.  It's because they're uneducated, uninformed, but more alarmingly, too lazy to do anything about it….like read a history book!  They've never learned the fundamentals of society or organizations.  Consequently, they have no basis on which to evaluate claims or distinguish what is credible or even possible.

Web surfing and scrolling through posts, we're subjected to the most inane comments based on cartoonish memes; shallow, simple-minded witticisms graphically composed to give them the appearance of authority or wisdom.   Worse are the narratives, conspiracy theories, misinformation and fear-mongering  deliberately produced by online provocateurs, stoking rage to line their pockets and destroy civility and democracy in the process.

This plays out most vividly with the extremists who subscribe to outlandish conspiracy theories.

Some illustrations:  I'll go through the wacky notions and try to explain what they reveal.

The poster boy for these illustrations is a recently departed childhood friend.  He was a high school dropout and had only worked in service-related positions.  In the last 20 years, he'd been sucked into rabbit holes of right-wing conspiracies.   As internet access became more widespread - along with the opportunists who populate it - he increasingly subscribed to some of the most insane theories of events. 

He would tell you that the government was responsible for 9/11, that aircraft are spraying 'chemtrails' to poison us, that Sandy Hook was a hoax, and that the Jan 6 Capitol riot was orchestrated by 'antifa.'   Clearly, just lapping up scum from the cesspool of internet nonsense.

This not only demonstrated his gullibility and manipulation by these charlatans, or that he's uneducated, but that he didn’t have any basic understanding of how the real world works.   For a variety of reasons, beyond formal education, he, like most people have limited experience in seeing or understanding structures of accountability, chains of command, oversight and their attendant lines of accountability and oversight, legal structures, organizational procedures - many of which were instituted to protect against abuses that these folks are railing against (see code of civil procedure, civil service reforms, required disclosure, filing requirements etc.)

In about 2004 he called me to explain that the 9/11 attacks were actually committed by our own government.   I was gobsmacked.  How could anyone believe such nonsense?  As I thought about it, I realized that he’d never learned or been exposed to how organizations or social constructs work.  

So what agency was in charge of this 'operation?'   Did the heads of these agencies know about it?   And their bosses?  How about Members of Congress?   They approve funding and intelligence operations (and would never pass up the opportunity to expose something so heinous.)  And if it was some contained group operating independently, then they were not part of the government!   What my friend failed to understand is that in all organizations - and especially in government - there are rigid lines of accountability.  Everyone has a boss - and some of those bosses are cross-checking one another.

So, the "government" was responsible or the 9/11 attack?

What agency took the lead in this?  

How was that managed?  Were there communications?  Meetings?

Did the Secretary know about it?

"Hey, Fred, what's on the Senior Staff meeting agenda today?"

"Oh, hey, Jerry.  The Secretary wants to discuss that plan to blow up buildings in New York."  

Did the relevant congressional oversight committees know about it?

Or maybe it was just at the Assistant Secretary level? 

Was it political appointees or the career folks? 

Oh, you say, it was some clandestine plot that was kept secret; known only by a few.

Really?  Then that means they were outside the chain of command AND THEY WEREN'T PART OF THE GOVERNMENT!!   They would be rogue criminals subject to prosecution. Especially if a highly-partisan, publicity-hungry Congress found out about it. 

 Or to take another warped example; that aircraft are secretly spraying some kind of chemicals on the public - "chemtrails."   (Never mind that the same 'contrails' are seen around the world).   Same kind of inquiry:

First, if they were government aircraft, see the chain of accountability above, along with the impossibility that the Pentagon would be party to such a thing.  If - somehow - commercial aircraft were enlisted in such a bizarre scheme, I'd like to know if the airlines' liability lawyers knew about it?  The CEO, and by extension, how about the Board of Directors - who report to shareholders.  

Again, my late friend and others have no concept of organizational accountability.  How organizations HAVE to work and how they're designed to be accountable - legally and financially.  They’ve never learned or been exposed to it so they easily fall prey to any outlandish claim made by charlatans hoping to make money from naïve, gullible souls.

My late friend trafficked in an assortment of fantasies, including (obviously) the whole Trump movement, which would take a commentary in itself.    Without going through more of them, I'll just include a more recent example that hits home because of my experience with health policy.

In a recent email, he copied an internet posting by a notorious right-wing provocateur, claiming that "Jodi O'Malley, who works as a Registered Nurse at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center in Arizona" has some insider scoop on a government coverup on the COVID vaccine.    As though some local medical technician would have some unique insight about a sophisticated corporate and government development process. This would be laughable if it wasn’t taken seriously by some.

That's the problem with these bizarre theories.  They can't stand up to any logical common sense scrutiny.  In government - probably more so than corporations - there are lines of accountability   Companies and government work very hard at this.  They ultimately are accountable to a broader public - either shareholders or voters. Congress jealously guards its prerogative (mostly) to oversee budgets and what agencies are doing with them.   Even "black" ones.   Everyone reports up through someone else.   And at every level; personal, bureaucratic and political, there are rivals who will jump at the chance to capitalize on an error.

Perhaps the greatest failure in the history of this country was made by the nation’s civics teachers; made worse by the wild west fear peddlers taking advantage of the public’s naivete.   I could go on….and this will likely be the subject of continuing columns.