All political parties and movements have their extremes. On the right, you have the anti-gay, anti-stem cell research, anti-anyone-who-isn't-christian extreme. On the left, you have the anti-christian, anti-capitalist, anti-individualist extreme. And, unfortunately, with libertarians there is a conspiracy theorist extreme. While these extremists are small, they, like their right and left wing counterparts, are very vocal.
This is a bad thing, because it puts the rest of libertarianism, that is to say freedom advocacy, in a bad light and thus repulses people away who would otherwise be supportive of the ideas of liberty.
To be fair, there are conspiracy theories on the left and right as well, which are sometimes shared by self-identified libertarians. Also, some conspiracies are real; the Watergate break-in, the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, Archduke Ferdinand and so on. Like any other historical event, these incidents are provable to a high degree of certainty, given the evidence. Nothing, outside of pure mathematics, can be proven to 100% certainty, but we can usually come pretty close. How do we prove conspiracies? Physical evidence, scientific analysis and consensus, testimony, and examining paper trails. In essence, the facts must support the theory, if the facts the do not, then the theory must be abandoned for a better one which fits the facts more completely. This is how truth is determined.
But when it comes to conspiracy theories, the opposite is true; the theory, which is usually sensational in nature) is presented first, any facts which fit the theory are gladly accepted, but dis-confirming facts are ignored and sometimes outright fraud is committed, as was the case with Anti-Vaccine researcher, Andrew Wakefield.
However, most conspiracy theories can be dismissed by applying a little common sense and objectively looking at the facts. For example, September 11th 2001. Lets assume for a moment that instead of 19 hijackers from Saudi Arabia and Egypt were responsible, it was the United States Government, that explosives were planted in WTC 1, 2 and 7, that AA flight 77 did not crash into the Pentagon (a missile did) and UA flight 93 was destroyed by a fighter. Assuming ALL of that, what would need to have happened? How many people would have been involved? Remember this is the same government that cannot even run AMTRAK profitably, and yet it can pull off 9/11 without a single leak? Anyone who knows about controlled demolitions knows that explosives must be placed in key areas and detonated in a specific order. It isn't like the movies where a single bundle of dynamite with a clock is placed at a joint in the superstructure. Large buildings take weeks of planning and placing of charges and detcord by dozens of engineers. So who were these engineers that planted the explosives? A conspiracy theorist acquaintance of mine maintained all of the involved engineers were "silenced", but if so how did no one come to miss these missing engineers? And if they were silenced, not one of the assassins blew the whistle? How did nobody see them plant explosives? Where did the explosives come from?
If AA flight 77 didn't hit the Pentagon, then where did the plane go and what happened to all the passengers? If it was a missile, who fired it?
It becomes very clear very quickly that such a conspiracy would require the cooperation of thousands of people and for them all to remain perfectly silent for over a decade. Not one death bed confession, not one credible letter to the editor, not one leaked memo or requisition for demolition supplies. As my brother would say "The whole world found out about Bill Clinton's blow job in the oval office, and there were only two people in the room. How could thousands of people, spread over multiple states and disciplines stay quiet for so long?"
Another claim is GMO foods are "poison". But even a cursory look at health statistics demonstrate that Americans are now living longer than ever. "But not as long as other!" the conspiracy theorist will object. True, Americans on the whole do not live as long as others and while there are explanations for this as well, the assertion that GMO foods are "poison" dismisses that Canadians outlive Americans and produce and consume large amounts of GMO foods. To put it plainly, if GMO foods are so toxic, where are the scores of bodies we should expect? That is not to say there are not risks, there are risks in conventional food as well; non-irradiated food carries a potentially higher risk of contamination, organic crops might be fertilized with fecal material, certain products may provoke allergies and so on. But all of these claims, however valid, are much different from saying a whole category of food is lethal. Needless to say, I am sad when I hear "libertarians" call for the banning of GMO research and products, despite tremendous potential benefits.
The claims made against Vaccines are particularly interesting, because they literally work so well, people no longer see the need for their use. When was the last time you saw someone stricken with polio, measles, mumps or smallpox? So, people with no historical perspective assume vaccines are not needed at all, and on top of it all, they believe that vaccines cause health problems including autism, which have been thoroughly debunked. While vaccines are not 100% effective and there are some well documented risks, the benefits far outweigh the risks. But the conspiracy theorists will reject these facts, because there is a perceived conspiracy by "Big Pharma" to make money by killing people.
I could go on and on, from the "UFO" crash at Roswell to "chemtrails" to the federal reserve to water fluoridation. (As a side note, I am often amused by those who claim they avoid fluoride by drawing well water instead of municipal water, unaware that about 30% of American Water is not fluoridated artificially, and that fluoride is naturally present in many sources of groundwater.)
All of the above "conspiracies", while they can be proven false, do however bring up important points that should be addressed. Even in the unlikely event that the conspiracy is real, in order to attract more people to the liberty movement, a better approach is needed. For instance;
- Instead of accusing the government of perpetrating 9-11, instead ask the question how best to spread peace, while preserving (and restoring) our liberties?
- Instead of demanding that GMO crops and research be banned, advocate to allow alternative labels for competing products, so non-GMO foods can label themselves as they choose, rather than force GMO foods to label to the subjective whims of a government office. Individuals will be empowered to choose for themselves.
- Instead of accusing "Big Pharma" of killing children, look at the history and science and decide for yourself, don't decide for other people.
- Instead of repeating that fluoridation is hazardous, find out if your local water supply is fluoridated, investigate the costs, weigh against the benefits and if you come to the conclusion that it is not worth it, purchase appropriate water filters.
- Instead of saying the Federal Reserve is the result of a dark cabal of bankers, instead focus on the poor economic results of the FED, the inflation, the artificially low interest creating bubbles and so on.
Conspiracy theories only serve to make people look like paranoid kooks or uninformed demagogues like Jenny McCarthy, Bill Maher and Alex Jones. Don't fall into their trap. Do not chase phantoms, instead focus on real issues. Prohibition is real. Trade barriers are real. Bad monetary policy is real. Debt is real. War is real. These are the problems that need our attention and these are the issues for which libertarians are extremely well equipped to fight. But don't take it from me.
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