29-07-2013, 02:16 PM
(This post was last modified: 29-07-2013, 05:53 PM by Albert Rossi.)
http://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Theory-...0292743793
I just finished this book. It is well written, and offers a sophisticated discussion of a number of important topics concerning the poisoning (and closing off) of public discourse via the term / meme "conspiracy theory".
Some of the more important components of his argument:
- the vagueness of the concept supposedly denoted by the term
- the fact that belief in and distrust of the tendency for political power to be managed through factionalism was actually a cornerstone of the U.S. constitutional system of checks and balances; the "naturalness" of this form of political thought actually could be said to characterize American attitudes until WWII; the current state of affairs is thus a reversal, according to him, of a traditional perspective on power
- the fact that this kind of thinking about cabals or factions within the realm of governance has been too easily and wrongly conflated by modern political science and sociology with 19th-century fears and prejudices based on race, religion, and ethnicity
- the injection of this meme into the American lexicon by CIA/media assets in response to the first wave of skepticism concerning the Warren Report (he reproduces in full at the end of the book the famous internal memo recommending how to handle the critics)
- a solid and insightful comparative analysis of three political thinkers who have shaped the debate about "conspiracies" in the social sciences: Charles Beard, Karl Popper and Leo Strauss (at long last, an author who takes the problem of conspiracy seriously directly engages its academic/philosophical substrate); what he has to say about the logical fallacies in Popper and the influence of Strauss on neocon thinking is very good
Throughout the book, De Haven-Smith replaces the term "conspiracy", at least for the kinds of collusion we are usually interested in, with the acronym "SCAD", standing for "State Crime Against Democracy". He has a long appendix in which he enumerates the most important SCADs in US history, beginning with the Sedition Act of 1798.
Where De Haven-Smith really shines, in my opinion, is when he does extended readings of cultural memes. The high point, a deconstructive tour de force, is his discussion of the "9/11" meme. I won't reproduce it here, but it is perhaps the most comprehensive dismantling of the significance of the linguistic and semantic coding embedded in this peculiar usage.
I have some problems with the particulars of his views on certain events, in particular the JFK assassination and Watergate; those are, in my view, the weakest parts of his presentation. But notwithstanding my disagreements here, I think the book has much merit and is a worthwhile read.
I just finished this book. It is well written, and offers a sophisticated discussion of a number of important topics concerning the poisoning (and closing off) of public discourse via the term / meme "conspiracy theory".
Some of the more important components of his argument:
- the vagueness of the concept supposedly denoted by the term
- the fact that belief in and distrust of the tendency for political power to be managed through factionalism was actually a cornerstone of the U.S. constitutional system of checks and balances; the "naturalness" of this form of political thought actually could be said to characterize American attitudes until WWII; the current state of affairs is thus a reversal, according to him, of a traditional perspective on power
- the fact that this kind of thinking about cabals or factions within the realm of governance has been too easily and wrongly conflated by modern political science and sociology with 19th-century fears and prejudices based on race, religion, and ethnicity
- the injection of this meme into the American lexicon by CIA/media assets in response to the first wave of skepticism concerning the Warren Report (he reproduces in full at the end of the book the famous internal memo recommending how to handle the critics)
- a solid and insightful comparative analysis of three political thinkers who have shaped the debate about "conspiracies" in the social sciences: Charles Beard, Karl Popper and Leo Strauss (at long last, an author who takes the problem of conspiracy seriously directly engages its academic/philosophical substrate); what he has to say about the logical fallacies in Popper and the influence of Strauss on neocon thinking is very good
Throughout the book, De Haven-Smith replaces the term "conspiracy", at least for the kinds of collusion we are usually interested in, with the acronym "SCAD", standing for "State Crime Against Democracy". He has a long appendix in which he enumerates the most important SCADs in US history, beginning with the Sedition Act of 1798.
Where De Haven-Smith really shines, in my opinion, is when he does extended readings of cultural memes. The high point, a deconstructive tour de force, is his discussion of the "9/11" meme. I won't reproduce it here, but it is perhaps the most comprehensive dismantling of the significance of the linguistic and semantic coding embedded in this peculiar usage.
I have some problems with the particulars of his views on certain events, in particular the JFK assassination and Watergate; those are, in my view, the weakest parts of his presentation. But notwithstanding my disagreements here, I think the book has much merit and is a worthwhile read.