WARNING: I’m going to write this article in a hurry. I’ve given myself one hour to punch this out. (I will write a follow up if necessary in the future. It typically takes me days to write an article).
Let’s start with a definition for conspiracy.
Conspiracy, according to Chambers Dictionary (13th Edition) is:
To plot or scheme together
To devise
To act together to one end
It may have some negative connotations as in a secret agreement between two or more people to perform some harmful or illegal act.
The thrust, however, is that people with the same goals and objectives, agree to work together to figure out how to achieve their stated goals and objectives. That’s it. Nothing more nothing less.
Now, what is “harmful” or “illegal” is highly subjective, and most conspiracies are not secret. We simply fail to construct logic trees to fully grasp their ramifications. (Partly due to the fact that we have never been taught how to build good logic trees, and also due to the fact that we are highly irrational, gullible, lazy and complacent. As long as we are left alone to live our own lives in peace, we really don’t care what other people’s objectives are. None of this is lost on those who aspire to gain more control.)
As someone who advocates for feedback systems, I’m naturally always conspiring, all be it in the open. (i.e. I’m constantly on the look out for people with similar goals, aspirations and passions to mine to see if we can collaborate in order to achieve them together).
Let’s start with what I am passionate about:
Education (Learning how to learn. Building learning organizations, and childhood learning solutions. Logic literacy)
Business Network (Building a network of like minded business owners who value the wellbeing of their community over profits.)
Health (Building a knowledge base of crowd sourced information to help people live better, healthier lives)
Continuous Improvement (Based on feedback principles)
Knowledge management solutions
Freedom, Honesty, Transparency, Accountability and Justice
Thriving autonomous communities
The common denominator for all of these is “feedback principles”.
(And yes, this is an open invitation to collaborate if you have similar goals and aspirations. Join this conspiracy and let’s turn it into reality ;-)
Conspiracy Principles
Your goals and aspirations will dictate your actions
If you want to figure out what someone’s real goals and aspirations are, study their actions, not their words (!)
If you want to figure out the implications and necessary pre-requisites for achieving these goals then build a logic tree (Bill Detmer’s book “The Logical Thinking Process” is the best place to get started.)
As an exercise, what are the implications for a company whose one and only goal is to continually increase its profits for its shareholders?
The problem with the love of money is that it is the root of all evil. So building a feedback loop around that is not going to end well.
People who refuse to acknowledge these implications are only deluding themselves, even if they are the first to scoff at “conspiracy theories”.
If, as an organization your one and only goal is to continually increase profits for your shareholders, and you have billions if not trillions of dollars at your disposition, how would you “invest” that money in order to keep making more money?
If you are unable to figure this out, then you really have no authority to comment on conspiracies, let alone “conspiracy theories”.
If you had a lot of money at your disposal, wouldn’t one of your strategies be to pay journalists to denigrate “conspiracy theories” in order to brainwash the masses to look the other way…. so that you can continue exploiting them in order to fulfil your goals with impunity?
Hmmmm…..
Brainwashing
“If you are brainwashed, how would you know?” is a question I have been wrestling with for decades. As a person who was brainwashed this is not a rhetorical question.
The complement of this question from the perspective of someone who wants to control and manipulate others is: “Is there a better way to control large amounts of people other than to brainwash them?” (By better I mean: as “cheap and effective” as possible. If you can get people to pay you to get brainwashed, then you have mastered the art.)
If there is, please let me know in the comments.
Again, if you are the type of person to scoff at “conspiracy theories” let me ask you “If you are brainwashed, how would you know?”
If you never thought about this question and/or have no meaningful answers for it, then use it as a wake up call, and start looking for answers. You most probably are in desperate need of them.
I’ve already spent 2 hours on this article. (An hour more than I had planned).
There is still so much to write. I will try to find some time next week.
Please let me know if this was at all useful or whether I should wait to completely finish an article before publishing it. I think I managed to get the main bits in there, but there are so many details missing…. and I know, details matter…