A recent article by Bret Stephens (European Wall Street Journal, September 29) contains some frightening information about the state of public opinion in the Middle East and elsewhere.
We all witnessed Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s UN speech, in which he aired three “theories” about the 9/11 attacks, essentially arguing that they were an inside job mounted by the US government.
Oh well, he is just a nutcase, you say, along with a few other extremists. Most of the world doesn’t listen to such idiocy.
Unfortunately, conspiracy lunacy has become a very widespread disease. According to the University of Maryland’s World Public opinion surveys, only 2% of Pakistan’s 200 million people believe that 9/11 was perpetrated by al Qaeda, while 27% believe that it was the US government (most said they don’t know).
Among Egyptians, 43% say that Israel was responsible, while 12% blame the US, and only 16% think that al Qaeda did it. In Turkey, 39% blame al Qaeda and 39% blame Israel and the US.
Even in Europe, 15% of Italians and 23% of Germans finger the US for the attack.
I just returned from Berlin, where I met a very nice and intelligent French lady. She tried to convince me that the 9/11 attack was a CIA operation.
Earlier, Ahmadinejad had already frequently advocated another “theory” - the denial of the Holocaust. More recently, other interesting theories have surfaced:
- The recent floods in Pakistan were caused by a secret US military project called HAARP, based in Alaska, which controls the weather through electromagnetic waves. HAARP is also responsible for recent tsunamis and earthquakes.
- The US invaded Iraq not only for its oil, but to harvest the organs of dead Iraqis.
- Faisal Shazad was not the perpetrator of the May 1 Times Square bombing. It was orchestrated by an American think tank.
We also have our share of conspiracy buffs, stateside: The birthers, for one, who continue to believe that President Obama is not US-born, that he is a Muslim, and/or that he is a plant to make America non-American (Socialist, Muslim, full of illegal immigrants, take your pick). What is worrisome here, again, is not the existence of such beliefs, but their astonishing popularity: Between one fourth and one third of all Republicans subscribe to them.
I do not believe that the two sides are mirror images of each other. I am sure that the irrationality of the other guys greatly exceeds that of such misguided Americans as the “birthers.”
But irrationality it is! And the scary part is that it cannot be blamed on lack of education. In the Middle East and elsewhere, these theories are spread primarily by the media and by religious and educational elites.
In recent years, the world’s economic problems have occupied center stage. No doubt, economic conditions influence people’s ideas. It was largely because the German economy went down the toilet during the 1920s and 1930s, that the German people went berserk - half of them becoming Nazis and the other half Communists. Whatever its cause may be, the current global retreat from reason is frightening. leave comment here
6 comments:
I've come to the point where I accept that people are willing to believe anything that squarely places responsibility for their suboptimal situations on anyone besides themselves.
Be it The Catholic Church, bankers, liberals, conservatives, Muslims, the CIA, Zionists,Jews, the rich, the poor, immigrants, politicians (who voted those bums into office, anyway). . . whatever.
It amazes and discourages me to see our fellow Americans blame our current national predicament on a myriad of outside forces.
Perhaps the fact that We The People spent a lot more than we earned over the last 30 years might have something to do with our current problems.
As long as it's easier to dream up cockamamie theories to blame our problems on others, rather than to put on our working clothes and get to work, we'll always have these theories.
You put your finger on it,Steve. We are the ones who elected "those damn, crooked politicians." Collectively, America indeed spends way too much compared to what it earns - that's the balance of trade deficit. On the other hand, many Americans dont spend that much now, as they descend into poverty. Tough times.
Conspiracy theories are usually a result of missing information--as well as popular paranoia. 9/11 is a good case in point. The investigation of the events on 9/11 was a shoddy piece of work: witnesses having important information were not given the opportunity to testify, contradictory testimony was omitted from the final report, incomplete explanations were provided for some of the events, and the investigators were not independent and unbiased with regards to the conclusions. The central idea seems to have been to create a simple,believable story of the events in order to "lay the matter to rest." Of course some of the facts were obvious: terrorists flew airplanes into the twin towers, for example. But the possible connections were not all explored. How does one explain why no disiplinary actions were taken against the various agencies and people who ignored the warnings? (As I recall the Director of the CIA recieved the Freedom Medal, rather than being fired--in contrast to the dismissals that occured after Pearl Harbor.) None of this proves that there was a conspiracy, of course--but it sure helps encourage the people who want to believe in one. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me at all to hear that people in other countries believe in 9/11 conspiracy theories. Why should they believe what we tell them anyway? We were the ones that sold them all the packaged mortgage investments that drove their countries nearly into bankruptsy!
Thanks for your comments, Gene.
Excellent points. Malfeasance (or at least incompetence) by our own people, including the CIA, is one part of the huge 9/11 puzzle.
Those who go so far as to say that the CIA-Dick Cheney-Donald Rumsfeld-Paul Wolfowitz-neocon-Military Industrial Complex actually somehow "promoted" the 9/11 attacks so as to justify going to war in the world's oil patch....well, I don't buy it.
Reminds me of the theory that FDR (or at least some warmongers around him) saw the Pearl Harbor attack coming, and that he/they welcomed it/tolerated it. Much has been written about this theory. It was already popular in Europe during the 1950s.
There is a tinge of anti-Americanism in your comments. True, we didn't handle 9/11 well (before, during and after). True, we also triggered the world recession. But let's not blame all of the misinformation in the world, and all the malicious DISinformation spread by various governments and media on that.
Tom, I agree with almost all that you have said, but I want to suggest that to criticize some of the recent actions taken by some Americans does not imply being "anti-American." Although I haven't traveled abroad as frequently as you have,I fully understand that the other countries do not represent paragons of ethical virtue. I simply want America to be as great as it can be. I do not like the fact that successive U.S. governments have refused to end censorship of war documents that the public needs to know about, or take definitive action against those Wall Street CEOs who were primarily responsible for the financial debacle. Here is a little story that may be of help to you in understanding my point of view. I have a friend who speaks fluent French, and he told me that he thinks he might leave this country and go to France if things get any worse. I say this to him: "This is my country and I'm not leaving. I not only think that things haven't gotten bad enough to leave--but I wouldn't leave anyway, I would stay and fight--if it ever became necessary--to preserve the America our founders believed in." My guess is that you feel the same way,Tom. After all, America has been good to us.
Gene,
Thanks for your latest comment. I share your ambivalence - and your goals. There is plenty to criticize. Unless we reach the point described by Sinclair Lewis in "It Can't Happen Here," moving to France or to any other country - just as a form of protest - does not seem to be well thought out. The grass often seems greener on the other side, but things become less rosy once the honeymoon is over (do you like my 3 metaphors in a row?).
I know what I am talking about, as I have moved from one country to another four times. So you are right, I think I'll try to stick it out in America, with all its imperfections.
And I know you too well to take you for an anti-American.
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