Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History [Hardcover]

 

 

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The author deals with a number of well-known conspiracy theories, from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to the death of Dr David Kelly, by way of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the death of Marilyn Monroe, the assassinations of JFK and RFK, the moon landings, the Da Vinci code/bloodline of Jesus stuff, and 9/11 (among others) and to my mind demolishes them pretty thoroughly.
But he isn't just interested in debunking. He also examines why people believe in conspiracy theories and why they can exert such a strong grip on them. He points out that conspiracists tend to be on the "losing side" (politically, socially, or economically) of society, and that believing in conspiracies is therapeutic for them. They can explain why they are on the losing side ("we were robbed, deceived") salve their hurt ("the people who deceived us are so powerful, so evil, it's understandable that they appear to be the winners") and then restore their egos ("we have seen the truth, we are so much cleverer than ordinary people who are happy to be sheep-like in their acceptance of things; we are illuminated, in the know, we are special").
Interestingly he is able to develop this line in the light of some recent psychological and biological research which indicates we are genetically hard wired to look for causes and effects. This seems to be related to our developing tool-using capabilities; in order to develop and employ tools we need to think in cause and effect terms. (And of course while some animals to make occasional and specific use of natural objects as tools, humans are the only ones to do so extensively and develop the range of tools to use.) So we are uncomfortable with randomness - if something happens it must because someone caused it to, there's no such thing as an accident, someone must be to blame.
And the more prominent a person is, the more in the public eye, the greater the forces we feel must be needed to pull them down or kill them. Accidents and lone gunmen are for ordinary people, not special ones, and they certainly don't commit suicide.
Not only that but we have a fear of insignificance, of being ignored. If we feel we are being reduced to mere ciphers in a complex society believe in conspiracies is an effective therapy for us.
The author also takes a firm swing at the sort of relativism that exists in some circles and seems fashionable in certain academic circles, that says that one person's perception of what happened is as valid as another's, and that to insist on examining facts and evidence is not helpful.
An engrossing and informative read.

Well clearly Aaronovitch's book already has a number of conspiracy theorists slathering at the mouth at the debunking of a number of their sacred cows. I guess it's just further evidence to them that the world's media is run by giant lizards from Zarg bent on galactic domination via the printed word. Anyways, let's be grateful for a well researched and readable work which carefully dismantles a number of well know conspiracy theories (Diana, 9/11, JFK) and lesser known ones (e.g. Hilda Murrell). It also usefully provides thoughts on how these theories come about, both in general and in their specific context and what drives people to believe in them despite all the evidence and even post revelation (e.g. Priory of Sion).

So why only three stars?

Well mainly because he carefully selects targets that whilst well known, can also be easily dismantled - a quick check on Wikipedia would probably do enough for the average individual to throw these theories in the bin. So a book on these alone just isn't enough to my mind. A key thing here should be, to my mind, the extent to which governments and companies conspire in far less serious ways and therefore give credence to the possibility of these theories. As such, he doesn't touch on the many day to day collusions, frauds and deceits that governments and companies carry out all the time. These clearly range from the very minor (e. recent Parliamentary expenses), through the domestic (e.g. wire-tapping of political opponents like Scargill), to the international (e.g. French bombing of the Rainbow Warrior) and to the global (e.g. US support for Suharto in the 1960s). Whilst these are very different to traditional conspiracy theories, surely they form part of the broader spectrum, especially in terms of giving a reason to believe - "Well if they can blow up peace protestors' boats then surely they might bump off a peace activist". What makes a conspiracy theory a conspiracy theory? When do little collusions become big ones? How far would a government go to protect its interests?

Dismantling the big theories is easy. Understanding the detail is harder.

You can be reasonably confident in advance that a book will be worth reading if it has conspiracy theorists in rant-mode and foaming with indignation: a raw nerve has obviously been poked. Such a book is David Aaronovitch's `Voodoo Histories' which exposes the delusional ideological framework at the heart of conspiracy-theorist psychology.

This original UK version of Aaronovitch's text doesn't disappoint - though it might have had more bite. Radical anti-establishment journalist Aaronovitch looks into why many otherwise sane and rational people buy into the more outlandish conspiracy theories which litter modern social history. From the fraudulent 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion,' manufactured by 19th century Czarist police to justify the persecution of Jewish people and enthusiastically promoted by Adolf Hitler and Henry Ford (of all people); to the '9/11 was an inside job' fantasists who employ ignorant pseudo-science to feed dogmatic belief-systems and multiple fringe political-propagandist agendas, Aaronovitch takes us on a fascinating, instructive and frequently amusing ride through a parade of delusional ideologies to be found just beneath the surface of contemporary society, and does a mostly effective job in deconstructing them.

In addition to those cited above, other conspiracy theories examined in the book are:

- the Stalinist show trials of the 1930s, where every failure of the Soviet industrial system was scape-goated onto 'conspiracists' singled out for persecution

- the conspiracy manufactured by right-wing 'America First' elements in the USA to discredit FDR by claiming he had foreknowledge of the Pearl Harbor attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy in December 1941

- Senator McCarthy's witch-hunts in the 1950s against largely non-existent communists allegedly trying to wreck the USA from within

- attempts to 'conspiracize' the deaths of JFK, Marilyn Munro and Diana POW

- the highly profitable and surprisingly durable fantasy perpetrated by Baigent, Leigh et al about the alleged bloodline of Christ surviving through the Merovingians and the Templars up to modern times (which enabled fiction-writer Dan Brown to become a millionaire), side-tracking into the theories of such diverse and successful alternative-history authors as Erich Von Daniken and Graham Hancock

- the deaths of David Kelly and Hilda Morrell, 'conspiracised' variously in Parliament and in the popular press by MPs Tam Dalyell and Norman Baker

Aaronovitch is a thorough investigative journalist who takes the trouble to read and study all the pro-conspiracy books and to attend the meetings; he understands his source material and has done his research. A list of common CT-components is identified: the citing of historical precedent and employment of flawed logic ("there were conspiracies before in history, so this must be one too"); parroting the weak and lazy "we're just asking questions" and "challenging the official version"; the focus on supposed `anomalies' in the absence of supporting evidence for the CT; and a determination to ignore, bury and discount all evidence which might prove the CT to be wrong. Promoters also ape the academic convention of citations and footnotes, but only cite each other in a closed loop which passes the gullible enquirer from one believer to the next, whilst brushing aside all the really hard evidence as "supporting the official story."

In attempting to explain why some otherwise apparently rational folks fall for this stuff, Aaronovitch has insight enough to see that the superficial subject of the theory (whether the death of Diana POW seen as a "murder by MI6" or "there were no planes on 9/11: it was all holograms") has little to do with the reason people cling to it so zealously. People hold on to these delusions for personal psychological reasons, so adherence to such dogmas cannot be effectively argued with because the normal rules of logic and evidence do not apply in the proponents' world. Like other writers before him (Professor Michael Barkun for example) Aaronovitch identifies a proneness to CT-thinking as a characteristic of political and economic losers; there is 'a quantum of solace' in adopting an ideology that 'THEY' (the so-called `New World Order', the Trilateral Commission or the `Bilderburgers', the UN, the `Secret World Government' or whatever) can be blamed for everything. It is more comforting to believe in evil puppet-masters flawlessly executing massive conspiracies to fool millions of people and further their own agendas than to work with the deeply nuanced complexities of the real world: no investment of work or time is needed to become part of a small band of heroes who `know the truth.'

So conspiracy theories, Aaronovitch argues, attempt to impose order on the random chaos of the real world and so "improve on reality." Whilst offering a more complex and improbable narrative and ignoring the principles embodied in the Occam's Razor rule, they infantilize adherents by explaining events in terms crafted to force-fit their limited paradigms, offering an easily digestible and dumbed-down narrative. Look at a website promoting a CT-view of the world, or watch a 10-minute video on youtube, and suddenly you can become privy to secret knowledge and understanding, superior to the 'sheeple' (a common CT pejorative, like 'shill') who haven't wasted their time with these things (or just as likely, have seen through their pretensions) and therefore don't understand the conspiracy like you do. You can now justify your own relative failures because the sinister `THEY' are responsible for everything; you have hate-figures to rail against, suddenly "everything is connected" and makes sense.

Far from heaping (often deserved?) scorn on conspiracy theorists, Aaronovitch exhibits generosity of spirit and seeks to understand rather than condemn. In fact, he lets CT-proponents off much more lightly than might be expected (an exception might be Mohammed Fayed who - together with his brother-in-law and Dodi's uncle, the notorious arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi - were responsible for manufacturing and disseminating ALL the Diana murder-conspiracy narratives to a gullible international constituency).

Even if you have little interest in the propagation of CT-ideologies, 'Voodoo Histories' can be recommended as a commendable piece of writing. It's witty, dispassionate and thought-provoking, and a fine - if not entirely original - analysis of an interesting modern phenomenon. The author does demonstrate that adherence to these delusional ideologies occasionally has serious consequences - i.e. the fraudulent `Protocols' were used by the Nazis to convince people that "(Jewish) bankers, financiers and internationalists" were planning a sinister conspiracy to "erode the borders between nation-states, take over the world and enslave the people": persecution, and eventually mass exterminations as official State policy, were thus justified.

Readers genuinely interested in the psychology of the CT-phenomenon might also like to check out `The Nature and Purpose of Political Conspiracy Theories', 'Political Paranoia v. Political Realism: On Distinguishing between Bogus Conspiracy Theories and Genuine Conspiratorial Politics' and `Conspiracy Theories and Clandestine Politics' by Jeffrey M. Bale. Professor Michael Barkun's `A Cult of Conspiracy - Apocalyptic Visions in Contemporary America' in which the author analyses the historical development of pick-and-mix `Improvisational Millennialism' and categorizes conspiracy theories into distinct types which each perform a different psychological function, also makes a good (and more academically rigorous) companion to Aaronovitch's more populist work.

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1.0 out of 5 stars rubbish from a right wing reactionary
This book is absolute rubbish - not surprising when it is written by a right wing reactionary such Mr aaronovitch. Read more

Published 5 months ago by findlay

1.0 out of 5 stars An ultimately disappointing book.
The author deconstructs very popular, very prominent conspiracy theories - choices disappointing in themselves; they have been done before so often that now, the only people... Read more

Published 7 months ago by Aleks

1.0 out of 5 stars Sorry David
Sorry also to Amazon but I borrowed Book this from a friend.

Gosh , where to start !

9/11

Dustification of the Twin-towers... Read more

Published 8 months ago by John D. Weir

1.0 out of 5 stars Professional Liar
Aaronovitch links 'conspiracy theorists' with the idea of "hating the Jews". Wrong. Some people really hate LIES and the LIARS who tell those treacherous (and treasonous) LIES... Read more

Published 9 months ago by K. BOYLE

1.0 out of 5 stars not worth the paper it's printed on
Aaronovitch basically lacks method. He does his best to look for a weakness in a theory, but he has no solid knowledge of his own. Read more

Published 11 months ago by Mark Twain

1.0 out of 5 stars Propaganda classic
Any book touting the term 'conspiracy theory' on it's cover red flags the aware reader to its purpose---propaganda. Read more

Published 12 months ago by whale.to

2.0 out of 5 stars Voodoo Debunkery
Starts powerfully, I thought. Stalin's show trials and Pearl Harbour chapters executed in genuinely impressive prose, and when I began to pick up on the subtext of the latter (the... Read more

Published 14 months ago by HEADPRESS

1.0 out of 5 stars This debunks NOTHING-In fact I now doubt it more than ever.....
Well, I have to say I am very disappointed after reading this book....A friend sent me a copy after I had been researching 9/11 in allot of detail and being unable to find any... Read more

Published 18 months ago by Frase

3.0 out of 5 stars Pick and Mix
David Aaronovitch is the most insightful, reasonable, and convincing columnist in Britain today. With a few words or half a sentence he skewers the fallacies prevalent in society,... Read more

Published 23 months ago by J. Reynolds

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Book
David Aaronovitch's book is not the usual re-hash of the conspiracy and of the evidence which punctures the myth. Read more

Published 24 months ago by Peter Jay

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