Evil Plots

I was standing in line at a Fry's Electronics Store today, listening to a conversation just ahead of me about the causes of the worldwide economic meltdown.   The two parties ahead of me - one, an older couple, and the other a guy somewhere in his 20's - were convinced that the crisis was a planned event.  Apparently, in their view, this was all a great manipulation to move us to a One World Goverment.  They see the coordinated efforts of international governments as the precursor to the creation of a true World Bank.  They recalled George Bush Sr.'s pronouncements of a New World Order.  The younger guy reminded his new friends that it's easy to manipulate people when they're down (in other words, while we're all poor and desperate).

I'm always fascinated with theories that involve massive plots that would need to involve legions of co-conspirators.  Usually, these are the same people furious at our ineffective government.  Yet, somehow, that ineffective government excels in only two areas - creating intricate secret plots and keeping thousands of co-conspirators quiet.  Apparently, our government brilliantly conceived a faked moon landing, and staged 9/11, both with a level of secrecy that has disposed of the uncertainty of human beings, and an extra dose of complexity (after all , why simply implode the World Trade Center when we could fly planes into the buildings) simply for good measure.

I suspect we'll see a dramatic rise in paranoia over the next several months as the financial crisis continues to develop.  The greatest danger isn't financial - it's desperation.