Sunday, February 04, 2018

Dare We Question Boldly?

In a society of text codes and agency initials, isn't it interesting that Conspiracy Theory and Critical Thinking both have the same initials?  Not to mention "Controversial Topics, Chem-Trails, and Creation Therapy."  It would seem Conspiracy Theory became a common term in our society about the same time the concept of Critical Thinking was pretty much eliminated in our general culture . . .

Although weaning myself away from my political addiction did take some time, I have to credit former President Obama for my distancing from political posts.  Disagreeing with him, always came with some sort of negative label, that really amounted to nothing more than character assassination.  Whereas; disagreeing with G.W. was just politics, as usual.  It troubled me greatly that we had actually elected an administration that could not be disagreed with, or even questioned; yet was supported by so many Americans.  That sign of the times took awhile to process . . . and once I did, writer's block ensued for a time.

Now that the format has changed in the periodical published from this source, Contemplation of Preponderance will be used to present various topics that are either controversial or considered conspiratorial.  We'll do everything we can, here to use our own critical thinking skills and encourage the same in our readers.  We do not have to agree or disagree with every topic based upon our political or religious affiliations.  Sometimes, even often . . . the majority is wrong!

Before launching, fully into this new direction of "conspiracy theory," I thought I'd see what Wikipedia had to say about the subject.  So, here we go . . . first paragraph:
"conspiracy theory is an explanation of an event or situation that invokes an unwarranted conspiracy, generally one involving an illegal or harmful act carried out by government or other powerful actors. Conspiracy theories often produce hypotheses that contradict the prevailing understanding of history or simple facts. The term is a derogatory one.

I wanted to include the Etymology, as the dictionary definition, as well as the history is quite telling.  Historically speaking, it's apparently a fairly new phrase, which was used quite sparingly and considered somewhat neutral, until the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.  The early neutrality of the term is argued, but for the most part, conspiracy theory was not a term of general use until the CIA coined the phrase to discredit those who doubted the official version of JFK's death.  Apparently it was through the sixties, "Conspiracy Theory" became the negative term to officially replace "critical thinking," and has gained traction, since.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines conspiracy theory as "the theory that an event or phenomenon occurs as a result of a conspiracy between interested parties; spec. a belief that some covert but influential agency (typically political in motivation and oppressive in intent) is responsible for an unexplained event". It cites a 1909 article in The American Historical Review as the earliest usage example, although it also appears in journals as early as April 1870. The word "conspiracy" derives from the Latin con- ("with, together") and spirare ("to breathe").
According to John Ayto, the phrase conspiracy theory was originally a neutral term and acquired a pejorative connotation only in the 1960s, with an implication that the theorist is paranoid.[10] Lance deHaven-Smith has similarly suggested that the term was deployed in the 1960s by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to discredit John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories. Robert Blaskiewicz rejects such claims, asserting instead that the term has always been derogatory and pointing to examples demonstrating that this has been so since the nineteenth century.

As we present various topics in this publication, I must reiterate, we have become a society of filtered, yet flooded information which has served to often divide and distract "we the people" from what I consider to be the true issues that are of actual concern to us.  I will use the assassination of JFK to make my point.  

The Report of the Warren Commission has been doubted for over 50 years, movies suggesting the potential mendacity of the report have been made; yet the Report remains the official historical account.  The fact that our nation has continued to politically divide since the sixties, only serves to prove, we actually lost site of the fact our President was gunned down in front of thousands and nearly 60 years later, we know that we still don't who did it.  We've accepted, while doubting, not only the official report, but the general distrust of every aspect of official authority!  The distrust and mistrust has grown exponentially.    

The programming is strong and relentless.  Many are afraid to question the government, while others are ashamed to believe what we are told.  The solution?  

The Bible is as current as today's headlines and definitely accurate! 

G-d is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?



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