There are thousands upon thousands of conspiracy theories floating around. Some (very few) are based on actual events, most are pure fiction. As I have reviewed these ‘theories’ from multiple sources, there is one question I always ask, “Who benefits from this?” I am asking not so much who gains from the outcome of the theory as I am who benefits from the theory itself?
Conspiracy
theories are probably as old as the first time three people got together to have
a conversation. After looking at as many of these theories as I could, I have
categorized them in a way slightly different than most:
· Theories that are based on racism
· Theories that are based on generating fear of something specific (not necessarily exclusive of racism)
· Theories that are based on actual events, but the facts have been confused or twisted
If you read through this list you will see that they all have one thing in common. The theories are meant to somehow control a segment of a population to motivate them to do something or believe something. I am not going to go into every conspiracy theory since you can find most of them in books or on the Internet. I am going to touch on a couple.
Who killed JFK? On Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America was shot multiple times while riding in his open limousine in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. He was later pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Those are the bare facts. From here on is where the conspiracy theories begin. According to the Warren Commission, the official investigative body into the assassination, JFK was killed by a lone assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. There have been multiple theories that the President was actually killed by bullets fired from various places in and around Dealey Plaza. But that isn’t the core of most of the conspiracy theories.
The core of these theories is, who conspired to have JFK killed? There is no end to the list of suspects for this. It seems that everyone from Vice President Johnson (at the time) to Fidel Castro wanted JFK dead. Again, I am not going to list every organization and suspect, that is a book all its own. The point is the theories themselves. Who benefits? If we say it was Lyndon B. Johnson we sow seeds of discontent with our own government. If we point to Fidel Castro, we generate a positive basis for those advocating a takeover of Cuba.
There is no doubt that Johnson benefited from the assassination of JFK. He and his cohorts in the oil and gas industry got to keep the war in Vietnam going and even expanded it. There are other links to Johnson that speak to the possibility here (frankly, Johnson hated Kennedy and it is highly probable that Johnson wasn’t going to be JFK’s running mate in the upcoming election.) But that is only one possibility with who could have benefited. If you look into the other possibilities and trace back the motives, you will find that behind each is a benefit, real or imagined.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is another that has enflamed a number of conspiracy theories. Supposedly, the Protocols detail how a cabal of Jewish leaders are going to take over and control the world. This antisemitic piece of garbage was actually a forgery. The hoax was plagiarized from several earlier sources. It was first published in Russia in 1903, translated into multiple languages, and disseminated internationally in the early part of the 20th century. It played a key part in popularizing belief in an international Jewish conspiracy. It was taught as fact in Nazi Germany and has been used by neo-Nazi groups around the world ever since.
One of the ‘proofs’ that are often used to support the Protocols are the possible link to the Rothschild’s with the French Revolution. This is because the French Revolution brought some positive changes to the standing of Jews. Prior to the Revolution, Jews were second class citizens in France. After the Revolution the Jews gained full emancipation. So, where do the Rothschilds fit in? According to Wikipedia (not the most reliable of sources,) “In 1806, Napoleon I ordered the convening of a "Grand Sanhedrin" in Paris and in 1808 he organized the "Consistoire central des Israélites de France", the administrative agency for all French Jews. The consistorial system made Judaism a recognized religion and placed it under government control. This Consistoire has been a functioning body ever since, except under the Nazi occupation of France during World War II. By tradition, the Central Consistoire has had a member of the Rothschild family as its president.” I’m not sure the placing a religion under government control actually elevates the Jews out of the realm of second class or is somehow helping the Jews become masters of the world.
Supposedly, one percent (1%) of the world’s population is to control the rest of the world. There are roughly eight billion people in the world today that’s 8,000,000,000. One percent of eight billion is eighty million, that’s 80,000,000. Rationally, does anyone really think that you can get eighty million people to agree on anything let alone how the world should be run? Add to this that there are only about fifteen million (15,000,000) Jews in the world or 12% of the eighty million, how are they in control of anything?
The point here is that document like The Protocols of Zion have one purpose, to control a segment of the population into the belief that the Jews are evil and therefore it is okay to purge them and take their possessions. That’s who benefits and why. And, just for the Christians out there, I will remind you that Jesus, Peter, Paul, and the rest of the disciples were ALL Jews. I suppose you could say that THEY eventually took over a large portion of the world.
I don’t expect people to stop believing in the myriad of conspiracy theories out there. The Internet makes it too easy to spread the theories and even back them up with selected facts and photos. People WANT to believe in these theories and that’s okay, but I am going to continue to ask the question, who benefits. One last thing for my Christian brethren, Jesus told us not to be led astray, so be careful, be critical when looking at conspiracy theories.
Stay safe, stay blessed.
KM
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