Conspiracy Theories

When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt in 2008, a story that made the rounds was that some
senior Jewish executives in the investment bank founded by Jewish immigrants from Germany in
1850 transferred $400 billion to three Israeli banks. The story was picked up by anti-Semitic
blogs and web forums and now forms part of the folklore of conspiracy theories involving the
Jews, Israel and the U.S.

The Lehman Brothers conspiracy theory, like the earlier libel widely circulated especially in
some Arab countries that the Israeli Mossad knew in advance about the 9/11 attacks on the
World Trade Center and warned all of the Jewish employees in the twin towers not to come to
work that morning, fits neatly into the Jews-are-trying-to-dominate-the-world mythology so
fondly cultivated by anti-Semitic groups of all hues. Generally conspiracy theories are ignored
by the mainstream media and the general public for what they are: just unfounded conclusions
with no evidence to back them. But such weird theories are often live topics in drawing room
discussions or during cocktail hours. They are the gossips the educated today.

Many of us have had personal experiences of being in informal gatherings where we have no
option but to question, in vain, one or the other participant backed by few others bombarding one
conspiracy theory after another. It is very difficult to counter those who believe in conspiracy
theories for the simple reason that they are supported by no evidence and are conclusions based
on either selective interpretation of facts or prejudice. A very popular conspiracy theory that has
many takers is that the Apollo Moon landing was stage-managed by NASA. When I heard this
Moon landing hoax story from an educated person recently, I understood why Buzz Aldrin lost
his temper when accosted by a Bible-toting Moon landing conspiracy theorist and punched the
latter in the face, though there are punching arguments against the Moon hoax myth (See Phil
Plait, the Myth Busters, David Adam). It is, however, astonishing to find that some six per cent
of Americans believe that the Moon landings were faked.

No conspiracy theory is as awe-inspiring as that related to Illuminati, originally a movement of

freethinkers established in Bavaria in 1776 and attacked by its critics as a group engaged in a
conspiracy to overthrow European governments of the time. In contemporary circles of
conspiracy theorists, Illuminati refers to an alleged conspiratorial group controlling the world
through governments and corporations for the establishment of the New World Order (NWO).
These NWO conspiracy theorists often refer to the Great Seal of the United States and its motto
‘Novus Ordo Seclorum’ (new order of the ages) as a proof that there is a plot to take over the
world.

The first time I heard of Illuminati from passionate advocates of conspiracy theories, who were
trying to figure out all the major events such as 9/11 attacks, invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan
and the terror strike in Mumbai, among others, in terms of a grand plot hatched by the secretive
group, I felt like quitting the discussion and keeping mum. The argument was that the most
powerful intelligence agency in the world, the CIA, did not gather any intelligence information
on the 19 Arab youths who hijacked four commercial airlines and hit the WTC and Pentagon
and, therefore, the 9/11 attacks were pre-planned. The commonsense counter-argument that a
conspiracy of that scale required hundreds of people for its planning and execution and,
therefore, less likely to be kept secret did not cut much ice with them as they switched to the
topic of global financial crisis to claim that it was engineered by the U.S. to enforce its
domination over the global economy.

Not all conspiracy theories are that funny either. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forged
document that claims a secret Jewish cabal plotting to take over the world and made public in
1905, was debunked in 1921 by Philip Graves, a correspondent for the London Times, who
exposed that it was plagiarised from a 19 th century fiction. But Adolf Hitler used the Protocol to
fuel anti-Semitic feelings among the Germans and as a death warrant against the Jewish
population.

Why many people are so passionate about the conspiracy theories? The conspiracy theories are
attractive because they are simple. Every development in the world, however, complex and
incomprehensible, becomes simple and comprehensible when it is seen as part of an agenda or a
conspiracy by a group of powerful people.