Today’s Jesus and Mo strip, called, “ISIS,” came with a rare editorial comment in the email (I subscribe). To wit (I added the link to Hasan’s Wikipedia bio):
What dark forces lie behind the fact that Mehdi Hasan wrote something quite good
here?Or, at least, *appeared* to write something quite good…
And the cartoon is quite good:
Wikipedia (which I will cite when needed until Greg Mayer posts his promised piece on why it’s unreliable), has an article on Arab conspiracy theories, which are numerous and often completely cockeyed. The charter of Hamas, for instance, still cites the old anti-semitic forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” which purports to be a document written by Jews laying out a plan to take over the world.
I must say that I haven’t been a big fan of Hasan (see here, for instance), but in this case what he has to say is good. Whether he believes it, given his history of Muslim apologetics, is a different question, but about that I don’t much care, for it’s what appears in print—not what’s in his head—that’s important. Below is an excerpt from his piece, which is on the mark though it doesn’t answer the question of why conspiracy theories are rife in the Arab world.
Nor is this about ignorance or illiteracy. Those who promulgate a paranoid, conspiratorial world-view within Muslim communities include the highly educated and highly qualified, the rulers as well as the ruled. A recent conspiracy theory blaming the rise of Islamic State on the US government, based on fabricated quotes from Hillary Clinton’s new memoir, was publicly endorsed by Lebanon’s foreign minister and Egypt’s culture minister.
Where will it end? When will credulous Muslims stop leaning on the conspiracy crutch? We blame sinister outside powers for all our problems – extremism, despotism, corruption and the rest – and paint ourselves as helpless victims rather than independent agents. After all, why take responsibility for our actions when it’s far easier to point the finger at the CIA/Mossad/the Jews/the Hindus/fill-in-your-villain-of-choice?
As the Egyptian intellectual Abd al-Munim Said once observed, “The biggest problem with conspiracy theories is that they keep us not only from the truth, but also from confronting our faults and problems.” They also make us look like loons. Can we give it a rest, please?
I imagine that people who live in places where information providers (news/media, governement, academia, etc.) are not trusted or are flat out not trustworthy tend to be conspiracy believers.
I think the problem is deeper than that; its an outgrowth of the honor culture. A friend of mine worked with Saudis repairing their (US-manufactured) jets. It was hard to impossible to ferret out the details of any errors (and thus change SOPs to prevent them in the future) because no one would admit to making an error in the first place: that’s a personal issue, and accusing someone of error was the equivalent of a personal insult.
What you see here is the same problem on a large scale: because of the high value placed on personal honor, nobody in the ‘in group’ can admit error or accuse anyone else in the ‘in group’ of making an error, because it’s considered a personal affront. Any negative comment about a neighbor of the same in-group, no matter how mundane, is “fighting words,” so nobody is willing to make such negative comments. This isn’t a result of untrustworthy media outlets, its a result of a deep cultural value placed on not insulting your neighbors.
At least, IMO…
Quite frankly, this is America’s competitive advantage in science and technology. Some other cultures have high IQs and high academic achievement, but lack the social permissiveness required to be creative.
I’ve read of the same problem happening in China, another culture built on the idea of honor, respect, and civility. Teaching science — the idea of science itself — can be completely foreign to the accepted wisdom. You’re trying to prove your wise leaders and teachers wrong? No. Debate is conflict and conflict is the enemy of harmony and harmony is the common good.
That’s also an outgrowth of the religious ideal of following and obeying Higher Powers; life is all about learning to avoid doubt and peacefully accept one’s place in the spiritual hierarchy. An argument is the same thing as a quarrel and always leads to violence.
For some reason I’m reminded of U.S. corporations avoiding admitting error or guilt in legal settlements.
Someone with a prominence greater than mine needs to point out the huge irony in Hassan’s question “Why are so many of my fellow Muslims so gullible and so quick to believe bonkers conspiracy theories”.
When you spend your life claiming you believe such thungs as Mohammed splitting the moon in two, you’ve undermined your credibility for questioning other people’s beliefs.
Truly. From the last paragraph:
“The biggest problem with ___________ is that they keep us not only from the truth, but also from confronting our faults and problems.”
So many things can go in that blank; without having read this article, I can’t be sure “conspiracy theories” would be this first thing that came to my mind … !
Very astute.
I believe the heavy conspiracy mentality goes more with the religious culture/society than the poor, rich separation.
Just look at Fox News. They could call it the conspiracy channel. The religious simply high jack reality and fill it with conspiracy because it sells and it works. Science does not get to sit at this table and history is distorted into something else.
I have a theory as to why so many in the middle east believe conspiracy theories. Actually, its not my theory, its the theory of one of my units interpreters when we were deployed to Iraq in 2005. Our interpreters were all Iraqi nationals.
One of our interpreters was a college student, worked in a veterinarians office part time, and worked for the US military as our interface with the locals.
He came in one day and told us his veterinarian employer’s latest consipiracy theory: That all the US soldiers being killed in Iraq were actually orphans recruited by the CIA and then killed to make it look like someone was fighting us. The CIA recruited orphans because no one would miss them. No US soldiers were being killed by Iraqis. None. He thought his boss was insane to believe this because he had been on patrols with our unit when it was attacked.
Another of our interpreters was much older. His theory as to why Iraqis were so prone to believe conspiracy theories was very simple: they believed the US government would do terrible things because many of them had personally witnessed Saddam Hussein’s government doing terrible things – like televised executions, bayoneting babies, caning the feet of Iraqi national soccer team players because the wounds from that couldn’t bee seen on TV and holding their families hostage to guarantee a win, Uday Hussein’s serial kidnapping, rape and torture of women…
Their governments doing terrible things is one thing. Their governments doing incredibly convoluted, complicatedly improbable and unreasonable things is another. Conspiracy theories are of the latter kind, not the former.
I find it quite credible that if a religion, particularly a religion with as much unreconstructed supernatural baggage as Islam, is threaded through the societal structure then the quality of critical thinking will not be great. Combine that with the economic and technological inferiority of many(not all) Islamic countries, and the presence of a relatively successful Israeli state within a missile’s throw…
Do we have any society free enough from those influences to test this hypothesis? The Europeans seem to be as lacking in critical thinking skills as Americans are.
A passing familiarity with humans makes one marvel that we’ve made it this far.
I know. I still haven’t got used to the idea that our society could never look like the Star Trek Federation. More likely the Star Wars Empire.
No way will the business end of the GOP let us become the Empire. They’re pushing us to be Ferengi.
I was referring specifically to Islam, a religion which is almost impossible to separate from simple day to day life in many Islamic countries.
In America, where religion is not as ubiquitously central to societal structure, where there is separation of church and state, pluralism, relatively free speech and a variety of viewpoints available in the national media, I can imagine it’s not as bad.
Still, in the parts of American society where religion is regnant, in the bible belt, etc., conspiracy theories seem to be more prevalent than in the less religious areas. The constant drip, drip, drip of religious conservatives accusing Obama of various perfidies, of being a crypto-muslim, of having no American birth certificate, of lacing his presidential addresses with subliminal Islamic messages(!) is interesting and arguably telling.
I can think of few European equivalents to someone like Glenn Beck, an archetypal conspiracy theorist, or the mountains of borderline insane radio hosts and Christian pundits who engage in similar bollocks, for example Alex Jones(?) or Bryan Fischer. Right Wing Watch is teeming with wild, billowing conspiracy theories of all varieties.
There are certainly people like that in Europe but you tend to find less of them in secular countries like Britain, France and Scandiwegia.
Americans are clearly not less sceptically minded than Europeans, but America seems effectively to be two countries – one part of it is like the rest of the secular world, indeed the rest of the secular world tends to take its lead from America, but another part of it seems to be utterly in thrall to christianity. In the latter part of America it’d appear, at least to an outsider like myself, that conspiracy theories are fairly common.
But as you say, who knows? I’m not making a scientific argument.
I think you’re right in that the extreme situation under that regime would certainly fuel conspiracy narratives. I am glad you lived to tell the tale, and always happy to meet a “foxhole atheist.” Bully for you, on both counts.
In general I think conspiracy theories arise naturally any time there is a need to dehumanize the “other,” which both frees people of the need to face their own responsibilities and flaws, and also makes the “other” easier to kill.
Frequently, what we call a conspiracy theory has its roots in organized propaganda: I recall when the U.S. downed an Iranian passenger plane, someone on the TV suggested it was an Iranian hoax – that they’d filled a jetliner with dead bodies and crashed it in the sea. No victims of a dictatorship involved in cranking out that bit of nastiness!
Do we in fact know that they are more prone to conspiracy theories than, say, Americans are? I think this needs to be established before trying to explain it.
Are the infamies rich people repeat about the president or about the 47% any less “conspiracy theories”? They certainly are guilty of planting conspiracy theories among the rubes, and there is a great tradition of the practice among the elite.
That “conspiracy theories” seem to be prevalent among the disenfranchised and religious doesn’t mean they are the only generators of just-so stories. As often, they are the victims, or at least marks in the big con.
Wow. Thanks for that story.
I live in Britain and Mehdi Hasan is one of the most ubiquitous figures on TV and radio when it comes to Islam – to me he is incontrovertibly part of the problem.
I don’t know how to link to things so I can only recommend YouTube for the clip of Mehdi and Mo Ansar haranguing Majid Nawaz for his tweeting of the Jesus N’ Mo cartoons. It’s embarrassing. This is the guy who was trending a while back for his(entirely righteous) excoriation of the Daily Mail on a Question Time episode. A few days later the ever-canny Daily Mail released an archived job application letter from Hasan in which he lavishly praised the Mail, in particular for its attitudes to ‘abortion and militant atheism'(IIRC).
Politically he’s of the left, but I don’t get the impression that there’s much sincerity there, and I find him personally incredibly unpleasant. I’m aware he’s written a couple of fairly reasonable pieces but elsewhere he’s quite breathtakingly aggressive, thin-skinned and dishonest. Make up your own mind of course, but to me he is almost the definition of the problem.
Majid Nawazis is a hero.
I think this is it:
Thank peeps(excuse the Harry Enfield reference)! What a couple of twats.
Majid Nawaz is the coolest, most exquisitely-dressed guy in the Lib Dems and he’s a hero of mine too.
Hasan’s article is okay except for the last sentence:
“Can we give it a rest, please?”
No; make it
‘Can we stop this stupidity for good, please?’
Islam, like most religions, teaches that its followers are superior to non-believers. However, by almost every metric, the Muslim world lags behind. The only way to explain the disconnect is via conspiracy.
We see something similar in the West. The lower a country’s religiosity, the more peaceful, open, non-corrupt, lacking in sexism, homophobia etc. The religious are fighting back by vilifying atheists as never before.
To admit your problems might require you to take a look at yourself in the mirror is not something religion is good at because it necessitates admitting you might be wrong. Religion is based on faith in the superiority of doctrine and, by extension, its adherents.
“The only way to explain the disconnect is through conspiracy.”
That’s a good point.
There may be yet another reason Muslims are so prone to conspiracy theory. It seems to me that the basic foundation of religion — all religions, whether Abrahamic, Eastern, or “spiritual” — is conspiracy-style thinking. What seems to be true on the surface is not what’s really true. God is obscured, the spiritual realm is only glimpsed. The entire process of faith is learning to doubt the appearances of the world, and have confidence instead in what is hidden.
The natural universe? Don’t trust it, it’s an illusion. Rational arguments and evidence? Don’t trust them, spiritual Truths go deeper than that. Dissenters who seem to think they have a valid point? They’re blinded by Satan, by Ego, by Fear, and the delusion that wisdom can be had without special revelations and mystical insights. Truth is sacred and there is no common ground. You are either following the Light — or you are not to be trusted.
The more “religious” a person is, the more prone they are to believing conspiracies. Couple this with good historical reasons to doubt the word of authorities and it’s like crack. The occult view of reality has been supported by the seeming overthrow of worldly reliability. It’s all connected into a cosmic drama from above being played out here below. Wheels within wheels, forces of Evil fighting a grand battle with the forces of Good. Religion entails a conspiracy mindset which literally demonizes the opposition.
It’s not just when religion seeks political power and conquest. New Agers pride themselves on how they don’t try to “force” their views on others and yet most of them are deeply embedded in conspiracies and conspiracy-style thinking. The Medical Establishment is suppressing the cure for cancer and allopathic doctors want to make people sick. Capitalism is behind 9-11. The US government is suppressing information on space aliens. On and on.
Like Muslims, Christians, Hindus, and other established religions, they’ve already started with the conviction that science and reason are ultimately traps to be avoided and rejected. The fruit which grows out of that tree is going to be ripe for any sympathetic conspiracy. I would expect any group which endorses credulity and scorns clarity to be capable of believing damn near anything.
I don’t want to excuse at all the vile anti-Semitic lunacy that is spouted in the Muslim world, but at the same time, a significant portion of American believe that their current president holds the office illegally because he is not a US citizen, a claim made not just by random members of the public, but by elected officials and prominent business leaders. A sizeable chunk of Americans think that 9/11 was an “inside job”. A large number of folks in the US think that the United Nations has a plot to take over the government and impose socialism.
In other words, the US is also a hotbed of conspiracy theories.
Yes indeed, and the most popular relate to the Kennedy assassination. I don’t intend to enter into a debate on the subject, but I imagine a number of you buy into that one and I’d be curious as to why you don’t think it’s in the class of all the other nutball conspiracy theories.
Plans within plans.
I think some Muslims like to actually think that they are more important than they really are (this is true of some Jews and Christians). The violence of ISIS certainly puts a lot of attention on their faith, wether they want it or not. Ironically, most Muslims, probably do not have much evidence for any kind of hatred directed towards them from Jews or Christians. It is just always easier to make stuff up and blame people for what is usually just one’s own personal problems with the world at large.
We are at a stage where all religious people feel persecuted and they are trying to convey to the world that they are oppressed by everyone else…by ‘them’.
Re Wikipedia.
Most of the less reliable articles are already flagged by other editors or admins as having problems.
Wikipedia even publishes a print edition on judging the relative reliability of its own articles, a small booklet effectively admitting to not believe everything you read on WP, but why you can believe most of it, and better !*how to tell*! which stuff you can probably believe.
Jerry or Greg, you can get a print copy from the Wikipedia foundation in San Francisco, or I can mail you one myself.
The answer to why conspiracy theories are popular is only surprising when you think people are truth seeking animals.
Why people believe in these conspiracy-nonsense is, I believe, still best explained by Festingers cognitive dissonance theory:
“When inconsistency (dissonance) is experienced, individuals tend to become psychologically uncomfortable and they are motivated to attempt to reduce this dissonance, as well as actively avoiding situations and information which are likely to increase it.” (source: Wikipedia.)
Why are they so extreme in particular groups:
“The pressure to reduce cognitive dissonance is a function of the magnitude of said dissonance.” (Source: Wikipedia)
I’m looking forward to the critical Wikipedia article, and hope it will contain suggestions how it could be improved. Science+democracy have very similar problems as Wikipedia, they also function reasonable well I.M.O.
IMO its not just ‘inconsistency’ that triggers it, it can be an unwanted answer or fear-provoking answer that does it too.
A common western example would be our obsession with strangers taking/molesting our kids. Something like 95% of such cases – 19 out of every 20 – don’t involve strangers. They involve close friends and family. The random white van that just drove down your street isn’t the threat, Uncle Bob who you invite over every Saturday is. But this is psychologically unthinkable to many parents; we just don’t want to accept that the largest threats to our children are the people we regularly invite in to our homes. Our trusted relations. So we deal with this fear by externalizing it, putting it on an “other.” Its as subtle form of conspiracy thinking, but most of us have it. The answer can’t be as simple as the people we trust and love abuse our kids; there must be some other explanation for what happens, and so we concoct stranger danger because the truth is uncomfortable; the real source of risk produces cognitive dissonance.
Very good point.
If you keep your contributions to Wikipedia to matters of fact, and can cite your sources, the edit/ re-edit system should be effective. If everyone else does the same.
I contributed (it never got through the editorial process) to Wossname (placeholder “Larry Sanger”, or something like that) peer-reviewed concept of IRC “NuPedia”. One would hope that Wikipedia (the clear winner in the “participation” stakes) would evolve that way, though with the ability to eedit anonymously … that’ls probably a forlorn hope.
Is there a solution? I don’t know.
Do all problems have solutions? Again I don’t know. Fermat’s Last Theorem suggests grounds for hope. But also suggests a multi-generation tme scale. Hmmmm..
Conspiracy advocates are either incredibly stupid/ignorant or incredibly evil. The educated among them may fall into the latter category.
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The Israelis/US pulling off the occasional secret op, e.g. the Entebbe raid, throws fuel on the fires. That these events occasionally happen creates the aura that these two countries can pull off just about anything.
And the 2004 Boxing Day earthquake/tsunami? A secret undersea US/Israeli nuclear test.
Not just the secret stuff, too, but their support of brutal regimes and oppressive policies drives people into an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” style of thinking … (happens every time!)
I note that the US Government is still denying that MH370 landed at Diego Garcia. 🙂
This is my first time commenting.I am doing so because my brother in law who I recently found out is a conspiracy nut. I also found out he is a young earth creationist. This way of thinking seem to go together. We had chat in the fall about religion where I called all Believers braindead idiots. At the time I did not know his views on religion and was surprised when he got upset.We have since had a talk about what we accept about the nature of reality and he told me their is nothing I can show him that will change his mind.
Good luck with that – sounds like you’ll need it.
Ugh. I don’t envy you!