Disbelief and the New Watergate
September 9th 2008 22:17
There are a lot of conspiracy theorists out there. With the increasing popularity of the internet over the last ten years, they have begun to spring up from every corner of the globe. It is not really clear how it happened. It’s like a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. Did the internet serve to recruit more gullible people to the conspiracy theory circle? Or were they always out there, with the internet just giving them oxygen and letting them flourish? In the end, it’s more of a philosophical question. The more immediate concern, however, is whether or not the vast multitude of “out-there” conspiracy theories is making it harder for the real truth to come out. You see conspiracy theorists pride themselves on being the seekers of truth, no matter how bizarre or outrageous it may seem. What they are really doing is shooting their own purported cause in the foot. The more outrageous things they come out with, the more people tune out and become sceptical of all stories. So when someone comes out with an investigative journalism piece that almost defies belief, people will give it a look. But the slightest inkling of disbelief will manifest and make that piece shoulder the label of “conspiracy theory”. In short, conspiracy theorists have made it harder for the truth to come out, because they have made people doubt what is credible and what is not.
Would Woodward and Bernstein’s Watergate articles have taken down an Administration if they had have been released today? Maybe. Or maybe not. Because the idea that the President of the United States hired a bunch of thieves to spy and break into the headquarters of the opposition seems to be pretty rich if you didn’t know it was absolutely true. We may believe that President Bush is capable of a lot of underhanded things. But we would still think twice if we were told he hired a bunch of men to commit crimes, spy for him and then tried to cover it up. The hard left would jump on it, the hard right would make fun of the hard left and the normal punters in the middle just simply would take it with a grain of salt and wait and see. Why? Because the conspiracy theorists have made the truth a relative concept and, in doing so, have made the public doubtful even when the truth is presented to them.
I must admit, I fell victim to the trap this morning. I was flicking through the news websites, seeing what had happened while I had been sleeping, when I came across a tiny story in the top corner of the CNN website. The headline? “Secret Killing Program is Key in Iraq, says Woodward”. Righto, I thought to myself. Woodward must have finally lost his marbles. I mean, Bob Woodward is an amazing investigative journalist. His access and information sourcing is second to none. But a secret killing program? He must have had one too many margaritas. But I read the article anyway. At the end, I still thought he was cracked. His assertion is that the troop surge isn’t solely responsible for the falling rates of deaths in Iraq, but that the US Government has a secret plan a la the Manhattan Project (which invented the Nuclear Bomb) that has terrorists running scared. This plan, according to Woodward, works by locating, targeting and killing the leaders of terrorist cells but cannot be revealed at the moment because “people would get killed”. He did say, however, that when it eventually did get revealed in years to come the general public would be absolutely amazed.
Now, you can see my trepidation. Woodward is talking about a covert program that no one has ever suggested or heard of that works by successfully targeting and killing terrorists. He compares it to the Manhattan Project and says that people would be amazed but he can’t reveal the details. He did say that terrorists already knew about it, though, because they were living in fear of it on a day to day basis. It all sounds a little off to me. But I’ll give Woodward his dues. He is usually pretty spot-on and I doubt he would risk his credibility on something so outlandish. But still, it just seems so strange and has the distinctive smell of conspiracy. Call me jaded, but when I hear the someone say “the US has a secret plan to kill terrorists that is like the Manhattan Project and would amaze you if I could tell you what it was but I can’t” I start to get a bit cautious. That is, until it is confirmed.
Which, lo and behold, it was. Stephen Hadley, National Security Advisor, released a written statement confirming the existence of this “secret plan”. No more details other than a confirmation of Woodward’s claims, and the assertation that Hadley believes the surge does have a lot to do with the falling levels of violence in Iraq. I have to say, I was shocked. While reading the article, I thought Woodward had genuinely lost his mind. But apparently not. It gives you pause for consideration. You can be told something by the most reputable source, and still not believe it, just because it seems like it must be a conspiracy theory. Even now that it’s been confirmed, I still have a strange feeling about it. Almost like it’s a movie, and not real-life. But you have to hand it to Woodward: this is a major scoop, and the way you can tell is that it seems so unreal that it takes a lot to believe.
All I can say is I’m sorry I ever doubted Bob Woodward
Would Woodward and Bernstein’s Watergate articles have taken down an Administration if they had have been released today? Maybe. Or maybe not. Because the idea that the President of the United States hired a bunch of thieves to spy and break into the headquarters of the opposition seems to be pretty rich if you didn’t know it was absolutely true. We may believe that President Bush is capable of a lot of underhanded things. But we would still think twice if we were told he hired a bunch of men to commit crimes, spy for him and then tried to cover it up. The hard left would jump on it, the hard right would make fun of the hard left and the normal punters in the middle just simply would take it with a grain of salt and wait and see. Why? Because the conspiracy theorists have made the truth a relative concept and, in doing so, have made the public doubtful even when the truth is presented to them.
I must admit, I fell victim to the trap this morning. I was flicking through the news websites, seeing what had happened while I had been sleeping, when I came across a tiny story in the top corner of the CNN website. The headline? “Secret Killing Program is Key in Iraq, says Woodward”. Righto, I thought to myself. Woodward must have finally lost his marbles. I mean, Bob Woodward is an amazing investigative journalist. His access and information sourcing is second to none. But a secret killing program? He must have had one too many margaritas. But I read the article anyway. At the end, I still thought he was cracked. His assertion is that the troop surge isn’t solely responsible for the falling rates of deaths in Iraq, but that the US Government has a secret plan a la the Manhattan Project (which invented the Nuclear Bomb) that has terrorists running scared. This plan, according to Woodward, works by locating, targeting and killing the leaders of terrorist cells but cannot be revealed at the moment because “people would get killed”. He did say, however, that when it eventually did get revealed in years to come the general public would be absolutely amazed.
Now, you can see my trepidation. Woodward is talking about a covert program that no one has ever suggested or heard of that works by successfully targeting and killing terrorists. He compares it to the Manhattan Project and says that people would be amazed but he can’t reveal the details. He did say that terrorists already knew about it, though, because they were living in fear of it on a day to day basis. It all sounds a little off to me. But I’ll give Woodward his dues. He is usually pretty spot-on and I doubt he would risk his credibility on something so outlandish. But still, it just seems so strange and has the distinctive smell of conspiracy. Call me jaded, but when I hear the someone say “the US has a secret plan to kill terrorists that is like the Manhattan Project and would amaze you if I could tell you what it was but I can’t” I start to get a bit cautious. That is, until it is confirmed.
Which, lo and behold, it was. Stephen Hadley, National Security Advisor, released a written statement confirming the existence of this “secret plan”. No more details other than a confirmation of Woodward’s claims, and the assertation that Hadley believes the surge does have a lot to do with the falling levels of violence in Iraq. I have to say, I was shocked. While reading the article, I thought Woodward had genuinely lost his mind. But apparently not. It gives you pause for consideration. You can be told something by the most reputable source, and still not believe it, just because it seems like it must be a conspiracy theory. Even now that it’s been confirmed, I still have a strange feeling about it. Almost like it’s a movie, and not real-life. But you have to hand it to Woodward: this is a major scoop, and the way you can tell is that it seems so unreal that it takes a lot to believe.
All I can say is I’m sorry I ever doubted Bob Woodward
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