Recent spate of natural disasters seems to have woken the conspiracy theorists from their slumber. Beginning to think they’d been abducted. By aliens. Or a sinister Government organisation. Usually with some suitably intriguing initials. HARPIC. MENTOR. Internet buzzing. Providing the advocates of doom with a readily accessible platform for their musings. Just like this one I suppose..
Start to get a following and you’re quickly blessed with a modicum of credibility. Add some colour. I’ll refrain from using the term "evidence". Videos. Photos. Grainy ones are ideal. Open to favourable interpretation. All lending weight to your ramblings.
The clever ones are very persuasive. Their arguments coherent. Like clairvoyants. Believable. The facts, such as they are, seem to fit. Surely there must be something in their assertions? Surprisingly, there probably is. Mathematics. I’d want to ascertain which facts they’ve excluded. Invariably those of similar merit to the ones they’ve admitted. The inconvenient ones. Those that either don’t support their case, or just plain undermine it.
For, truth is, assemble enough of just about anything – facts, coloured beads, tea leaves – and you’ll see patterns. Subconsciously excluding those elements that don’t fit. Seeing what you want to see. Even if it isn’t really there. Like the sky at night. Billions of stars. Just a few forming recognisable patterns. Like the Plough. But hardly evidence of farm implements in Outer Space.
Sceptical? Suspecting I’m simply spreading dis-information. Seeking to undermine credible conspiracy theorist. Those that are actually on to something. Sorry to disappoint. Rather, let me leave you with a rather terrestrial example. From my own travels.
Over the last eighteen months I seem to have just missed riots in Bishkek, bomb attacks in western China, a whole host of natural disasters in Queensland, devastating earthquake in New Zealand. To the extent I’ve been asked, on more than one occasion, how many lives I’ve got. Evidence of a sixth sense? Not at all. No doubt influenced by my proximity to these events, I’ve subconsciously excluded all those of similar nature from across the planet that don’t fit the pattern. Dull I know.
It’s not rocket science. And, trust me, I think I’d know if it was…
