In the Seventh-Day Adventist world I grew up in, conspiracy theories flourished.<\/p>\n
I find them rare in Jewish life.<\/p>\n
People who feel in charge of their lives are much less likely to believe in conspiracy theories. Happy people don’t.<\/p>\n
Here’s an article on conspiracy theories about Osama<\/a>: Robert Alan Goldberg, a history professor at the University of Utah and the author of \u201cEnemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America,\u201d explains:<\/p>\n \u201cEighty percent of Americans, he said, believe that Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy, rather than a lone gunman, as a government commission affirmed. Thirty percent believe the government covered up aliens\u2019 landing in Roswell, N.M., and a third of American blacks believe that government scientists created AIDS as a weapon of black genocide.<\/p>\n THE LOS ANGELES TIMES REPORTS<\/a>:<\/p>\n Pittsburgh Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall says he likes to encourage people to think with his statements on Twitter — but who knows what they’re thinking after his controversial tweets concerning the death of Osama bin Laden.<\/p>\n One of Mendenhall’s tweets from Monday read: \u201cWhat kind of person celebrates death? It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n He also commented on the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: \u201cWe’ll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style.\u201d<\/p>\n FROM WIKIPEDIA<\/a>: In Washington, D.C.<\/a>, The Plan<\/b> is a conspiracy theory<\/a> regarding control of the city. Theorists insist that whites<\/a> (Caucasians<\/a>) have had a plan to “take back” the city since the beginning of home rule<\/a> in the 1970s, when the city started electing blacks<\/a> (African-Americans<\/a>) to local offices.[<\/span>1]<\/span><\/a><\/sup>[<\/span>2]<\/span><\/a><\/sup> The “age-old” theory enjoys considerable, if quiet, support.[<\/span>3]<\/span><\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n Daniel Pipes writes<\/a>: Conspiracy theories – the fear of nonexistent conspiracies – are flourishing in the United States. Republican, Democratic, and independent presidential candidates espouse them. Growing political institutions (the Nation of Islam, the militias) are premised on them. A majority of Americans say they believe John F. Kennedy was killed not by a lone gunman but by a conspiracy, and a majority of black Americans hold the U.S. government responsible for the spread of drugs. O. J. Simpson famously beat his criminal rap by convincing a jury of a conspiracy theory: that the Los Angeles police framed him. Two young men, their heads spinning with conspiracy theories about Washington taking freedoms away from Americans, blew up a government building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 (including 19 children) and wounding 550.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the Seventh-Day Adventist world I grew up in, conspiracy theories flourished. I find them rare in Jewish life. People who feel in charge of their lives are much less likely to believe in conspiracy theories. Happy people don’t. Here’s … Continue reading