Conspiracy theories have manageable implications. They imply that all was once well and that it can be okay again if only the conspirators can be removed. Conspiracy theories explain ills without forcing us to disavow society's underlying institutions. They allow us to admit horrors and to express our indignation and anger or undertake vendettas, but without rejecting the basic norms of society. We discover that a particular government official or corporate lawyer is bad, but the government and law remain okay. We urge getting rid of bad apples, but leaving the orchard intact. We can reject specific candidates but not government, specific CEOs but not capitalism, specific writers, editors, and owners of periodicals, but not mainstream media. We can reject vile manipulators, but not basic institutions.

Stephen Shalom (more by this author)

Stephen Rosskamm Shalom is a professor of political science at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He is a writer on social and political issues and is a contributor to Znet and Democratic Left, the publication of Democratic Socialists of America. He is on the editorial boards of the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars and the democratic socialist journal New Politics. He is also a member of the interim consultative committee of the International Organization for a Participatory Society.[1]
He is the author of numerous publications including Which Side Are You On?: An Introduction to Politics (Longman, 2002), Imperial Alibis: Rationalizing U.S. Intervention After the Cold War (South End Press, 1993), The United States and the Philippines: A Study of Neocolonialism (1981); co-editor of The Philippines Reader (South End Press, 1987), Bitter Flowers, Sweet Flowers: East Timor, Indonesia, and the World Community (Rowman & Littlefield, 2001); and editor of Socialist Visions (South End Press, 1983) and Perilous Power: The Middle East & U.S. Foreign Policy: Dialogues on Terror, Democracy, War, and Justice by Noam Chomsky and Gilbert Achcar (Paradigm Publishers, 2007).
Stephen Shalom is also the author of a political vision called Participatory politics or Parpolity. He was a contributor to the book "Real Utopia: Participatory Society for the 21st Century" by Chris Spannos (2008). -- Via wikipedia

Type: Prose
Context: Magazine
Context Details: Article on conspiracy theories.
Source: Z Magazine
Uttered: 7

Conspiracy theories have manageable implications...