Conspiracy Theory Endgames

[DaShi]

Both are kind of ridiculous.

[Kitschum]

The AIDS conspiracy is pretty retarded. Also, any UFO conspiracy I've heard of, especially those of the David Icke variety.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Icke

[Theben]

I think most conspiracies are of the "Be ready to dump your stock of when the price hits 22 3/4 a share." Anything else that requires competence on the part of multiple people who have to keep their collective mouths shut is doomed to failure.

[Darius871]

While I'm a pretty paranoid guy who's fond of the idea of conspiracy theories, the more cynical parts of my brain always manage to more or less dismiss them.

And one of the primary reasons for such dismissals is this: what's the endgame? If there's a secret cabal slowly steering the world in one particular direction, what is that direction?

And for the individual members of said cabal, how is the goal of whatever they're trying to achieve any better than, say, living a moderately rich life (which they'd probably be able to do if they weren't so busy having people murdered and falsifying documents)?

And then, if you and your cabal do manage to establish a new world order that works as you have foreseen it, what do you actually do? Sure, you can set yourself up a harem, have people tortured for your entertainment, and make proclamations on giant public televisions, but is that satisfying? Did people actually work in secret for generations, conspiring against the world, in order to live out narcissistic fantasies?

It just doesn't seem all that plausible to me.

While Elok is clearly right, for argument's sake the least implausible theory I've heard is that "they" want to reduce the human population to a more sustainable level (IIRC, the Georgia Guidestones are alleged to be partial support for this) and to enhance that remaining group with eugenics along the lines of Hugo Drax, both of which "they" perceive to be in the best long-term interests of the species and planet as opposed to their own self-aggrandizement. Adopting that BAM would evade all of your arguments.

In fact, that motive sounds juuuust benign enough to make it more believable that a sufficient number of people would be in on it. Come to think of it, where do I join?

Come to think of it, Kitschum's post reminded me of another way around your points; maybe the Martians came and told "them" that humanity has until 20xx to get our act together and build a one-world government worth dealing with, or otherwise we get annihilated and our planet stripped for resources. Again a benign motive for conspiracy with an understandable endgame. Or maybe "they" are bound by some sort of intergalactic treaty with a nondisclosure clause. Hell, once you throw little green men into the mix you can spin just about any story that will suit your needs.

[Lorizael]

Come to think of it, Kitschum's post reminded me of another way around your points; maybe the Martians came and told "them" that humanity has until 20xx to get our act together and build a one-world government worth dealing with, or otherwise we get annihilated and our planet stripped for resources. Again a benign motive for conspiracy with an understandable endgame. Or maybe "they" are bound by some sort of intergalactic treaty with a nondisclosure clause. Hell, once you throw little green men into the mix you can spin just about any story that will suit your needs.

Yeah. I've thought of ideas like that before. And those are all reasonable. I just can't see how mundane human motives could lead to grand worldwide conspiracies.

[Darius871]

Even without aliens though, since when would saving Earth from perceived ecological devastation of man's own making, enhancing the species with eugenics, bringing an end to war by unifying into one state, etc. be a "mundane human motive"? Not all conspiracy theories are strictly about "them" satiating "them"selves with egomaniacal power trips like cartoonish Bond villians.