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February 18, 2005
Paranoia
When I'm not paying attention, Momus often mentions me on his site as a foil for whatever he's arguing against - this time I'm a paranoid conspiracy theorist in the same vein as David Lynch. As Dali (Mr. Avida Dollar) suggested, paranoia is the most holistically consistent system - everything is connected. Am I supposed to ignore the fact that two masters of late 20th century paranoia Lynch and Pynchon both have "ynch" in their names? I do indeed have an unhealthy obsession with the mysteries of Jonestown (why does the CIA not release their 700 pages of records on the event even after being sued for FOI disclosure?) and the J.F.K. assassination (why was someone claiming to be Oswald in Mexico City before the murder?), the October Surprise, MK-Ultra, and the true motivations behind Watergate.
Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks both hit me square in the chest - I had enough childhood years in Oxford, Mississippi to be afraid of what was lurking out in the woods. I now prefer the city - the atavistic fear of the dark dwarfs any modern fear of urban crime.
Being skeptical about paranoia is as natural as paranoia itself, but as the late Kurdt wrote: "Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after you." Most of the so-called conspiracy theories about U.S. government wrongdoing turn out to be true: oh, yeah, the CIA did help topple the Iranian government in the 50s. The government's natural position is to cover up its messes, deny, deny, so why on earth should we always be giving it the benefit of the doubt? I blame history for this permanent state of suspicion - the more we know about the world, the more we know that man is absolutely capable of all the things we paranoids accuse.
For those into cabals, collusion, cartels, conspiracy, cults, corruption, creative accounting, cosa nostra, and construction companies, Japan is an unbelievable fantasy world. There's absolutely no indigenous idea of "public disclosure" - everything is done behind closed doors, off the record. The urabanashi stays in the shadows. There's also no particular sin associated with nepotism and oligopoly. No conspiracy would be the greater surprise. I tend to read sinister Black Lodge motives working underneath actions and policies, and this is my mistake - conspiracies are real and alive, but banal and pedestrian. Even without channeling supernatural dark forces, the powers-that-be maintain their control.
Posted by marxy at February 18, 2005 12:31 AM
Comments
Good on ya brother marxy! The sooner you learn to live with it, the sooner you will love it! Japan is a paradise for western conspiracy theorists. With any luck you will get to participate in a few yourself. You may even be able to put forth tatemae statements of "conspiracy? there is no conspiracy here" in reards to your antics. Its loads of fun!
Posted by: Chris_B at February 18, 2005 9:35 AM
Here's a post that seems to be both Deconstructing America and Deconstructing Marxy at the same time. I'm suspicious. There's either got to be an ulterior motive or there's some kind of trick.
Posted by: sparkligbeatnic at February 18, 2005 11:01 AM