Defining 'Conspiracism'

Before moving into more specific strands of research and considering the artistic aspects of the book it makes some sense to try and define terms. What is meant by 'Conspiracism', in the sense that I am talking about here?

First, it is important to distinguish Conspiracism (with a capital C) from the more general phenomenon of paranoid thought and indeed from 'mere' conspiracy theory. When I talk about Conspiracism, I mean a specific political phenomenon, an international ideological current with multiple roots, sources and strands which are nevertheless connected by a shared culture and general set of beliefs about the world. Most specifically, due to the nature of my particular political concerns and the limits of my research, I am talking about Conspiracism as it exists within the Western world (where I believe its origins lie) and particularly the anglophone West.

At its most essential, Conspiracism can be defined as the belief that the course of history and the development of culture and the intellectual and political landscape is controlled primarily by the secret actions of one or more groups of persons who are acting towards selfish, perhaps even explicitly malign, ends. Conspiracism rejects all forms of historical materialism and all other open historical narratives; all 'great men' are puppets, bit-players or charlatans, and progress is a deliberately crafted illusion. At its core, therefore, Conspiracism, despite its calls for the overthrow of the political establishment is a conservative, reactionary and parochial current of thought.¹ When the historical roots of Conspiracism are studied it can be seen that it has always flourished in times where radical political upheavals have threatened an entrenched class. This can be extended back to the witch panics, pogroms and religious wars of the late middle ages, but is perhaps most obvious in the European reaction to the French revolution and the Revolutions of 1848, in the general reaction to the October Revolution of 1917 and to the spread of Communism after the Second World War.

The general term I like to use for the idea of this controlling group within Conspiracism generally is 'the Cabal'.² It is important to note that the 'Cabal' is not simply the government and other established authorities, though these may well be subsumed within it. Conspiracists are not simply right-libertarians, though there is some significant crossover with that political persuasion. The important thing to bear in mind here is the crucial importance of secrecy to the Conspiracist worldview. One recurring theme in Conspiracist writings is Plato's allegory of the cave, and interpreting this allegory from the Conspiracist worldview is a good way of understanding how Conspiracists conceptualise the Cabal and their relationship to it.

The allegory of the cave centres around the idea of prisoners who are kept chained in a dark cave, and who come to believe that shadows projected on a wall in front of them constitute reality; only by freeing themselves can the prisoners actually grasp something of the true nature of things. Plato meant this to say something about the difference between the world that is intelligible to our senses and the 'perfect' world of pure thought where Ideal Forms exist, which can be accessed by philosophy. The Conspiracist interpretation is broadly along the same lines, though often (but by no means always) less metaphysical. To the Conspiracist, the prisoners are the vast majority of people, the 'sheep', who do not share their worldview, and are instead content to consume a false reality created by the Cabal; the 'propaganda' of mass culture and the 'indoctrination' of the academy. The Conspiracist on the other hand is the Philosopher, who can break their own chains and 'awaken', turning round to see the machinery of projection and its operators, and beyond them the Truth that has been obscured.

Thus we have the general structure of Conspiracism at its broadest level; a secretive Cabal who play with the perceptions of the populace in order to control them for their own ends. Within this structure exists a multiplicity of thought, some of it diametrically opposed in its choices of how to populate the Cabal, which is akin to the doctrinal squabbling inherent in any ideological movement. These can be organised into broad strands or schools, which I shall explore at a later date. It should be noted however that there exists significant cross-pollination among every strand of Conspiracism; there is a common literature of theories, facts, quasi-facts, myths, misconceptions and errata which they all draw from in common. This will be important when it comes time to more clearly explore how the seemingly 'mundane' conspiracism that revolves around more mainstream Conspiracist figures like Donald Trump and Alex Jones, with its modern thriller landscape of backroom politics, secret deals, spies and hackers and so forth is intimately connected to the more esoteric, David Icke world of aliens, holograms and parallel dimensions suggested by the impetus for this project.

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 1 It has not been at all surprising to me to see many more mainstream Conspiracist thinkers in the US, after spending years fulminating over the imminent arrival of a fascist police state under Bush, Obama or Clinton, jump straight into bed with an overt authoritarian like Trump.

2 The occult flavour of this term seems appropriate given the deep parallels and connections that exist between Conspiracism and various branches of esoteric thought, which is such a broad topic that it will require much separate later discussion.