I am only going to refer to this person as an example, not to discuss anything of him in particular. Meet Texe Marrs. According to the bio on his website:
Texe Marrs was assistant professor of aerospace studies, teaching American Defense Policy, strategic weapons systems, and related subjects at the University of Texas at Austin from 1977 to 1982. He has also taught international affairs, political science, and psychology for two other universities. A graduate Summa Cum Laude from Park College, Kansas City, Missouri, he earned his Master’s degree at North Carolina State University.Impressive, isn't it? I mean, this guy sounds bright, thinking, intelligent. His website sounds good, too, with the title "The Power of Prophecy". He's educated and a Christian. Then you visit his website, and you're in for a shock.
As a career USAF officer (now retired), he commanded communications-electronics and engineering units. He holds a number of military decorations, including the Vietnam Service Medal, and served in Germany, Italy, and throughout Asia.
This guy is a conspiracy nut to the nth degree. There are articles linked there explaining how President Bush is a closet gay and how the U.S. military planned the planned the Beit Hanoun Massacre. There is an ad for Texe's latest book explaining how President Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Washington, Colin Powell, Doris Day, and many others are all part of the Illuminati, a secret organization that practices witchcraft to take over the world. In amongst offerings of Bibles (King James Only, of course) and Foxe's Book of Martyrs are other things like Gail Riplinger's New Age Bible Versions (a seriously flawed attack on all Bibles not KJV), a 60-minute tape on "how the Bush team has transformed the White House into a brothel", a video about how Jews and Christians have formed an "unholy alliance", and a DVD about how governments "create and perpetrate terror incidents." (I quote here: "The Madrid train bombings, the London subway explosion, 9/11, even Pearl Harbor and the sinking of the Maine and the Lusitania, were all staged events.") This guy is a loon.
So my question is, how does this happen? How does a seemingly intelligent, educated person end up on the fringe of sanity chasing demons in the dark and seeing conspiracies around every corner? How does one get so hateful while claiming to be so Christian? I'm not asking about Texe Marrs. I'm asking about all the "Texe Marrs" of the world. There are people in pulpits and ministries with lunacy on their minds. There are educated folk who are quite sure that every mad conspiracy you've heard whispered is indeed fact. No amount of logic can sway these folks. No amount of evidence will deter them. No amount of Scripture will change their course. They're sure -- against all evidence and reason. What gets people to this point? What went wrong?
2 comments:
You know, one thing that keeps bothering me about all this is that if this conspiracy really were to exist and if it were really so powerful as to control all the banks, have orchestrated 9/11, etc., why are all these people allowed such free reign to spout whatever they want to spout?
It would be easy enough to silence them before anyone even knew who they were.
Maybe this is in line with your topic, maybe not... Tigersue, linked on my blogroll, had a post regarding a list of classic books that could be considered required reading in some circles. She asked what books might have been left off.
I included some Sci-fi books. Some folks consider Sci-fi to be the work of the Devil; pointing their fingers and covering their eyes. I was told by many to never read Contact because it was written by an atheist. I found the book remarkably spiritual in nature, more of a pleading from the author for answers to spritual questions.
There are reasons to be cautious when reading a lot of Sci-fi, some language is below grade with thoughts clearly off the path; however, it is worth the effort to get past them and find the humanity written about.
I always have trouble with all the gross stuff in the Bible, scabs that never heal, skin disorders detailed and the like; but I get past it.
Hope this was close enough to your subject of conspiracy nuts.
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