360Digest

Christopher Hitchens represents conspiracy theories as the ‘exhaust fumes of democracy’, the unavoidable result of a large amount of information circulating among a large number of people. Other social commentators and sociologists argue that conspiracy theories are produced according to variables that may change within a democratic society.

Conspiratorial accounts can be emotionally satisfying when they place events in a readily-understandable, moral context. The subscriber to the theory is able to assign moral responsibility for an emotionally troubling event or situation to a clearly-conceived group of individuals. Crucially, that group does not include the believer. The believer may then feel excused of any moral or political responsibility for remedying whatever institutional or societal flaw might be the actual source of the dissonance.

So, it may be a coincidence that events of a certain importance happened on the first day of the NAR conference, however, on some occasions particular conspiracy allegations turn out to be more than a mere alignment of the planets.

Some argue that the reality of such conspiracies should caution against any casual dismissal of conspiracy theory. Many “conspiracy theory” authors and publishers, such as Robert Anton Wilson and Disinfo, use proven conspiracies as evidence of what a secret plot can accomplish. In doing so, they attempt to rebut the assumption that conspiracies don’t exist, or that any “conspiracy theory” is necessarily false.

However, it is just so odd that NAR convention-goers are witness to the eerie collision of events that cause 1000’s of Realtors to converge in the same city, on the same day, at the very same time that the New Frontier Hotel, yes, the location of Elvis’ first performance in Las Vegas, implodes upon itself.

Conspiracy or coincidence.

You decide.