Quote:
Originally Posted by After a brisk nap
all these fictional multi-generation conspiracies just make me want to scream "history doesn't work like that!" (for "history", substitute "society", "politics", "organizations", or just "people" as appropriate).
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I just read
a review of a new book on conspiracy theories (
Voodoo Histories by David Aaronovitch) that includes a quote by Richard Hofstadter that made me think of this thread:
"A distinguished historian has said that one of the most valuable things about history is that it teaches us how things do
not happen. It is precisely this kind of awareness that the paranoid fails to develop."
(The rest of the article is interesting but marred by an evident neo-con bias.
This review has a more even-handed discussion.)
