During the last few days I have had to politely deal with someone who calls the congregation to talk about conspiracy theories, especially ones regarding him personally. People are bugging his phones, poised to come into his room through the attic access panel, and making him tired with low doses of poison in the air or food.
Sadly, such folks cause me to have no patience in dealing with even mostly-true conspiracy stories. Reform Judaism magazine recently featured an article about the oil industry's history which I have not read. I've long put off reading about gun control's Nazi roots. I should know more about the Nazi roots of Islamofascism than I do. (If the last topic is new to you, start with this video.)
My lack of interest could potentially lead to problems.
For example, I recently skipped over Barry Chamish's websites when someone recommended I read them. Does Chamish know what he is talking about? Would investigating his theories help me be better supportive of Israel? Is there any hope that Porkbusters can get more U.S. elected representatives to care about representing their people?
I probably will never know, since I'm so turned off by the whole genre and thus far have not seen any practical applications. My devotion to love God and love my neighbor seems unaffected by who is manipulating big policies or big money.
Yeshua had no interest reforming human governments. He dealt with them. He will return to overwhelm them. Until then his focus and his disciple's focus is the health of local communities and individuals.
UPDATE: Over the weekend I was introduced to two more conspiracy theories. One of them, from what I can find, seems quite established as true and is nicely written up by Ben Hecht in his book Perfidy. The other, The Book of J, seems nonsense, since Umberto Cassuto debunked the Documentary Hypothesis years ago.
UPDATE: A rebuttal to the link between gun control and the rise of Nazi power is here.
