JoshuaZ comments on Conspiracy Theories as Agency Fictions - Less Wrong

30 [deleted] 09 June 2012 03:15PM

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Comment author: JoshuaZ 10 June 2012 04:29:49PM -2 points [-]

That's a conspiracy theory about whites, not "white heterosexual males". Most focus on "white heterosexual males" if anything is an anti-conspiracy theory, since what is posited is not coordination but rather more oblivious people who just don't realize that not everyone is in their position or has their viewpoints. For example, when people speak of "white male privilege" they don't mean there's a conspiracy theory to help white males, but rather that white males do have advantages in much of society and we often don't realize it. Similarly, when people talk about heteronormativity, they are generally talking about people taking for granted certain types of sex and gender roles as universal.

The appropriate analogy might be that there are people who think the Illuminati created the banking crisis. That's distinct from thinking that specific systemic problems and competence issues created the problem.

Comment author: [deleted] 10 June 2012 04:33:21PM *  4 points [-]

The white racist patriarchy is not male at least? I'm sure it will be very disappointed to hear that.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 10 June 2012 04:45:39PM 0 points [-]

Again, in most forms it isn't a conspiracy theory- the people advocating it don't generally argue that there's an overarching conspiracy as much. Some of them do move to the conspiratorial end, but even then they don't approach full blown conspiracy in the sense of deliberate hidden coordination.

Comment author: [deleted] 10 June 2012 04:46:37PM 2 points [-]

I was specifically referencing the Rastafarian conspiracy theory I quoted previously.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 10 June 2012 04:48:53PM 1 point [-]

Ah, yes that would fall into the conspiracy theory outright. There's no question that there are quite a few conspiracies about "whites" as the explicit conspiracy group. I think my confusion in this context stemmed from your use of patriarchy- as far as I'm aware the Rastafarian conspiracy doesn't make any point about patriarchy or heterosexuality, which are relevant in the original context.

Comment author: [deleted] 10 June 2012 04:51:20PM *  2 points [-]

Some Rastafarians maintain that a white racist patriarchy ("Babylon") controls the world in order to oppress the African race.

Comment author: JoshuaZ 10 June 2012 06:36:23PM 0 points [-]

Huh. That's interesting. I've never seen an emphasis on patriarchy in the Rastafarian material I've seen. I'll have to look into that in more detail. The sources that Wikipedia entry give are a dead link and this which doesn't seem to mention a patriarchal aspect as far as I can tell.