Conspiracies

 

The flagpole at my local school.

A friend who originally emigrated from Pakistan laments that, over the past few years, his eyes have been opened: at the higher levels, Canada is no better than Pakistan. Our leadership is corrupt. His Canadian dream was only an illusion. 

His companion, Canadian-born, says the sudden appearance of “gay-pride/transgender” flags on public buildings everywhere looks to him like the swastikas appearing in Germany with the rise of the Nazis. They announce the power of an authoritarian political ideology. You will obey.

Did I mention that these two guys are gay?

They think we are doomed; that there is no way back. The best we can do is try to survive.

Who would have thought, a few years ago, that the following conspiracy theories would look plausible:

That the 2020 US election was rigged.

That the past two Canadian elections were rigged.

That the Canadian prime minister and the US president are in the pay of China.

That the Canadian government would try to control the media.

That “Canadian health care” would become a euphemism for murder.

That “Eyes Wide Shut” was a documentary? That there are pedophile rings involving the participation of the rich and famous? When a film came out about the fight against pedophile rings, there would be an effort to suppress it?

That “drag queen story hours” for children would not just be permitted, but made mandatory?

That the CIA shot JFK. Maybe RFK? Maybe MLK? How about John Lennon? One former CIA operative has confessed to killing Bob Marley. Has the US effectively been run by a dark cabal since the 1960s?

That we were all forced to inject ourselves with an experimental vaccine that had not been properly tested.

That the pharmaceutical companies are prepared to suppress effective medicines for the sake of profit.

That some conspiracy can have enemies suicided at will, even within a high-level prison, and then can prevent an investigation.

That UFOs have been real all along; but the government has been suppressing this fact. 

That the FBI is engaged in such activities as suppressing news for partisan political purposes.

That there is a conspiracy between government, the media, and big tech to impose censorship and control the news.

And on it goes.

Given that last one, that news is being suppressed, all conspiracy theories now become plausible. We  know there are conspiracies. We know we are not being told the truth. Which conspiracies are real is anyone’s guess. There can no longer be any public trust in our institutions.

My own thoughts are still optimistic. I think we are seeing the thrashing about of a beast in its death throes. Social media makes conspiracies harder now to conceal, and we are beginning to see behind the curtain. At the same time, a depraved ideology that traces roots back to the 19th century, variously known as postmodernism, relativism, critical theory, existentialism, fascism, or the New Left, is reaching the point of reductio ad absurdum, slipperly slopes being real and really slippery, and the common people are beginning to see how mad it is. 

And the convoys are coming.

I still believe there is a way back, and the future will be better than the past.