David Icke may be on to something......I think we can all agree that Michael Jackson was a "reptilian humanoid."
 

Debate over the reality of conspiracy theories often disintegrates into dismissing conspiracy theorists outright as wacko nut jobs. The term "conspiracy theory" is often just synonymous with crazy, implausible, fantasy idea. In other words, no substantive debate or discussion ends up taking place.

Perhaps we need to replace the term with something like "network theories" or something in order to breach this mental block that everyone seems to put up whenever someone brings up the idea or possibility of a conspiracy theory.

For example, whenever you mention the word "Freemason" in the US, you'll usually automatically be considered a weirdo or wackjob. But it's well known in Europe that Freemasons have power and influence in institutions such as banking.

From a recent Economist article: "FRANÇOIS PÉROL, the adviser whom Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, controversially appointed in February to head two merging mutual banks, is not known as a champion of transparency. But Mr Pérol has let it be known that he intends to reduce the influence of freemasons at Caisse d’Epargne and Banque Populaire. He has refused an invitation to a tenue blanche ouverte, a masonic meeting that non-freemasons may attend. And he does not want senior posts shared among the banks’ various rival lodges."
http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13914661

Freemasons and prominent lodges were heavily involved in numerous conspiracies throughout the postwar period in Italy, for example. The recent, and excellent Italian film "Il Divo" gives an excellent depiction of political/social life in postwar Italy, where it seemed that there were perpetually multiple conspiracies going on.

Blogger Steve Sailer has an excellent review of the film where he discusses the reality of conspiracies in postwar Italy: "In the Anglo-American world, to label anything a “conspiracy theory” is to dismiss it out of hand. In Italy, in contrast, conspiracy theories are the default explanation for how the world works, because conspiracies are the main mechanism by which politicians get done what little they do. In Italy, the political is personal. To understand historical events, you need to tease out the occluded connections among the players."
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2009/06/il-divo.html
 

To continue from my previous post, here's another excellent post by Sailer where he discusses the idea of a "Deep State", which he says is "An intriguing concept almost unknown in America but common in political discourse in Mediterranean countries such as Italy and Turkey is the putative existence of a "deep state" whose members ultimately pull (or could pull) the strings. In Italian history, for example, its manifestations might include Mafia connections with politicians, the P2 Masonic lodge in Rome that was discovered in 1980, and NATO's Operation Gladio "leave behind" commando units that were intended to wage guerrilla war after a Communist takeover but may have been turned to less noble ends in the meantime.

http://isteve.blogspot.com/2009/06/deep-state.html
 

A couple Bilderberg Group researchers/investigative journalists I've been following have been pretty damn spot on with their predictions based on their examinations of past Bilderberg meetings. And they've made some interesting new predictions for the near future.

http://www.corbettreport.com/articles/20090624_bilderberg_predictions.htm
 

No one has a problem with conspiracy theories Big Jim, it is not a PR problem. What people have a problem with is unverifiable prattle. That said, I am pretty sure Bob is joking this time.
 

I'm not joking, Pigsy. If those three people I named were to die within three days of tight passage of the bill by the Senate, I would not consider it a coincidence.

Of course, I'm joking insofar as I picked Burt Ward, but not on the general principle.

If a conspiracy theory gives you predictive power, wouldn't that be a point in its favor?
 

Bob,

yes! IF your conspiracy theory would allow you to a) predict an event and b) do so better than an alternative theory, you'd be on to something.

Ideally, however, there should also be a logical reason for this :)
 

Bob, Billy Mays was found dead today.

Who dunnit? Ever since he started with Oxiclean, Mays has made a lot of enemies in the detergent industries.

Must've been the CIA in league with Tide or Windex.