Just because some conspiracy theories are total nonsense, doesn't mean they all are. For example...
***
A woman across the bar catches the eye of one of the guys, so his female friends mosey over and strike up a conversation. A few minutes later the lust-struck guy joins them, gets vouched for by his female friends, buys a couple rounds of drinks, talks a lot of bullshit, and before you know it he's leaving the bar with his new-found lover.
Did he and is friends conspire their way into that young lady's pants? By the definition of "conspiracy", absolutely.
***
A guy is trying to sell his old car, but it's as piece of junk. Though a few people have looked at it, there hasn't been a single offer. He's got someone coming over to look at it in a few minutes, so he hatches a little plan...
The tricky owner is riding shotgun while the potential buyer test drives the hunk of junk. A conveniently timed call arrives to his cell phone: it's an "offer" a mere $200 less than the asking price! The caller is actually one of his buddies whom the owner instructed to call at just that moment.
The test driver is led to believe that the car is more desirable than it actually is. He is also now limited in his bargaining margin. Surely the tricky owner and his buddy have conspired against the test driver.
***
On game day, this highly trained squad rallies behind their ruthless leader (aka,the Head Coach) and does everything in their power to crush the competition. They use secret codes, run deliberately deceptive plays, and hit hard in hopes of injuring key players on the other squad. In a box up in the stands, several highly skilled assistants analyze the action and radio their findings to the Head Coach. He is the general, they are his advisors, and the team is, of course, his army.
Have they conspired against the other team? Is the other team conspiring against them? Sure.
***
MegaCorp - like any other corporation - is designed to generate as much wealth as it can. If it's not growing, it's dying. This growth is facilitated by offering products and services in exchange for money. Complicating matters, equally powerful competitors are trying to do the same thing. Thus, knowing competitors' strengths and weaknesses gives a clear advantage while formulating strategies.
MegaCorp has recently been losing sales to ÜberCorp, so a few middle managers hatch a plan to take ÜberCorp down while bolstering their own careers. They approach a few ÜberCorp employees with access to confidential documents, promising cold, hard cash in exchange for leaked information. This information exposes a major weakness in ÜberCorp's business plan. The middle managers share this information (minus it's source) with the top brass at MegaCorp. MegaCorp exploits the weakness, and ÜberCorp is crippled. ÜberCorp soon faces bankruptcy and is bought out by MegaCorp.
Obviously, those recently promoted middle managers at MegaCorp conspired against ÜberCorp.
***
One Final Example:
There's no doubt these leaders conspired against not only the enemy but their own constituents as well. Right?! I mean they got their nation to go along with them using fear tactics and outright lies. This sez a lot about their commitment to truth, justice, and liberty.
***
The point of this little exercise was to show how prevalent conspiracy can be at all levels of human interaction. Whether it's a few people sitting at a bar or a few guys starting an unjust war, the basic concept of deceptively working together to capitalize at someone else's expense is the same.
In everyday matters, people conspire against people. In business, corporations conspire against corporations. In governance, political parties conspire against each other. In international relations, the same is true of whole nations. So why is it such a stretch to acknowledge that the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world conspire against the rest of us?
In discussing our current cluster fuck with intelligent people, I'm shocked by how many can't make the leap to assigning blame. With all the technology and wealth currently at humanity's disposal, there is absolutely no reason people should have to suffer economic oppression... but most of us do. Why is that?
The simple answer is because most of that wealth and technology is held tightly by a very small number of powerful people, organizations, and corporations.
The writing is on the wall in plain English, and all signs point to the global economic elite. Sadly, as soon as someone points a finger, it triggers a defense mechanism somewhere in the average American's psyche. The average American writes the messenger off as a batshit crazy "conspiracy theorist" and denies the possibility that the wealthiest and most powerful people on the planet are capable of working together for a common goal.
Apparently - though personally sworn to the principles of planning, hard work, and cooperation - the average American assumes that the wealthiest and most powerful people on the planet got that way though no effort of their own. Though their fortunes and power are completely dependent upon controlling the masses, apparently the global elites are amateurs when it comes to collaboration, manipulation, and consolidation of power.
Really?!?! Gimme a break! Wake up!
The most important thing to understand is this. In order to control our collective destinies - in order to conspire against the common folk - the wealthiest and most powerful people on the planet don't have to get together and hold secret meetings. They don't have to formulate grand schemes or cackle maniacally either. Truth told, all they have to do is continue operating in their own self interest. Here's why.
The principal of "growth or death" that we saw in the MegaCorp example applies similarly to individual wealth and power. Once a person gets a taste of godlike power and insane wealth, most of them just want more. If the 100 most wealthy, powerful and influential entities on the planet follow the basic bottom line and seek their own advantage over all other considerations, they're all on essentially the same page without having to plan anything. The unwritten mission statement is: BIGGER. STRONGER. FASTER. MORE.
Thus, even without some mastermind behind the scenes, most of the big buckaroos are on essentially the same page. They get richer. We get poorer. And that's that. No blatant conspiracy needed. The conspiracy is built into the system.
So the system is broken?! The system is inherently flawed?! Yep. Exactly. Call me a Commie. Call me a Socialist. Call me whatever you want... at least my mentality isn't at the root of humanity's downfall. Peace.
Lyric of the Day: Aceyalone, MORE
More and more and more and more....
Just a little bit more
just a little bit more
just a little bit more
More and more and more and more...
they always want a little more than they got
never take a little and they always take a lot
didn't any want more cause they never stop
you always on the bottom and they always on the top
they know what to say, you face em every day
always got a place for you in case you wanna play
a fire in the hole couldn't chase em away
they come around and take it all and never wanna stay
gotta have extra, add to the texture
I don't want a lecture but that's a nice gesture
need a bigger portion pile it on my plate
gluttony and suddenly there's nothin else to take
less is more unless you're poor
gimme everything and leave a mess on the floor
want the best score and the rest of yours
they forge and the gorge and they whore just a little bit...
[Hook]
no they not satisfied no it's not enough
make mine bigger pile it up to the roof
over your head I need more bread
even my ego needs to be fed
lock and load headed for the war zone
I need more stones to crush more homes
greedy and lust for em must have been known
we only want everything leave us alone
want you to give up more than you ever did before
open doors so I never get bored
it's never too many, gimme gimme gimme
come on down my chimney and gimme somethin good
add somethin to it super size kick it up a notch
gimme everything that you got in your stock
make it a double I don't want trouble
I'm takin all the rest of these don't look puzzled
[Hook]
it's perfectly normal to not have morals
no more talented they want every morsel
who is the mortal I see every mornin
with more than a little bit he must be important
no I'm not surprised you want more fries
you wanna be formally immortalized
mortified at the borderline
cause this moron got more than mine
I need morphine, I want more things
the mortgage is due and I need more green
to get more high, buy buy buy
take it or steal it or get it with a lie
an eye for an eye, make it more wide
I need more room when I jump the ride
there's more than enough more stuff I can hide
I need all minds in an endless supply
[Hook and fade out]