good post onetrack - i won't disagree with much of what you say. except on the issue of 'conspiracy theories'. The phrase has been given a much maligned reputation and is unfortunately thrown at anyone who questions the 'official' (ie mass media released) version of events. like the mass media have no hidden agenda to propagate anything but the truth? pretty much anyone who counters 'conventional wisdom' is now considered a 'conspiracy theorist'! a few hundred years ago anyone who entertained the idea that the earth was anything but flat was considered an idiot (and history is obviously littered with similar examples). truth always goes through 3 stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident (Arthur Schopenhauer). i mean - what exactly is a 'conspiracy' anyway (the phrase 'conspiracy theory' did not even appear in the oxford dictionary until after the mel gibson movie 'conspiracy theory)? according to wiki, it 'explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public'. if that is the case, how can you ridicule conspiracy theorists when you yourself have stated that:
'The real truth lies in simple human greed, and manipulation of the worlds economic system by unelected people, who have acquired massive wealth by spending all their lives scheming on how to acquire it, and increase it...However, the scheming that does go on, by powerful bankers, out of public scrutiny, does always involve keeping people and nations in debt'
that, by my interpretation of the word, is a pretty good definition of a conspiracy. of course there will always be people who analyse events and turn them into something that they were not, but if the argument is backed up by solid, critical thinking, involving the comprehensive use of grammar, logic and rhetoric, then just because it counters 'conventional wisdom' does not mean that it should be disregarded without any further thought or investigation. if the 'conspiracy theory' does not contain any of the preceding, then fine - disregard it. use your own abilities to 'critically think' to filter out the wheat from the chaff. but don't use the fact that some of these theories are 'nuts' as an excuse to dismiss all such theories that counter 'conventional' wisdom as ludicrous.
the world is a very different place to the one that most people imagine it to be. i think that both einstein and lennon said once that 'reality is merely an illusion', and i guess vice versa. in my humble opinion (and i will be the first to admit that i have no idea about what goes on in this world), it is a little foolhardy to dismiss point blank some of these theories without giving them further investigation. a lot of these theories are backed up by far more evidence and documented fact than the majority of stories documented in popular history and our immensely powerful mass media. people are only limited by their imagination. is it such an unbelievable idea that there might be a group of people out there who want to take over the world?
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." (Aristotle)
as i have already said, i know that i know nothing about this world in which we live. but the only people who know less are those that think they know, as this prevents any further learning. for what it's worth, i believe that within 3 generations we may well all be living under a one world government with a single global currency. but hey, guess i'm just a conspiracy theorist who arrived at that conclusion after reading a couple of 'wacko' conspiracy nut articles on the internet. i might be (and truly hope) that i'm wrong, but i'm also willing to listen to anyone who is able to present to me a coherent and logical argument regarding any topic, regardless of how crazy or 'out there' it may seem on the surface. our minds are umbrellas - they only work if they are open.