In the television show The X-Files, special agent Fox Mulder hangs out with a wacky trio of guys who publish a conspiracy theory magazine called The Lone Gunman.
If The Lone Gunman were real, it probably would be one of many Web sites that promote conspiracy theories about everything from UFOs to the metal fillings in our teeth.
Rumor and suspicion have become popular culture. Belief in malevolent acts by government, big business or aliens seems to have replaced the superstitions of earlier times.
Even Edgar Mitchell, a respected former astronaut who walked on the moon, recently announced that he thinks that the U.S. government has flying saucers hidden away - and called for a congressional investigation.
While Internet news groups are a great place to follow this social trend, many of these strange theories are presented on Web sites - and there are hundreds dedicated to one strange thing or another.
Encyclopedia of conspiracy
A good place to get an overview is at "Black-Ops," which bills itself as the "Encyclopedia of Conspiracies" http://www.cruzio.com/~blackops/ The site contains links to other pages offering a strange mix of New Age hokum, paranoid conspiracies and articles that claim conspiracies by or against various governments, political organizations, ethnic groups and individuals.
While conspiracy theories rage widely, some popular trends can be found. Here are a few that seem to strike a chord:
- AIDS: The Rethinking AIDS HomePage http://www.virusmyth.com
presents more than 200 articles that question current thinking about the cause and treatment of HIV and AIDS. It presents as evidence an impressive list of scientists and physicians who question the facts about AIDS. It's one of several AIDS sites.
- Kennedy Assassination: The mother of all conspiracies has several sites that put forth different theories about the killing of the president: mafiosos, Cubans, U.S. military, LBJ - you've heard them all before. And you can even dissect the famous Zapruder film, at the JFK Assassination Home Page http://users.southeast.net/~bgoldman/jfk.html
- The Year 2000: Not really a conspiracy, but these sites offer all kinds of prophecies about the next century: nuclear apocalypse, the Age of Aquarius, return of Christ, UFO landings, financial upheaval - the usual stuff. The Center for Millennium Studies maintains a large list of links http://www.mille.org/index.html
Another interesting site is Para-Scope, a serious online magazine dedicated to conspiracies and the paranormal. If The Lone Gunman were a real online magazine, this would be it.
The 'zine is divided into three areas: Nebula (UFOs and aliens), Enigma (paranormal) and Dossier (dirty government deeds). The writers for The X-Files probably get their story ideas from this site.
Conspire.Com, http://conspire.com an online magazine that takes a decidedly tongue-in-cheek look at which conspiracy theories are currently popular (these days, it's Princess Diana and the TWA Flight 800 missile), maintains an archive of theories.
Everybody a theorist
One thing driving all these conspiracy theories is the power of the Internet to link like-minded people and record their conversations.
In an article about the Princess Diana conspiracies that popped up all over Internet in the hours following her tragic death, the editors of Conspire.Com sum it up:
"Back in the good ol' days when conspiracy theorists were still considered crackpots, it actually took some kind of evidence to get this type of frenzy under way. But somewhere along the line, in the last few years, it became cool to be a conspiracy theorist. Now every time some poor sap drops dead, every frat boy with an AOL account races to the the first dufus on the quad with the conspiracy-of-the-moment."
True, but following the byzantine logic of these theories is entertaining at least.
And by the way, The Lone Gunman does have a site http://www.sky.co.uk/one/xfiles/lone/index.htm that is a fun site promoting The X-Files show in Britain. Visit it to learn about the conspiracy theories and paranormal happenings that inspire the show.
E-mail Charles Brewer with questions, comments and suggestions at CBrewer@enquirer.com Charles Brewer's columns can be found at http://enquirer.com/columns/brewer