Everyone's Stupid

Regular readers may have noticed that the three contributors to this blog do not have much patience for ridiculous conspiracy theories. By way of example, here's AKS' latest diatribe, here's an excellent post by NB immediately following Benazir's death, and here's a parasitic post by yours truly that followed the aforementioned NB post. What irks us most, if I can immodestly presume to speak for all three of us for the moment, is not the conspiracy theories themselves per se, but the lazy thinking that allows and engenders the conspiracy theories. Such lazy thinking thinly masks the real reason these conspiracy theories are constructed, which is either (a) the inherent desire to evade responsibility for one's flaws and mistakes ("the Jews were responsible for 9/11, how could good old Muslims ever do such a thing?") or (b) the real and strong hatred of the would-be culprit agreed upon by the conspiracy theorists ("Musharraf is an asshole, ergo he must be responsible for BB's death").

The point of this post is not to rehash any of the stuff which has been said before, but merely to point out that in no way do Pakistanis have a monopoly on excessive stupidity. Here's an email doing the rounds here in the U.S. While any google search - or common sense for that matter - will lead you to conclude that every single assertion in this email is demonstrably false, you also have to wonder how many people actually make the effort to do said google search, especially since the email seems to affirm many of the recipients' most deeply held prejudices. Anyway, enough from me, enjoy this email:

Subject: Who is Barack Obama? Probable Democrat presidential candidate, Barack Hussein Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a black MUSLIM from Nyangoma-Kogel, Kenya and Ann Dunham, a white ATHIEST from Wichita, Kansas. Obama's parents met at the University of Hawaii. When Obama was two years old, his parents divorced. His father returned to Kenya. His mother then married Lolo Soetoro, a RADICAL Muslim from Indonesia. When Obama was 6 years old, the family relocated to Indonesia. Obama attended a MUSLIM school in Jakarta. He also spent two years in a Catholic school. Obama takes great care to conceal the fact that he is a Muslim. He is quick to point out that, 'He was once a Muslim, but that he also attended Catholic school.' Obama's political handlers are attempting to make it appear that Obama's introduction to Islam came via his father, and that this influence was temporary at best. In reality, the senior Obama returned to Kenya soon after the divorce, and never again had any direct influence over his son's education. Lolo Soetoro, the second husband of Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, introduced his stepson to Islam. Obama was enrolled in a Wahabi school in Jakarta. Wahabism is the RADICAL teaching that is followed by the Muslim terrorists who are now waging Jihad against the western world. Since it is politically expedient to be a CHRISTIAN when seeking Major public office in the United States, Barack Hussein Obama has joined the United Church of Christ in an attempt to downplay his Muslim background. Let us all remain alert concerning Obama's expected presidential candidacy. The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out, what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States, one of their own!!!! ALSO, keep in mind that when he was sworn into office - he DID NOT use the Holy Bible, but instead the Kuran (Their equevelancy to our Bible, but very different beliefs) Please forward to everyone you know. Would you want this man leading our country?...... NOT ME!!!

A variant of this email, with the subject line reading "Fwd: Be careful, be very careful" can be read here.