"Pathologizing" protest: An exploration of "conspiracy phobia"

By Carolyn Baker
Online Journal Contributing Writer

June 17, 2002

In April, when mainstream media reported Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney's call for an investigation of the events of September 11, I was surprised, yet not at all shocked to hear pejorative comments from the likes of Ari Fleischer, alleging that McKinney must be competing in a contest for "The Grassy Knoll Society." However, I was and continue to be viscerally astounded with the inordinate terror of "conspiracy theory" within mainstream, and yes, even progressive, media.

A lifetime of psychological training immediately kicked in, and rather than feeling defensive of McKinney's assertions, with which I happen to thoroughly agree, I felt compelled to reflect upon what I have come to believe is "conspiracy phobia" among some of the greatest minds in media. I find no other way to account for a perception of anything even remotely resembling conspiracy paradigms as a kind of intellectual leprosy. What is so tragic about this dread and loathing is not the irrationality of it all, but the enmity and polarization it is creating within what could and should be a consistent, collaborative, congenial left-liberal alliance in a time of unprecedented corruption, criminality and constitutional degradation in American government.

For example, shortly after September 11, the websites of Mike Ruppert's From The Wilderness, Global Research and The Emperor's New Clothes began publishing a plethora of inconsistencies in the "official" U.S. government explanation of the attacks. Shortly thereafter, Chip Berlet of (Public Research Associates) criticized Ruppert's "conspiracism," stating that Ruppert's allegations "fall short of journalistic standards of evidence and proof." He goes on to say that Ruppert makes sweeping claims that cannot be verified and "serve to distract from serious progressive opposition to the status quo and sometimes even discredit it."

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