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| India-Pakistan |
| Pakistanis growing addiction to conspiracy theories (guess what kind) |
| 2010-05-28 |
| Americans may think that the failed Times Square bomb was planted by a man named Faisal Shahzad. But the view in the Supreme Court Bar Association here in Pakistans capital is that the culprit was an American "think tank." "People want simple explanations, like evil America, Zionist-Hindu alliance," said a Pakistani diplomat, who asked not to be named because of the delicate nature of the topic. "Its gone really deep into the national psyche now." One of those pundits is Zaid Hamid, a fast-talking, right-wing television personality who rose to fame on one of Pakistans 90 new private television channels. the Keith Obermann of Pakistan He uses Google searches to support his theory that India, Israel and the United States -- through their intelligence agencies and the company formerly known as Blackwater -- are conspiring to destroy Pakistan. See! It sez so in Counterpunch! The problem is more than a peculiar domestic phenomenon for Pakistan. It has grown into a narrative of national victimhood that is a nearly impenetrable barrier to any candid discussion of the problems here. In turn, it is one of the principal obstacles for the United States in its effort to build a stronger alliance with a country to which it gives more than a billion dollars a year in aid. |
| Posted by:lord garth |
| #8 I blame the Illuminati. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2010-05-28 12:51 |
| #7 It has grown into a narrative of national victimhood... Wrong, NYT. The narrative of victimhood has grown into a conspiracy-fest. If it wasn't us, it would be the UK (imperialism!) A subtle but essential point that the Times is willfully oblivious to. "People want simple explanations, like evil America, Zionist-Hindu alliance," That's exactly who they blamed for the Boxing Day Tsunami- a US/Israel/Indian under-ocean nuclear explosion. |
| Posted by: Free Radical 2010-05-28 12:38 |
| #6 and they cheat you every chance they get, those bastards. Crazy, they're all crazy I tell you! |
| Posted by: ripped off at the bazaar 2010-05-28 10:29 |
| #5 I despise moral equivalence. What I'm advocating instead is accuracy, rather than hyperbole, when we correctly criticize people like Bloomberg. I also advocate a coalition of liberals and conservatives against Islamicists, rather than letting the usual partisan instincts take over. That's why I wind up in arguments with the people on the Huffington Post who attack Bush's intervention in Iraq or equate Israeli self defense with aggression and why I sometime wind up in disagreements here on what liberals are up to. I agree with you that Bloomberg was (sad to say) probably even hoping that the Times Square bomber was an American right-winger, but, once the evidence was in, he certainly didn't try to deny reality. This is a real difference with Pakistani attitudes. One reason that conflicts will continue in that part of the world is that the majority of even the educated part of the population is enamoured with conspiracy theories and magical thinking, and insufficiently susceptible to empiricism and rationalism. |
| Posted by: Odysseus 2010-05-28 09:47 |
| #4 Ah, the old "moral equivalence" game. Come on, Bloomberg and a ton of other liberals immediately thought it was Tea Partiers that did it, especially when the perp was described as a white guy. I'd go so far as to say they were hoping it would be one. Come on, be real. You know what I'm talking about. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-05-28 08:20 |
| #3 To be accurate, the American establishment goes through quite different mental gymnastics. Bloomberg didn't say the Tea Party did it; he said it "could be anybody" and that "if I had to guess" that it was somebody "homegrown", "such as" somebody upset over the health care bill. I completely agree that his comments were stupid because the huge majority of such attacks are by Islamicists. But it is also correct that some are by American radicals, including people on the right, not just McVeigh, but also Eric Rudolph of the Atlanta Olympics bombing, as well as the left, such as the Ted Kaczynski. It was foolish of Bloomberg to guess the less likely explanation, but not foolish to have as his main point that we don't really know until more facts are in. The big difference between Bloomberg (and the rest of the American establishment) and the Pakistani public (including the majority of their establishment) is that he doesn't insist on an improbable conspiracy AFTER the facts are in. Unfortunately, a sizable minority of the US public isn't more tied to logic and evidence than the Pakistani majority given how many, on both the left and the right, are 9/11 truthers, believers in abductions by aliens, etc. |
| Posted by: Odysseus 2010-05-28 07:13 |
| #2 No surprise there. The establishment in America goes through similar mental gymnastics to deny that the Times Square bomb was an act of Islamicists funded by the government of Pakistan. Bloomberg blamed it on the Tea Party. |
| Posted by: gromky 2010-05-28 01:43 |
| #1 Infowars nods in silent agreement. Testify! |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2010-05-28 00:39 |