Paranoid shift

[dweller]

By Michael Hasty
Online Journal Contributing Writer

January 10, 2004—Just before his death, James Jesus Angleton,
the legendary chief of counterintelligence at the Central Intelligence
Agency, was a bitter man. He felt betrayed by the people he had
worked for all his life. In the end, he had come to realize that they
were never really interested in American ideals of "freedom" and
"democracy." They really only wanted "absolute power."

Angleton told author Joseph Trento that the reason he had gotten
the counterintelligence job in the first place was by agreeing not to
submit "sixty of Allen Dulles' closest friends" to a polygraph test
concerning their business deals with the Nazis. In his end-of-life
despair, Angleton assumed that he would see all his old
companions again "in hell."

The transformation of James Jesus Angleton from an enthusiastic,
Ivy League cold warrior, to a bitter old man, is an extreme example
of a phenomenon I call a "paranoid shift." I recognize the
phenomenon, because something similar happened to me.

Although I don't remember ever meeting James Jesus Angleton, I
worked at the CIA myself as a low-level clerk as a teenager in the
'60s. This was at the same time I was beginning to question the
government's actions in Vietnam. In fact, my personal "paranoid
shift" probably began with the disillusionment I felt when I realized
that the story of American foreign policy was, at the very least,
more complicated and darker than I had hitherto been led to believe.

But for most of the next 30 years, even though I was a radical, I
nevertheless held faith in the basic integrity of a system where
power ultimately resided in the people, and whereby if enough
people got together and voted, real and fundamental change could
happen.

What constitutes my personal paranoid shift is that I no longer
believe this to be necessarily true.

In his book, "Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only
Superpower," William Blum warns of how the media will make
anything that smacks of "conspiracy theory" an immediate "object
of ridicule." This prevents the media from ever having to investigate
the many strange interconnections among the ruling class—for
example, the relationship between the boards of directors of media
giants, and the energy, banking and defense industries. These
unmentionable topics are usually treated with what Blum calls "the
media's most effective tool—silence." But in case somebody's
asking questions, all you have to do is say, "conspiracy theory,"
and any allegation instantly becomes too frivolous to merit serious
attention.

On the other hand, since my paranoid shift, whenever I hear the
words "conspiracy theory" (which seems more often, lately) it
usually means someone is getting too close to the truth.

more here

Permission to reprint in entirety given by author, but it's pretty long...enough provided here to lure the reader to the link, i hope. Get a cup of coffee and have a look. good stuff
dp

[Eloriel]

1. He's absolutely right

New people come to DU all the time, many of them wrinkling their noses at the "conspiracy theories." But I've learned a very valuable lesson in my two years or so at DU: do NOT, under any circumstances, automatically reject anything that sounds like and especially anything that gets labeled a "conspiracy theory."

I'd have understood the world and my place in it a LOT better had I pursued some of those "conspiracy theories" I rejected at an earlier time in my life online.

Doesn't mean I automatically subscribe to them if I'm not already familiar with them, it only means I take a deeper look.

At this point I can safely say, and I suppose I'll call it an opinion, that I know of no commonly referred to "conspiracy theory" in the political realm that is completely, though there are a couple I haven't researched to my satisfaction yet.

And btw, peole are fond of saying, "A conspiracy like that (whatever "that" is) would take hundreds of people involved and therefore would be impossible to keep secret."

Nooooo, NOT at all, not even close. Here's a thread that explains (somewhat sloppily) my thoughts on the subject of conspiracies, and includes some other wonderful information definitely worth reading:

Conspiracies: Self-interest, fear, inertia, values
http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=5535&forum=DCForumID70&archive=yes

Eloriel

[dweller]

2. Chilling article isn't it, E?

I'd forgotten i'd posted it here, it was duped in about 20 minutes or so in GD and so only got response there. There is so little traffic here in ed.

I'll check out your link.

peace,
dp

[KoKo]

5. E, if you saw Kevin Philips on C-Span where he talked about the trails on

the Dulles Brothers being cold, dead, and that no one would talk about it, but "the links are in my book" then that's all the vindication one would need to have for conspiracy theories which go way back in the 20 Century which we are living with today because they were "covered up" as too harmful for the "American People" to know about.

The interview was quite creepy and I taped it so I could rewatch it. He seemed to be restraining himself throughout it so that he appeared the typical "uptight" Repug, and was often short with the questioners in the audience. He never answered one questioner who said "Do you think the ownership of the media by just a few corporations is a problem?" (paraphrase).

He said his book had footnotes and a bibliography if anyone wanted to search out the Prescott/Nazi connection and threw down a challenge to the Press but seemed to feel that it wouldn't be taken up.

I think Philip's book has gone cold in the rumpus of O'Neill's but I felt Hasty's article in "Online" was a follow up to that challenge when I read it.

I also read your link. And, I agree.....

I think they are hoping the last with memories will die off, because they seem to have very long lives which means that "Ultimate Power" leads to the best in medical care.

[mediaman007]

12. I knew I wasn't paranoid

Kick...back to the top

[bpilgrim]

3. thats the outline of my movie ;-)

i've been discussing making a - o. stone - movie about this sad sordid tale that is our legacy with my cousin who is a writer/director and these are most of the main points i want to cover.

thanks for sharing :toast:

peace

[teryang]

4. Intrusions of political reality

The assassination of JFK (by a lone nut?). I was twelve at the time and didn't believe it.

The assasinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy.

The Gulf of Tonkin "incident" and colonial warfare in Vietnam.

Inslaw.

The "war on drugs."

The savings and loan "crisis." (wholesale looting by bankers and their political cronies.)

Mena gun running and trafficking.

Iran Contra.

I am of one mind with Mr. Hasty.

Saw the Quiet American the other day on DVD with Michael Caine. Many bombings are CIA conspiracies, like the P2 bombings in post war Italy, and contemporary bombings in the Philipines. Every such bombing delivers independent government into the hands of American policy makers. Yes Margaret we Americans do bomb people (with IEDs no less.) Doesn't seem to be working in Iraq. Is there a war in Iraq? Don't hear much about it lately, except about ribbons on the old oak tree.

[KoKo]

6. Quiet American is a good movie. Years ago we had quite a few movies

similar to that one. But not since the WWII generation sold out their media empires to the Corporate Whores.

It got little attention, because not so many are interested in what seemed like the "old times," but there was much to think about in that movie.

John LeCarre's new book should be very interesting. To put on the list with Kevin Philips, and John O'Neill's.

Quite a bit of reading to do!

[TruthIsAll]

7. KIck this baby

A true masterwork...

[Snappy]

8. Iraq War

The TV media seems to be burned out on Iraq. Not enuff action adventure. When it was Reality Show it was hot.

[ixion]

9. fantastic article... really connects all the dots..

thanks for posting this. passing it on to others.

[loudsue]

10. I love the Greg Palast definition of "conspiracy theories"....

"Conspiracy Theories" are the true stories you finally read in the New York Times six months later.

So true. So true. Bush knew. Bush knew.

:kick:

[Pathwalker]

11. Wraps everything up, ties a neat little bow, too. So,

a kick to keep this important topic where others can see it.

[He loved Big Brother]

13. A quote I love

"Just because you might not believe in conspiracies, don't think the people running things don't."