The O'Reilly Fiction

I have a friend who is fond of the saying, “Analogy is the lowest form of reason.”

Perhaps -- but conspiracy theory is not far behind. There is something really emotionally satisfying about the idea that bad things are all part of a plot and you know who the plotters are. To start with it’s simple. There’s no need to study macroeconomics or history or anything else with a lot of math or footnotes involved. Your answer is as understandable as the last episode of “Survivor.”

And like “Survivor,” it’s excellent theater. Every good story has a bad guy, and fighting bad guys is what defines a good guy. That’s why Hollywood churns out conspiracy theory driven adventures by the dozen. There are, of course, some real conspiracies in our world. But nothing like the number that people believe.

The most popular conspiracy theories all involve a confluence of politics and money: the trilateral commission, the Jews, the freemasons, corporate evildoers. These are the motive forces of history to simple minds -- or to those wanting to manipulate such simple minds.

I’ll let you decide which category Bill O’Reilly falls into, but as his latest column demonstrates he is a big proponent of the idea that high gas prices -- which are a violation of your inalienable right to be insulated from market forces -- are the result of a “cabal” of “Big Oil” “fat cats.” I believe Hugo Chavez holds a similar belief.

Mac Johnson