When facts are rumoured to be conspiracy theories

Express Tribune

5 hours ago

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Journalists and book authors have spent a considerable amount of time and writing to teach us all about how to do authentic research so as not to consider conspiracy theories as facts. Conspiracy theories are usually designed in such a way that they're not only entertaining for the human mind to quickly embrace it but also are quite unintelligent and helps lazy minds to settle an issue without much thinking to do about it. There's more entertainment in them than any rationality.
However, understanding the reverse is perhaps equally, if not more, important. What if certain facts are wrongly understood to be conspiracy theories because they're too cheesy and too unrealistic. Before I delve into that, let me give you a bit of a context.
I grew up in Pakistan watching Hollywood movies. There would be violent scenes of guns being used and serial killers killing innocent people without reason or remorse. I always thought movie makers had to spice things up for entertainment purposes and that in the real world things weren't this extreme.
Then I came to America. After more than a decade of living here, I realised what they showed in the movies didn't even amount to 10% of the truth. The truth here is a lot more violent and a lot worse.
When it comes to Israel and America, I always heard from almost all sources that usually spin out conspiracy theories that America was owned and controlled by the Jewish lobbies. I am sure you've seen the film The Arrivals. It was entertaining but quite conspiracy theories filled. Well, maybe not so much.
Israel controls America from within is not a conspiracy theory. Almost every, if not every, politician comes to public office shining up his credentials that he or she will be a fierce and loyal defender of Israel. The United States gives billions to Israel, which uses a good amount of that money to donate to politicians and public officer holders through lobbying groups such as AIPAC. Then they're asked to make policies and laws that will be good for Israel but harmful for America most of the time. It's a vicious cycle.
In 2017, there was a massive hurricane that hit Texas. It was called Hurricane Harvey. Businesses and personal properties were damaged. My business, car and other items were damaged completely. The state of Texas was providing relief help only to those who'd pledge not to boycott Israel. I mean think about it for a minute; I being an American citizen and an American business am required to show loyalty to a foreign country in order to get help from my own country. That fact alone is crazier than the most bizarre conspiracy theories that ever existed. Israel uses American money to control America.
One might conclude that it's money. Not so fast. Because the Saudis have a lot more money than a mere few billions. No American politician sticks a Saudi flag outside their office with the text "I stand with Saudi Arabia".
The Israelis have spent almost half a century, if not more, in creating this false narrative and convinced the American people of it that the Holy Bible commands that Israel must be protected, that American values align very neatly with Jewish teachings, that the interests of America and Israel are one and the same, that Israel is the victim, that they are the chosen people who are the rightful owners of that land because they were there 2000 years ago.
None of it is true but these falsehoods are enough tools to scare any politician who might have funny ideas about the freedom of Palestine. AIPAC uses scare tactics to remind such politicians about the money and the zombified, if you will, electorate that stays high on the 'chosen ones' nonsense.
Once this chokehold is understood, then every nonsense that America does starts making sense.