{"id":62510,"date":"2022-04-21T19:05:11","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T00:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=62510"},"modified":"2022-04-21T19:05:11","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T00:05:11","slug":"do-conspiracies-really-exist-murray-rothbard-thought-so","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=62510","title":{"rendered":"Do Conspiracies Really Exist? Murray Rothbard Thought So"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"page-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mises.org\/wire\/do-conspiracies-really-exist-murray-rothbard-thought-so\">Do Conspiracies Really Exist? Murray Rothbard Thought So<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"media__element b-lazy b-loaded\" style=\"color: #333333; font-size: 16px;\" title=\"\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.mises.org\/styles\/slideshow\/s3\/static-page\/img\/conspiracy-wire.jpg?itok=MmgghpqA\" alt=\"conspiracy\" \/><\/h3>\n<div id=\"slideshow\" class=\"group-image-wrapper field-group-html-element pull-left\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"body-content clearfix\">\n<p class=\"text-right\">\u00a0It is also important for the State to inculcate in its subjects an aversion to any \u201cconspiracy theory of history;\u201d for a search for \u201cconspiracies\u201d means a search for motives and an attribution of responsibility for historical misdeeds. If, however, any tyranny imposed by the State, or venality, or aggressive war, was caused not by the State rulers but by mysterious and arcane \u201csocial forces,\u201d or by the imperfect state of the world or, if in some way, everyone was responsible (\u201cWe Are All Murderers,\u201d proclaims one slogan), then there is no point to the people becoming indignant or rising up against such misdeeds. Furthermore, an attack \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 on \u201cconspiracy theories\u201d means that the subjects will become more gullible in believing the \u201cgeneral welfare\u201d reasons that are always put forth by the State for engaging in any of its despotic actions. A \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d can unsettle the system by causing the public to doubt the State\u2019s ideological propaganda.<\/p>\n<p align=\"right\">\u2014Murray N. Rothbard,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.mises.org\/Anatomy+of+the+State_3.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Anatomy of the State<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>This essay represents a \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d (or better, a conspiracy hypothesis) about the uses of the term \u201cconspiracy theory\u201d itself. I acknowledge that the term is one of the most potent epithets that can be hurled at a writer or speaker, that it is mostly used to delegitimize and dismiss its target, and that it serves not only to discredit the claim that a writer or speaker makes but also the very investigation into purported conspiracies. The phrase represents a condensed, shorthand means of labeling a claim negatively and humiliating the claimant, disqualifying the claimant and the claim a priori. Likewise, in writing of the \u201cconspiracy\u201d behind the use of the phrase, I am hereby opening myself up to the charge of \u201cconspiracy theory.\u201d&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do Conspiracies Really Exist? Murray Rothbard Thought So \u00a0It is also important for the State to inculcate in its subjects an aversion to any \u201cconspiracy theory of history;\u201d for a search for \u201cconspiracies\u201d means a search for motives and an attribution of responsibility for historical misdeeds. If, however, any tyranny imposed by the State, or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3800,2370,27790,7617,545],"class_list":["post-62510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-liberty","tag-conspiracies","tag-conspiracy-theory","tag-michael-rectenwald","tag-mises-institute","tag-murray-rothbard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62510"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62511,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62510\/revisions\/62511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}