Conspiracy theories are fun to think about, but unnecessary to explain denial. It is very common for human beings to avoid thinking about threats to their well-being until the evidence is in their face. Peak oil is an abstract threat, somewhere in the distant future. It is in the distant future because if one has a choice between picking between CERA and Ken Deffeyes predictions, one will pick the more comforting scenario. The readers and the editors of media are operating under the same desire for bad news to go away.
Until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, there were many pacifists who said the US should stay out of foreign wars. Overnight, the bulk of the pacifists disappeared and became patriots. While the story of WWII is more complicated than this, the point is that events dictate percerptions. Some big events related to peak oil will be required to puncture the denial of media and public alike. Unfortunately, something concrete, like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, is unlikely. There are too many alternate explanations for the declines in production and tight supplies. Ambiguity exists for those who are aware of peak oil and its implications. Until there exist dramatic stories to be photographed or written, it is unlikely that peak oil will get much play in the popular media. Even then, the bias in the media and the public will be toward benign explanations in order to avoid the more threatening ideas.
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Peak Oil - A Conspiracy Theory?
Re: I'm a Conspiracy Theorist on Peak Oil in the Media...
by rdberg1957 » Sat 07 Apr 2007, 10:57:43
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Re: I'm a Conspiracy Theorist on Peak Oil in the Media...
by threadbear » Sat 07 Apr 2007, 14:17:21
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rdberg1957', 'C')onspiracy theories are fun to think about, but unnecessary to explain denial. It is very common for human beings to avoid thinking about threats to their well-being until the evidence is in their face. Peak oil is an abstract threat, somewhere in the distant future. It is in the distant future because if one has a choice between picking between CERA and Ken Deffeyes predictions, one will pick the more comforting scenario. The readers and the editors of media are operating under the same desire for bad news to go away.
Until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, there were many pacifists who said the US should stay out of foreign wars. Overnight, the bulk of the pacifists disappeared and became patriots. While the story of WWII is more complicated than this, the point is that events dictate percerptions. Some big events related to peak oil will be required to puncture the denial of media and public alike. Unfortunately, something concrete, like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, is unlikely. There are too many alternate explanations for the declines in production and tight supplies. Ambiguity exists for those who are aware of peak oil and its implications. Until there exist dramatic stories to be photographed or written, it is unlikely that peak oil will get much play in the popular media. Even then, the bias in the media and the public will be toward benign explanations in order to avoid the more threatening ideas.
Until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, there were many pacifists who said the US should stay out of foreign wars. Overnight, the bulk of the pacifists disappeared and became patriots. While the story of WWII is more complicated than this, the point is that events dictate percerptions. Some big events related to peak oil will be required to puncture the denial of media and public alike. Unfortunately, something concrete, like the bombing of Pearl Harbor, is unlikely. There are too many alternate explanations for the declines in production and tight supplies. Ambiguity exists for those who are aware of peak oil and its implications. Until there exist dramatic stories to be photographed or written, it is unlikely that peak oil will get much play in the popular media. Even then, the bias in the media and the public will be toward benign explanations in order to avoid the more threatening ideas.
Conspiracy theory and denial aren't mutually exclusive. They operate in tandem. Those who can't see this are often driven by a binary model, that creates false dichotemies. The "it's either this or that" kind of thinking that pits one theory against another, rather than seeing them acting in a complimentary way.
You couldn't have an effective media conspiracy, if people weren't prone to denial. At the same time, you couldn't have so many people in denial if information wasn't consciously suppressed. It's a positive feedback system that works to keep the majority of people confined to the status quo, opinion wise.
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Re: I'm a Conspiracy Theorist on Peak Oil in the Media...
by AirlinePilot » Sat 07 Apr 2007, 20:36:09
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'Y')ou couldn't have an effective media conspiracy, if people weren't prone to denial. At the same time, you couldn't have so many people in denial if information wasn't consciously suppressed. It's a positive feedback system that works to keep the majority of people confined to the status quo, opinion wise.
I'm starting to believe that the problem is some combination of what you state here and on a larger scale a lack of intelligence. Average folks just cant put it together. Its too far out of a normal paradigm for people to grasp. I see it every day. I don't even think people are prone to denial as much as they completely lack the ability to think through what is potentially on the horizon.
Denial is really a part of that, the blind inability to move past some basic concept of resource problems and how thier lives and the world's economies will be affected. I don't even think you need to suppress information as long as some "spin" is put on it rendering the picture you want. The majority are just too "dumbed down" by our joke of an education system to get past the spin.
This is all part of my concept of "cultural inertia" and how it's going to compound the problems we ALL experience due to it.
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Re: I'm a Conspiracy Theorist on Peak Oil in the Media...
by Twilight » Sat 07 Apr 2007, 20:56:07
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', 'A')verage folks just cant put it together. Its too far out of a normal paradigm for people to grasp. I see it every day. I don't even think people are prone to denial as much as they completely lack the ability to think through what is potentially on the horizon.
Sounds familiar.
Society encounters an event which exists outside of its cultural frame of reference.
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Re: I'm a Conspiracy Theorist on Peak Oil in the Media...
by sameu » Sat 07 Apr 2007, 23:29:48
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Twilight', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', 'A')verage folks just cant put it together. Its too far out of a normal paradigm for people to grasp. I see it every day. I don't even think people are prone to denial as much as they completely lack the ability to think through what is potentially on the horizon.
Sounds familiar.
Society encounters an event which exists outside of its cultural frame of reference.
hmm sounds like a right definition
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