It seems that what was “forbidden science” in academia is also forbidden in cyberspace. The specific hypothesis offered–that crop circles are the result of a U.K. defense electronics development project–only elicited 19 responses discussing the facts or arguing for or against the idea itself. Among the other 40 responses while the thread was open, 15 asserted their authors’ strongly-held pre-existing belief (the circles MUST be made by Aliens or by hoaxers), 14 simply expressed a flat rejection with no arguments, and fully 11 responses can only be described as cyber-bullying: personal insults, whose authors did not even bother to refer to the subject of the post. What does that say for the ability of new web-based media to support intelligent debate on controversial scientific issues, censored or strongly discouraged in the scientific environment?

This outlook is why I so love Vallee’s writing – especially his journals, Forbidden Science.  Snideness online is nothing new, and is in fact metastasizing. Commenting online seems to be the extension of a general malaise.  This call-out of commenters means more than unverifiable theories about the reality of crop circles.  Dismissive commenting is most definitely provable, and worth studying in itself.

His second post comes via the Daily Grail, where I left this comment:

There’s a missing element here. The two camps are not human vs. other. The “other” could potentially be working within human hoaxsters. If a truly advanced consciousness is at work, it could be inspiring these human-made works of art. That may be a convenient way to mystify hoaxing, but it can’t be totally discarded.

What’s so annoying about the cynicism on BoingBoing is the prevalent attitude of: they’re hoaxes, nothing to see here. Even if they’re all conclusively proven as human-made, crop circles are amazing and beautiful. That should be enough to give them a second look.

We talked about how Obama’s been a disappointment and how maybe he’s not unable to get things done because of the climate, but basically he’s getting what he wants.  So while he is to the left of Dick Cheney, there is still indefinite detention, the Patriot Act was quietly extended another year last week, the big Pharma deal, the lack of new financial regulation, on and on.  For some reason, those in highest power are right-leaning corporatists – Clinton was basically a Republican president and Obama’s of the same mold.  A “progressive” these days is just what a regular average Democrat used to be and the Democratic party has gone rightward.  For all the talk of a Democratic majority, it’s a ridiculous assertion, as there are only a handful of true Democrats and then a bunch of Republican-style corporatists.

Me, as the conspiracy theorizing sort, sees the possibility of a nefarious plot in all this – that there’s some purpose to all this pro-corporate anti-humanist legislation being passed.  I just cannot buy the assertion that it’s just for profit.  My brother mentioned that the Rubin crowd thought they were doing good: with the regulations stripped in the nineties via complicated derivatives equations, they thought they were giving the economy a good boost.  Makes enough sense, except regulations are put in there so people don’t abuse the system. So you strip the regulations and abuse is a given.  Were they really that short-sighted that they couldn’t see the obvious?  Or is this a nefarious plot to bring down the financial system to usher in something new?

When you break it down, it doesn’t matter.  Whether or not the Bilderberg/Trilateral Commission decided to destroy the economy and told Robert Rubin to do its bidding, or it was accomplished due to blind, abject stupidity, the result is the same.  The attraction of conspiracy theory is that it gives a purpose to society’s breakdown, which actually feels better than the realization that there is no grand purpose to civilization’s demise – it’s just that humans are fuck-ups and given the opportunity to fuck up (deregulation) they’ll take it.  Greed is just such a boring reason for the financial meltdown.  Really, people just wanted more money?  They’re just a bunch of addicts?  Maybe – and that makes me think even less about the human race than if there was some kind of machination behind all these recent events.

Except there still might be.  Even if all the recent events are totally arbitrary and not planned beforehand, it’s still leading to systemic collapse.  So there’s still a conspiracy to destroy the system – even if it’s unconscious.  In my novel I pontificate about humanity’s seeming death wish and how this plays into prophecy.  Although the battles in the Middle East, the decline of the financial system, the melting of the environment, et al. aren’t necessarily proof that the Book of Revelation  is real, it is very curious that world events seem to be mirroring end of the world prophecy regardless if it’s intentional.  Either way, we’re heading towards collapse – our current structure is unsustainable, and it’s eerie that we seem to be acting out prophecy, even if that prophecy wasn’t a literal prediction.

I take a more esoteric approach to the possibility that people are bringing these events to life – an unconscious conspiracy that is acting out a grand “design,” whether it’s bringing a Jungian archetype to life or something else, is as valid as a secret meeting at Bohemian Grove.  People might not know why they’re doing it, but they’re still doing it.  The shadowy group in control might just be the unconscious. In that sense, the New World Orderites might be taking things a shade too literally.

I take a similar leap with something like crop circles.  It is possible that even hoaxes are revealing some kind of coded message.  Couldn’t an advanced alien race – conceivably – act through hoaxers to create the same messages as they could do themselves?  We’re talking a race a million years more advanced than ourselves – why not?  What made those hoaxers decide on that particular design?  Even a hoax has possible meaning.  Whatever the case, they’re beautiful, and shouldn’t be laughed off just because they’re so cool:

There’s still a lot we do not understand about consciousness, and the potential of collective consciousness, so people may be creating an apocalyptic future without total intent.  Just as it’s eerie that our world seems to be acting out 2012 prophecy, it also seems to be acting out New World Order conspiracies (Patriot Act, globalization…).  Whether it’s a literal plot to end the world or a plot comprised of humans’ worst instincts may not actually matter.