Conspiracy Theories in the Arab World
The persistence of conspiracy theories throughout the Arab world - take today's declaration from Basher Assad that Israel was behind Arafat's death - is something that's generally just taken for granted. The phenomenon is such pervasive and is such a part of the cultural landscape that it's not uncommon to hear Arabs joke about the Arab propensity for conspiracy theorizing - but of course, the theories work anyway:
Deflecting increasing criticism for his administration's role in the assassination of former Lebaneese prime minister Rafik Hariri, Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed Saturday that Israel was responsible for the death of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat. "Among the many assassinations that Israel has carried out in a systemic and organized manner, the most dangerous one was the assassination of Arafat," Assad said, addressing a conference of Arab lawyers.
Often, those conspiracy theories are used in just the way that Assad used them - to deflect blame away from failing Arab regimes and towards Israel ("no electricity? Israel cut it"... "unstable currency? It's the Jews"). But conspiracy theories also have a pernicious effect on the way a society thinks and acts - they are a way of thinking that prevent rational discussions about anything, not just about whatever corrupt regime happens to be in control. So it's not just that Palestinians in the West Bank who trade theories about how Israel poisons their wells miss fixing whatever it is that's actually damaging the water supply - it's also that not looking for the most obvious problem and fixing it becomes an entire way of thinking. Conspiracy theories are not just dangerous for the supposed conspirators, now picked out for extermination through no fault of their own, but debilitating to the conspiracy theorist. And when we here them, sure they induce eye-rolling on our part - but they're also both the result and at least some of the cause of the pathologies afflicting Arab societies.
Deflecting increasing criticism for his administration's role in the assassination of former Lebaneese prime minister Rafik Hariri, Syrian President Bashar Assad claimed Saturday that Israel was responsible for the death of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat. "Among the many assassinations that Israel has carried out in a systemic and organized manner, the most dangerous one was the assassination of Arafat," Assad said, addressing a conference of Arab lawyers.
Often, those conspiracy theories are used in just the way that Assad used them - to deflect blame away from failing Arab regimes and towards Israel ("no electricity? Israel cut it"... "unstable currency? It's the Jews"). But conspiracy theories also have a pernicious effect on the way a society thinks and acts - they are a way of thinking that prevent rational discussions about anything, not just about whatever corrupt regime happens to be in control. So it's not just that Palestinians in the West Bank who trade theories about how Israel poisons their wells miss fixing whatever it is that's actually damaging the water supply - it's also that not looking for the most obvious problem and fixing it becomes an entire way of thinking. Conspiracy theories are not just dangerous for the supposed conspirators, now picked out for extermination through no fault of their own, but debilitating to the conspiracy theorist. And when we here them, sure they induce eye-rolling on our part - but they're also both the result and at least some of the cause of the pathologies afflicting Arab societies.
