Conspiracy Theories aren’t what they used to be

 Hey call me a sceptic but I am not big on conspiracy theories.  OK – so every time it is a full moon I look up and think “Could the Americans really have got there with the technology of a Morris Minor?”  And was Lee Harvey Oswald really that good a shot?  But on the whole I am quite prepared to believe that Lady Di was an airhead Sloane with a certain contempt for traffic laws and that 9/11 might just have been perpetrated by some mad Muslims. 

I guess I am not alone in treating conspiracy theorists with a condescending shrug.  But I was intrigued to see that London is lucky enough to host the first gathering of the amazing meeting (or TAM for short).

Lucky us – this is the first of the conferences outside the US. A fundraising offshoot of the non-profit James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), TAM London saw scientists, writers and comedians target conspiracy theories – and their close cousins pseudoscience and medical quackery – in front of an audience loosely allied by their desire for more rational, critical thinking 

Apparently I am not alone “A lot of sceptics feel very isolated,” says psychologist and magician Prof Richard Wiseman. “It’s not a popular position to be saying ‘Father Christmas does not exist’ so it motivates people and acts as a springboard for people to see what we’re up to.”

 However, it can be a dangerous business taking umbridge with fanatics – even those as apparently harmless as those who believe in daft conspiracies.  However, using the same medium to fight back is not easy, as British investigative journalist Jon Ronson found when he posted on the British 9/11 Truth Campaign website. Abused and ridiculed, his integrity was questioned because he is Jewish. “When I found myself being attacked by 9/11 conspiracy theorists I found the sceptical community very supportive,” says Ronson. “When believers turn on you it is horrible. I’ve stopped engaging with them because it’s like prodding a snake.”

Ronson has spent a lifetime lifting the lid on the unusual. He is about to come to greater prominence after being portrayed by Ewan McGregor in the upcoming film, The Men who Stare at Goats, also starring George Clooney. Ronson’s book of the same name revealed that the US operated a secret army of psychic spies in the 1970s and 80s.

 I wonder if some time soon Ewan Mcgregor will star in a film about me.  OK – so a cynical disbelief in conspiracy theories has been done.  But I did once catch a very big pike from Loch Lomond… and you should have seen the one that got away!