Mbeki persisted that Aids was not caused by the HIV virus: it was all a Western conspiracy. The sad result was the loss of lives that could have been extended by proven scientific cocktail medications. To this day there are people who are convinced that there was a CIA-Mafia-Cuban connection to President John F. Kennedy assassination, that landing on the moon was but a US brainwashing—it never happened, and 911 was a US government construct. Then, of course, in the murky opaque world of Uganda, conspiracy theories can run amok.
Why is conspiracy theories so enticing to some people? And what goes on in the minds of their purveyors? Is it a healthy avenue for truth for the powerless? Is it a conspiracy of conspiracy of the powerful to dupe and confuse the masses?
In the present stage of human development conflict is inevitable. More so where there are no credible ground rules and there are lots of mistrusts. Soon conflicts deteriorate into degrees of warlike atmospheres. And in war there are always the orthodox and the unorthodox strategies. The latter is shady and is noted for shock effects meant to demoralize and create fears. So, you chopped up dispensable targets, cook them up and blame it on your enemy to engender hatred from a sympathetic population. Or kill civilians in a war zone for similar effects. Or you go to a negotiation table and, while your adversary is sleeping in his high-minded stupor, you outflank his unprotected rearguard, sending him deliriously in exile, not knowing what hit him. And, since the winners write history, losers are left with whispers of anecdotal unofficial evidence they don’t have the sophistication and the wherewithal to get to the bottom of. Thus conspiracy theories are born.
It is good to doubt and ask questions. That is the mark of an inquisitive mind that may lead to the truth. Often, however, you have to make an educated guess and come up with a reasonable working hypothesis that can be revised when new evidence comes up. Or you can get bogged down with the search for a mirage of absolute truth.
Take the case of the 7/11 bombings; there are already rumors and gossips galore. Masters of conspiracy theories are having a field day. They are encouraged by weirdo followers who think the serpent headed wiseacres are the true anti-establishment radicals. They throw all kinds of mud on the wall, hoping they stick—even when there is mounting tentative persuasive evidence of radical militant Somali involvement. In the end, you can take the prevailing evidence in the public domain, or keep on wondering, losing sleep, and you might end up in Butabika.
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