On Anonymous and conspiracy theories. [View all]

[MadHound]

Recently the hacker group came out and claimed that they prevented Karl Rove from stealing the election in Ohio, basically out-hacking the hackers. Many here have disparaged the idea, and the group itself on a number of levels, labeling the claim as a conspiracy theory, as if that was the ultimate damnation of anything.

The thing is, conspiracies, in politics and elsewhere, happen all the time, and sometimes are prevented by the most fortuitous events. The Watergate break in was a conspiracy, one that was exposed by a guard who was in the wrong place at the right time, and Iran Contra was a conspiracy as well, and many, many more, in both the private and public sector.

Conspiracy theories arise when something doesn't add up, much like JFK's assassination. Sorry, but the Warren report, with the magic bullet, simply doesn't add up, and that has led to a raft of conspiracy theories, some more grounded in reality than others. Same with the events of 9/11 and so many other events.

Yes, it would be nice if conspiracy theories could put forward some convincing proof, and sometimes they do. But many times it is impossible, given the nature of the event, for any proof to be brought. Convincing proof about the JFK assassination could be presented if only we could examine JFK's brain, but sadly, that brain and the original X-rays disappeared at some point. Hell, we didn't know the full extent of the Lincoln assassination conspiracy until a hundred years after his death, due to records being lost, locked up or disappearing altogether. Yes, proof would be nice, but at times it takes years, decades for that proof to emerge.

I also understand that some folks are upset because they feel that if we believe what Anonymous says, it somehow takes away from the Obama campaign success. How so? It doesn't diminish those achievements, both in Ohio and elsewhere. If what Anonymous claims is indeed true, then all they did was to insure that all that effort in Ohio and across the country wasn't stolen out from under us. That doesn't diminish what the Obama campaign did, it simply let the entire world see what the campaign did, fairly and clearly.

Furthermore, what if it did go down like Anonymous claims. Yes, we need to see proof, and if we do, we shouldn't dismiss it. Rather, we should follow up on it with the full power of the law in order to punish those that did indeed try to steal the election, and more importantly, put protection in place so that it can't be stolen again. We've seen stolen elections before, and we need to use every resource we can, including a bunch of anarchist hackers named Anonymous, to make sure that they aren't stolen again.

So did Anonymous do what it claims, I don't know. If they did, props to them. If not, then shame on them for trying to steal credit. But the main thing is, let's not dismiss their claims out of hand as some crazy conspiracy theory, because guess what, conspiracies happen all the time. In fact, there could be on going down right now, we just don't know about it. That is the nature of conspiracies, they don't like the light of day, and they are mighty hard to ferret out.