Counterpunch Again Poo Poos "Conspiracy Theory"

http://counterpunch.org/philion02272008.html 

Now, returning to the role of conspiracy theory in the anti-war movement, the flirtation of Sheehan with this conspiracy theory business is really kind of scary because there are a lot of people around her who are very vulnerable to this. I have friends who are going to say to me "Cindy Sheehan says this, what do you say now?" I have friends I've been arguing with about the '911 inside jobs' business for several years now. Once people get locked in on that idea, it's really hard to move them.

Philion: Recently on the Left Business Observer on-line discussion list (LBO-Talk), there was a discussion about a concrete question, namely what to do about conspiracy theorists who show up at local anti-war meetings. What to do if you're running the meeting and someone from the 911 Truth organization, say, wants to make 9/11 conspiracies the focus of the meeting. How does one handle this during meetings? In the discussion, this generated a number of responses from those who thought such a thing was not terribly desirable for developing a Left understanding of the war. The consensus seemed to be, among others, 'keep'em busy with minor tasks and get everyone to agree the focus of the meetings and activity is 'what's the best, i.e. most effective, way to end the war' instead of, say, 'why did the Twin Towers fall?" And then what happens is people stay focused on the important matter of how to get people out to stop the war. Whether 911 was a conspiracy, which conspiracy best 'explains' 911, etc. distracts from this goal.

Lembcke: Well, I think keeping focus on how to end the war, that's the key. In a similar vein, I run into this at meetings and public discussions where PTSD and 'betrayal of soldiers' come up. People will object, "You haven't said anything about PTSD or the soldiers at Walter Reed." My response is I say we have to focus on the veterans and soldiers as key actors in ending the war, not as victims. Of course as a society we need to take care of casualties of the war, but our goal at this meeting is to end the war. And that usually works. I suppose it's similar to the problem that the 911 Truth angle presents to antiwar meetings you mentioned.

Philion: What was interesting from the discussion on the LBO-talk discussion list was that none of the people in the discussion proposed that such people be kicked out of the meetings (nor would I). The consensus seemed to be, instead, that such persons and their issues shouldn't be allowed to become the focus or the face of the movement. That on-line discussion seemed to tell me this discussion you and I are having about conspiracy theory is one that is not just 'academic', but a very practical one for the Left in the antiwar movement. Conspiracy theory is a very real problem from the vantage of the Left, at a time when the anti-war movement is already so much captured by those who don't have a left analysis of the political-economic causes of this or any war, much less capitalism.

Lembcke: I think the war is about development rights in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and the former Soviet Republics. It's about commodification of culture, economic life in that part of the world, modernism versus traditionalism, and versus socialism. And, yes, it's about oil, but not just oil. Oil as metaphor, it's not just oil.