THE STENCH OF CONSPIRACY THEORY
QUOTATIONS
THE STENCH OF CONSPIRACY THEORY
Conspiracy Theories
The conspiracy theorist needs to see an intricate pattern,
whether or not there is one.
Robert Hannigan
“CONSPIRACY THEORIES
As I began to look at the rise of online conspiracy theories and see the motivation of some of the terrorist groups I had dealt with, it was clear that this psychological programming towards puzzle-solving and pattern recognition also has a dark side. Our innate desire to see order and coherence in everything, to make sense of the puzzles of life, is the flip side of a deep fear of randomness, difference and inexplicable coincidences. The more shocking and traumatic event, it seems, the more we need an intelligible and satisfying explanation. This fear leads very often to some remarkable distortions.
Many of the most bizarre conspiracy theories, from Covid vaccines to 9/11 seem to come from people with deep grievances and profound fears which compels them to arrange facts in such a way as to bring their own version of order to chaos.
Of course, conspiracy theories arise and spread for many reasons. But seeing the puzzle, to which an intricate and sophisticated arrangement of facts is the solution, satisfies conspiracy theorists, for whom complexity is attractive. They need to see an intricate pattern, whether or not there is one.”
Robert Hannigan is a cybersecurity specialist who served as the director of the signals intelligence and cyber agency GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters). He also established the United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre. For many years he worked for Prime Minister Tony Blair on the Northern Ireland peace process. He is now warden of Wadham College, Oxford. (This is taken from the inside dust cover by HarperCollinsPublishers)
Counter-Intelligence What the Secret World Can Teach Us About Problem-Solving and Creativity by Robert Hannigan is published by Harper Collins in 2024. HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF.
The Jacket Design is by Steve Leard/HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
Robert Hannigan’s book is a remarkable and beautifully written script that shines a light as powerful as the incandescent searchlight batteries that probed the skies. All crews on all sides experienced the terror of being caught in a searchlight, for the aircraft’s interior in one moment almost black except for the tiny light behind the curtain of the navigator’s table sitting aft and below the pilot, suddenly became incandescent, that same blinding light when we look at the Sun and cannot see anything, yet our camera captures the Sun’s perfection but to which we were blinded.
Mr Hannigan has rendered an enormous service to all of us, especially in the Western World as we seek to oppose and prevent evil men, and women, visiting upon us a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science.
This is a Work from which we can all benefit, in all walks of life.
The Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, Ten Downing Street
“… a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science.”
That ominous and chilling part of the world-famous June 1940 ‘we shall fight them on the beaches’ Speech that shook the world, even Britain’s enemies, to the roots.
The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)
Robert Hannigan’s book is a remarkable and beautifully written script that shines a light as powerful as the incandescent searchlight batteries that probed the skies. All crews on all sides experienced the terror of being caught in a searchlight, for the aircraft’s interior in one moment almost black except for the tiny light behind the curtain of the navigator’s table sitting aft and below the pilot, suddenly became incandescent, that same blinding light when we look at the Sun and cannot see anything, yet our camera captures the Sun’s perfection but to which we were blinded.
Mr Hannigan has rendered an enormous service to all of us, especially in the Western World as we seek to oppose and prevent evil men, and women, visiting upon us a new dark age made more sinister and perhaps more protracted by the lights of perverted science.
This is a Work from which we can all benefit, in all walks of life.
We See, and Yet We Cannot See
… that same blinding light when we look at the Sun and cannot see anything, yet our camera captures the Sun’s perfection but to which we were blinded.
27 October 2024
All Rights reserved
LIVERPOOL
© 2024 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
