PSYCHOLOGY TODAY HIT PIECE LABELS CONSPIRACY THINKING A PSYCHOTIC ILLNESS Paul Joseph Watson www.prisonplanet.com In an article entitled Dark Minds: When does incredulity become paranoia, Psychology Today writer John Gartner attempts to make the case that the concerns of conspiracy theorists are not based in reality but are a product of mental instability, while himself fulfilling every criteria for what he claims classifies such people as psychotics ignoring evidence that contradicts his preconceptions while embracing the ludicrous conspiracy theory that powerful men and governments do not conspire to advance their power. Probably somewhat upset about how our coverage of the dangers associated with the swine flu vaccine has contributed to a global revolt against mass vaccination programs being readied, Psychology Todays gravy train of big pharma advertisers will no doubt be pleased to see the publication wastes no time in savagely attacking radio host and film maker Alex Jones, dispensing with any notion of fairness and zealously going after him as early as the second paragraph. The nature of this vicious hit piece ( PDF link) is confirmed when Gartner laments that Jones refused to provide him with phone numbers for friends he grew up with, presumably frustrated that he couldnt dig up some dirt from an old girlfriend to throw into the mix of what is nothing more than a personal attack on Jones character, and a complete departure from any debate about the issues Jones …

In an illustration more typical of Pinker’s cultural taste, he quotes the opening scene of Woody Allen’s movie Annie Hall, when the young Alvy Singer tells a psychiatrist that he won’t do his homework because the universe is expanding. If the universe is going to fall apart, he says, what is the point of human existence? “What has the universe got to do with it?” his mother wails at him. “You’ re here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding!” That kind of reductionism is confusing two levels of analysis,” Pinker says. “We have meaning and purpose here inside our heads, being the organisms that we are. We have brains that make it impossible for us to live our lives except in terms of meaning and purpose. The fact that you can look at meaning and purpose in one way, as a neuro-psychological phenomenon, doesn’ t mean you can’ t look at it in another way, in terms of how we live our lives.” The collection of genes known as Steven Pinker made the point most forcibly in How The Mind Works, where he explained his own decision not to have children – which apparently runs counter to the demands of evolution – and says that if his genes don’t like it, “they can take a running jump.” www.guardian.co.uk Steven Pinker
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