Wickersham's Conscience

A few readers took WC to task for his examples of conspiracies used in his post on the subject last week. It’s difficult to give examples, WC supposes, without treading on someone’s favorite conspiracy theory.

But while researching a recent blog essay, WC stumbled across an entry that seems to conflate in an alogical sprawl the largest number of classic conspiracy theories yet. David Allen Rivera’s post, titled “The Federal Income Tax – Final Warning: The New World Order,” seems to have them all: the Illuminati, the illegality of the 16th Amendment, the unconstitutionality of the federal government and the New World Order, all in a single post mashup of false premises, non-sequiturs, misquotes and logical flaws. Of course, the article ends with an advertisement for credit repair, which sort of undercuts a challenge to the national monetary system, but a foolish consistency, after all, is the hobgoblin of small minds (Emerson, of course).

The Challenge:

So here’s WC’s challenge to his readers for the new year: Find a single blog post on the Web that claims a conspiracy theory and contains more logical flaws and non-linear arguments than Mr. Rivera’s essay. Essays you write will not count, although WC may sponsor a similar contest. WC is looking for genuine crackpot theories, not ones his readers invent for themselves. To put things in the right mood, the contest will close at 11:11 AM ADT on January 11, 2011.

Entries should be submitted in comments that include a link to your candidate. Essays by Dave Barry are ineligible.

If there is a sufficient response, WC will submit the real zingers to a poll here for your vote. The winner will have 15 minutes of very-nearly-fame.