Damn, conspiracy theorist will have a field day now.
Just because absolutely idiotic theories have conveniently been highlighted like Q or Flat Earth we shouldn't equate it to the last sad remnants of what would have been standard research journalism just 20 years ago.
People are turning to cartoonish conspiracies because "Journalism" has either died or been bought. It's a dystopian media landscape we live in and the power brokers benefit from both the vacuum and the circus that has come in its place.
Can you provide something to support your statement?
A newer very interesting book on the subject going back even further: [The Power of Ritual in Prehistory Secret Societies and Origins of Social Complexity](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/power-of-ritual-in-preh...)
I find it weird that - especially americans - still don't think in terms of groups, but see the individual as the driver of history - a historiographical school that has been outdated for 70 years now.
As an American, I find this statement radically perplexing.
Through the scourge of identity politics, we do nothing but categorize people into groups in basically every avenue of society. You can't go to college without your group affecting you. You can't find a good job without your group mattering.
Individualists who essentially want to take the Martin Luther King Jr speech literally (I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.) can be castigated as the most vile people by some for not wanting to treat anybody differently from anybody else.
Do you have any evidence to back this up? Which "group-membership" prevents you from going to college or getting a good job?
Edit: I think I misunderstood, obviously different ethnical groups have different experiences in their careers and lives in general.
Realpolitics or material analysis - "follow the money" is the only way to understand the networks of power but that's not allowed because a tiny class of people want to stay in the shadows for good reason.
Culture wars are very convenient, and yes very annoying.
Soviet-esque silence on important issues doesn't win confidence.
https://www.propublica.org/ is one great example of the non-profit model applied successfully to investigative reporting.
Part of it is an interesting difference: sometimes, we call secret coordination simply, "organization" or "planning" - when we think it's legitimate to do, expect that it happens, and intend to make it seem harmless (which it often is not; the vast majority of organizational action can be characterized as that, and there is someone harmed by this coordination more often than not. Teachers "organizing" grades happens behind students' backs in closed conferences; the results are life-changing. In principle, people think this is legitimate (where the sociological question is "wait, why?" - not inviting an argument on the pros and cons, but asking the historical question, how did it come about that we developed this process as "normal", with the mere recognition that it need not be this way - without making a judgment on whether this is better or worse, just pointing out a contingency.)
Goffman calls the actions of a family behind the back of a family member "collusion" and outlines how circles of collusion expand, like when people start including more and more people, including doctors, without the member's knowledge, to confront them with a "fait accompli" [2]. Again, not arguing for or against at this point, just noting: from the point of view of the member on the other side, this is a secretly organized betrayal. Much of society largely approves, shown by the involvement of accredited authority figures (including, later on, courts, if it comes to that). This, again, is neither obvious nor natural; it's just what developed (and can be criticized).
So, saying this happens is not a conspiracy theory. Then come the sociological studies about how this -actually- happens. How students get punished through grade adjustments for being a general pain to teachers. How families use the medical system to get rid of unwanted actions that shame them in public (Aunt Hilda is claiming weird things to neighbors. A medical label will calm the situation; or, Uncle Joe doesn't want to sell the house, but we, the children, think he should. A court decision will make this simpler.) All of these things happen, all day every day. NOW they call into question the legitimacy of these institutions. NOW they get called conspiracy theories; a tool to protect the institution from this questioning.
[1] Anton, Andreas, Michael Schetsche, and Michael K. Walter. "Einleitung: Wirklichkeitskonstruktion zwischen Orthodoxie und Heterodoxie–zur Wissenssoziologie von Verschwörungstheorien." Konspiration: Soziologie des Verschwörungsdenkens (2014): 9-25. [2] Goffman, Erving. "The insanity of place." Psychiatry 32, no. 4 (1969): 357-388.
They have a field day any day. There are so many events to pick from that they are never short of material and when they are they make it up.
Is there any evidence of foul play here? Why would this be more notable to conspiracy theorists than any other plane crash?
https://nypost.com/2023/02/22/death-of-clinton-aide-tied-to-...
Rich and powerful people conspire to do horrible things to regular people. Stop pretending it’s normal to just believe everything the government and corporate owned media tells you.