The Lure of Pseudoscience

Pseudoscience uses the language, and attempts to use the authority, of Science without being true to its method.

Pseudoscientists often play upon the audience's fears, wishes, and prejudices, rather than relying on rigorous approaches to arrive at a best possible (but provisional) answer.

Pseudoscientists can often be benign, but their lack of critical thinking has in the past allowed unscrupulous people and movements to take advantage of them.

For example, Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany is at least in part due to pseudoscientific movements of the early 20th Century.

The National Socialist German Workers' (NAZI) Party, founded in 1920 and of which Hitler became President in 1921 was a combination of two previously existing parties - the National Socialist Party and the German Workers' Party, populist right-wing parties organized to get the support of the common German people as a counter to the rising Communist Party.

These two proto-Nazi parties were created by the Thule Geselleschaft, with its symbol the swastika derived from Indian iconography. This organization was a rabidly anti-Semetic and anti-Communist Bavarian branch of the Germanenorden, a fellowship interested in the study of the origin, history, and culture of the Aryan peoples. ("Aryan" in this context is equivalent to today's term "Indo-European": a major group of languages with a shared ancient historical connection). The Germanenorden combined "secret society" aspects of Freemasonry with the turn-of-the-century movement of Theosophy, a religion combining then-current natural historical sciences (especially historical geology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, and archaeology) with occult mysticism.

Within cultures like the Third Reich, the USSR, and other oppressive authoritarian regimes, pseudoscience could flourish for a variety of reasons:

-Lack of free and open discourse between domestic and with international researchers meant that the debate and dialogue necessary for critical evaluations of ideas could not go on.

-Ideas lacking in critical merit, but which made the policies or ideologies of the State look favorable, would be officially promoted; those which made the policies or ideologies of the State could be dismissed, made illegal, suppressed, or simply regarded as "unpatriotic".

-Individuals which the State looked upon favorably for any reason might get their own pet theories promoted regardless of merit; similarly, those ideas developed by "enemies of the State" could be suppressed even if they had no bearing on the policies and ideologies of the State.

Germany in the early 20th Century had a very well-educated public and was on the cutting edge of many lines of scientific and technical research. Nevertheless, in Nazi Germany many types of pseudoscience flourished alongside real science and technology. In the realm of the Earth sciences, bizarre notions of a Hollow Earth or the World-Ice-Theory found official support.

After the end of the war, legends quickly developed about the possible survival of Hitler and some of his cronies. Among the more bizarre claims were that he may have fled to a secret base in Antarctica, or in the Hollow Earth, or off to the Moon!

Not all pseudoscientific claims are wrapped in politics. For example, the claims that a rotting plesiosaur carcass was found by a Japanese fishing vessel in 1977 continue to be made, even though it was established in 1978 that it was just the remains of a dead basking shark! The media widely reported the "dead plesiosaur" hypothesis, but did not follow up on the results of the investigations that showed a much less exciting answer.

Pseudoscience can be promoted for financial reasons. Pulp science fiction magazine publisher Ray Palmer (of Amazing Stories) ran a series of letters by Richard Shaver in the 1940s. Shaver claimed that during WWII he had wandered into the Hollow Earth, which was populated by four-foot tall bald grey deranged robots called "deros", who flew around in disk-shaped ships, caputered people, probed them, and released them with mind-controlling implants. Shaver's letters caused Amazing Stories' sales to soar, and others began to write in about their own similar experiences!

In Spring 1948 Palmer (under the pseudonym "Robert N. Webster") started publising Fate magazine, dedicated to the "Shaver Mystery" and similar paranormal tales. The feature article of issue one was the story of Kenneth Arnold and the "flying saucers".

The popularity of Fate led to many similar magazines: some professionally produced, others privately made "fanzines". At least some of the latter were actually created as hoaxes. Gray Barker, head of Saucerian Publications and known UFO photo hoaxer, invented the "Men In Black" in his 1956 book They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. More recent hoaxers that created entirely new pseudoscience legends include crop circles and Charles Berlitz's Philadelphia Experiment and revivals and retroconditioning of the Atlantis story and of the Roswell Incident.

A famous pseudoscience movement of the 20th Century was the Ancient Astronaut hypothesis. It claimed that the legends of ancient people interacting with heroes and gods who taught them skills and knowledge were actually a partial record of encounters with aliens.

As archaeologist Kenneth Feder points out, Ancient Astronaut proposer Erich von Däniken suggests that alien knowledge was necessary for building numerous structures throughout history in Africa, Asia, and the Americas, but doesn't suggest that the people of Europe needed alien technology or skills to do their own contemporary buildings.

Some patterns of pseudoscience:

-Often uses the following argument when confronted with cases of fraud: "Well, perhaps many, even most cases of [crop circles UFO abductions Bigfoot sightings etc.] are hoaxes or misunderstood natural phenomena, but could they ALL be hoaxes or misunderstood natural phenomena?" In fact, a perfectly legitimate answer to that question is "Yes, absolutely! 100% of them could quite easily be hoaxes or misunderstandings!"

Characterization of Quack Theories

-Pseudoscience often begins as self-published literature ("samizdat", as the Russians' say). In today's world, with the WWW, there are uncritical self-published websites ("samizdata") for just about any pseudoscientific subject out there.

-Pseudoscience attempts to use the language of Science (big words, especially!), but not the methods of Science (especially parsimony, falsifiability, and multiple working hypotheses).

Part of the appeal of pseudoscience is that the audience is let in on the "Big Secret" that the "Authorities" don't want them to know!

George Bush family conspiracy theory

The Bush family conspiracy theory is a conspiracy theory used to describe various negative theories alleging conspiracies or misdeeds involving or concerning members of the family of President George W. Bush, including the President's brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, their brother Neil Bush, their father and ex-President George H. W. Bush, grandfather Prescott Bush, and great-grandfather George Herbert Walker. Some allege criminal conspiracies involving usually United States multinational corporations and vested interests, US government organizations, and various dictators. While some attach great importance to suggested links which connect individuals and companies, others dismiss some or all of the conspiracy theories as fantasy and claim that these connections are normal for business families and do not imply wrongdoing or negative intent.

Background

This conspiracy theory often refers to the alleged secret organization with one of the pejorative terms: Bush League, Bush Buddies, or Texas Taliban. The first is a pun on the baseball term "bush league"— minor league amateurs, or an allusion to George W. Bush's experience with the Texas Rangers baseball team. The others are alliterative.

A mixture of allegations have been made, trying to link the Bush family and their associates to various forms of intrigue or alleged wrongdoing. Many people, from a wide variety of viewpoints that range from pro-Bush, anti-Bush or neutral, consider the particular points cited by these conspiracy theorists to be paranoid and not linked to each other in a meaningful way. What many people believe or don't believe to be paranoid also depends on which specific conspiracy theory or on what specific allegations one is talking about. It should also be noted that many people are not familiar with some or all of these theories or with some or all of the allegations within them, and that therefore, they do not have an opinion as to whether these theories or allegations are paranoid or not.

Owing to the fact the Bush family has provided the last two Republican presidents, there may be a confusion of family conspiracy with what is actually normal political maneuvering by the Republican party. Additionally, members of the Bush family are politically and economically powerful, so it is natural that they have connections to other major political and business figures, some of whom have inevitably unsavory reputations.

A number of allegations have been made about different members of the Bush family at different times and so it is difficult to discuss these allegations sensibly as a whole. Listed below are assorted allegations and rebuttals, but any serious consideration of these allegations should be made on a strictly individual basis. These allegations range from ones widely regarded as specious and unsubstantiated to those which of been the subject of fierce public debate.

Allegations/conspiracy theories

The following are typical allegations made as part of or in support of the theory. These allegations are not considered proven, or even widely accepted.

Prescott Bush supported the Nazis.
The Bush family supports crime and Satanism through the Skull and Bones Society.
While George H.W. Bush was head of the CIA, he may have been involved in the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier. Bush remains silent on this issue, and the CIA refuses to release many of the internal documents which could shed some light on it.
Ayatollah Khomeini dealt with George Bush and/or his operatives to arrange the Iran-Contra deal and allegedly the October Surprise, on behalf of U.S. Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan.
While Vice President, George H.W. Bush was responsible for Saddam's acquisition of weapons and funding during the Iran-Iraq War.
Osama bin Laden, then a minor Mujahedeen leader in Afghanistan, is reputed to have been a CIA agent who made use of CIA resources and US-funds to bolster the morale of radical Islamists after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Further, the Bush family, through its ties to the bin Laden family and other connections, otherwise aided bin Laden's rise.
The Bushes are somehow responsible for Hinckley's assassination attempt against President Reagan, which would have made George H.W. Bush president.
There was an organized conspiracy between Jeb Bush, the U.S. Supreme Court, and ChoicePoint to rig the American presidential election in 2000.
The Bushes support the oil industry to enhance their own financial interests in the industry.
The September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack was planned or sanctioned by the Bush administration. (See 9/11 domestic conspiracy theory)
The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq was planned by members of the Bush administration following the goals of PNAC, with the stated reasons (the threat of WMDs and terrorism in the wake of the September 11 attacks) being political cover.
Dick Cheney planned and executed the 2003 invasion of Iraq for the benefit of Halliburton.
Through legislation and actions which extend executive powers and reduce oversight as justified by the War on Terrorism, the Bush administration is working toward establishing a totalitarian state.

Background

The following are the parts of known history which have led people to make further unproven claims.

Businesses associated with Prescott Bush, such as the Union Banking Corporation, were confiscated just prior to World War II under the Trading With the Enemy Act.
George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush were members of the Skull and Bones secret society (Bush's membership in the Skull and Bones society was the subject of several Doonesbury cartoons).
George H.W. Bush was head of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1976-77.
John Hinckley Jr, the "deranged drifter with the hots for Jodie Foster", also happened to be the son of one of George H.W. Bush's better supporters in his campaign against Ronald Reagan; the Hinckleys' Vanderbilt Energy was threatened with a $2-million fine the morning of the assassination attempt; the families are sufficiently close that Scott Hinckley and Neil Bush had a dinner appointment for the next day.[1]
George W. Bush has sealed the presidential records of both himself and his father.
Saddam Hussein, was provided with weapons and funding during the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, during the Reagan administration, in which George H.W. Bush was Vice President. In addition, Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under George W. Bush was the Special Envoy to the Middle East in this period, appointed by President Ronald Reagan and met personally with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war.
Dick Cheney was G.H.W. Bush's Defense Secretary, and G.W. Bush's Vice-President. Cheney is the former President and CEO of Halliburton Company which has been given, by George W. Bush, an exclusive (and unbidded) contract in postwar Iraq. In addition, Halliburton's accounting firm was Arthur Andersen. This latter firm was conviced of obstruction of justice and, allegedly, committed fraud.
The Carlyle Group is an investment group which includes both the Bush family and bin Laden family (one of the richest in Saudi Arabia). Furthermore, George W. Bush and Salem bin Laden were coinvestors/business partners in Arbusto Energy.
The 2000 Presidential Election was won by George W. Bush in Florida, whose governor was his brother, Jeb Bush, after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Project for the New American Century, which in 1990s advocated the invasion of Iraq for reasons of geopolitical strategy, included Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and the "Prince of Darkness" Richard Perle, all of whom subsquently held influential positions in the Bush administration.
The George W. Bush administration pushed for the USA PATRIOT Act and has used the new powers in a variety of cases.
The Bush administration does not accept the International Criminal Court's authority over American citizens, and members of the administration have questioned the usefulness of the United Nations.
George W. Bush, during the 2003 State of the Union Address, said that British intelligence had learned Iraq had been attempting to purchase uranium from Africa. That claim was based on information which the CIA said it could not verify, and CIA head George Tenet accepted responsibility for failing to remove the assertion from the speech in the fact-checking stage. An earlier document specifically documenting a supposed buy from Niger was known to be a forgery and was not referred to in any Bush speech.
Bush, as governor of Texas, presided over the execution of hundreds of condemned criminals, and joked about some of them prior to and after their executions.
George W. Bush twice claimed (, ) to have seen the first September 11 plane crash into the World Trade Center on live television, even though that crash was not in a public broadcast until much later.
Bush plans to have nuclear waste stored at the volcanic Yucca Mountain facility.
Bush has made the following statements:

"I told all four [congressional leaders] that there were going to be some times where we don't agree with each other. But that's OK. If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." December 18, 2000.

Answering a repeated reporter question about the anti-Bush gwbush.com, "But how far should these guys go?", Bush replied "There ought to be limits to freedom. We're aware of the site, and this guy is just a garbage man, that's all he is. Of course I don't appreciate it. And you wouldn't, either." May 21, 1999.

Response to allegations

Critics of the theory allege that its proponents mispresent events as part of the theory.

That G.H.W. Bush was vice-president during the Reagan Administration does not necessarily link Bush to Saddam's acquisition of weapons and funding during the Iran-Iraq War. Most vice-presidents have little role in the working of an administration and often have little practical influence over policy or decision-taking.
G.H.W. Bush's was head of the CIA from 1976 to 1977. Osama bin Laden's period as an alleged CIA agent occurred a decade later, when Bush was president. Presidents are, because of their workload, not involved in the hiring of CIA agents. Also considering that at any point CIA has thousands of agents acting worldwide, it seems unlikely that USA Presidents are personally associated with all of them. Furthermore, there is no evidence that bin Laden ever was an agent or an associate of or had any relationship at all with the CIA.
Many people work in a number of administrations. That Dick Cheney worked in the administrations of G.H.W. and G.W. Bush is neither unusual nor does it demonstrate a conspiracy. He also served in the administrations of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Many people internationally are associated with the Carlyle Group. As it is a large international investment group, it would be surprising if the Bush and bin Laden families were not in it or in some other group together. Former British Prime Minister John Major is also associated with it. The bin Ladens in fact have also disowned Osama bin Laden, who is an opponent of organisations such as the Carlyle Group, which he has accused of embodying international economic imperialism.
Many presidents have said "The job of the President would be easier, if I were a dictator" or something similar, including Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. In those cases the comment was made tongue-in-cheek. There is no evidence that Bush intended it in any other way. Similar arguments are applied to the "limits on freedom" statement.
Bill Clinton stated "When personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it." and "[we] can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans."
While proponents of the conspiracy link Bush family members to a range of groups, from Nazis to Ayatollah Khomeini, Saddam Hussein to the Carlyle Group and the bin Laden, supporters of Bush argue that there is no connection between Bush, these people, and each other. They further note that although Bush may have had dealings with the bin Ladens, he didn't have such dealings with Osama bin Laden himself.
Many rich people and companies became involved with the Nazis due to pre-existing business relationships with Germany. Becoming disengaged from such relationships cannot happen overnight. Historians agree that Hitler's grasp for power did not rely on foreign trade, and that the Skull and Bones symbol used by the Totenkopf units of the Waffen-SS was designed by Karl Maria Wiligut, an advisor to Heinrich Himmler and Neopaganist.
Floridian electoral jiggery-pokery goes back at least three decades, and involves Democrats like Janet Reno; so it's hardly a Bush invention.

As a result, critics of the Bush family conspiracy theory see it as a string of unconnected claims which have at most pure circumstantial evidence but which contains no hard evidence of any longterm conspiracy.