{"id":862,"date":"2006-03-04T08:55:48","date_gmt":"2006-03-04T13:55:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/breathe-with-me\/"},"modified":"2006-03-04T08:55:48","modified_gmt":"2006-03-04T13:55:48","slug":"breathe-with-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/breathe-with-me","title":{"rendered":"Breathe with me"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve long contended that conspiracy theories are a substitute-religion for the disillusioned; it gives them the opportunity to believe in a Greater Power, even if it&#8217;s just a power for evil. I think this ties into that Orwell passage <a href=\"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/in-a-barrel\/\">I quoted a few weeks ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Brendan O&#8217;Neill at <em>Spiked<\/em> has a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiked-online.com\/Articles\/0000000CAF90.htm\" target=\"_blank\">great piece on the mainstreaming of paranoia<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The rise of the conspiracy theory points to an important shift in journalism and public debate. There has been a move from debating the substance of someone&#8217;s beliefs or behaviour to focusing myopically on the motivations behind them; from challenging individuals over their words or actions to trying to uncover some deep, dark ulterior motive. This has had a deadening effect on public debate. It replaces a critical engagement with political developments with a destructive neverending search for the secret agenda. And it means that no one is ever truly held to account for what they say or do. After all, if Blair is merely the puppet of dark neocons forces when it comes to Iraq, then how can we hold him up to public ridicule for what has happened there?<\/p>\n<p>This is not investigative journalism; it is gossip.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.spiked-online.com\/Articles\/0000000CAF90.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Read more<\/a>, if you dare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;ve long contended that conspiracy theories are a substitute-religion for the disillusioned; it gives them the opportunity to believe in a Greater Power, even if it&#8217;s just a power for evil. I think this ties into that Orwell passage I quoted a few weeks ago. Brendan O&#8217;Neill at Spiked has a great piece on the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/breathe-with-me\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Breathe with me&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-implicit","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-dU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1834,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/sino-judaic-conspiracy","url_meta":{"origin":862,"position":0},"title":"Sino-Judaic Conspiracy","author":"Gil","date":"December 25, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In a time-honored tradition (okay, from 2 or 3 years ago), I offer up Christmastime for the Jews and, in a bow to modern times, Chinese Food on Christmas!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Religion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1845,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/a-vast-right-hand-conspiracy","url_meta":{"origin":862,"position":1},"title":"A Vast, Right-Hand Conspiracy","author":"Gil","date":"January 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Trying to find information on setting up college funds for my nieces, I came across this FAQ list that includes one of the greatest questions ever: Misc. and Unusual Questions 1. I have heard about a scholarship for left-handed students. Can you tell me more information about it? This question\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/a-vast-right-hand-conspiracy#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16697,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-581-edith-hall","url_meta":{"origin":862,"position":2},"title":"Episode 581 &#8211; Edith Hall","author":"Gil","date":"March 20, 2024","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 581: Edith Hall \"I was kept in ignorance of everything that made my mother who she was, by her. It was a sort of conspiracy of silence. I felt a little like Oedipus going out on a journey to find out who he was. . . .\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Architecture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Architecture","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/architecture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/edithhallcomp.jpg?fit=1063%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/edithhallcomp.jpg?fit=1063%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/edithhallcomp.jpg?fit=1063%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/edithhallcomp.jpg?fit=1063%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/edithhallcomp.jpg?fit=1063%2C800&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":896,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/the-power-of-prayer","url_meta":{"origin":862,"position":3},"title":"The Power of Prayer","author":"Gil","date":"March 30, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I find it hard to believe that this article isn't from The Onion.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Religion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Religion","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15129,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-477-anna-della-subin","url_meta":{"origin":862,"position":4},"title":"Episode 477 &#8211; Anna Della Subin","author":"Gil","date":"March 15, 2022","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 477: Anna Della Subin \"Something that was so important was how to write other people's stories, how to write about all these different ideas, from traditions so different from my own.\" With her fantastic new book, Accidental Gods: On Men Unwittingly Turned Divine (Metropolitan Books), Anna Della\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;literature&quot;","block_context":{"text":"literature","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/literature"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/subincomp.jpg?fit=1081%2C800&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/subincomp.jpg?fit=1081%2C800&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/subincomp.jpg?fit=1081%2C800&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/subincomp.jpg?fit=1081%2C800&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/subincomp.jpg?fit=1081%2C800&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1331,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/monday-morning-montaigne-3","url_meta":{"origin":862,"position":5},"title":"Monday Morning Montaigne","author":"Gil","date":"February 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This week's Montaigne passage comes from Of the Power of the Imagination. When I saw that title, I assumed it would be an essay on creativity and art. Nope! Turns out it's all about erectile dysfunction! People are right to notice the unruly liberty of this member, obtruding so importunately\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Monday Morning Montaigne&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Monday Morning Montaigne","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/monday-morning-montaigne"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}