A guide for would-be conspiracy theorists
In his most recent column, Michael Kanellos has come up with a five-step method for coming up with conspiracy theories . He cites emotion as the source of all conspiracy theories: "When you get down to it, the industry is centered around logic but ruled by emotion. Thus, many of the theories can be actually be boiled down to 'Dell is terrible because they're more popular than I'd like,' or 'The sales guy from Oracle really bugs me.'"
- Base everything on circumstantial evidence.
- Assume the people you're dealing with are geniuses or, alternatively, dopes.
- Play up insignificant facts.
- Focus on the omissions.
- Everything is really a distraction for a bigger plot.
His explanations under each step are worth reading. For example, for number 4:
If there's an ad on Yahoo's site for a logistics coordinator, does that mean they'll try to take on Bekins and Mayflower in the shipping and storage industry?
Over the U.S. Labor Day weekend, you can use Michael's methodology to construct your own conspiracy that will then spread around the blogosphere like wildfire. Send them to me and we'll post them on a special "Tech Industry Conspiracy Theory" (TICT) blog page...