Swine flu and other conspiracies? — VOICES for REASON

A couple of weeks back, viewers of IRINN, the Iranian news channel, were asked to believe that the recent outbreak of swine flu is part of an American/Zionist conspiracy. That may seem outlandish, but it would be a mistake to dismiss the spread and belief in conspiracy theories as as a fringe phenomenon in the Arab-Islamic world.

While there are “conspiracy theorists” everywhere, in most of the West they’re on the far, outer fringes of society. The same cannot be said of the Arab-Islamic world. Before the alleged (do I really need to say that?) swine flu conspiracy, there were other wild “theories” swirling in that part of the world. And many seem to fit a common mold.

A few years ago in Nigeria, for instance, there was a resurgence in cases of polio, because many Muslims there refused to have their children vaccinated. Reason: the vaccine, they were told, was laced with poison (by American/Western forces) to make Muslim girls infertile and/or infect them with AIDS. (This led to a major return of polio in other countries; up until then the disease was almost totally wiped out globally.)

Probably the most notorious example of an anti-Muslim conspiracy theory is the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which purports to describe how a cabal of Jewish financiers control the world. The machinations of these Elders are seen as intended to harm and exploit Muslims. This “book” is widely available in Arabic; it has been televised into a miniseries on Syrian and Egyptian TV; it is part of the fabric of the intellectual life in the region (the charter of Hamas invokes it as an authoritative document). The Protocols serves to foment anti-Israeli and anti-American sentiment.

What I find fascinating is not only the common theme that runs through many of these theories — the idea of Muslims being victimized by the West — but also the willingness of many people to swallow and act on these claims.

I think this reveals something important, and troubling, about the Arab mind. To put in capsule form: it reveals the impact of a deeply faith-driven way of thinking–even among seemingly secular people in the Arab-Islamic world. I explore that point at greater length in an article on anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, from a few years ago; you can read it (or at least the intro, if you’re not a subscriber) at the Objective Standard.