Conspiracy or Incompetence

One of my favorite Arthur C. Clarke quotes is:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

There's a variant of this, which is:

Sufficiently widespread incompetence is indistinguishable from a conspiracy.

This issue keeps coming up over and over again.

Are there a handful of really evil people who are fully aware of the scam? Are they looting and pillaging on purpose, knowing they enslaved the entire world?

Are political insiders so stupid that they aren't aware of what they're doing? They're trying to do the right thing, but they're just so pro-State brainwashed and stupid that they fail.

There's an obvious conflict. If you're a State insider, there's an economic incentive towards stupidity. This enables you to steal without being aware of what they're doing.

Massive incompetence can create the illusion of a well-coordinated conspiracy.

This effect is what I call "The Parasites' Union". Suppose parasite A is accused of misconduct. Parasite B will defend A against accusations by an honest person, no matter what the circumstances. "Protect other parasites" is a goal that parasites understand well.

For example, suppose I have two parasitic bosses. Normally, they will be maneuvering against each other. However, seeing that I am skilled, they will temporarily cooperate to eliminate me. The threat of a competent person is more important than the normal political maneuverings of parasites.

Parasites protect each other. Most State insiders are parasites. The net result is great evil, even if the parasites don't get together and say "HAHAHA!! We're so awesome! We totally enslaved everyone and conned everyone!"

The process for selecting State insiders weeds out independent thinkers. There's a lot of pressure to conform.

Are lobbyists for the AMA just trying to protect the interests of doctors? Are they aware that they're creating a shortage of doctors and driving up health care costs for everyone?

Are there insiders in the psychiatry/pharmaceutical/death industry who are fully aware of the scam? Are there people who think "HAHAHA!! The 'chemical imbalance' theory of mental illness was a clever lie! We're able to murder people and make a lot of money off it! Good for us!" Or, are they just so stupid that they don't notice they're hurting people.

Are there State insiders who know "Taxation is theft! We keep collecting taxes anyway, because it's the source of our wealth and power! It sucks to be a mindless brainwashed zombie!"

On the one hand, it's hard to imagine people who would be that evil. On the other hand, I've had some really parasitic bosses in my wage slave jobs. They certainly would have murdered someone, if they thought they could profit and get away with it. As you move higher up the ladder of State power, the level of parasitism increases.

There is evidence that some families have been using State power to loot and pillage for generations. The Bush family certainly was well connected. Similarly, the Clintons have connections. Even Obama's parents allegedly had some impressive insider connections. That contracts the official State propaganda, which is "Obama emerged from nowhere, as a non-insider, to become President!"

Both Warren Buffet and Bill Gates benefited tremendously from the connections of their parents. Someone just as talented (or more so), but lacking the connections, would not have been as successful. For example, Bill Gates' parents were millionaires. This enabled him to focus on starting a business, instead of being forced to work as a wage slave. If I had a couple million dollars, I'd focus on starting businesses instead of wasting a lot of time as a wage slave.

In the mainstream media, certain insiders have controlled things for generations. The Ochs-Sulzberger family controls the NY times, for more than 100 years. Even though it's a public corporation, they own special super-voting shares that give them control. The Bancroft family controlled Dow Jones until the buyout by Rupert Murdoch.

Most mainstream media corporations are incorporated in such a manner. Rupert Murdoch owns special super-voting shares of the News Corporation. Sumner Redstone owns special super-voting shares of Viacom and CBS. Brian Roberts owns special super-voting shares of Comcast, which he inherited from his father. Via a bankster-subsidized buyout, he now controls NBC/Universal.

Via trusts or other tax loopholes, the super-voting shares are passed on from parent to children. For example, suppose you own 75% of the voting power but 1% of the equity. According to inheritance tax law, the equity is valued at 1% and not 75%. The CEO can pay himself and his friends a huge salary and option/equity grants. In the USA, parents can pass on State power to their children more reliably than at any time in history. Incumbent businesses are shielded from competition by the State, or have an explicit State-backed monopoly. For example, Comcast owns the monopoly right to sell local cable service in various cities; competition isn't hard, it's explicitly illegal.

Even without special super-voting shares, most corporations have a "poison pill" or other legal maneuvers. This protects incumbent management from a hostile takeover. Superficially, they say they're "protecting shareholder value", but they're really just protecting the insiders. As a small individual shareholder, you have zero say over how the corporation is run. Your returns underperform true inflation. As a small shareholder, you don't really own anything.

These corporations just are "public" so that insiders can cash out their holdings and to fleece an unsuspecting public. The vast majority of people think that the stock market outperforms true inflation.

There is evidence that some families have used State power to loot and pillage for generations. There also is evidence that State insiders are so stupid that they aren't aware that they're doing evil. A lot of them have good intentions, but are restricted by their own pro-State brainwashing.

This issue keeps coming up over and over again. Is the current mess a deliberate conspiracy? Are State insiders so stupid that they aren't aware of their crimes? Either way, it's immoral, and needs to stop.

There are psychopaths controlling the State, combined with intelligent brainwashed slaves. Some State agents are psychopathic parasites; others have the "abused productive" personality type but are too brainwashed to notice the scam. The psychopaths will never learn, but the "abused productive" people might be convinced. The State needs some intelligent slaves working as State employees. Otherwise, the scam would collapse because nobody could do anything. A business filled with 100% psychopathic parasites would be unable to do anything at all. Even some lawyers and judges must be intelligent, to keep the legal system moving and to come up with better excuses/lies for increasing State power. A mixture of psychopaths and scared wage slaves is the best way to implement evil.

This relates to "Is it immoral for an intelligent anarchist to work directly for the State?" In my current wage slave job, I'm working directly for a large financial institution. However, the risk calculations I'm performing are meaningless. It's a joke, but at least my jokes are superficially calculated correctly with nice hypertext documentation. I'm looking forward to trying other things, but this is my best option for now. It's hard, because nearly everyone else is a mindless brainwashed zombie. I'm very outnumbered!

There is one advantage for "It's incompetence!" instead of "It's a deliberate conspiracy!" If it's a deliberate conspiracy, then the insiders would ruthlessly hunt down people who start to understand the truth. (Unless complete collapse and an agorist revolution is their secret agenda.) However, this has not happened (yet) for me. A State policeman reading my blog would probably conclude I'm some harmless fruitcake blogger. I haven't put any of my ideas into practice yet!

If it's not a conspiracy, and merely gross incompetence, then it's easier to make progress. People might be convinced eventually. There's still a huge hurdle to overcome. There's still a risk, but it's not as great.

You should judge by outcomes and not intentions. It doesn't make any difference whether State insiders are deliberately stealing, or are so stupid that they don't know any better. Either way, agorism is the best strategy for resisting evil.