Richard Hofstadter, whose writings long dominated the field of conspiracy studies, hypothesized that conspiratorial thinking — what he called "the paranoid style" — festered on the political margins and often contained an anti-intellectual streak.
While hordes of conspiracy theorists studied every loop and whorl of Oswald's sad life, Ray's claim of belonging to a cabal spearheaded by a mysterious "Raoul" generated little beyond snickers.
Still, even those who study conspiracy theories are surprised by the intensity of the one surrounding the Obama birth certificate.
To her detractors, what look at first like impressive scholarly credentials — the long list of publications, the endowed chair at Chicago, past presidencies of the American Academy of Religion and the Association for Asian Studies — are, in fact, evidence of a sinister colonialist conspiracy dominating the study of Hinduism in the West.
While apologist pundits may be able to spin this to seem like nothing more than, "rough and tumble politics," I am almost certain that misuse of public resources, fraudulent claims of a traffic study, conspiracy to disrupt commerce and to hinder travel rise to the level of criminal activity.
Ted Goertzel, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University who has studied conspiracy theorists, said "there's a similar kind of logic behind all of these groups, I think".
"When trust disintegrates, then you are open to these Paul Reveres who are spreading the 'real truth' about what happens to you in your life," said Bob Goldberg, a professor of U.S. history at the University of Utah who specializes in studying conspiracy theories.
The best explanation, people who study these conspiracy rumors say, is that this is a price of an unfiltered Internet.
Basically, it's an ironical study of conspiracy theory through the ages, from the Templars to European anti-Semites and contemporary tools like Dan Brown.
The report said the origins of the conspiracy stemmed from a secret study by an Iraqi academic in 2005 that recommended marginalizing the Shia to the government.
