Every time something happens that seems out of the ordinary, the conspiracy theories start to fly. Never mind if what's in the news really is out of the ordinary. For instance, pandemics occur with some regularity; there have been several since the horrible pandemic of 1918, and we're probably overdue for one. (BTW, DKos should be a center of sound news and analysis on swine flu, as DemFromCT is an expert in preparing for and dealing with flu pandemics.)
Also, never mind that there are usually sound, if non-salacious explanations for events that aren't expected or ordinary.
The problem, however, is magical thinking. Culturally, Western societies, at least the learned elite, supposedly shook off magical thinking in the 17th and 18th centuries, in the period known as the Enlightenment. In reality, however, many people still feel a great allure to explanations that are easy to understand--in other words, don't require resort to science, or mathematics, or a factual grounding in the context of some social phenomena--and tie together many aspects of life.
For instance, people over the last few days have started to show up to assert, or at least speculate, that the swine flu is the product of a government bio-warfare lab. Never mind that it's something that occurs regularly. That's just not as exciting and ominous an explanation.
The problem with most of the conspiracy theories is that, well, they're just not very good.
So, here's what I'd love to see from folks: indulge your magical thinking. Come up with conspiracies that explain the swine flu. Or maybe conspiracies of what will happen if there is a widespread outbreak of swine flu; is this the cause the one-world folks need to implement world-government?
Or, if you think swine flu is either too banal for a good conspiracy theory, or too serious, come up with your own. For instance, was the Knicks' envelope really frozen, so that David Stern could tell by touch which envelope to pull so the Knicks could draft Patrick Ewing? And was the entire moon landing thing really filmed on a Hollywood sound stage?
Bonus points will be awarded for the scope of the theory, and for how often one can invoke Scientology, Jewish art students, an umbrella opening and closing, the Illuminati, and vaccines.
Let 'er rip!