In my most recent post I mentioned a murder trial that’s received a degree of internet attention. The void between the recent mistrial and the upcoming second trial is being filled with some revealing commentary at various sites.

The commentary isn’t about the events that led to the death of the victim, the testimony or rulings in court, or even the social issues raised by the alleged crime.

The defendant’s brother-in-law has long been a fixture on Usenet, so it isn’t surprising that he’s said some things that have made people mad – in some cases justifiably so. He’s absolutely certain of the defendant’s innocence, so much so that he has alleged an elaborate conspiracy on the part of law enforcement.

The main pro-prosecution blogger has written about other domestic violence cases in the past, as well as various other topics. While she refrains from conspiracy theories regarding the case, she clearly subscribes to many completely deranged political conspiracy theories.

The two sides engage in vicious attacks on each other based not so much on what they say, but on their associates.

These illustrate larger trends.

Many of the most popular movies and TV shows are about conspiracy theories, as are a great many purportedly non-fiction books. It’s actually getting to the point where much of pop-culture – even that masquerading as journalism – is overshadowed by these baroque monuments to paranoia. Some of the theories are even taken seriously by people who ought to know better.

The venom behind the increasing frequency of political insults (from “demonrats” to “Christianists”) increasingly reflects a split that’s nasty, but where the difference between the two sides can often be hard to discern. Our culture dehumanizes others whom we encounter less and less as complete people and more and more as "the jerk in the brown pickup truck", "that blogger" or the face on the TV screen.

People flee to fantasy and to extreme emotion when they are trying to avoid unpleasant facts.

Between the wars in the world today, epidemic diseases, the breakdown of social order, a more rapidly changing economy, the speed and ubiquity of information, there is much to provoke discomfort. People who have fewer close friends and smaller and more scattered families than their parents had may consequently feel more isolated and vulnerable.

More importantly, people must believe in something bigger than themselves – even if that something is an impossible conspiracy. We who are in the Church have failed to get the message out about The One Whom we all ought seek. The sickness will worsen until the cure begins.