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Comment by astrange

5 days ago

I don't think I've ever seen this phrase used about a conspiracy that actually happened. It always just ends up that they misread something.

Especially in politics, casual observers assume everything is about money (especially shadowy "corporations") but politicians are almost always legitimately ideological, which is actually worse!

Would love to read some examples! The most offensive things I know about that spring to mind have all been about either money or saving face.

  • "The Iraq War was for oil" -> the Iraq War was because Dick Cheney felt like it. Noone made any money or got any oil and in general US defense companies make /less/ money during war than peacetime.

    "Housing is expensive because Blackstone/BlackRock bought all the houses and is keeping them empty to raise prices" -> very common online and couldn't be less true if it tried.

    "X politician gets donations from big tech companies" -> 99% comes from misreading donations on OpenSecrets from /employees of a company/ as if they were the company itself, but employees have different interests than their employer.