With a black cover on which is printed in white: “The conspiracy theory…The poisoned cup.” with an image on top of that of fingers hanging from which are strings which control something. This is the main manchette of the new issue of the Doha Magazine No. 147 published by the Publications and Translation Department of the Ministry of Culture and Sports for the month of January. The new issue includes many diverse cultural files that enrich the content of the magazine, which is one of the best cultural publications on the level of the Arab world.
In the introduction of the magazine’s main file it is mentioned that the conspiracy theory has come under severe criticism in political science since it was invoked in the interpretation of the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century. This theory has always found what nourishes it in the political field so that it has been associated with it in particular. Thus, it has become a subject within political science. Perhaps the adoption of this theory in political practice is due not only to the fact that politics is based on interest and on justifying the means with goals and on the fragility of the moral dimension in them, but mainly due to the fact that politics according to what its science expresses, does not refer to the thought in constructing its perceptions and is not based on scientific interpretation. The conspiracy theory exempts from thought, analysis and research for the causes of the phenomena generated.
Under the title “Between Public and Private…Illusions of the Conspiracy” Khaled Belkassem writes about a contradiction in the concepts of the conspiracy theory with proper understanding and weighted interpretation of the phenomenon, revealing a great paradox that is manifested in the illusion’s ability to formulate its theory, and in the energy of blocking and obfuscation to claim disclosure, interpretation and lighting. He concluded that the Conspiracy theory is evidence that illusion can formulate its theory and present itself as being able to explain phenomena.
Abdel-Rahim Al-Atri wrote about the “Procrustean Bed and interpretation from inside the box” since it is clear that everything is related to each other according to what Michael Bracon concluded: there is always someone who moves the pieces in a completely subtle manner. Meanwhile, Youssef Waqqas discusses in a separate topic reasons for believing in conspiracy theories. He writes that they create social cohesion, or rather, a sense of belonging, because through the influence of intense propaganda individuals turn into a group of avant-garde who consider themselves enlightened. Reda Al-Abyad translated an article by Jean-William Van Braugen, in which he states that conspiracy theories are completely surrounding us and driven by an evolutionary desire to survive. He writes about how to operate this phenomenon in the current era, stressing that the media is the main player in the matter. On the other hand, a book, Robert Lewis Stephenson’s “The Art of Writing”, is published with Doha Magazine, in approximately 80 pages in average, translated by Majdi Abdul-Majeed Khater.