6:05 a.m. - 2022-06-12
THE SHALLOW STATE OF DEEP STATE THINKING
When Covid vaccines--a modern medical miracle--first became available, resistance to them took several forms, including the traditional arguments of lifelong anti-vaxxers. But most interesting was the concern that the "Deep State" would use vaccine administration as an opportunity to inject Americans with tracking devices. Never mind that no known signaling technology could pass through an eighteen-gauge needle, or that anyone owning a smart phone could be tracked just as easily and without such a dark and intricately organized conspiracy, or that there was a legitimate medical and, yes, patriotic use for the new vaccines; the longstanding fear of the DS came shrilly to the fore.

I've never been sure what people thought they meant by the Deep State. Isn't a career in government service a good thing? Aren't many government workers doing jobs that pay more in the private sector? If someone serves twenty years in the Army, is he viewed with suspicion as part of the Deep Military? How does the DS survive transition between Democratic and Republican administrations?

Conspiracy theories overlook a basic feature of human nature, best summarized by Benjamin Franklin: "Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead." Any vast, far-reaching conspiracy will eventually be discovered through clumsiness, disgust, or tell-all revelations of embittered former participants. The "logic" of the Deep State or other conspiracy theories is easily refuted by a combination of Occam's Razor and Murphy's Law: No conspiracy is necessary to explain that which is the result of greed, stupidity or incompetence.

My impression of big government is that it's very similar to big corporations, only more so: hampered by top-heavy bureaucracy, cumbersome one-way communication, information silos, interdepartmental rivalries, private fiefdoms, me-first career opportunists, disenchanted and largely ignored workers, sclerotic traditions, pointless committees, mind-numbing emails, cliques, intrigues, and passive resistance.

Why, then, does the DS myth persist? I think there are three reasons. First, to a certain kind of person, it's very satisfying to view yourself as the target of a vast conspiracy. It makes you important, rather like the hero of a comic book adventure. If people are plotting against you, then you must be significant enough to be plotted against. Second, the inherent cynicism of conspiracy theories is also a nice excuse for individual failures. In a world of plots, secret organizations and dark, hidden motives, small wonder that the average person can't get ahead. Third, and most important, other conspiracy theories usually don't work without the assumption that there is a Deep State covering up the evidence. Most conspiracy theorists state their premise and then dare the listener to disprove it, ignoring the obvious answer that if something can be asserted without evidence, it can also be refuted without evidence. In any realistic discussion among adults, the person making the assertion has the burden of proof. But the all too convenient answer is that there is proof, but the DS is covering it up. One conspiracy theory is therefore "proven" with a second conspiracy theory, and the hero of his own adventure returns to his strangely comforting world of staged events, secret ninja assassins and mad scientists.

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