> This led me to consider the whole Government Conspiracy Thing and why it has been so dear to the hearts of Americans in modern times. And it *is* a very American thing. I'm not saying other countries don't have plenty of fans of the paranormal or conspiracy theories. It's just that no other country has managed to elevate it to such an art form in the national subconscious as the USA has.
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> I once read a theory that it dated from Watergate.

Here's another theory, a factor which probably doesn't operate alone, but which may have something to do with it. America is a very stable place, for a lot of reasons-- size, isolation, and a rather good system of government being high on the list. From a swashbuckling or cloak-and-dagger standpoint, it's been downright boring over here for decades! (And even in the World Wars, there was very little danger on our soil.) Those of us who like to spin elaborate fantasies of intrigue and danger have to look much harder for fodder than people living in times or places with more conflict between powers. And one place to look is our own government. What if *they* are the enemy? Then we get all the excitement of being Robin Hood, the Scarlet Pimpernel, King Arthur even. Instead of being part of the big power in the world, the force that happens to other people (which is no good from a story perspective, ya gotta be the underdog), we as individuals are being grossly deceived, and soon we will have to rise up, challenge an overwhelming evil, and defeat it. Fun stuff!

Of course, September 11th changed all that. Now we have another enemy to fight, and in fact we'd rather like to trust our government as all this is happening. It will be interesting to see how the world reshapes itself, and how the stories that come out of this country change in response.

Lire"this somehow matches my 'we like fantasy stories because we no longer have our own mythology' theory, too"lyn