Principles Underlying Our “Semiotics of Conspiracy Theory” initiative

Here is Prinicple One in INT3RP INC's The Semiotics of Conspirarcy Theory initiative: Conspiracy theories keep believers from seeing (or searching for) the real system that oppresses them, which is what the oppressor encourages!

Here is Principle Two: The “evidence” for conspiracy is usually “hidden in plain sight,” though what is actually hidden is the conspiracy theorist’s own prejudice, fear, & servitude—not the evidence.

Each week I will be posting a new principle!

Semiotician's Toolkit

Beginning today, I will post, once a week, one of our (INT3RP INC's) 35 semiotic tools from our Symbologist's Toolkit. Today I start with, sort of randomly, Tool 2.2, The Virtureal Effect. And here's the real point--or question: who can give an example of how a given semiotic tool, in this case, "The Virtureal Effect," might be applied today in our efforts to better understand the world in which we live?

2.2 The Virtureal Affect: Because of the “Virtureal Effect,” real Symbologists (semioticians) can apply their understanding that the Sign of an Object can exist before the Object it stands for does! For example, Sherlock Holmes was a forensic detective in the virtual (fictional) world before there was ever a real forensic detective; the first real forensic scientist, Frenchman Edmond Locard (1877-1966), was called, ironically, the “Sherlock Holmes of France.” Life imitates art, indeed! Consider how many inventions today were first invented for the Star Trek television series.

Here is today's share (2/6/2021):

1.3 Origin Mining: Many Symbols and Signs originate by means of iconic (based on resemblance) and indexical (based on cause and effect) “stretching.” Take the letter “A,” for example, which stands for a small range of sounds in a linguistic code; turn the letter “A” upside down and you have an icon (a picture) of an animal head! Is it a coincidence that the first letter of the alphabet is one of humanity’s first icons (think, the caves of Lascaux)? The analogical picture of the head of the animal, then, when flipped over to make the letter “A,” represents the beginning of the digitalization of the sign! By studying the underlying iconic origin of signs we may be able to understand why they perform as they do. Marketing and branding semioticians can aply such insights in order to "ground" the images that they use to grow brands.

Ecological Eleven Commandments

In the era of COVID-19, I think that the following commandments will insist upon their relevance. My goal in adapting, borrowing, and writing these eleven commandments was to show those who have an interest in religion, and in how religious texts may be / should be interpreted, just how a semiotician would likely interpret the "signs" of the Bible, that is, of the Word. Since true "signs grow," my work here was to "grow the Word, the Divine Logos," to interpret (INT3RP) the Word in the Spirit in which It was incarnated. To do justice to the Word, one must interpret It with regard to the Final Interpretant (C.S. Peirce) placed within it at the Beginning, that is, in the Spirit of Its creation.

©Eleven Ecological and Postmodern Commandments for the Semiotic-Semioethical Animal (Where different from the better known “ten,” the following are meant not to replace but to complement.)

Adapted, borrowed, or written by W. John Coletta

1. Thou shalt not pollute.

2. Thou shalt not steal from future generations.

3. Thou shalt not murder even indirectly, thus causing people or other nonhuman persons to be harmed from the manageable side effects of your actions.

4. Thou shalt not stereotype, thus making into absolute (i. e., graven) images species, races, or ethnicities, and thereby denying the unique individuality of each being.

5. Thou shalt not consider any life form (species, group, or individual) to be more or less “advanced” than any other.

6. Thou shalt not allow thine own conception of the “next world” (heaven) to lessen the value of the diverse and just sustainable worlds derived from this one, My Creation (remember the Earth Day and keep it holy).

7. Thou shalt not consider thine own views to somehow necessarily represent universal ones (and therefore in effect bear false witness against thy neighbors’ views).

8. Thou shalt not consider the fate of humans as separate from that of other living things, thus Genesis bids not only humans to “be fruitful and multiply,” but Genesis also bids that birds and fishes be permitted to do so as well: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth” (Genesis 1:20). (Since one cannot maximize two variables in a single equation, here the Lord creates an ecological aporia that should serve to check anthropocentrism.)

9. Thou shalt not commodify or privatize water, air, or healthcare.

10. Thou shalt not create, patent, and profit from genetic graven images of my Creation (thus committing adulterous acts against that Creation).

11. Thou shalt not interfere with the shepherding of being, that is, with the ushering into creation of a new self or selves—mineral, vegetable, animal, human, or post-human—as long as non-interference is in accord with the other commandments and as long as the beings that are so ushered into being are autonomous.