Conspiracy Theory: A Different Type of Storytelling?

There has always been people out there promulgating conspiracy theories, very often is the case that these "theories" ever turn out to be as they say. Ever since the 2000 election of George W. Bush there has been a lot in the old conspiracy theory game, some of them are even making money off it. After 9/11 the conspiracy theory became a lot more popular, and in many cases, a lot more ridiculous.

Years back, I used to buy into a lot of conspiracy stuff, I'll admit it. But as the years passed I found myself becoming much more of a skeptic to the point I hardly believe anything a lot of these peoples say, people like Alex Jones, David Icke and others. Maybe I've become an extreme cynic but when I look at people touting conspiracy theorists I always ask myself this question, who is making money off this? These fellas always have t-shirts, radio shows, television shows, DVDs and other products, in short a lot of them make their living off scarring people into listening to them. Some of the big name theorists compete with one another, accuse each other of being shills for the NWO, UN, Church of the Space Lizard, CIA, MI6, Cobra, Free Masons, Cutco, Girl Scouts or any other group, mythical or otherwise, they choose to demonize. Competing conspiracy theorists are like TV executives trying to win people over most titillating tales of secrets, intrigue and excitement.

So with the current troubled state of the world giving way to a new form of entertainment, a new type of storyteller - the professional conspiracy theorist? I think the evidence points clearly to yes. Unlike people watching a movie, or television show or whatever, I think this form of entertainment is more dangerous. It easily plays to fear, that's the biggest problem. When people become scared, they do crazy shit. I think I'm at the point that I can loot at these conspiracy theorists for that they are, storytellers with a sometime entertaining story (maybe very, very loosely based on some truth).

Just to clarify I do think it's possible for organization to repress knowledge, mainly academic and religious organizations. I think governments and businesses do a piss poor job of keeping secrets...if they are planning to create a genetic super virus to kill billions of people why can't they keep their own sexual/business indiscretions secret? Why is it if you look at something a conspiracy theorist said five years ago none of it ever happened?

Fantastic Without Action?

A lot of science-fiction and fantasy films, television shows and other creative mediums are hinged heavily upon action, a lot of these are very good but a lot are very bad. The above picture is obviously from the classic kick ass science fiction action movie Predator, which can easily fall into the category of a simple action flick. However, I've always thought the movie had some deeper themes, it's a film with fatalistic themes and calls into questions mans place not only in his own world, but existence in general.

On the opposite end of the spectrum you have science fiction and fantasy works (mostly sci-fi from my experience) that effectively tell there story with a minimal amount of action, works like 2001 and Solaris.

To what degree can stories in fantastic settings be effective with a minimal amount of action, or none at all? What is the perfect balance? These are questions I've asked myself when considering my own work. My work would fall into the sci-fi/fantasy category though I try not to limit myself, I just throw in whatever I think works. My work needs to have action, but I hate writing it...not because I find it outright boring but because I find it difficult to do without being cliche or utterly ridiculous. I suppose I want the action in my work to be meaningful, so I try to use it sparingly. Though to be honest I've found myself at times throwing in unnecessary action...mostly because I'm thinking about how to satisfy readers as opposed to myself. So, I suppose, what I'm trying to say is that I need to write for myself first and foremost...hopefully things will fall into place after that!