24 August, 2007
BY OUR CELEBRITY REPORTER
Even ten years after the tragic death
of Diana, Princess of Wales, in a car
crash in a Paris subway, speculations
and theories about how her end came
fail to die down.
Though
two major investigations by French and
British police had concluded that
Princess Diana had died in a car
accident, but many remain convinced
that she was murdered in a sinister
conspiracy.
The usual suspects cited by the
‘conspiracy theorists’ include
Britain’s royal family. These
theorists argue that the royal family
was unhappy that Princess Diana was to
marry her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, a
Muslim. Arms dealers too might have
been angry at her support for a ban on
landmines, some others surmise.
Mohamed al-Fayed, Dodi’s father and
leading theorist of the
conspiracy-murder, told news agency
Reuters that Princess Diana and his
son were killed as a result of a
wicked conspiracy by people “who did
not want the Princess to marry my son
and were fearful of what she could say
and do.”
In addition to these, there are some
‘bizarre’ presumptions, too. These
suggest that leaders of a “new world
order” assassinated Princess Diana
because she would not marry President
Bill Clinton, former President of the
United States. Some others believe
that she was killed as a part of a
Satanic ritual, or even that she is
still alive having faked her own
death.
Alasdair Spark, of the Centre for
Conspiracy Culture at the University
of Winchester, the United Kingdom,
said that doubts about the official
version of Princess Diana’s death
reflected a common belief that the
public were always deliberately misled
by the authorities.
“At the heart of it is this very
strong belief we are always lied to,
that any government never tells you
the truth,” Spark told Reuters.
“People believe in conspiracy theories
the way they believe in TV
advertisements. It is a very casual
belief, sometimes it is more of a
refusal to disbelieve. But people are
prepared to entertain that it might be
true.”
One of the strengths of conspiracy
theories is the focus on unanswered
details, and arguments are developed
from there.
In the case of Princess Diana, much
has been made of the untraced white
Fiat Uno car that police reports say
collided with the Princess’ car
shortly before the fatal crash.
“If you get into a conversation with a
conspiracy theorist, very, very
quickly he will be talking to you
about the facts and details in
exhaustive levels,” Spark said.
He added: “But at the same time
actually often it’s about the little
inconsistent facts. Where is the white
Uno? These sorts of things, the piece
of the jigsaw that doesn’t fit, tend
to get very exaggerated. You can spin
fantasies out of that.”
The internet, according to Spark, had
also played a crucial role in the
spread of conspiracy ideas by allowing
them to be easily disseminated. In the
case of Princess Diana, conspiracy
theories were hitting websites within
hours of her death.
There was little authorities could do
to convince those who believed in
those theories. Despite the 832-page
report by police, skeptics still doubt
the official accounts on Princess
Diana.
Dr Karen Douglas, of the University of
Kent, the United Kingdom, carried out
a study to assess how much people had
been influenced by theories
surrounding Princess Diana’s death.
She found that people exposed to the
Diana conspiracy theories were
influenced by what they had been told
when asked to rate how much they
agreed with statements such as “Diana
was killed by British secret agents.”
The study also showed that they did
not even realize that their judgment
had been affected.
“If people aren’t necessarily aware
that these conspiracy theories are
having an impact on their own
attitude, they are much more likely to
pass them on to other people. It might
be some way in which they get
perpetuated over time,” Dr Karen
Douglas said.
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