Lord, do I have to launch another recurring post?

If I do, I guess I’ll call it the “Conspiracy Theory Flake of the {whatever period} Award”. Today’s nominee? is Alicia Keys, who has moronically babbled the following:

“‘Gangsta rap’ was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. ‘Gangsta rap’ didn’t exist.”

Keys, 27, said she’s read several Black Panther autobiographies and wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck “to symbolize strength, power and killing ’em dead,” according to an interview in the magazine’s May issue, on newsstands Tuesday.

Another of her theories: The bicoastal feud between slain rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. was fueled “by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing.“

Uh, right. Alicia dear, if you’ll just stand there quietly, the nice men from the hospital will be here to pick you up.

Moderately humorous as this is, it brings up a serious question–where is all this nonsense coming from? It seems that we have had more “woo woo” conspiracy theories in recent years than ever before. (Of course, it could also be that in the Age of the Internet, it’s simply easier to find out about them.) Is this a symptom of an increasing lack of education and critical thinking skills? Perhaps we can label these people as the “New Superstitionists”–unable to understand the world around them, they instead attribute all evil to the actions of the ever-nebulous “THEM”.

Whatever it is, it’s another worrisome item to keep track of.