Whose 'fault' is it?

In the wake of the Iran earthquake last week, I wondered how many people out there would call it "a sign from God." There is a fair amount of buzz about invading that country, after all. Wouldn't an earthquake be a thumbs-up from the Almighty?\nConspiracy theories are fun! Why settle for a ho-hum answer like "the earthquake just happened" when you can sum it up with a sexier one? Come on, ladies, I know you can't resist it when you meet some guy in a bar and he says, "God caused the earthquake. He also endowed me with The Power and told me to diversify my stock portfolio."\nRight away, I Googled the words, "Iran earthquake sign from God." Sure enough, the first search result was a page saying the tremors in Iran were a sign from God the last time it had a quake on Dec. 26, 2003. The author of the page, hosted at www.bible-codes.org, believed the tremors were predicted by the Mene-Tekel Bible Code.\nFor those of you who are not atheists who have worked in Christian bookstores, let me explain Mene-Tekel code. The Bible was originally written so that each character had to be located at the same space of the line and same column of text each time a new copy was made. Some believe the arrangement of these symbols has allowed obscure prophecies to be hidden in different patterns on each page of the Bible. The Mene-Tekel code focuses specifically on a chain of events starting with the collapse of the twin towers Sept. 11.\nConveniently enough, however, these Bible code crackers were not able to predict last week's tremors. However, they have updated their page in the past week to say that they have found a mention of this new quake, and that it is significant because it occurred exactly 1,260 days after Sept. 11. The number is supposedly important because it is mentioned in Revelation 11:3, for it is written: "I will give my two witnesses who wear sackcloth the authority to prophesize for 1,260 days."\nI could not contact the Web site's author to ask whether or not he or she wears sackcloth at press time; God did not return phone calls inquiring about whether he gives his thumbs-up for invading Iran.\nThe whole Bible code thing sounds outlandish, but all this craziness paints a telling portrait of humanity. It's only natural to fear that which we do not understand, so we manufacture a false understanding of it to make us feel better. It happens all the time, whether it's an earthquake, or a war, or an election, or racism, or sexism or anything else under the sun.\nThis issue goes deeper than looking at a bad thing and wanting desperately to believe it happened for a reason. This is an issue of ego massage.\nWhy not just assume an earthquake happened in Iran because the Arabian Peninsula is its own tectonic plate, straddling the Asian plate? It's a guarantee the whole region will be rockin' harder than a Jimi Hendrix concert.\nConspiracy theories are only popular if they are esoteric enough to make someone feel smart when he or she talks about it. It's a big world out there, but as long as you can inflate your ego to a comparable size, the world shouldn't be able to hurt you, should it? Ignorance may not be bliss, but it is definitely therapeutic.\nHowever, there is a difference between those who say something to feel smart and those who actually sound smart. That difference is maturity. It's easy to spout out conspiracy theories. The real geniuses are the ones who don't have anything to prove.