Convergent conspiracy ideas met only when direct contact later occurred.

Evidence

Much of this material was either strikingly similar to or compatible with the conspiracy ideas simultaneously circulating in the militia and militant antigovernment subculture. The mythology of concentration camps, secret government-security forces, wholesale violation of the Constitution, and control of the state by a hidden elite are themes prominent in both domains. Yet any link between them in the 1980s appears circumstantial. The UFO conspiracists were especially active in the West, where the extreme right was particularly evident; even so, no evidence exists at this time of direct contact between them. But convergent ideas are bound to meet—as the next chapter shows, in fact, this occurred in the early 1990s. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 480

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what conditions made the UFO and militia milieux both gravitate to the same mythology before formal connection ‘bound’ them to meet?