Turtleboy1017 said:
I just finished watching a pair of videos that I had no idea existed, and truth be told... I am simply blown away.
I have never been a strong believer in conspiracy theories. I have seen the videos, and the fliers, the websites about 9/11 and the other huge theories that are centered around a larger plan that we are simply pawns in.
Some I have disregarded, some I have ignored, others I have thought about, but not until now, have I ever been so wierded out by the possibility of a conspiracy this huge.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJi2HaJf1VI&feature=fvw
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW43Mig1LYE&NR=1
I did a quick search for this, but didn't find anything along the same lines. I don't know if any of you guys have seen the videos or heard about the claims, but I am so mind fucked right now that I just have to share it with someone.
EDIT: Oh also, I am not saying that this is a true thing, for all I know this info may be incorrect. However, I do keep an open mind, and the possibility of this actually being true just left me with my jaw hanging three feet under my head. Please don't accuse me of spreading lies, ideas, or whatnot, for I have no intention of doing so. What you believe is your choice only.
Okay, it's wrong. Don't believe a word.
Oh, you want to know why? Okay, then... the tl;dr version - let's look at it point-by-point.
The Illuminati: actually were a Bavarian group active in the 18th century. Some claim that they still exist to this day and several groups these days use the name and even have websites (so much for conspiracy lol). Conspiracy theorists tend to use the "illuminati" tag inaccurately as a catch-all for anyone not officially in power who might seem to have influence on things like governments and so forth. Do such things happen? Of course they do. Do they worship satan? Doubtful, but even if they do, why does that even matter? How is that worse than worshipping the dollar? Are they all part of some secret society that has special handshakes and clubhouses in the woods? Probably not. The real extent of the "conspiracy" is that people in politics and people in high positions in corporations might have lunch together and discuss funding occasionally. It should be obvious to anyone with their eyes reasonably open that what happens in the world these days is driven as much or maybe more by corporate interests than actual politics. To take just one example, look at how negatively corporate bodies (and the meadia they sponsor) are reacting to Obama's desire to take the greed factor out of US healthcare and give the US a more sensible system like what every other country in the western world has. People not living in the US scratch their heads in disbelief and go "why is the US resisting what is obviously a really positive and long-overdue change?" but the answer is that the resistance is being generated by the corporations whose bottom lines will shrink, who then manipulate the media through sponsorship ("if you don't run stories criticising Obama we'll pull our advertising contracts") which then gets the public going. Corporations dont have ALL the power though, because some people will listen to money and some actually have morals. But this is all pretty natural, normal, non-spooky human behaviour. Humans in power are greedy and conspirational by nature. This has nothing to do with Michael Jackson though. I'll get to him later.
Backwards-masking: I have qualifications in sound engineering so I'm uniquely qualified to discuss this. Yes, some songs have messages that sound like other things backwards. Ozzy Osbourne and Slayer often put satanic backwards messages in their music just to give the conspiracy theorists something to get worked up over, because they find it funny (and so do I). Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa and The Beatles have also put in backwards stuff as a joke at various points in their careers. Hell, I'VE even done it, as has most other bedroom audio engineers fooling around with 4-track machines or computer editing programs where you can just record something, hit "reverse" and play it back the other way. It's everywhere. But to prove that backwards-masking actually has a brainwashing effect, it needs to be proven that a backwards message
can be understood when it is NOT being played backwards. This has never proven and never will be proven, because it is simply not the case. The human mind (conscious OR subsconscious) simply
can't do that. Ever. Period. Even "Rain Man" style autistic savants can't do it. Backwards masking has also been proven as fake in a courtroom (the infamous Judas Priest trial, too lengthy to discuss here). In summary, whenever you hear any conspiracy theorist talk about backwards messages, you can immediately discount everything else they say as complete nonsense. Besides I'd rather listen to satanic lyrics forwards anyway, they sound better and it's a lot easier to sing along.
Michael Jackson: He was never a child-molestor, nor did he ever have the Elephant Man's bones, but what Michael Jackson DID have was an incredibly shrewd business sense (which I guess you would expect from someone active in the music career since the age of ten). Michael inked some of the most lucrative business deals of all time and set new records for the amount of royalty from a CD sale which actually goes straight into the artist's pocket. I'm talking percentages here, not record sales. He was also smart enough to buy the rights to the entire Beatles back catalogue. That's right folks - when you hear a Beatles song on the radio, the money is (was) going to Michael Jackson. A smart man, make no mistake. As his record sales faltered somewhat and expenses for court cases skyrocketed (because when you're rich every prick wants a slice of your pie), Michael got used to playing the hapless, naive victim of the press to his fans. That's what you see and hear him doing in the interview videos and also in some of the lyrics to his later songs. The "conspiracy" he refers to is not the Illuminati, it's the media, and lawyers out to line pockets with his money by drumming up child molestation charges etc. However, the truth is that his negative press coverage was largely his own fault - Michael's own press agents started the Elephant Man and other rumours in the mid-eighties on his direction, as a way to increase publicity, a strategy which obviously backfired once he got the "Wacko Jacko" tag and couldn't shake it. This then made him an easier target for lawsuits and MJ was in damage-control mode ever since. As for his death, this was a guy dancing for several hours a day, while on multiple precription medications, and quite possibly illegal drugs too, at age 50. You'd be dead too if you did that routinely at his age, if anything I'm surprised he didn't die sooner.
Illuminati in popular cutlure: the first few minutes of the first video are taken up with a lot of musicians mentioning the new world order, illuminati etc. Big fucking deal. The rappers are doing it mainly because rappers love to brag and look self-important, and if they rap about how a "secret society is after them", then it makes them look even more bad-ass (with the exception of Immortal Technqiue who is a complete conspiracy theory nutbag himself and actually believes in all that crap). Most of the other artists are doing it as a bit of sci-fi fantasy fun (Gamma Ray lol!) or just as a way of criticising corporate control and the power of greed over government (Ministry, Skinny Puppy). Keep in mind that a lot of musicians aren't necessary the world's most educated folks and they get suckered into believing bullshit from time to time, too. Prodigy from Mobb Deep was a Ron Paul supporter and probably never finished high school.
Aspartane and MSG: Funny that they throw in this right at the end, just goes to show you how the minds of half-baked conspiracy theorists work. They'll throw in anything that enhances their "case" no matter how badly researched. Anyway these foods are not conspiracies, just shitty foods that you should try and stay away from. MSG (monosodium glutamate) is in just about all savoury processed food, especially snack food. Not sure what the coding is in other countries but in Australia you can check the back of your packet of chips for flavour enhancer 621, that's MSG. It's also been used in Asian cooking for about the last hundred years (obviously discovered by the Illuminati's little-known Chinese branch lol) as both a flavour enhancer and a meat tenderiser. You can even buy it in pure form from asian grocers and some supermarkets. If you go to a restaurant and the meat is suspiciously tender and has a slight "fruity-loops" aftertaste, MSG was used. It's been associated with weight gain and some people have bad reactions to it. But it's not going to kill you or control your mind. If you're worried about it just don't eat pre-packaged crap, learn to cook or something. Same with Aspartane, which is proven to be harmless but kind of sickly and can bring on bad reactions in some folks due to actually being a lot sweeter-tasting than sugar. I don't touch the garbage personally but plenty of people I know do and they're still walking about and look a lot better than Michael Jackson.
I could go on but probably only 5% of you read this far and I've got things to do so I'll leave it here. I think you get the general gist though. Most conspiracy theories can be deconstructed with a little thought. Of course the "pieces all fit together when you look at the big picture" - that's how you know it's a conspiracy theory. Reality is much more multi-faceted and complex than a 20 minute video on YouTube.
