What conspiracy theories do YOU believe?

[Agayek]

I'm not sure... this is true for the classics such as Area 51 with it's hundreds of scientists or the Illuminati with figures in every country, but think about the biggest conspiracy in the post-internet era: 9/11. How many people would actually have had to be conspiring for this? I'm not saying I think this is true, but say an oil barron (or.. whatever, I don't really know the conspiracy) decided it would be best for everyone if America went to war with Afghanistahn and Iraq; a small bribe to a security guard and some diverted funds to a terrorist cell could well have done the job. Possibly some smuggling or some such too, but my point is that most of this is logistics "move package A to point B," not people specificaly acting to blow up American infrastructure. From what I do know about 9/11 America's defence forces were woefully unprepared for any such attack so there was no need for traitors at every level of govornment as some poeople claim, hell even a bribed guard who let the metal through the airport gate wouldn't have known what it was for until the first explosion and you can be sure they'd keep quiet about it afterwards.

Well yea, but that's kinda beside the point. It's not a conspiracy theory that 9/11 happened. They pulled it off with a fairly standard operation that the US simply wasn't prepared for, if for no other reason than no one had ever done it before.

My point was that there aren't shadowy cabals out there trying to take over the world from behind the scenes and that the news as reported to the masses is usually the truth, if incomplete (at least once you filter out the sensationalism, bias, exaggerations, et al, preferably by exposure to other sources). People as a whole simply aren't competent enough at what they do to be able to run things and avoid all public scrutiny.

 

[TPiddy]

While it disgusts me to say this... with pretty much every conspiracy theory I've heard, I basically have one rule: Follow the money...

So when someone tells that the US orchestrated 9/11, I may not go that far, but following THAT money trail will lead you right to the corrupt politicians who profited from it all, and many are in the US government. If they didn't orchestrate it, they at least allowed it to happen.

Electric and alternative fuel cars are not mass-produced? follow the money... who benefits from having no electric cars? Oil companies... oil companies buy up hundreds of automotive patents every year.

It's a pretty good rule that can be applied to most any conspiracy theory.

 

[Mirror Cage]

I believe in that stuff about lizardmen from the earth's core. But not that they control the Catholic church or anything. They're just chilling down there.

 

[Doneeee]

I believe the theory that silent hill is a work of alien origin...

 

[Canadish]

The stupidest one I can think of is the 'Paul is dead' one about the beatles covering up pauls death to save the public grief

I think I can one-up you on this one. I heard a conspiracy theory from one of my co-workers a couple of months ago about how most con-trails (the trails of steam generated by a plane's exhaust) are actually "chem trails" that the government is using to spread mercury, arsenic and other poisons throughout the atmosphere. Not in sufficient quantities to kill everyone, but as a means to keep people too busy trying to breath to revolt.

It's pretty ridiculous.

Well, your friend is TECHNICALLY right. There ARE Chem-trails, but they're probably not as dark and evil and he's making them out to be.

It's most often just cloud seeding or some light geo-engineering.
It's been in the public domain since the 40's.
Right now anyone can go get it done if you've got the cash, and it's in debate now about putting some regulation on it, last I remember.

We did it here in the UK for the Royal Wedding to make sure it was a nice day.
Funny enough, Paul McCartney was said to have done it for one of his concerts a while back.
(EDIT: Oh, found the article for you; http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2004/jun/24/thisweekssciencequestions3 )


They also use them in Green efforts in order to help protect the Ozone layer as well, using some kind of Metallic flakes or something. A pilot friend of mine explained it to me a while back.

The debate right now is whether this is causing other adverse effects with the weather, and the potential abuse of it. Or whether it actually works at all.

So there you go, you can tell your friend he's not COMPLETELY nuts. Just mostly.

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

While I don't believe we had a hand in 9/11 I do believe we had the information and means to have been able to stop it.

 

[XMark]

I think SOPA/PIPA were deliberately ridiculous propositions meant to fake out the internet, while they go ahead and push something else sneakier under the radar. Like ACTA or CISPA.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

I believe there is HUGE conspiracy behind the assassination of JFK... Like he was assassinated by ROBO-Kennedy, or something...

 

[IamLEAM1983]

This is less a conspiracy theory and more a set of personal beliefs, though. I'm also fairly certain our current anti-cloning ethics won't hold water forever. With the wealthy always being willing to pay to keep living, cheap and affordable organs will be needed. If China can bring sheep embryos near term in artificial tanks, there isn't much stopping us from growing independent organs in protein vats.

Actually we've been working on creating organs for a while, and can literally print kidneys (though they're not good enough to use yet).

http://blog.ted.com/2011/03/07/printing-a-human-kidney-anthony-atala-on-ted-com/

Wow, that's awesome. Now all we're missing is megalopolises, cyberspace decks, Simstim units and pepperbox flechette pistols.

Captcha: industrial revolution
You're a little behind the times, Lord Inglip...

 

[ReservoirAngel]

On a serious note, I don't believe any big conspiricies like 9/11, Bigfoot, Reptile people, etc. But I am a creationist, so there's that. (The universe was created 6-10,000 years ago, but created as an old universe with billions of years of development already written into it.)

That's not a conspiracy theory (if it was God fucked up big time by making people write it down and making billions read it), that's just illogical.

OT: I don't believe in any conspiracy theories. I used to think 9/11 was an inside job but then I grew up and stopped being so fucking stupid.

 

[thespyisdead]

i'd really like to believe, that Roswell is true, and that the government covered it up.

 

[Xangba]

I think there's more to JFK assassination than "It was Oswald." Not really a conspiracy guy and I don't buy into any specific thing with that one, but I don't think that's all there is to it.

 

[esperandote]

Bioware wanted to charge for mass effect 3 ending as DLC but since they could have never get away with it they found a way fans demanded it.

 

[Jiffex]

As for the stupidest theory I've ever heard: truthism.com
read it. I dare you. You actually should it's the funniest thing i've ever read.

Before I saw the statue, I thought the morphing picture went from drawing to a black and white screen-cap of an Argonian.

 

[Sean951]

None for me really, There are some that are completly ridiculous like the US govournment setting up 9/11 which quite alot of people do believe but I just think theres no way they'd do it because if it was uncovered EVERYONE worldwide would be pissed, People in charge would be executed or inprisoned and the UN would take charge, It just wouldnt be worth doing that just to increse favour on the war, But if someone disagrees - tell me why

Theres a theory ive read up on about elvis being alive..maybe..but probably not

The stupidest one I can think of is the 'Paul is dead' one about the beatles covering up pauls death to save the public grief

What conspiracy theories do you believe - if any? and why?

EDIT: The one theory I do 100% agree with is the theory..no.. the fact that the big industries in the US (logging/paper/clothing/tabbaco/alcohol/ect) were behind making cannabis and hemp illegal.

Now that I think of it, The theory that the monarchy was responsible for dianas death springs to mind but thats also a 'ehm possibly'

And Ive changed my mind, The dumbest one I can think of is that some people believe that the holocaust never existed..I mean..come on..

The hemp thing isn't a theory, it's known fact. My state used to be the king of hemp, and it was poised to replace wood pulp for newsprint, then the guy who just happened to have a large amount invested in the wood industry began a campaign to make hemp illegal.

I believe that there was more than 1 shooter in the Kennedy assassination. That's the only one I can think of.

 

[DrOswald]

I don't believe in any conspiracy theories that I can think of off the top of my head. There are some things that don't track, but that doesn't mean there is a conspiracy. More likely incompetence.

In any case, watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDBxlOfJnoQ

 

[Nimzabaat]

I'd say I believe that the US was behind the WTC attack. Just because it's a lesson learned from Germany (one of Hitlers advisors was quoted as saying "people will not believe a small lie, but they will believe a big lie". That was in regards to Hitler telling the Germans that they were going to be attacked so they went to war first.) Also because it's a chain of events that makes a lot of sense. The US tried to make other countries throw the first punch; Russia (sinking their submarine), Japan ("accidently" killing a boatload of school children), Korea (well just insults really). Before they figured out it'd be more convincing if someone attacked them (Oklahoma State Building). Oh wait before someone attacked them, that couldn't be proved to be a local patsy, or at least wouldn't admit to doing it, and make them have to think of something bigger... As a chain of events it's not even far-fetched. What is far-fetched is that Americans honestly believe that the "bad guys" are stupid enough to go; bombs, bombs, bombs, bombs, bombs, planes (oh hey that worked!), bombs, bombs, bombs, bombs...

But anyways...

I don't believe that Elvis is alive.

 

[DrOswald]

I'd say I believe that the US was behind the WTC attack. Just because it's a lesson learned from Germany (one of Hitlers advisors was quoted as saying "people will not believe a small lie, but they will believe a big lie". That was in regards to Hitler telling the Germans that they were going to be attacked so they went to war first.) Also because it's a chain of events that makes a lot of sense. The US tried to make other countries throw the first punch; Russia (sinking their submarine), Japan ("accidently" killing a boatload of school children), Korea (well just insults really). Before they figured out it'd be more convincing if someone attacked them (Oklahoma State Building). Oh wait before someone attacked them, that couldn't be proved to be a local patsy, or at least wouldn't admit to doing it, and make them have to think of something bigger... As a chain of events it's not even far-fetched. What is far-fetched is that Americans honestly believe that the "bad guys" are stupid enough to go; bombs, bombs, bombs, bombs, bombs, planes (oh hey that worked!), bombs, bombs, bombs, bombs...

But anyways...

I don't believe that Elvis is alive.

I don't relly get your chain of events above. Why did the US want someone to throw the first punch? What did the US gain from it? What is the motive?

 

[shimyia]

I belive the riots of 7th of april 2009 in Republic of Moldova (my country) were provoked by the comunist party. It happened right after the exposing of their frauds of the votes in that electoral year for the sake of getting the masses on the streets and cause the violence in order to make the job more difficult for the current govenment and to get it to it's confused current state. All for the sake of getting their precious power back in the following years.

 

[Agayek]

I don't relly get your chain of events above. Why did the US want someone to throw the first punch? What did the US gain from it? What is the motive?

I'm definitely not on board with his theory, but the US government stands to have a lot to gain by 9/11. See: The boom in the military/industrial complex circa 2001-2008, the PATRIOT Act, etc.

There's a lot of money and influence consolidated into relatively few hands in wartime, and it's well within the realm of possibility for someone to want to engineer a war to further their own agenda or deepen their pockets.

That said, being able to do it without leaving any evidence and completely avoiding all public scrutiny of the act itself qualifies as an Act of God. It requires that everyone involved is committed to the cause, incorruptible, and perfect. Since it's not possible for any group of people to continually meet all 3 of those points, it's not possible for them to engineer such a thing. I don't doubt for a second that more than a few people want to, but it's just not realistic to be able to pull it off.