Way OT - Your favorite conspiracy theories

Submitted by The Mad Hatter on

WD's mushroom induced alien life thread has me thinking about conspiracy theories.

Do you think the government is hiding the existance of aliens from us?  Maybe that Oswald didn't act alone?  What's your favorite conspiracy theory?

I typically don't believe in them, since most people are stupid and it's hard for them to keep secrets, even at the point of a gun.

However, part of me thinks that Roosevelt knew Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked (the British knew for sure as they had already cracked the Japanese naval codes).  Although, if he knew an attack was going to happen, why leave the battleships there?  Surely the country would have been just as outraged if some destroyers, cruisers, and other smaller ships were sunk instead.

Wolverine Devotee

June 23rd, 2016 at 8:55 AM ^

We're getting our cutting edge military technology from captured spacecraft from the Roswell incident.

Extraterrestrials probably are better people than Earthlings and are appalled at how we treat each other.



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mgokev

June 23rd, 2016 at 11:04 AM ^

So just to be clear, you believe aliens would be appalled at how we treat each other because: a) they know about us and b) nuclear weapons were disabled during the Cold War, allegedly by aliens?

Why did the aliens stop disabling nuclear weapons? Why do the aliens approve of mass genocide but not potential nuclear attacks?



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DrewGOBLUE

June 23rd, 2016 at 2:43 PM ^

If humans had actually been so idiotic and lacking in foresight to drop a thousand nukes on each other without flinching, the superiorly intelligent aliens wouldn't have disabled shit.

Rather, they'd have made the much more logical decision to simply wipe the planet clean of the pest that is humanity.

superstringer

June 23rd, 2016 at 9:44 AM ^

So you are shitting on all of the MICHIGAN engineering grads who over many years have applied their knowledge, skills, and acumen to help develop this country's arsenal. Like Kelly Johnson, the originator of the famed Lockheed Skunkworks, the most famous aerospace engineer (maybe other than Burt Rutan).  Instead of believing thousands of UM grads helped come up with our nation's technologies -- you think they just stole it from some crashed spaceship?

Eff you.

Ali G Bomaye

June 23rd, 2016 at 9:56 AM ^

I don't doubt that there is intelligent life somewhere else in the universe. But I don't think it's made it here.

And even if intelligent life does make it here there is virtually no chance that it would interact peacefully with us. Because if extraterrestrials have the technology to make it to earth, that means they're way ahead of us.

If you find an ant hill out in a field, there are a few things you might do. You might study it, if you're a scientist. You might ignore it, because it has virtually no importance for your life. You might destroy it, if it's in your way or if you're feeling cruel. But the one thing you almost certainly won't do is attempt to communicate with the ants, or trade with them, or offer them gifts.

Similarly, there is basically nothing we can offer an alien civilization that is so far ahead of us as to travel light-years across space to make it to earth. Therefore, our interactions with hypothetical aliens likely would not be pleasant for us.

Oregon Wolverine

June 23rd, 2016 at 10:37 AM ^

Nothing to gain from the human experience, probably, but if they exterminate us, they'd have a pretty nice place to vacation, grow tomatoes and other foodstuffs, and raise swine, foul and cattle. Or whatever they eat on their home planet.

Ours may be much more pleasant and polluted too, who knows.

Seems like a pretty good place to put under their yoke.

(Cue Vader voice over...)



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Darker Blue

June 23rd, 2016 at 8:56 AM ^

This is probably going to get semi political but fuggit

9/11.

I have no idea what happened on that day, but I do know that there is far more to the story than the American people have been told. 

carolina blue

June 23rd, 2016 at 9:04 AM ^

But what is the conspiracy? I don't understand. I get that there are some conspiracy theories out there, some so ridiculous that suggest that the USA blew up the towers (somehow ignoring the planes that were seen and recorded to have flown into them) but those are obviously too stupid to even discuss.

I'm genuinely curious, what is this conspiracy?



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N. Campus Tech

June 23rd, 2016 at 10:27 AM ^

Stating that "people have made billions of dollars because of events that happened on 9/11. Also that American Foriegn Policy has been dictated for the last 15 years by events that happened on 9/11 and the American People still don't know the full story" isn't really a conspiracy. I think most people would agree that its true.

The conspiriacy is that it was an "inside job" and the US Gov new it was happening, that explosives were in the towers, and it was a missile, not an airplane, that hit the Pentagon.

bluepow

June 23rd, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^

You mostly have it right.  What I have read (and choose not to believe to maintain sanity) is that explosives were put in place to ensure the job was finished.  The planes were adequate missles themselves. 

The real problem is building 7.  Building 7 makes my heart go to a very dark place and supports a lot of crazy ideas.

Hail-Storm

June 23rd, 2016 at 9:43 AM ^

I do think that people took advantage both financially and politically of the events of 9/11. But people have taken advantage of tons of tragedies. Like the singer or rapper who made a bunch of money off of the Haiti relief fund.  I don't think that it's a consipracy.  I think human nature makes people good and want to help others in need, and there are those out there who are willing to take advantage of people's goodness. 

EGD

June 23rd, 2016 at 10:00 AM ^

There is pretty much an entire subgenre of nonfiction devoted to 9/11 conspiracy theories. They range from suggestions that U.S officials actively helped the strike happen, to contentions that they passively allowed it to happen despite being in a position to stop it, to simpler claims about cover-ups or discrepancies with the official story. Just about every small detail of the event has been scrutinized: could the jet impacts and resulting fires really have collapsed the towers? Did the wreckage from the plane that hit the Pentagon really match the missing aircraft? Could cell phone calls from high altitude on the Pennsylvania jet really have been completed based on 2001 technology? A lot of these are difficult to sort out because they sound superficially plausible but require a lot of specialized military or engineering expertise to properly evaluate.

Unlike most conspiracy theories, in which the motive of the conspirators is very unclear or even absurd, in this case we know for sure that the Bush/Cheney administration had designs on invading Iraq from long before 9/11 occurred--so causing or allowing the attacks to happen would have been their sort of Reichstag fire that provided the political capital they needed. Still, the fact they had a motive doesn't mean they caused it--it's much more likely (IMO) the attacks happens on their own and the administration just took advantage.

I guess personally I feel similarly to Darker Blue and Timmmay: I don't really buy into any of the particular theories, but I am also not satisfied with the official accounts. I believe there is much more to the story, but even if more details do come out I don't see how we'd ever be able to separate the fact from the fiction.

Rabbit21

June 23rd, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^

The US had been engaged in operations against Iraq through enforcing the no-fly zone and other various and sundry low-level pursuits ever since the end of the first Iraq war.  If Bush and Cheney were so hell bent on invading Iraq, there were plenty of opportunities to start something there that didn't involve killing thousands of US citizens, destroying a national symbol in the US' most important city, and introducing a recession.  Sorry, that just doesn't pass the smell test, whether you want to apply a moral or a logical lens to it.

I do buy that there were some high level Saudi's who knew something about it and have subsequently been protected due to realpolitk concerns, but that's about as far as I'm willing to go.

TIMMMAAY

June 23rd, 2016 at 9:09 AM ^

I agree there is a lot more than meets the eye. I don't really buy the controlled demolition theories out there, but I do think the Saudi monarchy was deeply involved, and that it is well known at high levels of our own government. And a lot of other tangential things that I won't go into here.

I do think we shot down flight 93.

The Mad Hatter

June 23rd, 2016 at 9:17 AM ^

Fighter jets were seen in the area immediately before the crash.

Also, I remember hearing about some major shorting of airline stocks during that time, so my thought is that some big money people (probably the Saudi's) knew what was coming.

No, I don't think the US Govt. was behind the whole thing.  I just think we'll never know who actually was because that would mean we'd have to invade (whatever country, probably Saudi Arabia).

TIMMMAAY

June 23rd, 2016 at 9:58 AM ^

Yeah, I have read about the stock shorts at that time, and a bunch of other really interesting and probably very nefarious things related to the whole mess. There are some really well done documentaries out there for anyone who cares to look. They make a strong case that we really don't know jack shit about what really happened, and it goes to the highest level of government. I really don't know what to believe, honestly.

edit: goddamnit, now I'm going to have to go watch them again to refresh myself...

thanks, wd.

FanInSTL

June 23rd, 2016 at 11:19 AM ^

Here's the thing about Flight 93.  I believe it was clearly shot down.  And given the events leading up to it, shooting it down would have been viewed as totally reasonable by the masses at the time.

So what did we do?  Cover it up.  "Let's Roll" narrative.

If they lied about something as (relatively) benign as that, it begs the question about what else are they lying about, or at a minimum, concealing.

Specifically:

No video of the pentagon crash, even though it was easily one of the most survailed buildings in the entire world.

No independent testing on the WTC metal -- shipped immediately overseas.

Does anyone remember the original reports when the Taliban and al Queda denied a role in the event and then turned 180 degrees a couple days later?  

The whole aftermath seemed like a rush to judgement with minimal transparency.

ChuckieWoodson

June 23rd, 2016 at 11:20 AM ^

Exactly.

The "loose change" doc covers a lot of that as well, worth a look.

Not to say that ALL of it is necessarily true, however in viewing that and looking at all the evidence, part of it is true and impossible to deny.  The degree of involvement of our govt, or foriegn governments is the key there.  Folks who deny everything, at least IMO are not looking at all the facts.

L'Carpetron Do…

June 23rd, 2016 at 11:08 AM ^

Well I think its probably inappropriate to get into some 9/11 shit but you're right that we didn't get the whole story. 

On SUnday, 60 Minutes re-ran a segment they did about alleged Saudi involvement in helping some of the  hijackers get settled in the US and prepare for the attacks.  Several pages (28 I think) of the Senate's 9/11 report that supposedly detail these connections have been blacked out and remain under seal by court order.  Some members of Congress have been fighting hard to find out what's in those pages. 

I don't trust the Saudis one bit and I don't understand why the US treats them as an ally.