7 Reasons why Conspiracy Theorists get their videos and pages removed from Youtube

There are lots and lots of conspiracy theory videos on Youtube (and I mean a lot of them). These videos can range from being interesting to disturbing on multiple levels (being either because of the content in it, or the kind of conspiracy theory that is being talked about, or the fact that people can believe something so utterly ridiculous) and sometimes these videos end up getting deleted (and even whole pages).

Usually when a conspiracy theorist's video or page gets deleted they'll claim that (insert group here) are the ones whom either deleted the video or their page.

The reality is that this is never really the case, and that in fact there is usually some real, legitimate reasons why conspiracy theorists actually get their videos and pages removed from Youtube:

7. It contains copyrighted materials.

Probably one of the most common reasons why a video (or an entire page) gets removed from Youtube (and not just for conspiracy theorists, but anyone really, including skeptics) is because it contains a certain amount, or a certain type of copyrighted material that does not fall under the fair use laws, and thus is subjected to a DMCA complaint by either a single individual, or an entire group or business.

The recipient of the DMCA complaint does have a chance to get whatever material that was removed restored [example], but more often times then not they won't do this, either because it makes them look like the victim of some dark forces trying to hide the "truth", or out real of fear that if they do so then they might "disappear" after they give out the contact information that Youtube requires to begin the process of whether or not the video or page gets restored.

Of course there are those that say "screw these people, I'm putting that video back up."

6. The video contains hate speech.

Because many conspiracy theories have antisemitic undertones to them (or are blatantly antisemitic) it should be no surprise that some conspiracy theorists are antisemitic themselves, and are bigoted towards other groups as well. It should also come as no surprise that sometimes conspiracy theorists post videos that are blatantly bigoted and targets specific groups of people as well (Jewish people mainly, but other groups such as African Americans and Homosexuals as well) and contains language that can be best described as hate speech.

While hate speech is not actually illegal in the United States (although some kinds is legally questionable) Youtube does have a anti-hate speech policy, and will remove a video if enough complaints are launched (although sometimes this doesn't always happen).

5. The video encourages violence and/or other illegal activity.

Because certain conspiracy theorists believe that the government is preparing to throw certain citizens into concentration camps (or kill them) some conspiracy theorists may create videos encouraging their viewers to violently resist anyone who tries to arrest them. Other times these videos might even encourage the viewers to go out and commit acts of anti-government violence, or show you how to make something illegal, like a bomb.

Other videos might also encourage other types of destructive crimes as well, like vandalism. An example of this would be someone in the anti-GMO movement encouraging people to burn farm fields containing GMO crops.

4. The user is harassing people.

Sometimes when a person is removed from Youtube it has nothing to do with the videos they are posting, but rather it is their behavior and treatment towards others on the site.

While harassing and even threatening people isn't something that just conspiracy theorists do, it is something that conspiracy theorists do sometimes do in order to try to scare a skeptic away from Youtube. Sometimes it works, most of the time it just gets them in trouble with Youtube (and law enforcement).

3. The videos contain graphic images.

Sometimes Youtube takes down a video not because it's actually encouraging violence, or has had a DMCA complaint was launched against it. No, sometimes it's because the content in the video was simply to graphic to be allowed on Youtube, even under an age restriction.

2. They get hacked.

Many times when a conspiracy theorist's page on Youtube goes down they'll claim that their page got hacked by the government, and sometimes they are right (at least about the hacked part, not about the government part).

The truth is that conspiracy theorists do sometimes end up angering the wrong person, and said person might feel that Youtube is taking to long to take down a video or someones page (or they don't even bother to try to let Youtube handle it) and if they have enough skills and know how, they hack the page and get rid of whatever they don't like (an action in which I neither encourage nor endorse).

1. The user does it themselves.

Sometimes conspiracy theorists actually take down their own videos and then claim that Youtube told them to take the videos down, which Youtube does not do (Youtube would just take down the videos and then send a warning).

While there are probably multiple reasons why a conspiracy theorist takes down their own video, the most likely reason is that they want you to think that the government has something to hide, and thus it gets their own page more attention from other conspiracy theorists.

10 Counter conspiracy theories

Ever hear of the term "Counter conspiracy theory" (which is in a conspiracy theory that is meant to counter another conspiracy theory)? Probably not, but you have probably read of a few of them (mostly when someone is having an argument with someone promoting a conspiracy theory).

So, I have decided to play Devil'e Advocate here and have listed ten counter conspiracy theories:

10. 9/11 conspiracy theories were invented by Al-Qaeda.

Ever since the 9/11 conspiracy theories started to show up, some people have made accusations that Al-Qaeda itself actually invented many of the 9/11 conspiracy theories, and even bribed certain people within the 9/11 Truth movement to spread these conspiracy theories.

The problem with this is that Al-Qaeda admits to committing the 9/11 attacks, and even criticized Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for saying that the United States government did it.

9. "Shape shifting reptilian aliens" is a code word for "Jews".

Many have accused David Icke's primary conspiracy theory, that "Shape shifting reptilian aliens" control the Earth and impersonate leaders of the world, as being nothing more than a re-hashing of old Jewish conspiracy theories, and that "Shape shifting reptilian aliens" is actually a code word for "Jews".

While it is possible that "Shape shifting reptilian aliens" is a code word for "Jews", most antisemitic conspiracy theorists don't bother to use such code words. Plus, David Icke is pretty much crazy as hell, so it's actually possible that he really does mean "Shape shifting reptilian aliens".

8. Alex Jones is a fraud.

While many negative things have been said about Alex Jones and the conspiracy theories that he promotes (which also usually gets debunked) one of the claims that is made against him is that he is just a fraud, and that he doesn't even believe what he says, and that he is just making up conspiracy theories to make money from his followers.

It's true that Alex Jones has made a lot of money from promoting conspiracy theories, and there is proof that he is very manipulative, the problem is that there is no 100% proof that he doesn't believe in the conspiracy theories he promotes.

7. Police State conspiracy theories is made up propaganda.

While there is quite a number of "Police State" conspiracy theories (i.e. FEMA camps, false flag attacks, martial law, etc.) some people have accused these conspiracy theories of being nothing more than propaganda made up by extreme right wing groups as a way to help recruit, or at least attempt to justify their own actions.

While it is true that, like with most other conspiracy theories, police state conspiracy theories are made up, and are sometimes used as propaganda, with the exception of a few people, it can be pretty hard to tell if a person making such claims are doing so for propaganda purposes, or if they really do believe what they are saying.

6. "The invasion of Iraq was for oil" claims is nothing more than propaganda.

Even before the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, there were claims that the invasion was for nothing more than to get that country's oil, and almost immediately there were counter claims that these accusations were actually being made up by those opposed the invasions, and even was created as a form of political propaganda (most of those accusations tend to be towards the Democrats and the former Iraqi government, but other groups are accused as well).

While it is true that many people who opposed the invasion also claim that it was for Iraq's oil, the problem is that they are also very sincere in their beliefs, and most politicians (even those who opposed the invasion) tend not to make those claims either.

5. Holocaust denialists don't even believe themselves.

There are a lot of accusations directed towards Holocaust denialist (most of which are probably true) one of the accusations is that Holocaust denialists don't even believe themselves, and that it is strictly made up antisemitic propaganda.

While it is true that some Holocaust denialists probably don't even believe what they are claiming, and are making these claims as nothing more than antisemitic propaganda, it is also possible that some of them really do believe that the Holocaust didn't happen, and that their bigotry is causing them to be willfully ignorant of the facts.

4. Tax protesters are just trying to get out of paying taxes.

One of the claims made against tax protesters (people who refuse to pay taxes because they believe that the IRS, income taxes, and most other taxes are illegal) is that they aren't doing what they do because they really do believe that the IRS and taxes are illegal, they're just doing it because they don't want to pay taxes.

While it is probably true that many so called tax protesters are only with the movement because they simply don't want to pay taxes, there are some tax protesters out there that really believe that taxes are against the law.

3. Creationists believe in evolution.

While many of the "claims" creationists have made to try to "counter" the theory of evolution are down right ridiculous (which includes the claim that the theory of evolution was just made up, or that it's an invention of the Devil), there are some people who claim that many creationist actually do believe in evolution, and that they are claiming that they don't either because of social pressures, or, for the high profile creationists, are just making up stuff to hold on to whatever power they have.

While many of the top creationist probably are trying to hold on to whatever power that they have, the odds are is that they really do believe in what they are saying, otherwise they wouldn't put out such ridiculous counter theories to evolution.

2. Global warming denialists are being paid to be denialists.

Probably one of the largest counter conspiracy theories out there is that many of the top promoters global warming hoax conspiracy theory are actually being paid by certain industries to deny that global warming either exists, or that it's being caused by human activities.

While it might be easy to believe that many of the top global warming denialists are being paid to promote the global warming hoax conspiracy theories, the problem is that there really is no proof that these people really are being paid to promote global warming hoax conspiracy theories.

1. Birthers are racists who are trying to get President Obama removed from office because he's black.

While many Birthers (people who believe that President Obama wasn't born in the United States) probably are racists, and that the conspiracy theory as a whole is fundamentally racist, some people actually accuse Birthers of making up the conspiracy theory simply to get President Obama kicked out of office because he is black.

The problem with this is that while it might actually be true for some, it might not be true that everyone who believes this conspiracy theory are just being racists who can't stand the thought of a black man as president, and there is really no proof for the most part that most of them don't actually believe what they claim.

5 Things I've noticed about... The Westboro Baptist Church

A lot of things are said about the Westboro Baptist Church (mainly negative) and through all that is said, there a certain things that church tends to do.

So here are five things I've noticed about the Westboro Baptist Church:

5. They believe God hates everyone... but them.

According to the Westboro Baptist Church, God hates everyone (or at least anyone who offends Fred Phelps in even the littlest of ways), and according them everyone (but them) is going to Hell. This even includes people who might share a similar ideology to the church's ideology, but that the church's leadership believes that those people are still going to Hell simply because their hate towards a certain group isn't up to the church's standards, or that they don't hate all the groups that the church hates.

4. They don't mind lying.

Despite being a sin (and according to the Bible a very big one), they have no problems lying, whether it be announcing that they a going to protest somewhere and then not showing up, announcing that they a going to protest somewhere, not showing up, and then photoshopping a picture of them protesting at said place, or just saying things about people that are simply not true.

3. They alienate everyone.

Literally no one can stand them, either because of their blatant bigotry, homophobia, antisemitism, anti-Americanism, or just plain psychopathic behavior. Even the Klu Klux Klan can not stand them, even though they have a similar ideology with the Westboro Baptist Church.

Their actions have made so many people angry that there are now laws to try to curtail their protests, and that the public at large wants their IRS tax exemption to be revoked, and for the government to officially declare them a hate group.

Also, no one cares if someone attacks them. In some cases people believe that it's a good thing to attack them.

2. They encourage their members to be psychopaths.

The leadership of the Westboro Baptist Church encourages it's members to show no empathy for anyone, to have no remorse what so ever for causing anyone pain through their actions, to be happy that they are causing people pain, to be happy when someone dies, to pray that certain people die, and to be happy with the thought thought that someone might be in Hell. In fact they tell they're members that not doing this stuff will get them sent to Hell.

If that is not psychopathic behavior, I don't know what is.

1. They're cowards.

Members of the Westboro Baptist Church will protest just about anything, just as long as there are enough police officers around to protect them from the public who might use force to get rid of them.

They're not going to show up anywhere where they don't think they're not going to get enough security to protect them, or where they may be harmed no matter how much security they have. In fact it's even been suggested that communities stop giving them police protection during their protests just to keep them away.

They also haven't taken on Scientology either. Maybe they're afraid of getting harassed and sued by them.

Conspiracy Theorists and Fascist Thinking: Do the Two go Hand-in-Hand?

Conspiracy theorists have been called many things throughout the years, but one of the things that they have commonly been called (and to many skeptics, accurately called) Fascists.

Now one of the things that made me start think about this claim is a question that I thought to myself "why do so many skeptics tend to call conspiracy theorists 'Fascists' when so many conspiracy theorists claim to opposes Fascism to begin with?" In fact many conspiracy theorists claim to support Libertarianism (or at least something that isn't anything like Fascism), rather than Fascism.

Finally after going to multiple conspiracy theorist websites and reviewing the comments left on those websites, and articles on those websites themselves I have finally come to the conclusion as to why conspiracy theorists are accused of having a Fascist mentality: They have a "Us vs. Them" way of thinking, and they believe that only they are correct.

Conspiracy theorists will claim that they want their "theories" to be given equal consideration and be on equal levels with what is official, but from what I have observed with their behaviors, that isn't true. They don't want their theories to be given equal ground, they want their theories to be considered "fact" (even after the fact that their claims have been discredited and dis-proven), and what is official and actually proven to be true to be seen as a big lie, because in their minds it is a big lie, and they don't want others to think otherwise. In fact it very seriously angers them when someone questions their "theories" (hypothesis would be a more accurate word) or has tested their "theories" and have proven them to be false.

Not only do conspiracy theorists tell other conspiracy theorists (and those curious about conspiracy theories) not to trust the information from reliable sources, they will insult you, question your intelligence, call you a "sheep" (at the very least), and basically try to use intimidation tactics to try to force you over to their side, if you question their "information".

Another thing that many conspiracy theorists will do is that (if the have the ability to do so) they will remove comments that offend them on websites when they can. In fact one famous Youtube vlogger and conspiracy theorist by the name of Christopher Hudson is notorious for this, often times blocking any comments that are in any way critical of his videos. Of course he isn't the only one either, but one example of many people on Youtube, or Facebook, or any individual blogs that promote conspiracy theories and don't allow people to question them.

Sometimes this goes even further then that by not only dis-allowing criticism on their own turf, but sometimes trying to get any criticism of their beliefs removed the internet entirely. They do this either through the use of threats and harassment, to actually trying to have a website shut down.

These are just few of examples of many of the actions and thinking that many conspiracy theorists tend to have and do, but there are many more than just what has been stated.

The reality is that these conspiracy theorists have, as a result of their self-delusions and frustrations over not being able to get the positive attention that they believe their "theories" deserve, they have basically become what they are claiming to fight.