"You might be a domestic terrorist if:" A look into conspiracy theorist claims about what makes a person a terrorist

Recently in one of skeptics groups that I belong to on Facebook someone posted this picture they found on a conspiracy theorist group:

Apparently conspiracy theorists believe that because some people believe or do certain then that makes them a "terrorist".

This picture is one of the most blatant examples of persecution complex that I have seen in a while and kind of shows the mindset of a conspiracy theorist.

I'm going to go through all of these claims and explain why believing in these things does not make you a domestic terrorist:

You raise/grow your own food

Why would this make you a domestic terrorist? The answer is it doesn't.

Millions of people across the country grow their own food in one way or another, be it either in small plots as a hobby (as my dad does) and as a way to have fresh fruits, herbs, and vegetables, or in greenhouses, or in large fields that provide enough food to feed their entire family. Heck, even the White House has it's own vegetable garden.

If growing your own food made you a domestic terrorist, then why wouldn't the government just go around to everyones' houses and destroy their gardens and green houses? Or pass laws that make it illegal to grow your own food? They wouldn't because growing your own food is harmless and effects no one.

Oppose GMOs

Opposing GMO foods does not make you a terrorist. It might make you someone who doesn't understand the science behind GMO foods, or someone who has embraced anti-GMO propaganda, but not understanding science or embracing some group's claims without questioning them doesn't make you a terrorist.

If opposing GMO foods made you a terrorist then there would be no organic foods in any grocery store or farmers market anywhere, and no laws meant to either label GMO foods or prevent them from being grown or sold would ever be proposed, much less passed.

Prefer natural medicines

If this was true then how come the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a official United States government agency that researches and promotes things like natural medicines, even exists?

While the government does restrict multiple types of alternative and natural medicines, this is only because some of them are dangerous, or the manufactures claim it can do something when infact it cannot.

If natural medicines made a person a terrorist then all forms of alternative medicine would be illegal and people who sale it or even promote it would be going to prison.

Refuse vaccinations

Refusing vaccines does not make you a terrorist as there no laws that say that you have to get vaccinated. However, it does make you dangerous to others, as well as your own self as it puts you at greater risk for getting infected with a disease that could kill you, as well as spreading said disease to others who either weren't vaccinate because they also choose not to (or their parents choose not to have them vaccinated) or a person whom couldn't get vaccinate for various medical reasons, or someone whom did get vaccinated but the vaccine did not take affect for some reason.

Have a Ron Paul bumper sticker

This does not make you a terrorist, it just makes you someone who likes Ron Paul and refuses to accept the reality that he'll never be President, and someone who doesn't know when to take a bumper sticker off of their car.

Question 9/11

Believing in 9/11 conspiracy theories, or any other conspiracy theory for that matter, doesn't make you a terrorist. If it did then people like Alex Jones and Mike Adams would be in prison, and their websites, as well as any other websites that promote 9/11 conspiracy theories, would be shut down. This also include Youtube videos, Facebook pages, and Twitter accounts that also promote 9/11 conspiracy theories.

Object to geo-engineering

I would ask what exactly do they mean by this, but I think they're talking about chemtrails.

Being opposed to geo-engineering chemtrails does not make you a terrorist, but this is due to the fact chemtrails don't exist, and even if they did, there are no laws that says that you cannot object to it.

However, if you threaten to shoot down a plane because you believe that it's spraying these imaginary chemicals, then you are a terrorist, or atleast someone whom has the potential to become one.

Oppose war

How does opposing war make you a terrorist? If anything it makes you the exact opposite, unless you oppose war via violence.

Support the Constitution

Why would supporting the Constitution make you a terrorist? I can't think of any reason why.

Certain people and places may not like it when a person expresses their rights as outlined in the Constitution, and have even tried to stop people from doing so, but whenever taken to court those people and places almost always lose.

If supporting the Constitution and standing up for your rights made you a terrorist then the people who stand up for their rights would always lose court cases where argue their Constitutional rights, and would go to prison for doing so.

Reject the NWO and Agenda 21

Rejecting the NWO does not make you a terrorist, but this is mostly due to the fact that the NWO does not exist.

As for rejecting Agenda 21 this also does not make you a terrorist. At worst it might make you someone that believes in the conspiracy theories about Agenda 21, but that only makes you uninformed about what Agenda 21 is, as well as someone that only listens to what other conspiracy theorists say it is rather than looking it up and reading about it yourself.

Believe your gov't is corrupt

I guess that means that I'm a terrorist! Because I think the government is corrupt.

Almost everyone believes that the government is corrupt, and there is a very good reason for that. Because it is, or atleast certain parts of it is.

If believing that the government was corrupt made you a terrorist, then you would never ever hear or read about in the news about any sort of corruption that goes on in the government because if a news organization did report on government corruption they would be labeled a terrorist group and shut down.

Anti-Vaccination Critics shutdown: How Facebook should prevent and punish Anti-Vaccination supporters (or anyone) who wrongfully get their critics banned from Facebook?

Over the past couple of weeks it's been revealed that Anti-Vaccination groups and their supporters on Facebook have been launching false flag attacks (and I don't mean types that Alex Jones thinks happens every time a shooting or a bombing or a natural disaster occurs in this country) against groups that are pro-vaccination and/or critical of anti-vaccination groups and their supporters and propaganda. These false flaggings have unfortunately resulted in the temporary (yet still wrongful) banning of multiple people and groups from Facebook who are critics of the Anti-Vaccination movement. This needs to stop. Infact not only does this need to stop, but the people who are making these false flag reports need to be punished.

While many of you have some ideas on what should be done inorder to curb false flag reporting (which I would love to hear from you in the comments section) I have a few suggestions of my own:

The first thing that needs to happen is that Facebook needs to make it easier to challenge a complaint and a ban. While you can do this even now, it's not an easy process. Plus a person should be given a chance to defend themselves before a ban is about to occur. No more automatic bans unless a certain amount of time has gone by after a complaint was sent (I say a minimum of six hours).

Now the second thing that should happen to help curb false flagging abuse on Facebook is that those that do abuse the reporting system need to have their ability to report posts and groups and individuals that they don't believe should be on Facebook more difficult. Granted I'm not saying they should be left unable to report someone or some group that really does contain offensive or illegal content (unless they continue to abuse the system even after restrictions have been placed on them, then their ability to report groups and people should be taken away, and they should be banned temporarily) but the process should be made more difficult for those that abuse the system, and probably should include a screen shot of any content that is being reported upon, as well as include more details about why something is being reported.

Going along side with the second suggestion that I believe Facebook needs to do inorder to curb false flagging abuse, after a person has already had restrictions put against for false flag abuse, if they do report someone or some group for their content and Facebook determines that it doesn't violate their policies, the person or group should be informed that someone sent a complaint against them that was struct down, and the person or group should be told whom that person is, and given the option of whether or not they want to block that individual.

Now these couple of suggestions might help against individuals who abuse the reporting system, but what about groups that do the same thing and organize their followers to report individuals and groups inorder to silence them (this can apply to any group, not just the anti-vaccination groups)?

First, for groups that do frequently abuse the reporting system, first give them a warning, then a ban if they continue, then a longer ban with a warning that if they continue to abuse the reporting system that their page will be removed and deleted, and if they continue to abuse the system, then Facebook should remove and delete that group.

The second thing that should be done to these groups that abuse the reporting system is that they should have the ability to control what is and isn't posted on their page and who can and cannot post on their page restricted as well.

Anti-vaccination groups (along with chemtrail, anti-GMO, fundamentalist groups, and generally any group that promotes conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and bigotry) are notorious for blocking people and deleting any posts that they make that either counter-argues something that was posted in the group, or criticizes the group. One of the things that Facebook can do as a way to punish a group that abuses the reporting system is to alert the person whom has had a post deleted, or has been blocked, and give that person a chance to dispute the deletion or blocking. If they chose to try to prove that the deletion or blocking was unwarranted and didn't violate any of Facebook's rules, then Facebook will restore the post or unblock the person from the group, and also leave the group unable to delete anything else from that person, or block that person.

Now, do I believe that Facebook would do any of the things that I have suggested here? No, but I think that we all can agree that Facebook does need to do something inorder to curb false flag abuse.

5 Things I've noticed about... The Illuminati

The Illuminati. That secretive group conspiracy theorists believe have a great amount of power and want to take over the world.

There are a lot of accusations leveled against the Illuminati, and out of all of those accusations I've noticed many things and traits about the group.

Now out of all of the things and traits that I have noticed about the Illuminati I've narrowed it down to five distinct things.

So here are five things that I've noticed about the Illuminati:

5. They are the most patient people in the world.

The Illuminati has to be composed of some of the most patient people in the world. I say this because according to people who "investigate" the Illuminati (i.e. people who spend most of their free time watching or creating Youtube videos about the Illuminati, and listening to Alex Jones) have been doing stuff for years in order to get ready to take over the world, as well as kill 80%-90% of the population, and enslave everyone else.

Now as to how long the Illuminati have been plotting to take over the Earth no one (and by "no one" I mean conspiracy theorists) is really sure because no one is really sure how old the Illuminati is. Most conspiracy theorists say they're around two and a half centuries old, although others say they're as old as civilization, or even older, while others say they're only about a century or so old.

Regardless of how old the Illuminati is, the fact that they have been allegedly at this taking over the world thing for a very long time clearly shows that they are composed of the world's most patient individuals... or the world's worst procrastinators.

Now I would think that there would be atleast a few people in the Illuminati who wants to really push forward in taking over the world. I say this because apparently the Illuminati has a huge membership, so I would think that there would be atleast a few ambitious individuals amongst themselves.

Infact when thinking about that huge membership of their's it almost seems like that...

4. Everyone is apart of the Illuminati.

According to conspiracy theorists there are a huge amount people (probably in the tens of millions) who are members, or atleast works for, the Illuminati. This alleged list includes actors, musicians (actually any celebrity really), rich people, politicians, high ranking military officers, anyone in the CIA, or FBI, or NSA, whistleblowers, religious leaders, myself and fellow skeptics, and even other conspiracy theorists. Heck, even Alex Jones whom constantly "speaks out" against the Illuminate has himself been accused of being a member of the Illuminati.

Now taking all of this "information" (a.k.a. accusations) into account by my estimates I believe there are only eight people in the world are not apart of the Illuminati...

I admit I might be a little off on my math there, but still that's an awful lot of people who are apart of this super secret organization (so secret that there is no real proof of it's existence).

Ofcourse when you also consider how many people who are apart of this alleged secret organization it shouldn't also be surprising to know that...

3. They control everything.

According to many conspiracy theorists the Illuminati controls everything from the media, to the military, to the manufacturing industries, the airline industry (because how else are they going to spray chemtrails), the entertainment industry, the UN, the European Union, the Free Masons, the US government, law enforcement, major religions, minor religious, cults, the Democrats, the Republicans, the banks, most other governments, the oil industry, the pharmaceutical industry... the list just keeps going on and on.

I'm not sure what is crazier: the fact that the Illuminati allegedly controls all this and so much more, or the fact that the Illuminati allegedly controls all of this and hasn't even bothered to officially take control of the world and continues to lurk in the shadows while leaving symbols on things that have little to no meaning to most people inorder to show those people that they are incharge despite the fact that most people don't even believe that the Illuminati exists, and with good reason...

2. There's no evidence of their existence.

There is no proof that the Illuminati exists. Despite the amount of people who have been accused of being apart of the Illuminati, and despite the numerous tragic events that the Illuminati are accused of orchestrating, no one has ever brought any proof that they do exist, nor that they were once a member of the Illuminati, nor that they are involved in any events what so ever.

The only thing that conspiracy theorists have that even comes close to being "evidence" (and even that is a stretch) are the numerous "symbols" that the Illuminati allegedly likes to place up on everything. Despite what conspiracy theorists believe these symbols are not evidence of the existence of the Illuminati, and most often times means something else entirely than what a conspiracy theorist (and even non-conspiracy theorists) believes it to mean.

These Illuminati conspiracy theories are just a bunch of blame redirecting by people who believe that all of the world's problems, or their own problems, are being caused by some shadowy group that controls everything. These conspiracy theories are entirely made up... well, maybe not "entirely" made up, because...

1. The Illuminati conspiracy theories sound an awful lot like the old Jewish conspiracy theories.

One of the most common traits that I have noticed amongst the Illuminati conspiracy theories (especially the basic ones) is that they very closely resemble the antisemitic, Jewish conspiracy theories of a few decades ago. Infact if you were to replace the word "Illuminati" with the word "Jewish" or "Jew" it would sound exactly like one of the old Jewish conspiracy theories.

I'm not sure if the people who created these Illuminati conspiracy theories either ripped off the old Jewish conspiracy theories and replaced the words "Jewish" and "Jew" with "Illuminati", or if "Illuminati" is a code word for "Jewish", but the people who created these conspiracy theories sure did get a lot of inspiration from the older Jewish conspiracy theories.

Also it shouldn't be to surprising that many of these Illuminati conspiracy theorists are they themselves antisemitic and often times try to tie in the Jewish people (or to a lesser extent Israel) with the Illuminati.

The 10 most bizarre, absurd, and dumb conspiracy theories of 2013

Throughout this year there were a lot of new conspiracy theories going around. Some of them were scary. Some of them were weird. And some of them were just bizarre, absurd, and dumb to the point where one would either have to laugh at them, or pull their hair out in frustration.

The following list are ten of what I feel are the strangest and most bizarre and/or absurd conspiracy theories of 2013:

10. Robert Sarvis was a Democratic plant to help Terry McAuliffe win the Virginia gubernatorial election.

(Author's note: being that I am from Virginia, I just felt that I had to mention this one)

In the 2013 Virginia gubernatorial election there were a lot of accusations that went back and forth (some true, some not) but one of the biggest accusation didn't come during the election, but afterwards. The accusation that I'm talking about is the one that claims that Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis was actually a shill or plant by the Democrats inorder to steal votes away from Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli and to help guarantee victory for Terry McAuliffe.

Now as plausible as this may sound, there are just two problems with this: First there is no guarantee that the people who voted for Sarvis would have voted for Cuccinelli, and second most of the polls before the election showed that McAuliffe had an over 50% lead, and thus a spoiler candidate would not have been needed inorder to win. Also, besides those facts and the fact that there is no actual evidence that Sarvis was a Democratic plant, it's just as likely that Sarvis actually took away votes from McAuliffe as it is from Cuccinelli.

9. Anti-GMO/Monsanto claims.

While conspiracy theories against GMO foods are nothing new, what is new is that the Anti-GMO movement now seems to be focusing their claims on one company: Monsanto.

From what I can tell from their claims Monsanto pretty much controls the FDA, the farming industry, the food industry, Obama, the media, the U.S. Supreme Court, law enforcement, any blog that debunks the anti-GMO movement's claims, all the science organizations, and that Monsanto is responsible for every atrocity committed in the world since World War Two.

According to many in the anti-GMO movement Monsanto does all of this inorder to sell you a product that (insert the anti-GMO claim of your choice).

8. The Boston Marathon bombing was a false flag attack.

On April 15 one of the worst terrorist attacks in the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks occurred at one of the largest sporting events in the U.S., the Boston Marathon. Three people were killed, and 264 people were injured, many of who also lost limbs, or were otherwise permanently maimed in some way. Also, like clock work, conspiracy theories about the bombing started to be posted all over the internet within minutes of the attack.

The most common of the claims were that it was a false flag attack, and then later de-evolved into stranger conspiracy theories in that both the suspects, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, were under some kind of government mind control, right on down to the most absurd claim of there being no attack at all and that the whole thing was staged and that no one was actually hurt or killed.

Besides the fact that all of these claims were absurd on face value alone and were quickly debunked, they were also very disrespectful and just plain disgusting.

7. Amanda Bynes became a victim of Illuminati mind control.

Over the summer actress Amanda Bynes began engaging in behavior that ranged from bizarre to down right dangerous. This behavior of her's eventually lead to her being involuntarily committed into psychiatric care.

Now to most people this looks like a simple enough case of a young woman whom is mentally ill and whom's mental illness has caused her to act out in bizarre and dangerous ways. To a conspiracy theorist on the other hand it's a clear case of Illuminati mind control.

The main theory that is going around is that Amanda was being groomed by the Illuminati as part of a youth indoctrination program, and that she had decided to break away from them. When Amanda did allegedly break away from them one of two things happen: Either that the indoctrination was so intense that she could not function on her own and her mind snapped, or she was driven insane via remote mind control.

While this explanation kind of makes sense in a weird way, the one theory behind her behavior that makes even more sense is that she is either schizophrenic or bi-polar. Combined with her age, and her escalating erratic behavior over the past few years, this makes a lot more sense than a couple of conspiracy theories that range from being far fetched to pretty much impossible.

6. The Xbox One can see you naked.

When the Xbox One and all of it's feature were announced there were many concerns (some legit, some not) but one of the biggest concerns that in itself became a conspiracy theory is that the new gaming counsel (through it's inbuilt motion sensing Kinect system) can see you naked, even with your clothes on. The reason behind this claim is due to a photo of a test subject seen through the view of the Kinect that allegedly shows his ding-dong, despite the fact that he is wearing clothes.

As it turns out that wasn't the man's private parts, but was actually a fold in his pants that people mistook for his you-know-what. Although it should be noted that the Xbox One can see you naked... if you're actually playing a video game infront of it while naked (and if that's your thing then have fun playing with it... the Xbox One I mean).

5. Something about Comet ISON

The passing through and eventual destruction of Comet ISON was considered one of the biggest astronomical events of this year, not to mention the fact that we gained a ton of data on not just this comet itself, but comets alone through our observations of the comet, including it's destruction by the Sun.

Besides just destroying the comet, the Sun also (hopefully) destroyed something else that went along with the comet: Conspiracy theories.

From what I can find there were three primary conspiracy theories concerning the comet: That the comet was going to hit the Earth and that NASA was covering it up (clearly not true, and would be impossible to cover up) that it was an alien space (if it was I would think that it would have maneuvered itself into a non-destructive path, unless the aliens were suicidal) or that it was a sign of the Rapture (which clearly didn't happen).

Regardless of whatever conspiracy theorist claim was being made about Comet ISON, they all turned out to be wrong.

4. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge wasn't actually pregnant.

This year Catherine, wife of Prince William and future Queen of England, gave birth to their first child, Prince George... or did she?

According to several conspiracy theorists the Duchess of Cambridge was not pregnant, and that the child was born from a surrogate mother chosen by the Illuminati (whether or not Prince William was the father depends on which conspiracy theorist you ask).

Now the reason why some conspiracy theorists were making this claim is also as absurd as the claim itself: she didn't really look pregnant, and in her first public appearance after the birth, she didn't look like she had just given birth...

3. Chemtrails are being used to poison angels in Heaven.

Probably one of the most absurd conspiracy theories that I read about this year was one that claimed that militant Atheists are using chemtrails to poison and kill angels. Sounds extremely absurd, right? Well, it is. Also sounds like satire too, don't it? Well, it is.

So right now you are probably asking "if it is satire, then why is it on this list?" Because a lot of conspiracy theorists didn't realize that it is satire and actually reposted the original article on their websites as if it were a real conspiracy theory, rather then something that some creative person just made up as a joke.

Come to think of it, that's how a lot of conspiracy theories are like (minus the joke part).

2. Gay people are deliberately spreading HIV with special rings.

This bizarre claim was made not by some random homophobic whack job with a blog or a Facebook page, but a famous homophobic whack job with his own nationally syndicated television program, Pat Robertson, and it was made on said television program.

Robertson's claims were that homosexuals wore special rings that were designed to cut people (usually via a hand shake) and that these rings had HIV on them, and that homosexuals used these rings to infect people (especially people they don't like).

These claims were extremely absurd. Infact they were so absurd (and embarrassing) that CBN removed them from their website and tried to get the videos of Robertson saying them removed from the internet (and utterly failed to do so), which shows two things: The people incharge of CBN do realize that certain bigoted remarks can go to far, and that people incharge of CBN do not know how the internet works.

1. President Obama and George Soros planned to nuke 300 million Americans.

According to Jim Garrow, a right wing activist whom now claims to be a former intelligence officer, claimed while on Erik Rush's radio show that President Obama was planning to drop nuclear bombs on the population and was going to kill around 300 million people. This "plot" was stop by three military officers whom he claims were fired because they stopped the President's "evil plot" (turns out they were relieved of duty due to behavior unbecoming of an officer).

The whole conspiracy theory in itself is absurd just on the those claims alone, but it goes even further into the land of bizarreness for the reason why President Obama was planning on doing this: to make George Soros richer via betting against the U.S. Dollar...

So there you have it folks, the ten of what I feel are the most bizarre, absurd, and dumb conspiracy theories of 2013. If you have any conspiracies theories that were created this year and feel they should have been on this list, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.

6 Conspiracy Theories that have no reason to exist

There are a lot conspiracy theories out there, most of which have no evidence to support the claims made, either because whatever evidence that has been put forth has been debunked, or no evidence has ever been put forth in the first place.

In fact there are some conspiracy theories that have no reason to continue to exist, or have no reason to exist in the first place, such as:

Moon Landing Hoax

Perhaps one of the older conspiracy theories out there, there are a lot of people who do not believe we went to the Moon, and that all of the videos (the hundreds of hours worth) and photos (the many thousands of them) taken from the Moon were all done on a sound stage.

The reasoning behind this is that it is believed by people who claim we did not go to the Moon that we did not have the technology to go to the Moon.

The problem with this argument is that we actually did have the technology to get to the Moon. Also, as surprising as this may sound, we actually didn't have the technology to fake going to the Moon.

There is also a ton of other evidence that says we did in fact go to the Moon, such as several tons worth of rocks and dirt that were brought back, the fact that not one of the hundreds of thousands of people who worked on the Moon landing project has ever said we didn't go to the Moon, or that the Soviets never said that we didn't get there, or the fact that the landing sites have been photographed by satellites orbiting the Moon.

9/11 conspiracy theories

Ever since that tragic day over 12 years ago there have been multiple conspiracy theories put forth concerning what happened that day, and while all of them tend to be different (from both who did it to how it was done) they all have one thing in common: They have all been debunked.

I know, a lot of people in the 9/11 "Truth" movement will say otherwise, and will claim that they have "evidence" that backs up their claims, the facts are is that when this so called evidence has been examined it's been shown to be either incorrect, or completely false, and it is now seriously considered by skeptics and debunkers that the only reason why anyone would continue to make these 9/11 conspiracy theory claims is that they are either self deluded, or mentally ill, or they are lying.

Autism - MMR vaccine connection

Ever since 1998 when Andrew Wakefield wrote and published a "research" paper in The Lancet that concluded that there was a "connection" between the MMR vaccine and autism (research of which has since proven to be both unethical and fraudulent and resulted in both the research paper being formerly retracted and Mr. Wakefield's name being removed from the General Medical Council, which is the British equivalency of having one's medical license revoked) there has been a conspiracy theory going around concerning the alleged connection and vaccine manufactures trying to suppress such information.

Besides the fact that none of this "information" has ever been suppressed, it has been proven by multiple scientific and medical research institutions that there is no connection what so ever between any vaccines and autism, and that all of the claims made by the anti-vaccination movement are wrong and false (and dangerous).

Project Blue Beam

Project Blue Beam was a conspiracy theory that was first brought to public attention in 1994 by an investigative journalist by the name of Serge Monast in which he claimed that NASA would use advance technology to simulate the second coming of Jesus Christ in order to start a New World Order.

So how much of this is true?

None of it.

Monast had no evidence what so ever of Project Blue Beam, or that anything like it even existed, and there is still no evidence to this day that there is or ever was a Project Blue Beam. Plus he also made several claims of when it was to implemented (1995, 1996, and 2000), all of which have clearly never happened.

Chemtrails

The chemtrail conspiracy theories first showed up in 1996, but hasn't really gained popularity amongst conspiracy theorists until about the last few years.

The basics of the conspiracy theory is that the government, or Illuminati, or some other group, is spraying chemicals from airplanes, and that what we believe to be contrails coming off of those planes are actually these chemicals that are being sprayed around the world some sort of malevolent purposes (what ever those purposes may be, as no one can seem to agree upon what they are for).

This conspiracy theory, despite how obviously easy it would be to prove it was true, has never been proven to be true, and that all of the claims made about what chemtrails are suppose to do have been proven false (sometimes at a level in which it is considered to be laughable).

President Obama was not born in America

Even before President Obama took the oath of office in 2009 there has been this huge conspiracy theory floating around that the President was not born in the United States, and is not an American citizen, and that there has been this huge cover up in order to keep him in office. The people who make these claims often times use a "Kenyan" birth certificate that has his name on and date of birth on it as "proof" of this.

Of course there are a few problems with this:

First, that "Kenyan" birth certificate is actually Australian, and it is an admitted hoax.

Second, President Obama has released his long-form birth certificate. The birth certificate that was certified by Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle, a Republican.

So what evidence is there that President Obama wasn't born in the Untied States? None.

Every single claim of this conspiracy theory has been disproven, and every single time it's been taken to court, the judges have thrown it out and have even fined and imposed sanctions against some of the people who brought it to court for wasting the court's time.

5 Things I've noticed about... Bizarre Conspiracy Theories

When you dive into the world of conspiracy theories (either as a skeptic, or a conspiracy theorist, or just a curious onlooker) you will ultimately come across some conspiracy theories that sound really, really bizarre...

In fact ever since I started doing serious skepticism and debunking and investigating conspiracy theories I have found conspiracy theories so strange that I could never have possibly have thought of them (which is probably a good thing).

Now while there are a lot of things I have noticed about bizarre conspiracy theories, I have narrowed it down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about bizarre conspiracy theories:

5. They're indicators of mental illness.

First I want to say that anyone who believes that the world is controlled by shape-shifting aliens, or that the World Trade Center towers were brought down by lasers, or that the government is using radio signals to attack peoples minds, or believes in crisis actors, or believes that chemtrails are real is not necessarily mentally ill... I'm just saying it's a pretty strong indicator of mental illness, especially when you consider the fact that others who also believe in such conspiracy theories have engaged in behavior that strongly indicates that they are mentally ill (such as making long and incoherent rants, or harassing people, or making threats), or actually has been found out or proven to be mentally ill.

It's not just the people who believe in them either. Many of the people whom have created the most bizarre conspiracy theories out there are they themselves believed to be mentally ill. Even the ones who are very intelligent and hold college degrees, but come up with these weird conspiracy theories, are automatically assumed to be mentally ill because it's really the most logical explanation for many skeptics concerning a person whom is very smart but believes in really weird stuff.

4. There is no deep end to them.

Have you ever heard or read about a conspiracy theory that made you think, "there is no way that there can be something stranger than this..." Well, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but trust me when I say this, there is a conspiracy theory out there that is more bizarre than what you have just heard or read about. And if there isn't one, one will be invented soon enough.

Now I don't blame anyone for believing that whenever they hear about a crazy conspiracy theory that they believe that it is the craziest conspiracy theory out there, I use to believe that myself when I came across a really bizarre conspiracy, but then I would be proven wrong again and again whenever I kept coming across one even more bizarre than the next one, it kind of destroyed my ability to believe that there is a bottom to conspiracy theory craziness.

In fact some are so bizarre that...

3. They are confused for satire.

It really should not surprise anyone that there are some conspiracy theories out there that are either so weird, or so bizarre, that some people don't believe that it is a real conspiracy theory (well, as real as one can be) and that it was made up as a parody of other conspiracy theories, or some type of satire, or, as some conspiracy theorists may claim, dis-information.

This is something that even I have assumed at times whenever I see a bizarre conspiracy theory, either in the hope that no one can seriously be so crazy that they could come up with such a thing, or that it just looks like satire.

In fact some have actually turned out to be satire (or a hoax) but because some conspiracy theorists can't tell the difference between what is real and what is fake, some of them assume that it is real.

2. Other conspiracy theorists will debunk them in an attempt to look credible.

Sometimes a conspiracy theorist will debunk an even more bizarre conspiracy theory (usually about the same event) in order to either look like they are capable of not accepting every conspiracy theory that is put out there, or to make their own conspiracy theory look more credible by making people believe that they have done their research and have discarded any theories that do not prove true (except their own).

Now the real probable reason why conspiracy theorists reject and even debunk the more bizarre sounding conspiracy theories is because if they don't then it makes it appear as if they also accept those conspiracy theories, and it might also help to make the conspiracy theory that they promote appear less bizarre as well. The only problem with that is...

1. Most conspiracy theories are bizarre.

Just because a conspiracy theory at least sounds "plausible" (and I use that term very loosely) or because a lot of conspiracy theorists accept it, it doesn't mean that particular conspiracy theory isn't any less bizarre then the one that doesn't sound plausible at all. An example of this would be the various 9/11 conspiracy theories, which in my opinion all of them sound just as bizarre as the one that is considered to be the most bizarre, the space laser theory.

The fact is that almost every conspiracy theory there is is actually pretty bizarre, and that the only reason why it might sound less bizarre than other conspiracy theories is that it at least (usually) involves something that might exist, rather than other really bizarre conspiracy theories that involves something that does not exist.

And of course just like with the bizarre conspiracy theories, all conspiracy theories have one thing in common: They all end up getting debunked.

6 Conspiracy theories that make people paranoid

There are a lot of conspiracy theories out there, and while most of them tend to be, well... stupid, for the most part they're pretty harmless (although some of the people who believe in them are not so harmless).

On the other hand, there are some conspiracy theories that can drive a person to become paranoid, and possibly even act out in very disturbing ways, perhaps even in a violent manner towards those who they feel are apart of that conspiracy.

Here are a few of those conspiracy theories:

Chemtrails

Chemtrails is a conspiracy theory in which some conspiracy theorists believe that the government is spraying chemicals on the population from air planes, and that the contrails coming out of many air planes are actually laced with chemicals, and thus called "chemtrails".

Now despite the fact that the chemtrail conspiracy theories have been debunked, some people take it very seriously. So seriously in fact that many conspiracy theorists will spray vinegar into the air whenever they see a contrail (because they believe that doing so will destroy a chemtrail), or even go to a hospital whenever they see a bunch of contrails in the air, because they are seriously afraid it might cause them health problems.

Some people have even taken their paranoia a step further and have threatened shoot down air planes because they think they are spraying chemtrails.

Mind control

If there is one conspiracy theory that believing in can cause a person to become very paranoid (although it may also be a strong indicator of a serious mental illness) it would be the mind control conspiracy theories, particularly the ones that involve some sort of telepathy.

The fact is that if a person believes that their mind can be attacked at any point in time it tends to leave that person extremely paranoid, and causes them to do some pretty bizarre stuff, such as wearing hats made out of aluminum foil, or even covering their entire house in aluminum foil (because they believe it will block out what ever rays are being used to control their minds).

This may also cause some people to be wary of other people as well, even people who might try to help them overcome their fear, because they fear that person might come under some kind of mind control as well and harm them.

Shape-shifting aliens

Often times attributed to David Icke, there are some people out there who seriously believe that there are shape-shifting reptilian aliens that not only walk among us, but are in control of the world, and that many world leaders are actually aliens from either another world or dimension.

I really wish I was making this up, but sadly I am not. There are people out there that are so paranoid, and so delusional, that they seriously believe that the leaders of the world are actually shape-shifting lizards from another planet or universe.

The belief that another person is a shape-shifting alien doesn't just include world leaders, it can actually include anyone, be it a celebrity, a rich person, some random person, myself, and even David Icke (who has been accused of being a shape-shifting alien).

Some people who believe in this conspiracy theory are even so paranoid and delusional in their beliefs that they believe that they themselves are a shape-shift alien...

Dis-info agents

Just about every skeptic and debunker has at one time or another been called a dis-info agent. This is just a general reaction by conspiracy theorists when a skeptic either refuses to believe them, or presents evidence showing that the conspiracy theorist's claims are false.

While some conspiracy theorists may cry out "dis-info agent" whenever they encounter a skeptic, many conspiracy theorists really do believe that there are dis-info agents out there, and that they are out there to "trick" people into no longer believing a conspiracy theory that they promote.

This belief in dis-info agents often times causes many conspiracy theorist to disregard any fact that would disprove their conspiracy theory, and basically regard it as being nothing more than disinformation, no matter how sound it is. This paranoia can even go so far that some conspiracy theorists will believe that other conspiracy theorists are also dis-info agents as well if that conspiracy theorist's conspiracy theory is to much un-alike their own.

FEMA camps

FEMA camps is another one of those conspiracy theories that has been around for a long time, yet has no evidence to back it up, but many people still believe in it and that these FEMA camps exists.

People who believe in this conspiracy theory claim that the government is constructing prison camps to be run by FEMA all across the country inorder to imprison anyone who they feel will oppose the government in some up and coming police state (which according to them is just around the corner... and has been for the last couple of decades).

This constant fear that the government is going to create a police state and ship people off to these imaginary prison camps can cause some people to act out in very irrational ways, including building huge bunkers in which to hide out in and perhaps fight from, buy up huge amounts of guns and ammunition and other type of supplies, and cut off contact with people. It can also make a person become violent towards anyone who works for the government (especially law enforcement), or just drive a person to the point of suicide due to the fear that they will be imprisoned or killed.

The Illuminati

There are many people out there that believe that, despite the evidence to the contrary, that the Illuminati exists, and that it controls the media, and the banks, and the government, and corporations, and just about everything... except apparently for the internet where anyone can create a website that opposes the Illuminate, as well as whomever is broadcasting Alex Jones's radio program.

The belief that the Illuminati exists can be very strong in some people, and can cause some people obsessively look for "Illuminati" symbols wherever they believe them to be. It can also cause them to accuse people (mostly people who are rich or famous, or are a politician) of being a member of the Illuminati. Sometimes it's not even someone whom is one of the rich and powerful, sometimes it can be just a regular person whom is apart of a group that is accused of being a front group for the Illuminati (example: Free Masons), or even a certain religion.

Because this belief in the Illuminati can be so strong in some people it can actually cause some people to distance themselves from anyone whom they believe to be a member of the Illuminati, or get into huge arguments with people who don't believe in the Illuminati.

Chemtrail Detox Spray: Another BS product

A few weeks I was shown a website about some type of spray called "Chemtrail Detox Spray".

When I first saw the name alone it made me think "what the heck?" Then I saw just what type of spray it was, and I went from thinking "what the heck" to "what a freaking sham!" and it made me think "can people really be this stupid?" Then I remember just how stupid of a statement that is because if people really are dumb enough (or crazy enough) to believe in chemtrails, they might just buy a spray that "detoxs" chemtrail "stuff"...

The claims made on the website are as follows:

• Chemtrail Detox Spray offers relief from the effects of Chemtrails.

Actually it can't offer "relief" from the effects of chemtrails because chemtrails do not exist.

There is no scientific evidence what so ever that shows that chemtrails exist, and that what conspiracy theorists believe to be chemtrails are actually just contrails and clouds. Even if they did exist they wouldn't be effective anyways because they would be sprayed way to high up in the atmosphere to have any affect on us, not to mention the fact that there just aren't enough planes to make such things effective on a global scale.

Also, all the claims of what chemtrails are suppose do are completely bogus as well.

The next claim made says that it is a:

• Non Chemical Homeopathic Remedy.

"Non Chemical Homeopathic" to me is sort of redundant. The reason I say this is because homeopathic medicine is a fraud medicine that is basically just water, and doesn't contain any chemicals in it...

It would be cheaper to fill up a spray bottle with water and spray it into your mouth than it would to buy this product. Heck it would be better to that anyways because the water in that spray bottle would be fresher than it would be in the Chemtrail Detox Spray!

The next thing the makers of this product says:

• Indications for relieving a broad spectrum of chemtrail induced states including:

And those would happen to be:

• sinus irritation,

Which is also a symptom of a cold or allergies.

• lowered immune system,

What exactly do they mean by thiss? Could it mean "feeling icky"? There are a number of things that can make a person feel icky. Heck, being outside in the heat and sun to long can make a person feel icky. The flu can make a person feel icky.

They really need to be more specific here, because generally when I think of "lowered immune system" I think of HIV and AIDS.

• body aches,

That could be a sign of the flu, or an injury, or aging.

• radioactive heavy metals,

If we really were being sprayed with radioactive heavy metals there would be no way to hide that! And if you do have radioactive heavy metals in your system, then you need to check yourself into your local ER ASAP (and you should consider not living next to a nuclear power plant).

• memory loss,

That could be due to stress, or aging, or an early sign of Alzheimer's.

• fatigue,

That could be caused by not getting enough sleep, or working to much, or it being cold outside, or not drinking enough coffee in the morning, or not drinking enough water when it's hot out, or eating a bunch of junk food.

• infections,

Infections are caused by bacteria and viruses, not chemicals.

• mental/emotional health

If you're having mental and emotional problems an expensive little spray bottle filled with water isn't going to help. What you need to do is go see a psychiatrist. Not only can they help you with your mental and emotional problems, they could also help you get over your belief in chemtrails.

Now the directions on how use this stuff is surprisingly very simple:

• Spray 1 dose directly in mouth as needed until symptoms improve.

Hey, that's great! I don't have to worry about dosages (not like I would anyways with this). I can just spray this into my mouth until I feel better, or it's gone (probably the latter).

Lets face the facts about this Chemtrail Detox Spray. It's nothing more than an over priced little spray bottle filled with water that's been deceptively labeled to make it look like it is real medicine in order to trick paranoid people who think that chemtrails are real into buying it!

Fortunately the site itself has been taken down from it's web hosting site Wordpress (although you can still see the site's claims here and here) and while I don't know why the site was taken down, my best guesses is that it was either taken down by the owner of the site due to the negative attention of trying to sell a sham product, or by Wordpress itself due to the fact it was selling a sham product.

5 Conspiracy Theories that would be easy to prove

Through my studying of conspiracy theories I have found that many of them are easy to dis-prove. In fact some of them are so easy to dis-prove that it's actually kind of shocking that anyone believes in them.

Now despite the fact that most conspiracy theories are quite easy to dis-prove, a few of them could actually be proven, and quite easily at that, if a conspiracy theorist was willing to spend the and money to try to prove what they believe is real.

The following is a list of five different conspiracy theories that I feel could be easy to prove:

The Moon landings were hoaxed.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that the moon landings did happen and that we really did send 12 men to the surface of the moon and back between 1969 to 1972, many conspiracy theorists still insistence that the landings were all faked, and that they were all filmed on some movie set in on a military base in the middle of the desert.

Despite the multiple pieces of "evidence" that they believe prove that the moon landings were faked, they have not produce one shred of evidence that hasn't ended up being debunked.

Now, despite the fact that all the evidence that they claim proves the moon landings were hoaxed have been debunked, there are actually a few simple (but expensive) ways for them to prove the moon landings were hoaxed:

First, they could build their own telescope that is powerful enough to see close up to the surface of the moon, and look at the moon landing sites to see if anything is there.

Second, build your own satellite and rocket that can travel to the moon and photograph the sites where the moon landings were suppose to be.

Third, build a space ship that can actually get to the moon, land at the sites, and see for yourself if anything is ther. Oh, and here is the bonus part about this one: If it turns out that you're right, and you prove that the moon landing were faked, "you" become known as the first person to walk on the moon!

Chemtrails

Among some conspiracy theorists there is this belief that the government is using aircraft to spray the population with chemicals to either dumb us down, or make us sick, or make us infertile (assuming it's not for geo-engineering like other chemtrail conspiracy theorists are insisting).

Of course there is no evidence what so ever to prove these claims (despite what they insist) but, there is in fact a very easy way for them to prove that chemtrails are real.

All they would have to do is get a plane, attach a scope or two to that plane (be sure they are the types that remotely open and shut in order to avoid contamination) fly through an alleged chemtrail (actually you might want to do this several times in order to collect several samples, just to be sure) take the samples you've gotten, and have them tested to see whats in them, and how high the concentrations are (because that plays a big factor too).

Now, if this is done, one of two things will happen: You and many other conspiracy theorists will be proven to be right, and all skeptics will have to eat their own words (during the revolution that would most likely follow) or, you will be proven to be wrong, and it will be shown that chemtrails are in fact nothing more than water vapor.

The World Trade Center towers were brought down by nuclear weapons.

There are a lot of conspiracy theories concerning the 9/11 attacks, and while all of them have been debunked, I also have to admit that many of them might not have been that easy to prove either (mostly because it would have required real investigating instead of just watching a bunch of poorly made Youtube videos and looking at a bunch of photos that have been taken out of context). There is one however that would have been shockingly easy to prove if it was true: The nuke theory.

All one would have to do to prove this one is go to the World Trade Center site with a Geiger counter, turn it on, and wait for it to start making.

Now, if nuclear weapons (even the smallest ones made) were used, the site still have lots of left over radiation for the blast which would easily be picked up on a Geiger counter, or any other device used to detect radiation.

Of course you could also just walk around the site for a few hours until you have clear signs of radiation poisoning...

The Earth is flat.

As it shockingly (and sadly) turns out there are actually a few people who do believe that the Earth is flat despite of the numerous amounts of evidence that the Earth is clearly a sphere, there are just some people who are to stubborn (or stupid, or both) to admit that the world is round.

Besides the fact that they won't acknowledge a simple fact that almost everyone else on the planet knows, they actually believe that there is a conspiracy to cover this up (which would be impossible).

Now, if they really wanted to prove to themselves (and to others possibly) that the Earth really was flat, all they would have to do is do one of these three things:

First, they could get on a boat and sail around the Earth.

Second, they could get on a plane and fly around the Earth (or see the curvature of the Earth if they are high up enough).

Third, they can build their own space craft, fly into space, and really fly around the Earth (personally, this would be my choice).

Former Japanese internment camps are being turn into FEMA camps.

For years now conspiracy theorists have been claiming that the United States government (via FEMA) have been building concentration camps around the country in order to hold citizens who might oppose them and the New World Order (which in my opinion has been taking the longest time to finally put their "master plan" to work). Because these alleged camps are being built by and run by FEMA, they are commonly referred to by conspiracy theorist as "FEMA camps".

Now I have done some research into the claims about these camps, I can tell you for a fact that none of these camps exists, I have found that several of these sites are former Japanese internment camps (where we really did hold United States citizens against their will for no good reason other than the fact that they were Japanese, and we were at war with Japan), and that these sites are being rebuilt and refurbished in order to once again hold United States citizens against their will.

Despite the claims that these places are being rebuilt and refurbished, there is actually a way for conspiracy theorists to confirm if these claims are true or not: Go there!

From my research on FEMA camps I have found out that almost all of the Japanese internment camps are open to the public, and anyone can go there to learn the history of that camp. Many of these camps even have there own museums, and memorials, and encourage the public to come in order to learn the history of the camp.

The fact that these camps are open to the public should make it easy for anyone (including a conspiracy theorists) to see if they're being turned into a FEMA camp or not.

Is it a Conspiracy Theory, or is it Satire?

When you investigate conspiracy theories and the claims that go along with them you will occasionally find some that are so strange, and so bizarre, that it will make you ask the question "is this real? Or is this something that a satirist came up with?"

Because of the result of the strangeness of certain conspiracy theories (or the fact that some conspiracy theories just look like satire and/or intentionally created hoaxes) it is seriously believed that some conspiracy theories were created by a satirist or hoaxer, rather than an actual conspiracy theorist.

A recent example a conspiracy theory that is so strange and absurd that many people (both skeptics and conspiracy theorists alike) believe it to be some type of satire or hoax is a conspiracy theory concerning the birth of Prince William's and Duchess Catherine's son.

The conspiracy theory that has been floating around the internet basically accuses Catherine of faking her pregnancy, and that some woman working for the "Illuminate" (a group that has never been proven to exist) was actually the birth mother.

Sounds so absurd that it sounds like it is entirely untrue and it was all made up, right?

Well, technically it is untrue and was all made up (as is with most conspiracy theories). The difference between this conspiracy theory and most other conspiracy theories is that it is heavily speculated that it was created as a hoax or even a parody by someone trying to show how gullible conspiracy theorists are, rather than some kook (or severely mentally ill person) who spends their time inventing these conspiracy theories.

Then of course there are some conspiracy theory articles on the internet that are so absurd that it's actually natural to assume that it is satire, when in reality it isn't. Such was the case this week when I read an article (or at least as much as I could have before the stupid started to burn) that claimed that Alex Jones was a "Jewish shill". If it wasn't for the fact that the website it is on promotes a lot conspiracy theories, and that several associated skeptics told me it wasn't, I would have assumed it was satire. In fact, I actually did ask if it was satire, and if it was on another website, I would have continued to assume it was satire rather then the rantings of a extremely bigoted, paranoid conspiracy theorist.

When I see stuff like this it honestly makes me wonder if any of the really strange conspiracy theories are the creations of some paranoid kook, or a well constructed hoax. It's even lead me to wonder if any of the older conspiracy theories who's origins I already question to being with, like chemtrails and FEMA camps, are hoaxes as well.

I already question whether or not the chemtrail and FEMA camp conspiracy theories were either the creations of some conspiracy theorist that got out of hand, or a deliberately created hoax to be used by various anti-government groups as propaganda that ended up taking a life of it's own. But now I'm wondering if those two conspiracy theories are just some hoaxes that were created for the purpose of showing how easy it is to either create a conspiracy theory that will be believed by others, or to show how gullible conspiracy theorists are by making them believe in a conspiracy theory that has no evidence to back it up.

So in conclusion I think it's okay to question not only whether or not a conspiracy theory is real or not, but to question whether or not it was actually meant to be taken seriously or not.

5 Things I've noticed about... Chemtrails

Chemtrails are a conspiracy theory that the government (and the allegedly existing New World Order) are spraying chemicals on the population from air planes high up in the air. After examining these claims there are certain things that I've noticed about these alleged chemtrails.

So here are five things I've noticed about chemtrails:

5. They're not doing what they're suppose to.

While chemtrails have been accused of being sprayed around for several different reasons, one of the primary reasons by people who claim they are real is that they are being sprayed for population reduction.

If this happens to be true, then what ever that is being sprayed isn't very effective, because the world population went from 6 billion in 1999 to 7 billion in 2012, i.e. the world population increased by a billion people in a span of thirteen years.

4. They're spraying to high up.

If I was going to spray the population with a bunch of chemicals, I wouldn't be spraying from six to seven miles up in the air, because I know what ever chemicals that were being sprayed are just going to thin out in the atmosphere and wouldn't be effective.

In fact most people who do spray chemicals from planes for a living (like crop dusters) do it while they are very close to the ground (about 20 to 30 feet) because it is far more effective to spray close to the ground than from high up.

3. They look and act an awful lot like contrails.

Now there are a lot of conspiracy theorists who will claim that there is a difference between chemtrails and contrails (such as how long it stays up in the atmosphere) but really how long one of these "trails" stay up in the air does not determine what they are because atmospheric conditions can keep a contrail up in the air for quiet a long time.

With this in mind it would really be impossible to tell the difference between the two.

Maybe they're all contrails like everyone else says?

2. Some people are seriously scared of these things.

There are some people who are seriously scared of what they believe are chemtrails, and won't go outside whenever they see what they believe are a bunch of chemtrails in the upper atmosphere, and will even spray vinegar around because they think it will get rid of the chemtrails and their chemicals.

Some people have become so frighten in fact that they are making threats to shoot down planes (which has become a real fear of pilots in Australia).

Of course there is no real reason for this fear, because...

1. Chemtrails don't exist.

There is zero evidence that chemtrails exist, and that they are nothing more then a bunch of contrails, and the affects of which and how they act are very well known, and have been for decades.

The chemtrail conspiracy theories have been around since the mid 1990's, and despite the many claims by conspiracy theorists, not one shred of real evidence has ever been produced that proves that chemtrails exist at all. The only evidence that conspiracy theorists have ever been able to produced are photos of contrails that were misidentified by conspiracy theorists, and photos and videos that had been altered by conspiracy theorists.

The fact is that belief in chemtrails is nothing more than a irrational fear brought on by a dis-proven conspiracy theory that really has no reason to exist.

Human Guided Spiritual Defense Waves... Pseudoscience at it's greatest (and Insanest)

When you explore the world of conspiracy theories and pseudoscience, you often times find out that there is no deep end in the theoretical pool of craziness, and just when you think you've reached the bottom, you find out you're still not at the deep end.

Recently I thought I had found that deep end with the helmet that "stops alien abductions".

It turns out I was wrong, and that there is something crazier than even that:

Human Guided Spiritual Defense Waves

What this claims is that human beings can use "spiritual energy" to get rid of chemtrails.

In other words, use something that's imaginary to get rid of something else that's imaginary.

Not only does the article claim that people can repel these alleged chemicals away, it also claims you can concentrate them and focus them on small area, even house.

In fact, it even says you should do so over the homes of members of Congress (which is a tad bit disturbing). It even tells you to "make them suffer" (which I would consider a threat, if I wasn't fairly certain this wouldn't work at all, and that neither of these things not even existing in the first place) and suggest using social networks to help organize groups of people to "focus" their "spiritual energy" in order to do so.

I also find it somewhat ironic that while this article encourages people to use such "powers" to basically cause harm to other people that they perceive is their enemies, the article also says, "When you understand this type of power, you really only want to use it to help, not hurt, but there is no reason not to use it for defensive purposes."

In other words, it's telling you to use this "power" to harm others, yet you won't want to use it to harm others once you figure out how to use it...

The whole bases for these claims about "Spiritual Defense Waves" and their alleged existence is this stuff called Rodin Aerodynamics, which is some sort of mathematical hypothesis created by Marco Rodin, and basically tries to explain that a person alter the world around them, and tries to show how mathematics does this, and that numbers are alive.

Basically it's a combination of pseudomathematics and quantum woo.

All this article is showing isn't how to get rid of chemtrails, but both how crazy some people who believe in chemtrails are, and the sheer lengths they will go to in order to get rid of something that doesn't even exist.

And, it also shows what type of people they really are. They are people who have no problem harming others whom they believe are harming them, even when they have no proof of this.

Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: Natural Disasters are False Flag Attacks

Natural disasters can occur anywhere on the planet. Sometimes they're small scale with no lose of life and relativity little damage. Sometimes they're huge and kills thousands of people, and even wipe out entire cities an regions.

Most people accept the fact that natural disasters are random, mostly unpredictable, uncontrollable, that there is nothing we can do about them, and that it has been that way since before humans even existed.

But, there are some people out there who do not believe that many of the recent natural disasters over the last few years are actually "natural" in nature, and that many of these natural disasters are actually man-made.

As crazy as it sounds, a lot of people believe that many of our recent natural disaster are actually man-made, false flag attacks (I'm not sure why they would be called that, but for some reason they are) and that the government can control the weather, and even create earthquakes.

The main focus of conspiracy theorists who seriously believe this is that they mostly believe that the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is the cause many of these large natural disasters... at least since 1993 when the facility was built.

Probably the main reasons why so many people believe that HAARP is the device that is responsible for so many of these recent natural disasters is because it's research mainly deals with upper atmospheric research using radio waves, and that a few scientists have stated that it "could" be used to control the weather, and even create earthquakes. Also, it is not accessible to the public without permission by the government, which to many conspiracy theorists is a giant red flag because it says to them that there is stuff there that the government doesn't want the public to know about, rather than there being some highly sensitive (and expensive) equipment there that the government just doesn't want to risk getting broken or damaged in any way by some person who doesn't need to be there in the first place.

Most scientists (especially those who are involved in atmospheric research) agree that HAARP (and any other site like it) is not capable of generating enough power into the upper atmosphere to alter the weather what so ever, and that it's only purpose is for research (which it has provide a lot of).

While HAARP might be the main focus of many conspiracy theorists who believe that the government is controlling, it isn't the only one.

Some claim that chemtrails (which are not real) are being used to alter the weather, and that even nuclear weapons are being used to create earthquakes. Of course if nuclear weapons were used to create earthquakes (assuming one was built that was powerful enough to create an earthquake in the first place), the radiation left behind from the blast would be easy to find.

The reality is that we are are not capable of altering the weather, or creating huge earthquakes, and that natural disasters are just simply random acts of nature that we have no control (at least for now).

Is it a Conspiracy Theory, or is it Propaganda?

Conspiracy theories and propaganda tend to go hand in hand, mainly because many conspiracy theories tend to be against something (government, industry, etc) while at the same time trying to promote something (political beliefs, alternative medicine, etc). Sometimes it's difficult to tell which is which. Sometimes they are one in the same.

Some conspiracy theories are obviously propaganda and are generally not believed by most (including those that promote the conspiracy theory) except for those who are to deluded (or have deluded themselves because of some personal bias against a certain person or group) to not accept the conspiracy theory/propaganda, or are not smart enough to figure out the deference between what is real and what is a lies.

Examples of this would be holocaust denial and the allegations the President Obama wasn't born in the United States.

Then there is the flip side of this in that some conspiracy theories have been used as some sort of propaganda. In fact it's not that uncommon that certain politicians, world leaders, and even certain celebrities will use these already established conspiracy theories in order to obtain power, maintain power, and just get attention for themselves.

Sometimes the leaders of one country who is experiencing hostilities from the leaders of another country will use already established conspiracy theories in there propaganda about their rival country as a way to try to make the leaders of that rival country to back off, and to perhaps try to sway the people in the rival country over to their side.

Probably one of the best examples of this would be the 9/11 conspiracy theories, in particular with Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has most likely used the 9/11 conspiracy theories as a way to gain support and downplay the United States, and as a way to get the US to back off from Iran.

Then there are of course conspiracy theories that you cannot tell if they were propaganda that became conspiracy theories, or if they just started as conspiracy theories, and ended up becoming propaganda. In fact many of the anti-government, modern medicine, new world order type of conspiracy theories tend to fall into this category.

This is actually where many conspiracy theories fall under simply because it's difficult to tell whether or not a conspiracy theory began as propaganda that evolved into a conspiracy theory, or vice verse. Examples of this would be FEMA camps, chemtrails, and vaccines causing autism (along with a lot of other things).

Then there are of course conspiracy theories that are so bizarre that most skeptics (and even some conspiracy theorists) suspect that they may have originally began not as propaganda but as a either a hoax or a scam.

Regardless of whether or not a conspiracy theory originally started as propaganda, or if a conspiracy theory is being exploited by someone with an agenda, the fact is that conspiracy theories are used as propaganda, and we should be skeptical of certain people or groups and ask ourselves this: are they promoting this because they seriously believe this, or do they have some type of agenda.

Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: BP Oil Spill

As everyone knows, in 2010 a BP oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico blew up, causing one of the worst environmental disasters in history. While almost everyone admits, including BP it self, that BP is solely responsible for this disaster, there are some people who believe that this wasn't an accident caused by BP's unwillingness improve safety. They believe that this was intentional.

One of the claims is that the oil rig was bombed by environmentalist, or by the government itself. The reason behind these claims is that it is believed that the disaster was caused in order to become a catalysis for enacting much more broad and harsher environmental laws.

The problem with this is that besides the fact that this would be more counter-productive, since the oil spill caused huge amounts of environmental harm to the region, it also ignores the fact that BP has had one of the worst safety records of any oil companies out there.

BP has paid tens of millions of dollars for safety violations, sometimes even multiple times for the same safety violation. Also, no environmental terrorist groups, or any other terrorist groups, has ever claimed responsibly, as terrorist groups tend to do. Plus, there has never been any evidence that a bomb even caused the explosion.

Other theories claim that foreign governments, usually either Russia or North Korea, destroyed the oil rig as a way to cause economic and environmental turmoil to the US. Besides the fact that again, there is no evidence that the explosion was caused by anything other then an accident, if evidence turned up that any nation intentionally caused this, we would have gone to war with that nation.

Some other theories speculate that BP intentionally cause the oil spill in order to reap in the profits from the clean up. Besides the fact that there is no evidence of this, no company would ever have done such a thing, because there is no profit in it what so ever. BP didn't make any money from this, they lost huge amounts.

Still other theories also include that the spill was caused by both the government and BP, and that it is part of a secret depopulation program, and that the chemicals that were sprayed on the oil caused some of the people working in the clean up area to get sick.

It is true that people who were working in the clean-up efforts did sometimes get sick, but it's much more likely that the crude oil caused them to get sick, and not the stuff that was used to try to break the oil up.

The fact is that there is just no proof that anything other then poor safety caused this disaster, and most people who claim this was caused by the government, or environmentalist, also tend to be global warming denialist, who believe that global warming is a hoax intended to bilk people out of money, and to kill certain industries, or as some people believe, to enact laws and kill off people so that this will help bring about a so called "New World Order".

The fact is, is that this is nothing more then an accident.

ECT Follow-up: Chemtrails: Vinegar Warriors

I'm writing this follow up to my previous post about chemtrails because I feel that this information needs to be known about a certain myth about this myth, and that is that vinegar can remove chemtrail chemicals.

One of the claims is that if you spray a mixture of water and vinegar on concrete or asphalt, it will neutralize and clean off any chemtrail residue.

Let me give all of you a little bit of knowledge first.

Concrete and asphalt are both very porous materials, and both can and do absorb any mini and micro particles they come in contact with, which is why both materials change color over time, because they are absorbing stuff from their environments.

This being said, it should be noted that vinegar is an acetic acid. It's very good at cleaning. It reduces grease sinks drains, and is even used as a solvent for removing epoxy and rust.

Now, with this little bit of knowledge I will tell that what you are actually seeing when you spray down your driveway, or walkway, or what ever else you spray vinegar and water, is not chemtrail residue, it is in fact dust, dirt, ash, pollen, exhaust particles, air pollution particles, and if you're spraying it on a driveway, what ever fluids are dripping out of your car, and none of this is nothing out of the ordinary.

The reason why vinegar gets this stuff up better then soap is because being an acid, it dissolves stuff, where soap can only clean off top layer dirt and grime, and not stuff that is deeper down or has been bonded to the surface.

Another claim is that if you let a certain mixture of vinegar and water evaporate into the air, it will get rid of chemtrail stuff from the atmosphere.

Besides the fact that there is no evidence at all that chemtrails exist, it wouldn't work in the first place. You would need a very high concentration in order to rid the atmosphere around your house of chemtrail stuff, assuming it could get rid of it at all.

Not only is this a waste of time and money, and stinks up the place as well, with prolonged exposure, depending on the ph value, it can be harmful.

Despite the fact that vinegar is a relatively weak acid, it is still an acid, and can erode your nasal and breathing passages, and potentially damage your lungs.

To put it to a point, it is simply not worth your time, money, or health, to try to rid your home of something that doesn't even exist.

Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: Chemtrails

There is a big time conspiracy theory about something called "chemtrails". This conspiracy theory is based on the belief that contrails coming out of a jet's exhaust are laced with chemicals that's propose is for population control.

There are several problems with this theory. First, there is no proof what so ever that what a person sees coming out of a jet exhaust is nothing more then a contrail, rather then the "chemtrail" that so many conspiracy theorist insists that they are. In fact, not one pilot, or any other person who would be involved in this alleged conspiracy, has ever even come forward and said that the government was spraying chemicals on the population.

Besides the fact there is no proof, spraying chemicals from two to three miles above the ground isn't a very effective way to disperse chemical or biological agents. The wind from that high up would disperse the chemicals and biological agents throughout the upper atmosphere, and it would become so disperse that when or if it ever did come down, there wouldn't be enough of the stuff to be effective. Take a look at crop dusting for instance. Crop dusting planes have to be very low to the ground to spray fertilizers and pesticides in order for them to get on the crops. It can't be done from thousands of feet in air, because the wind would just blow it away.

Another claim is that "chemtrails" are responsible for causing multiple health problems, mostly respiratory illnesses. The problem with this, is that there really is no way to prove that what is causing these respiratory illnesses is nothing more then either air pollution, or smoking, or an infection of some kind, or life style habits, or just something a person was born with.

The fact of the matter is, there is just no proof that these so call "chemtrails" are real. Every study ever conducted by any legit organization has concluded that what is being seen is nothing but contrails. Sometimes  these contrails just react differently depending on the atmospheric conditions. Besides, if they were spraying chemicals, as is so claimed, then they would have to fly a lot closer to the ground to make the stuff effective, and a lot more people would be getting sick, and the population would be shrinking. In fact, the population of this country, and the world, is growing. So if these "chemtrails" really are real, they're not effective at all...