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.

Is that a FEMA... truck?

Reposted from my other blog site Is that a FEMA Camp?

Recently on a Facebook skeptics group that I belong to someone posted a very "curious" looking photo, along with the commentary by the person whom posted photo the somewhere else on Facebook:

Now the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that photo was, "Wow... that trailer needs a good wash."

All joking aside ofcourse what really came to my mind was that the words on the truck looked like it was put on there via digital photo manipulation (i.e. photoshopped) and even if it wasn't, then so what?

Now my first argument for why it is photoshopped is because of another photo that looks almost exactly like the first one provided to me via Illuminutti.com:

Now clearly the second picture is photoshopped, and to be all honest it's not even that good of a photoshop job either.

Ofcourse just because the second photo has clearly been digitally manipulated, I have to admit that it does not mean that the first photo has been digitally manipulated as well. If you look closely at the bottom words "FEMA DISASTER RELIEF" that while the font style used for the letters are similar to the ones on the top, they are infact different.

If the first photo was photoshopped, the second photoshopped photo was probably done by someone else whom used the closest font style that they could find to the original words... unless the person whom created the original photo forgot the original font style that they used.

Now another reason why I think the photo has been digitally manipulated is because of the trailer itself.

Besides just being in need of a good wash, it is clearly a used trailer due to the fact that there is a company logo right next to "FEMA DISASTER RELIEF", as well as a logo on the truck that is pulling the trailer.

So if this photo was real, what it would tell me isn't that FEMA is planning on "something" evil, it's that they're moving a trailer from one location to another to another, probably for some bureaucratic reasons, or it's being driven around just to make sure that everything is okay with it and the truck that's pulling it (and before you point out that the person claims that it's coming from a FBI building in Virginia I should like to point out that I don't take such claims seriously unless I have more proof that it really did come from a FBI building in Virginia).

Also, if the photo is real then it tells me is that FEMA is pretty underfunded if the only big rigs they can afford to buy are used and can't be washed every so often due to funding...

Now this brings me to another reason why I'm pretty sure the photo was photoshopped, that being that the government does not buy used stuff (with the exception of law enforcement buying used vehicles for undercover purposes). Even if the government did infact buy used vehicles, they would have atleast have given it a new paint job, and have put FEMA's actual logo on it rather than in big red words "FEMA DISASTER RELIEF".

Also, there is one more thing about the photo that has lead me to believe that it is fake, and that being the comment of the person themselves.

The comment made on the photo says that it's heading north after "leaving" the FBI building in Virginia. My question which one?

The obvious answer would ofcourse be Quantico, which is the location of both the FBI Academy and the FBI Laboratory. But thing about all of this (besides the fact that the person making the comment might have been mislead about where the truck is coming from and going to, or is just outright lying) is why would the FBI employ FEMA to do something that it itself could do? More importantly if the FBI was trying to do something secretive then why wouldn't it use either a blank vehicle, or a vehicle that has a name on it other than the name of another government agency on it in such clear, bold letters?

All the evidence put together has lead me to concluded that the photo is fake, and that either it was created for the purpose of fooling conspiracy theorists and having a good laugh at their gullibility, or by a conspiracy theorist whom wished to make his or her claims about police state conspiracy theories seem more legit.

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.

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.

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... FEMA camps

I've done quite a bit of research into "FEMA camps" (which is a conspiracy theory that claims that the government has constructed these prison camps around the country that are to be run by FEMA to hold American citizens in that disagree with the government) and there are several things that I've noticed about these camps.

So here are five things I've noticed about FEMA camps:

5. There are apparently a lot of them.

According to many conspiracy theorist websites, there are hundreds of FEMA camps scattered across the United States and Canada.

While the numbers tend vary from website to website, some report as few as 300 "identified" FEMA camps, and perhaps as many as over 900 "identified" FEMA camps.

I find it amazing that so many of these camps have been "identified", yet the only people they have caught the attention of are conspiracy theorists (particularly those in the Sovereign Citizens/Patriot Movement). Of course these numbers really don't mean anything, because...

4. They can be anywhere.

Also according to many websites that promote the FEMA camp conspiracy theories, FEMA camps can be just about anywhere, be it a military base, a hospital, a prison, a warehouse, an airport, a rail depot, a seaport, any place with a fence with barbed wire at the top...

Oh, and any place that has an open field and is open to the public. Those places can also apparently be FEMA camps too.

3. Apparently they've been around for a while.

From the research I've done into these FEMA camp claims, I have found that these claims have been around for a long time.

The first time I actually heard someone claim these places were real was back in the mid-1990's, and I have found out these claims are even older, even going back as far back as the 1970's.

It's kind of strange that FEMA camps have apparently been around for so long, and yet the government has yet to use them, or enact this fascist "police state" plan that many conspiracy theorists claim is going to happen when the government starts shipping people to these camps.

2. They drive people crazy.

I'm not talking about FEMA camps themselves driving people insane (although I'm sure some conspiracy theorists will claim that they do) I'm talking about that the belief in the existence of FEMA camps drives people insane.

These conspiracy theories have driven many people to become paranoid and to isolate themselves from the rest of society, to stock up on guns and supplies for what they believe will be a fight to the death, to become hostile to others (especially law enforcement and people who work for the government), and it has caused people to become extremely hateful and abusive towards those who tell them that FEMA camps don't exist, and in a few cases, suicidal.

Of course the reason why skeptics (like myself) tell conspiracy theorists that FEMA camps don't exist is because...

1. They don't exist.

From the research I've done on the FEMA camp location claims, I have found that none of them contain FEMA camps (you can see this research on my other blog Is that a FEMA Camp?).

Regardless of how much "evidence" people who claim that FEMA camps are real claim that they have, much of the so called evidence is easily debunked, and many of the sites of these alleged FEMA camp locations are either the result of major mis-identification, or are outright bogus and have nothing there at all.

The fact remains is that no matter how much some conspiracy theorists want to believe in them, FEMA camps just do not exist.

FM 3-39.40 proves FEMA camps are real... Or does it?

Reblogged from Is that a FEMA camp?

Recently I read a comment on Illuminutti.com that was posted on a reblogging of several FEMA camp sites that were debunked on this site.

The comment (you can see the comment here) was concerning a US military document and training manual called FM 3-39.40 (alternate link) also known as Internment and Resettlement Operation.

The document is believed by many conspiracy theorists to be "proof" that the United States government is going to place citizens in interment camps and that the military was being trained to operate these places.

The person whom left comment also left a Youtube video concerning this as well:

While watching the video (which is 3:37 minutes, but tries to explain a 325 page document in that time frame) I could tell that the person who made it was obviously quote mining the document and taking a lot of things out of context, with many things that were just not mentioned.

One thing that was not mentioned was the Introduction section:

Introduction

I/R operations facilitate the ability to conduct rapid and decisive combat operations; deter, mitigate, and defeat threats to populations that may result in conflict; reverse conditions of human suffering; and build the capacity of a foreign government to effectively care for and govern its population. This includes capabilities to conduct shaping operations across the spectrum of military operations to mitigate and defeat the underlying conditions for conflict and counter the core motivations that result in support to criminal, terrorist, insurgent, and other destabilizing groups. I/R operations also include the daily incarceration of U.S. military prisoners at facilities throughout the world. 

This manual continues the evolution of the I/R function to support the changing nature of OEs. In light of persistent armed conflict and social turmoil throughout the world, the effects on populations remain a compelling issue. The world population will increase from 6 billion to 9 billion in the next two decades, with 95 percent of the growth occurring in the developing world. By 2030, 60 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas. Coexisting demographically and ethnically, diverse societies will aggressively compete for limited resources. 

Typically, overpopulated third world societies suffer from a lack of legitimate and effective enforcement mechanisms, which is generally accepted as one of the cornerstones of a stable society. Stability within a population may eliminate the need for direct military intervention. The goal of military police conducting detainee operations is to provide stability within the population, its institutions, and its infrastructure. In this rapidly changing and dynamic strategic environment, U.S. forces will compete with local populations for the same space, routes, and resources. The modular force’s ability to positively influence and shape the opinions, attitudes, and behaviors of select populations is critical to tactical, operational, and strategic success. 

An adaptive enemy will manipulate populations that are hostile to U.S. intent by instigating mass civil disobedience, directing criminal activity, masking their operations in urban and other complex terrain, maintaining an indistinguishable presence through cultural anonymity, and actively seeking the traditional sanctuary of protected areas as defined by the rules of land warfare. Such actions will facilitate the dispersal of threat forces, negate technological overmatches, and degrade targeting opportunities. Commanders will use technology and conduct police intelligence operations to influence and control populations, evacuate detainees and, conclusively, transition rehabilitative and reconciliation operations to other functional agencies. The combat identification of friend, foe, or neutral is used to differentiate combatants from noncombatants and friendly forces from threat forces. 

FM 3-39.40 is written with the acknowledgement that today’s OEs are much more variable than the environments addressed in previous doctrine. Military police must be prepared to deploy into any OE and conduct I/R operations in support of the commander while dealing with a wide range of threats and other influences. This manual builds on the collective knowledge and wisdom gained through recent operations, numerous lessons learned, doctrine revisions, and the deliberate process of informed reasoning throughout the Army. It is rooted in time-tested principles and fundamentals, while accommodating new technologies and organizational changes. 

This iteration of FM 3-39.40 has been driven by a lack of existing doctrine for the rehabilitation and reconciliation of detainees and changes in OEs, the Army structure, and Army and joint doctrine. Changes not already mentioned above that have directly affected this manual include the— 

• Integration of I/R operations within the overarching counterinsurgency or irregular warfare efforts of current operations. 

• Development of terms of reference for detainee typology and standardization of procedures for detainee assessment. 

Note. Recent decisions by the Executive Branch have adjusted the typology in JP 3-63.

• Implementation of standardized programs and methods for rehabilitation, reconciliation, and repatriation of detainees. 

• Planning, employment, and sustainment of military police capabilities in support of all echelons while conducting I/R operations. 

• Alignment of I/R operations with the sustainment warfighting function. 

• Technological and doctrinal updates to material in other publications. 

The foundations of military police operations provided in this manual, together with related military police doctrine, will support the actions and decisions of commanders at all levels. Like FM 3-39, this manual is not meant to be a substitute for thought and initiative among military police leaders and Soldiers. No matter how robust the doctrine or advanced the military police capabilities and systems, it is the military police Soldier who must understand the OE, recognize shortfalls, and adapt to the situation on the ground. It is the adaptable and professional military police Soldiers of the Military Police Corps Regiment who are most important to the future and must successfully perform their basic skills to accomplish the mission, with or without technology assistance.

Now if you read the Introduction you can tell that this doesn't have anything at all to do with the United States and it's citizens. It concerns what the military is suppose to do with displaced civilians in disaster areas and war zones that the United States is involved in in third world countries.

While there are certain things in that document that I don't agree with, it only concerns the United States military operations overseas, and not domestically, and it most certainly does not prove that FEMA camps are real.

Many Common Traits I've noticed with FEMA Camp claims

Re-blogged from Is that a FEMA Camp?

There are a lot of claims on websites that promote the FEMA Camp conspiracy theories and the locations of the alleged interment/concentration/prison camps. From my research into these locations, many of these websites have very common trends to them and the locations that are posted.

Here are some things that I have found to be quite common with these location claims, and the websites that promote them:

The claims about these alleged FEMA camp locations tend to be all alike, word by word.

Many of these websites "expose" these "locations" appear to do a lot of copying and pasting of these claims from other websites. Many times these claims are exactly the same, including misspellings, and lack of any real research.

Many websites list completely bogus locations.

While many websites misidentify what a location is, or what's at a location, some of the locations that are claimed never had what was claimed to be there to being with. A good example of this would be the claim that there is a renovated Japanese interment camp in Josephine County, Oregon. There was never a Japanese interment camp in Josephine County, Oregon, and thus the claim is bogus.

Many websites that list locations sometimes have little to no information on those locations.

I've seen a lot of location claims that have very little, to next to none, to no information about the location what so ever. Even the most detailed of claims often are only have about two to three of sentences worth, and provide no in depth details, or creditable evidence to back up the claim that the location is in fact an interment/concentration/prison camp.

Any true facts given about a location still fails to prove anything.

Yes, sometimes these websites will actually list facts about a location. The problem is that these facts are often muddled with unproven allegations. Even when they aren't, they still do not prove that the location is a FEMA camp.

Area 51 is not listed as a FEMA camp location.

This one surprised me. Despite all of the conspiracy theories that have been made about this place, being a FEMA camp location is apparently not one of them...

There are often more claims of total locations then there are locations listed.

Many web sites claim there are 600 to over 800 known locations for these alleged prison camps, yet these websites never include that many locations in their locations list. Of course many websites will contain a kind of "disclaimer" about those missing locations by putting up something like this near or at the bottom of their list:

• There are many other locations not listed above that are worthy of consideration as a possible detention camp site, but due to space limitations and the time needed to verify, could not be included here. Virtually all military reservations, posts, bases, stations, & depots can be considered highly suspect (because it is "federal" land). Also fitting this category are "Regional Airports" and "International Airports" which also fall under federal jurisdiction and have limited-access areas. Mental hospitals, closed hospitals & nursing homes, closed military bases, wildlife refuges, state prisons, toxic waste dumps, hotels and other areas all have varying degrees of potential for being a detention camp area. The likelihood of a site being suspect increases with transportation access to the site, including airports/airstrips, railheads, navigable waterways & ports, interstate and US highways. Some facilities are "disguised" as industrial or commercial properties, camouflaged or even wholly contained inside large buildings (Indianapolis) or factories. Many inner-city buildings left vacant during the de-industrialization of America have been quietly acquired and held, sometimes retrofitted for their new uses.

Basically they are saying that everywhere you go, there is a FEMA camp.

Many of the location claims have been around for years.

During my research I've noticed that many of these location claims have been around for a very long time, in some cases well over a decade now, and yet the claims are nearly the same, with no new information.

Rex 84 and several Executive Orders are often listed to try to help prove the existence of these FEMA camps.

Yes, our government has done some pretty messed up things in the past, and Rex 84 is one of them, but from what I understand of Rex 84 it was a thought experiment that was created in 1984 (back when the Cold War was still hot) about what would need to be done if in the unlikely event of large scale civil unrest, and that no actual military training was done. Go here to learn more.

As for the Executive Orders, these websites tend to only give the author's summarized version of the Executive Order, which is often times only a sentence about one part that is often taken out of context of something that can be several pages long. What they usually do not give is a link to the actual Executive Order itself. They also don't tell you if the Executive Order has been revoked or not either, which many of them listed happen to be.

No location claims are ever taken down when proven to be false or out right bogus.

While you might see a new "location" being posted, you'll most likely never see one taken down after they have been proven to be completely false and/or bogus.

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.

ECT Follow up: FEMA camps: Executive Orders

In a previous Embarrassing Conspiracy Theory post I talked about how many conspiracy theorists believe that the government is going to place citizens who object to government authority in prison camps. One of the key pieces of "evidence" for people who believe in these prison camps that are allegedly being built is that there are Executive Orders that have been made by the President which will give the government, FEMA, and the military the authority to round up citizens who object to government authority and ship them off to these alleged prison camps. Often times they also claim that government will create a disaster that will kill millions of people in order to justify the execution of these Executive Orders.

While conspiracy theorists often times cite real Executive Orders as evidence for what they believe is the planned coming of Martial Law, many of the conclusions they come to about these Executive Orders are very deceptive and quite frankly, incorrect.

First, many of the Executive Orders are often claimed to have been made by either President George W. Bush, or President Barack Obama. In perhaps most of these cases this is incorrect, and is either the result of poor or non research, or even an outright lie.

If you do the research you will find that the Executive Orders that are often cited by conspiracy theorists were not made by either President Bush or Obama, but were actually made by either President John Kennedy, of President Lyndon Johnson. In fact most of the Executive Orders that are commonly cited were made during the Cold War when the threat of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union was very real.

Also, most of the Executive Orders that are cited makes no mention of things like "prison camps" or "Martial law" or anything even of the like. The only things mentioned in these cited Executive Orders that would come even come remotely close is that they mention the need to maintain law and order during a disaster.

In fact many of these Executive Orders are for disaster preparedness (either as a result of a massive natural disaster, or a massive attack), what should be done during a disaster, who does what during a disaster, and what needs to be done in order to rebuild as quickly as possible.

In fact the only thing in these Executive Orders that may even give conspiracy theorists any warrant to believe that the government would take over everything is that the President would have the authority to take over temporarily any private industries and other resources in order to help minimize the destruction and damage to infrastructure as much as possible. Most of the time this wouldn't even be necessary due to volunteers and donations that often times that often times come about after a disaster.

Another thing that is often times not mentioned by conspiracy theorists is that while some of these Executive Orders do in fact still exist, many of them have been revoked by later presidents. In fact many were revoked during the Cold War itself, most likely because it was determined that these certain Executive Orders really were not necessary any more, or were never necessary to begin with.

In conclusion the citing of Executive Orders as "evidence" that the government is planning to enact Martial law is nothing more then conspiracy theorists typical paranoia and fear mongering.

Conspiracy Theories: Why they are both easy and difficult to debunk

Conspiracy theories can most of the time be very easy to debunk. Mostly it just requires some research and the use of logic. But, some conspiracy theories can be difficult to debunk as well. This of course has nothing to do with the evidence. As I have already stated that tends to be easy to debunk.

It's the large amount of so called evidence conspiracy theorists tend to present, or the fact that the evidence presented is simply made up. Both of these reasons can actually make it difficult to debunk some conspiracy theories simply because it can be so frustrating and time consuming to prove it's false.

Conspiracy theorists will sometimes present large amounts "evidence" to try to prove what they believe in is real, it can be time consuming for many skeptics who debunk this type of stuff because unlike many conspiracy theorists, they will take the time to do the research to find out if any of this is true or not, rather then rely on someone's accusations that has been seen as solid proof of a conspiracy. An example of this would be the alleged cover up of knowledge of extra-terrestrial technology and contact.

There is a lot of alleged evidence out there that the United States government has extra-terrestrial technology, and has even made contact with aliens. Now while this stuff has mostly been refuted and/or dis-proven, there is a lot of it, and I mean a lot of it, and new "evidence" seems to pop up every year, so debunking this stuff (or any number of conspiracy theories) can become a full time job for some skeptics. This type of thing can wear down a skeptic and cause them to retire from debunking, even the really good ones.

What makes it harder is that often these pieces of  "evidence" that conspiracy theorists presents is completely made up, so sometimes a skeptic will look for something to either refute or confirm that piece of evidence when there is nothing to refute or confirm, and it just becomes a wasteful wild goose chase. An example of this would be FEMA prison camps.

Besides the fact that these locations of where these camps allegedly are usually just nothing more then misidentified buildings and military bases, for a lot of these alleged locations nothing exists at all. In fact when I was doing some co-research into one of them with Autistic Skeptic, I investigated the location of one in Oregon that claimed to be an old Japanese interment camp that was refurbished, and as it turned out, the old interment camp never even existed in the first place, so I was basically wasting my time before I finally found out that this place didn't even exist. Not to mention that fact that I was very frustrated as well trying to find this alleged place.

Another thing conspiracy theorists will sometimes do is that they will add on to already refuted and discredited evidence. A great example of this would be the belief that the World Trade Center towers were brought down in a controlled demolition.

Many conspiracy theorists believe that the towers were brought down by explosives that were planted inside the building. When a skeptic points out that no one ever saw these explosives planted inside the buildings, the conspiracy theorists will claim that it was thermite paint. When a skeptic points out that thermite has never been detected in any independent tests, a conspiracy theorist will claim it was nano-thermite. When a skeptic points out that there is no such thing as nano-thermite, a conspiracy theorist will usually say that is what the government wants you to believe (assuming they haven't declared the skeptic a dis-information agent at some point in the conversation) and will continue to use old, refuted evidence.

At that point most skeptics would declare the conversation a PRATT (point refuted a thousand times) because they know it would be pointless to continue this cycle of refuting claims when the refuting is going to continue to be ignored and they just stop arguing with them. In fact this happens a lot with many conspiracy theorists' claims, and it can be very frustrating and angering for some skeptics (although some, especially those who were once conspiracy theorists themselves, will take pity on them).

So in the end it becomes a battle between people who will do the research and between people who will simply believe whatever they are told when it fits their world view.

ECT Follow up: FEMA camps: American Holocaust

Note: Special thanks to Autistic Skeptic for sending me some information on this and then putting this into movie form.

In a previous Embarrassing Conspiracy Theory article I talked about how many conspiracy theorists believe that the government is going to declare martial law and place dissenters into large prison camps run by FEMA, often times called FEMA camps. These conspiracy theorist also believe that the government is stock-piling plastic burial vaults in order to place large amounts of bodies in what is suppose to be the mass killing of millions of citizens via biological weapons, or some other more violent means.

There are multiple photos floating around the internet showing thousands of these plastic burial vaults in highly visible, outdoor storage facilities. Some of these vaults are along major roads and highways, and are very easy to find and access. Many of these facilities don't even have fences around them, and would allow anyone who wanted to, to go up to one of these places and have a look around.

It seems a tad bit odd the government would have them out in the open like this if they were going to be used in a massive conspiracy to kill millions. This leads to the question that if this was part of some huge conspiracy to kill off millions of people, then why would they be out in the open like they are?

Also, if the government was planning to murder millions, then why would they bother to put the bodies in plastic burial vaults in the first place, when it would be easier and cheaper to bury the bodies without a burial vault?

The only purpose for burial vaults is to protect the casket and the body inside from the dirt outside of it, which would also explain why these vaults are so large and look like they could hold three or four people. So it makes no sense that the government is willing to protect the bodies of millions of people that it's going to allegedly murder.

Now the government does in fact buy burial vaults, but it's through the Department of Veteran's affairs, and they're to bury solders who have been killed overseas and veterans who fought in past wars and earned the right to a free military funeral.

The reality is that these burial vaults that are in these photos are not owned by the government, but are owned private companies who also manufacture these vaults, and these places that are in these photos where they store their finished product.

The reason why there is such large amounts of these burials vaults at these facilities is not because they are being stored for a future mass murder, but because it is necessary due to fact that 2.5 million people die every year in the United States.

If the government was going to kill the millions that conspiracy theorists claim they would, they would require a lot more burial vaults then whats being held at these facilities.

Another one of the claims made by conspiracy theorists is that trains will be used to transport the plastic burial vaults and the bodies within to where ever they are going to be buried, or be used to either deport people to prison camps.

One of the most common types of train cars that is claimed the government will use to haul these bodies in is called the Autorack. By the name alone most people can tell that they are to be used for hauling... cars, and that's all they're used for. In fact, that's all they're designed for, and they're quite common.

There are many videos on Youtube that show these trains with something like "FEMA train" in the title. The problem with these videos is that they never show burial vaults ever being put into them, or unloaded. Most of the time these trains going are just going by, and you can't really see into them very well.

There is simply no evidence that these "FEMA trains" exist, and that in reality they're nothing more then car transports.

With these claims shown to be nothing more then severe misunderstandings it can be easily dismissed as being nothing more then anti-government paranoia.

How NWO predictions work

There are a lot of conspiracy theorists who every year make claims that the New World Order (or the NWO for short) is going to take over the country, and then the world.

Here is how they tend to come up with these dates:

First, they find a date where something important happens.

Alternatively they just make up a date and claim that it is when the NWO is going to take over. The reason usually behind this is that they believe that the date has some significant importance with the occult and Satanic beliefs.

Second, they make a claim of a "triggering event". It's usually something that is very destructive and would force the government to declare martial law, such as a massive terrorist attack, a nuclear explosion, a pandemic, etc.

Alternatively, they will claim that the United Nations will take over, or the European Union, or some other foreign body.

Third, when the prediction fails, they will usually forget about the prediction, and never mention it again. They will then most likely go on and make a new prediction.

Alternatively they will claim that because of their "warning" people became more alert, so the New World Order scrubbed their plans and set a new date.

Now many of you are probably thinking that this is kind of simplified, but in reality this is how many of these date specific predictions (not just New World Order predictions) work: Make a best guess date, claim what the trigger will be, nothing happens, repeat the process.

A recent example of this would be the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Many conspiracy theorists were predicting that the either during the opening ceremonies, or during the games itself, or during the closing ceremonies, that a false flag terrorist attack would occur and trigger the coming of the NWO.

Of course this didn't happen, same as with the 2008 Summer Olympics, which many conspiracy theorists were also claiming would be the site of a false flag terrorist attack that would trigger the coming of the NWO.

Now I could go on and name more and more of these NWO predictions that have come and gone, but they are just so numerous that it would be pointless to name them all, and that would just be predictions made by the world's top conspiracy theorists alone, not to mention some random nut job on the internet who claims that "aliens" told them the date of a NWO takeover, or because they had a dream that the NWO was going to take over on a certain date, or because they made a "best guess" estimate of when the NWO was suppose to take over.

The fact is that besides the fact that there is no proof that the NWO even exists in the first place, these predictions never come true, and is just another example of not only why people need to stop believing in these NWO conspiracy theories, but why we shouldn't trust predictions in the first place, and not live our lives around them.

Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: FEMA camps

There is this growing belief among many conspiracy theorists that FEMA, and by extension, the United States government and the United Nations, is constructing prison camps. The reason behind this belief is another belief held by many conspiracy theorists is that the government is going to soon declare martial law in preparation for take over by the alleged "New World Order" (a group that conspiracy theorists claims to exist, but has never been able to prove exists), and that the camps are being constructed to hold people who might object to government or NWO authority.

This conspiracy theory is not new to me. In fact, the first time I heard about it was back in the mid 1990's while watching a day time talk show, and one of the guest on there was saying that the government was building death camps to kill white people...

The guest on that show was a member of the KKK, so obviously the person isn't the most reliable source of information on anything what so ever.

Now besides the historical interment camps used to illegally hold Japanese-American citizens back in the 1940's, there's no evidence what so ever that the US has any interment camps or prison camps. In fact, many alleged photos that are claimed to be FEMA camps are actually National Guard training camps, the interment camps used to hold Japanese-Americans, POW camps, real prisons that hold prisoners, or some other facility that would make sense to have a fence around and some security. Some of these photos are of actual prison camps... in North Korea.

Now if these FEMA camps really did exist, then shouldn't there be a lot of people who actually built these places and worked at these places be standing up and telling the public that these places do indeed exist, and what they will most likely be used for? In fact, as far as I know, no one who allegedly worked at an alleged FEMA camp has ever come forward and said that FEMA camps are real, and that they'll be used as prison camps.

Now some conspiracy theorists will say that the reason behind this is because the government has either managed to bribe or frighten everyone who ever helped construct or worked at a FEMA camp, but that would be very difficult to do, considering the thousands of people who would be needed to construct and run such places. The more logical reason why no one has ever come forward is because there's most likely nothing to come forward about.

Now there really are emergency housing facilities that are operated by FEMA that also have fencing around them, which I assume is to keep criminals out. Now these facilities are also sometimes confused for prison camps as well, but these places also have playground equipment on them, a lot like some public housing facilities and schools.

One more thing. When you take into consideration just how effective FEMA has been in the past, would you really want them to be in charge of a bunch of prison camps?

For a further reading on places that have been misidentified, please go to http://utistickyuubi.blog.com

Conspiracy Theories & The Paranormal: Why the belief and promotion of both can be dangerous

Recently while I was on a skeptics message board I met a young man who was having trouble getting over the belief in the Illuminati and spirit communication via the Oujia board. While I believe his belief in the Illuminati has been has been destroyed, it appears he just can't get over his fear of the Oujia board due to all of the stories about dark spirit and demon communications via the Oujia board on the internet. These stories are at the very least nothing but then misinterpretations and mass hysteria, and at the very worst, outright lies, but this young man just can not seem to get over the fact that people do lie about this stuff, or that people don't understand that people do stuff subconsciously with the Oujia board, and because of this, these stories are terrifying him, even though he does know they aren't real, he just can not seem to get that concept completely into his mind.

Another young man that I've been in communications with via Twitter also was having anxiety because Illuminati conspiracy theories, and FEMA camp conspiracy theories, and that he was having trouble getting over those beliefs as well, and that these conspiracy theories terrified him so badly that he had seriously considered committing suicide due to his fear that he and his family would be thrown into a FEMA camp or killed. His autism probably didn't help with his anxiety over these conspiracy theories either. So this young man, instead of drowning in his fears, decided to start his own debunking blog called Autistic Skeptic as a way to help him as a way to get over his anxiety, and fears, and beliefs in these conspiracy theories.

On another blog I sometimes visit there were posts in the comments section of one blog article that were made by a young man who claimed to have post traumatic stress disorder due to the "conspiracy" involving the 9/11 attacks. This person had more then just PTSD, and appeared to be very mentally disturbed, and was posting threatening pictures on his Facebook page that he saw as "art".

These three young men's stories are just a few examples of what may be thousands, if not millions of people who have believed in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, or still do seriously believe  in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, or are having trouble getting over the fact that these conspiracy theories and stories about the paranormal just aren't real, and are entirely made up as a way to promote some sort of political or religious agenda, or that these people who post this stuff on the internet are just misinterpreting things that happen to them, or what they saw, or that they're making this stuff up to get attention. This has become even easier now because of the internet, because you don't have to look a person right in the face and lie.

Because some people have trouble determining what is real and what is not real over the internet, and that some people may have mental issues, or because of how they were raised and what beliefs they were taught, these conspiracy theories and stories of the paranormal can terrify them to the point where it affects their lives. Even if they know it's not real, if they have any bits of belief in them of these fringe subjects, and they are very gullible and easily scared, it can very badly affect their out look on the world, and their health. It can even lead some people to commit suicide, or worse, murder.

For those who do seriously believe in conspiracy theories and the paranormal, not only can these affect both their physical and mental health, it can also affect how they interact with the people around them as well. Constantly talking about and insisting that such things are real can lead to some people who don't believe in such fringe things to end up cutting communications with that person because they can't deal with that person's paranoia. Beliefs in fringe things can also lead to believers cutting off communications with friends and family members because they can't deal with people trying to convince them that what they believe isn't real, or they might even begin to believe that those people are working for some forces that are trying to destroy them. To people that they don't know, sometimes they will act extremely nasty towards them, sometimes to the point where the other person feels threaten and they end up calling the police.

This is what makes conspiracy theories and stories of the paranormal so harmful, and why I debunk this stuff. It's not because they're real, because most often times they are not, but because the shear thought of their existence can terrify some people to the point where it drives them crazy and they may end up harming themselves, or others.

To read more about the Autistic Skeptic's story please go to his page about his personal experiences with conspiracy theories, and read about his struggles over his beliefs in conspiracy theories, the anxiety brought on by those beliefs, and his struggle to rid himself of those beliefs and the fear that comes with them.