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.
Showing posts with label birther. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birther. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Friday, May 3, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: Birthers
The birther conspiracy theory was once one of the biggest conspiracy theories in America.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, this conspiracy theory is based upon the belief that President Obama wasn't born in the United States, and therefore can not legally be the president of the United States.
Besides the fact that this conspiracy theory is baseless in it's "facts", and was debunked from the beginning, it still exists, although not as many people believe in it now, because of the fact that President Obama released his long form birth certificate in 2011.
Those that still believe this conspiracy theory not only still believe that he wasn't born in the United States, but that all the documents that prove he was born here are fakes.
Most birthers base their claims that President Obama was born in Kenya because of a Kenyan birth certificate that said that the president was born in Kenya. That birth certificate is actually fake, and the person who created it, actually admitted it was fake.
Another reason birthers still claim the the president wasn't born in the United States because of a recorded phone conversation between Barack Obama's step-grandmother, Sarah Obama, and an Anabaptist bishop, Ron McRae, in which she allegedly said that her grandson was born in Kenya. This is in fact false. She never said he was born in Kenya, and in fact said he was born in the United States.
So why the hell are there still people whom still believe that President Obama wasn't born in this country?
There may be a very simple answer to this: Those people are most likely racists who hate the fact that the president is black.
I am more then certain that if the president was white, and didn't have such a foreign sounding name, no one would even question if they were an American citizen.
Birther theories are considered so ridiculous, and has been debunked so completely, that even FoxNews, which of the three major cable news networks, is the most critical of the president, no longer even has birthers come on and talk about why they believe Obama wasn't born in this country. And the other networks tend to ignore birthers completely.
Not only is this conspiracy theory embarrassing to conservatives and Republicans, because most birthers are conservatives and Republicans, it should embarrassing to conspiracy theorist in general, because it makes them look like a bunch of racists and idiots.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, this conspiracy theory is based upon the belief that President Obama wasn't born in the United States, and therefore can not legally be the president of the United States.
Besides the fact that this conspiracy theory is baseless in it's "facts", and was debunked from the beginning, it still exists, although not as many people believe in it now, because of the fact that President Obama released his long form birth certificate in 2011.
Those that still believe this conspiracy theory not only still believe that he wasn't born in the United States, but that all the documents that prove he was born here are fakes.
Most birthers base their claims that President Obama was born in Kenya because of a Kenyan birth certificate that said that the president was born in Kenya. That birth certificate is actually fake, and the person who created it, actually admitted it was fake.
Another reason birthers still claim the the president wasn't born in the United States because of a recorded phone conversation between Barack Obama's step-grandmother, Sarah Obama, and an Anabaptist bishop, Ron McRae, in which she allegedly said that her grandson was born in Kenya. This is in fact false. She never said he was born in Kenya, and in fact said he was born in the United States.
So why the hell are there still people whom still believe that President Obama wasn't born in this country?
There may be a very simple answer to this: Those people are most likely racists who hate the fact that the president is black.
I am more then certain that if the president was white, and didn't have such a foreign sounding name, no one would even question if they were an American citizen.
Birther theories are considered so ridiculous, and has been debunked so completely, that even FoxNews, which of the three major cable news networks, is the most critical of the president, no longer even has birthers come on and talk about why they believe Obama wasn't born in this country. And the other networks tend to ignore birthers completely.
Not only is this conspiracy theory embarrassing to conservatives and Republicans, because most birthers are conservatives and Republicans, it should embarrassing to conspiracy theorist in general, because it makes them look like a bunch of racists and idiots.
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