5 Things I've noticed about... Sandy Hook Hoax Conspiracy Theorists

Sandy Hook conspiracy theorists.

Many skeptics (including myself) consider these people to be the lowest of the low.

There are actually two different types of these conspiracy theorists: those who think that the massacre at the elementary school was a false flag attack, and those that think that it didn't even happen at all, more commonly called Sandy Hook Hoaxers.

Today I'm going to focus on the lesser human of the two, the Hoaxers.

Now I have noticed a lot of things about these "people", but I've narrowed it down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about Sandy Hook Hoax conspiracy theorists:

5. They're psychopaths.

Many Sandy Hook hoax conspiracy theorists display behaviors that to some people would be similar to psychopathy.

Most of the believers in this conspiracy theory show no empathy or sadness towards the adults and children that were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary, nor do they show any empathy towards the people that lost loved ones that day.

Some conspiracy theorists have even been in an active campaign of harassment against survivors and people who lost loved ones in that massacre, much of which has been very volatile and vial. Even those that don't engage in any harassment do often give support and encouragement to those that do.

Worst yet many of them, especially the ones that engage in harassment, will try to "justify" their behavior by claiming that the massacre didn't happen, or that they have every right to do what they're doing (which they don't).

Even if they do sincerely believe that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary didn't happen it doesn't justify their behavior, because they should be taking into consideration that that the massacre there did happen and that what they are doing is very hurtful, but they're not doing so.

Many of them also don't seem to understand or care that they're behavior could have some severe consequences for them, such as being arrested and going to jail and even prison. And speaking of being arrested and going to jail and prison...

4. They're criminals.

Many of these Sandy Hook hoax conspiracy theorists since the massacre happened have been engaging in a unorganized campaign of internet based harassment against the parents of the children who were murdered, as well as anyone else who was involved with the events of that day.

The harassment in itself is a criminal action, but over the months it has de-evolved into more serious crimes, such as stalking, threats, and even vandalism. There is some speculation that it may be a matter of time before one of these conspiracy theorists finally goes off the deep end and tries to kill one of the parents of the murdered children, or someone whom was involved with the events of that day.

Even those that don't engage in any criminal actions could be considered criminals by-proxy, either by encouraging and giving support to those that do engage in harassment, or to a lesser extent condoning or just not condemning such behavior.

3. They're mentally ill.

I know that most skeptics tend to call certain conspiracy theorists crazy as a means of insulting them (whether we realize that or not), but in the case of Sandy Hook hoax conspiracy theorists many of them have shown signs of having real and perhaps severe mental health issues.

Many of these conspiracy theorists show definite signs of delusional disorders, such Fregoli delusion (which is a mental disorder that causes a person to believe that two or more people are the same person) and/or schizophrenia, as well as other kinds of paranoid delusional disorders and bi-polar disorder.

Not only do paranoid delusional disorders explain why many of these conspiracy theorists believe that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary didn't happen and that everyone there is an actor, it might also explain why many of them are so aggressive and volatile towards people either involved with the events of that day, or the parents of the children that were murdered that day, or anyone who stands up to them and tells them that what they believe is not true, and that they need to stop harassing the parents that lost their children that day.

Even for those that do have a mental illness it doesn't excuse them for their behavior, and they need to go and get some help.

2. They shocked even skeptics.

After news about the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary broke many skeptics (including myself) guessed that conspiracy theorists were going to make all of these accusations about how the whole thing was a "false flag attack" and that the murderer was either a government agent, or under some kind of mind control.

While predictably conspiracy theorists did make these accusations and thus surprised none of the skeptics that I knew, what surprised us were the claims that the massacre didn't happen at all, and what really shocked us was the behavior of those who believe this.

We've always known that conspiracy theorists can be very aggressive people, but normally their aggressiveness would be focused on the people who told them they were wrong, but in the case with these Sandy Hook hoax conspiracy theorists their aggressive was directly focused on the families that lost children in that massacre, as well as others who were some how involved in the event.

That is what really shocked us, that they went after people who were truly in pain, rather than the people who could take their abuse and fight them back.

1. They refuse to accept reality.

What happened at Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14, 2012 is not an easy thing to accept. That day a very mentally disturbed young man murdered his mother, then went to Sandy Hook Elementary School and murdered 26 people, 20 of them young children.

We may never know why he did this, but he did, and it's reality, and it's a reality that the survivors of that massacre, and the parents who lost their children that day and never get to see them grow up have to deal with.

I know that some people don't want to accept this reality, but it is a reality, and the people who believe that it didn't happen need to accept that it did happen. They need to move on and leave the people who lost their loved ones in that massacre alone, and if they can't do that for some reason then they need to seek psychiatric treatment so that they can become able to.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9. Anti-GMO/Monsanto claims.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6. The Xbox One can see you naked.

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

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

5. Something about Comet ISON

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5 Things I've noticed about... Conspiracy Theorists on Youtube

If you're someone that makes a hobby of investigating conspiracy theories, you will eventually be lead to one place: Youtube.

Youtube seems to the gathering center conspiracy theorists on the internet due to the huge amount a conspiracy theory videos on that website (and I mean huge).

Now there are a lot of things that I have noticed about conspiracy theorists on Youtube that I could talk about, but I have narrowed it down to five different things.

So here are five things that I've noticed about conspiracy theorists on Youtube:

5. They can come up with some pretty bizarre conspiracy theories.

If you want to find a really bizarre conspiracy theory, then there is no better place to look than Youtube, because the conspiracy theorists on that website can come up with some very bizarre conspiracy theories. In fact some of the weirdest conspiracy theories that I have ever heard of are from videos on Youtube.

These conspiracy theories on Youtube can get so strange, and combined with a person's own behavior either in a video, or in the comments section, that it makes one wonder if that person is either a poe, or a fraud that is looking for attention (or to scam people), or severely mentally ill. In fact some conspiracy theorist on Youtube have been proven to be either mentally ill or frauds.

Some of these videos are so bizarre that I've had to stop watching them at times because I felt that it was driving me crazy (mostly rage) and making me want to destroy my computer in frustration over not only how some one could come up with some thing that crazy and stupid, but also in frustration over why Youtube would allow such a video to stay on the website.

If such videos make me nearly go crazy then I can't imagine what they do to people who take these videos seriously.

4. Their videos can be extremely long.

Sometimes a conspiracy theorist's video on Youtube can be short, sometimes they can be half an hour long, and sometimes they can go on for hours and hours.

Some of the longest videos that I have ever seen on Youtube have been from conspiracy theorists, and I'm not talking about an hour or two long. Some of these videos can be three to four to six hours long. In fact I think the longest one I have ever seen (I didn't actually watch it, I just noted the time) was forty hours long!

The only way someone could watch such videos is if they were unemployed and/or had no life what so ever. They would have to spend all of their time infront of a computer watching these poorly made and researched Youtube videos which would become essentially their only source of information about the world...

Besides just making abnormally long videos, conspiracy theorists on Youtube also tend to do this:

3. They create videos of an event quickly after an event happens.

Thanks mostly due to cheap (many times free), widely available, and easy to use video capturing and editing software, conspiracy theorist can now create videos at astonishingly amazing speeds after some event happens, sometimes even within hours of an event happening.

Usually these videos are pretty short, as well as poorly made and edited, but give them a few days and they will create a far longer conspiracy theory video about that event... that will still be poorly made and edited.

In fact this seems to be a pattern with many conspiracy theorists videos on Youtube, because...

2. They're videos tend to be poorly made and edited.

Some of conspiracy theorist's videos on Youtube are just unwatchable, and it's not just because of the length, or subject matter, or lack of any evidence presented within them when a conspiracy theorist tries to make their case about a conspiracy theory that they claim is real, but because they are just horrible videos to begin with.

Many of the videos are made are just very poorly done, and the editing and placement of segments and commentary within them is just horrible at times and appears to be just thrown together. The commentary alone in these videos are often not well thought out, and many times is just incoherent and often times makes many contradictions, and for the most part makes no sense what so ever.

Kind of sounds like a conspiracy theorist is general rather than just the ones on Youtube.

1. They don't like "non-believers".

Most conspiracy theorists in general do not like people who don't believe them and doubt the conspiracy theories that they are promoting are real, but on Youtube they take it to a different level entirely.

Many of them are just rude and very hostile towards anyone questions them. They down vote comments they don't like and mark them as spam in hopes of hiding the comments that have offended them. They false flag videos they don't like (mostly debunking videos) and outright threaten people who post debunking videos or comments expressing doubt in a conspiracy theory.

That's just the ones who mainly post comments.

The ones who post videos on the other hand might do all of that as well, plus they might just delete your comments from their own pages, and block you.

Kind of shows how open minded they are, doesn't it.

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

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

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

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

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

5. They're indicators of mental illness.

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

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

4. There is no deep end to them.

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

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

In fact some are so bizarre that...

3. They are confused for satire.

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. Most conspiracy theories are bizarre.

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

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

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

6 Conspiracy theories that make people paranoid

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

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

Here are a few of those conspiracy theories:

Chemtrails

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

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

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

Mind control

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

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

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

Shape-shifting aliens

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

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

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

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

Dis-info agents

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

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

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

FEMA camps

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

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

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

The Illuminati

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

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

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

Chemtrail Detox Spray: Another BS product

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

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

The claims made on the website are as follows:

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

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

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

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

The next claim made says that it is a:

• Non Chemical Homeopathic Remedy.

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

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

The next thing the makers of this product says:

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

And those would happen to be:

• sinus irritation,

Which is also a symptom of a cold or allergies.

• lowered immune system,

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

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

• body aches,

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

• radioactive heavy metals,

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

• memory loss,

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

• fatigue,

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

• infections,

Infections are caused by bacteria and viruses, not chemicals.

• mental/emotional health

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

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

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

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

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

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

5 Things I've noticed about... 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

A few months ago I did one of these "5 Things I've noticed about..." articles on the people in the 9/11 Truth Movement, and it had me thinking to myself "what about the conspiracy theories that the people in the 9/11 Truth Movements promote?"

So what about those conspiracy theories, and what are some of the biggest things about them that just stand out? Well, I've noticed a lot of things about them, and I've narrowed them down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about 9/11 conspiracy theories:

5. There are a lot of them.

Probably one of the biggest problems with the 9/11 conspiracy theories is that there are more than one of them, instead of just one that the people who believe in and focus on.

For some people these can be confusing not only because they are all very different, but they are mostly not even connected to one another.

Not only can they be confusing, but they are also progressively more bizarre as well.

There is the let it happen theory, the controlled demolition theory, the drone plane theory, the nuke theory, and even the no plane/space lasers (which is so bizarre a person in the 9/11 Truth Movement debunked it).

I guess you say that the 9/11 conspiracy theories are a lot like the JFK assassination conspiracy theories in that not only are there more than one theory to what happened, but also because...

4. There is apparently more than one perpetrator.

Besides there just being more than one 9/11 conspiracy theory, according to these conspiracy theories, there is no solid conclusion on who the "real" perpetrator is.

Some people claim that it was Al-Qaida, it's just that those in the government allowed them to attack. Some people say that it was a collaboration between the government and Al-Qaida. Some people believe it was just the government, or Israel, or the Illuminati, or someone else entirely.

It just seems like none of these conspiracy theorists who claim that 9/11 was an inside job can agree upon who did it, and how they did it. Of course that isn't very surprising to me, because...

3. The biggest promoters of the 9/11 conspiracy theories are kooks.

Now I'm saying that all people who believe in the 9/11 conspiracy theories are kooks, but the biggest promoters of these theories are.

There's Alex Jones, whom constantly promotes conspiracy theories on his radio program, thinks everything bad that happens is a false flag attack, and just starts yelling and making incoherent rants.

There's Mike Adams, a promoter of pseudoscience and medical quackery (especially dangerous types of medical quackery), as well as other conspiracy theories.

Finally, there's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, whom in addition to promoting 9/11 conspiracy theories, is also a holocaust denier, and is antisemitic.

They are of course not the only one's who promote the 9/11 conspiracy theories, but they are some of the biggest ones, and many of the other promoters of the 9/11 conspiracy theories are just as nutty (or possibly fraudulent) as these guys.

2. They contain a lot of bigotry.

Many conspiracy theories contain forms of bigotry within them, and 9/11 conspiracy theories are no different.

A lot of the 9/11 conspiracy theories are antisemitic, either indirectly by blaming several prominent Jews of being involved in the attacks, or blatantly antisemitic by blaming Israel, and that all the Jewish people who worked at the World Trade Center were in on it.

Besides the antisemitism within these conspiracy theories, these conspiracy theories are also racist as well, because many conspiracy theorists try to justify their belief that someone other than some people from the middle east had to have done this because people from the middle east (and Arab people in general) are not mentally capable of planning out and doing such a thing, or if they did, then they would have had to have had help from either white people or Jews, or have been allowed to do this.

1. They've all been debunked.

Every single 9/11 conspiracy theory has been debunked. From the "let it happen" theories, to the controlled demolition theory, to the really crazy no plane theories, not a single one has ever been proven to be true, or have been shown to hold up to any sort of evidence, or even hold up to logical arguments.

In fact they have all been debunked for years now, and some skeptics no longer even debate and debunk the people who make these claims, either because they have determined that those people are either to stupid to figure out that none of these conspiracy theories are true, or that they are to self deluded to be able to see that what they believe to be true is not, or that they are mentally ill, or they are a liar with an ulterior motive.

The fact is that all of the evidence surrounding the 9/11 attacks point in only one direction: Al-Qaida and the 19 members of that terrorist group who hijacked those planes and flew them into the sides of those buildings, and no one else.

Fregoli Delusion: A possible reason why some believe in Crisis Actors?

Recently I read this VICE article about a person by the name of Ed Chiarini (whether that is his real name or not is unknown, but it doesn't really matter) whom is a conspiracy theorist whom believes that everyone you see in the media is actually an actor (even famous actors).

His latest target: Senator John McCain, whom he believes is actually Henry Winkler (and no, I'm not kidding, he really does believe that the Maverick is actually the Fonz).

@SenJohnMcCain @ABCWorldNews Hey McCain/Winkler Say hello to your WIFE for us, & to Eugene Levy (AKA ACTING pres of EGYPT) too. We C U- SCTV
— Ed Chiarini (@dallasgoldbug) August 27, 2013

And apparently he also believes that Eugene Levy is the acting president of Egypt.

When I first read this article I honestly believed that this person was a poe due to the sheer fact that the conspiracy theories he was creating and promoting were so ridicules that it bordered on satire...

Sadly, it wasn't satire. He really does believe what he is saying. I figured that out when I saw his posts about the Sandy Hook massacre and that everyone seen in photos and videos being "crisis actors". Even a well constructed poe would not cross that line.

After seeing that this person clearly believed what he was saying it became very clear that this person most likely has major mental health issues.

Many people who were commenting on the article were saying that he probably has schizophrenia, which is very probable he does have, but I was told by a fellow skeptic that he may have a rare mental disorder called Fregoli delusion.

Fregoli delusion, also known as the "delusion of doubles", is a mental disorder that is sometimes the result of a brain injury and can leave a person to believe that two or more people are actually one person.

Besides believing that two different people are in fact the same person, other behaviors that can go along with Fregoli delusion includes the following:

• Impaired self monitoring, mental flexibility, and social reasoning, including passive acceptance of inaccurate conclusions.
• A tendency to select salient associations rather than a relevant one.
• Mnemonic association of routine thoughts.
• Unable to come up with an alternative hypothesis.

Sound familiar?

To me it reads just like the type of behavior a conspiracy theorist who thinks that crisis actors are real and that two different people are one in the same often times displays. Because of this people like Ed might not be able to control their behavior (at least not without some serious mental health intervention) and can lead them promoting some pretty disturbing and disgusting conspiracy theories and not even be aware of the harm they are causing.

While Fregoli delusion is considered a delusional disorder, it is not considered to be a type of schizophrenia, but is in fact a type of Delusional Misidentification Syndrome, which is an umbrella term that encompasses delusional disorders in which a person believes that the identity of a person, place, or thing has been altered.

I don't know if Ed, or anyone for that matter who believes that the Sandy Hook massacre was faked and that what you saw was crisis actors are mentally ill (although it seems very unlikely that they are not) or that if they are that they have Fregoli delusion (they could have something else entirely, or have a different type of mental disorder and Fregoli delusion as well), but Fregoli delusion does seem a likely cause because not only can it cause a person to believe that two different people is the same person, it also causes people to be paranoid and believe that they are being persecuted. Combined this along with impaired self-monitoring and social reasoning as a result of a brain injury that can cause Fregoli delusion, you might get someone who is unable to control their actions, especially over a medium such as the internet, but also unable to understand that their actions are harmful to others and possibly even themselves, thus you have a situation like what happened after the Sandy Hook massacre where some conspiracy theorists were harassing family members of the slain children and some of the heros of that day, accusing them of being crisis actors and even going so far as to threatening them.

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.

What is a Sheeple? The Conspiracy Theorist definition, and the reality based definition.

Recently on Facebook came across a picture on my feed that, considering the group it was posted in (it was a comedy page) I thought was very... unusual, to say the least.

This is the picture that was posted in said group:

I found this picture a tad bit disturbing, not only because it was posted in a group meant for comedy, but because it clearly showed what at least some conspiracy theorists thinks about people who disagree with them or out right do not believe (and most of the time, for good reason).

In fact this description would be far more accurate if the word "Sheeple" was replaced with "Conspiracy Theorist", as many skeptics would agree that this would more accurately describe many conspiracy theorists (or at least the far more psychotic ones).

Now, a far more accurate definition for the word "Sheeple" would probably be this:

Sheeple - A derogatory word that combines the words "sheep" and "people", and is typically used by conspiracy theorists to try to describe a person whom does not believe in their conspiracy theories (see Skeptic).

Typically the word "Sheeple" is used in arguments over the internet as a blatant insult directed at a skeptic, and is also used as an attempt to intimidate a skeptic into backing down or backing away from an argument concerning a conspiracy theory, and/or even bully them into agreeing with the conspiracy theorist.

This is not to be confused with the word "Shill" which is typically directed towards people who not only do not believe in a conspiracy theory that a conspiracy theorist is presenting, but also presents evidence and/or logical reasoning to show why they don't believe in a conspiracy theory.

Both "Shill" and "Sheeple" are also used by conspiracy theorists as an attempt to end an argument over the internet while trying to save face when it becomes obvious to them that they can not win and are just making themselves appear as someone of either low intelligence and/or questionable sanity.

That would be a far more accurate description for the word "Sheeple". Basically speaking, it is just a typical insult that conspiracy theorists use to try to scare away a skeptic.

The best thing to do if someone calls you a sheeple is to ask them why they think you are a sheeple, and then explain to them why you are not one (this also works if they call you a shill). If this does not work either ignore the accusations, ignore the person completely, or (if you feel like just making them mad) tell them that they are actually conceding defeat in that they actually have nothing left to counter argue, and that they are actually trying to end the argument while at the same time attempting to make it appear as if they have actually won the argument.

Regardless of how you decide to actually handle someone who calls you a a sheeple or a shill, you just have to remember that this is typical conspiracy theorist speak, and that they're only saying it because they're mad that you don't believe them.

5 Things I've noticed about... Conspiracy Theorists on the Internet

Ever encounter a conspiracy theorist on the internet? Most of us have, especially if you're a skeptic like myself who has their own blog about debunking. At that point they tend to come to you.

While there are a lot of things about conspiracy theorist on the internet that I've noticed they tend to do, I've narrowed it down to five main things.

So here are five things I've noticed about conspiracy theorist on the internet:

5. They love using quotes.

Be it in their signature line on an internet forum, or in their timeline on their Facebook page, conspiracy theorists love posting quotes on the internet. Usually these quotes are allegedly from some musician, or politician, or philosopher, or just some famous person whom they think would share their beliefs. Sometimes these quotes are accompanied with a picture of the person who allegedly said it.

The problem with this is that (and this is true anytime someone quotes someone) is that the quotes can be taken out of context, the quote can be mis-quoted, or it could be something that person never said at all.

There is of course one truth about these quotes: they do absolutely nothing to back up what ever conspiracy theory they are claiming to believe in.

4. They love collages.

Go to any conspiracy theorist group on Facebook or conspiracy theorist forum and you'll usually find some collages of photo-shopped pictures along with conspiracy theory claims within the collage.

These collages are often times confusing at the least, and more times than not, disturbing looking.

Many conspiracy theorists might think these collages helps get whatever point they have across, but the reality is that they are really a turn off for normal minded people and makes them all look like a bunch of wackos.

3. They don't have a sense of humor.

Conspiracy theorists (at least on the internet) take things way to seriously, and when someone makes a joke or a sarcastic remake, they tend to go ballistic, either because they don't think you should be joking about the subject at hand, or they think you're being serious.

They also can't tell when someone (or some website) is being sarcastic either. An example of this would be Skeptic Project. On the front page of the website it says "Your #1 COINTELPRO cognitive infiltration source." To most people they are clearly being sarcastic. But apparently some people in the Infowars forums thought they were actually admitting to being a COINTELPRO website.

2. They are extremely rude.

Ever try having a conversation over the internet with a conspiracy theorist about some conspiracy they believe, and you tell them that you don't believe in it, or that it isn't true, then you have most likely been on the receiving end of one of the most logical faulty and volatile rants that you will probably ever encounter.

While this behavior is nothing unexpected (be it unwelcomed) from a conspiracy theorist on the interenet, what is unexpected is that some of them make threats (which can get them in trouble), try to take down other peoples' internet pages if they don't like what is on there, troll internet pages and spam them with their conspiracy theories, and harass people who disagree with them.

1. They think everyone whom disagrees with them is a disinformation agent.

Anyone who has a blog dedicated to skepticism and debunking, or gets into an argument with a conspiracy theorist on the internet in which you present evidence debunking whatever claims they are making, will eventually get called a disinformation agent (or a sheeple at the very least).

Because conspiracy theorists so badly believe that what they believe is real, they actually can not believe that someone would honestly not believe them, so anyone who says otherwise must be a disinformation agent, thus they can disregard whatever information is posted that contradicts what they believe to be true.

Of course being called a disinformation agent really means nothing to skeptics. Some of us even consider it a kind of badge of honor.

A review of "Debunking 9/11 conspiracy theorists" by Myles Power

On October 31, 2012 blogger and vlogger Myles Power began uploading to his Youtube page the first of a seven part series called "Debunking 9/11 conspiracy theorists".

The series (as you can tell by the name in itself) primarily focused on several of claims that members of the 9/11 Truth movement made when he went down to the World Trade Center site on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, and interviewed some of the movement's members that were there protesting near by.

The main claims that were addressed were the ones concerning the beliefs that the Twin Towers and WTC 7 were brought down in a controlled demolition, that thermite was used to bring the towers down, and that a missile hit the Pentagon (along with a few other minor related claims).

Myles does an excellent job at debunking these claims using a combination of science, logic, and photographic and video evidence, while at the same time addressing and debunking these claims in a way that is not only easy to understand, but is also entertaining. I even learned couple of things myself that I didn't even know, such as that the plane that hit the Pentagon struck several lamp posts before it actually hit, and what exactly caused the Twin Towers to finally collapse (besides just the constant heat from the intense, jet fuel fueled fires that were causing the steel beams strength to weaken, the constant pressure from the rest of building up above pressing down on the weakened steel beams, and of course the damage caused by a Boeing 767 traveling 400 mph into this sides of the buildings).

While I did very much enjoy the series, I do have a couple of (minor) complaints.

First is that there were a few more claims that, in my opinion, should have been addressed.

While I know that Myles was primarily focused on the claims from the 9/11 Truthers that he had met made to him, I believe he should have addressed a few other claims that are also made by other 9/11 Truthers, such as the drone theory, the "let it happen" theory, the "Israel did it" theory, the "no plane" theory, and the related "space laser" theory (which he did briefly mentions, but would not bother address simply because it was so insane, which I don't blame him for).

If he does decide to make some follow up videos concerning some of the issues that were not addressed, I do hope that he will address and debunk these claims.

My other complaint actually concerns the sixth part of the series, which talks about the psychology behind 9/11 Truthers (and conspiracy theorists in general).

While I did find that part to be very interesting and informative in showing how conspiracy theorists think, in my opinion I don't feel that the part was actually necessary. Why I do know that part was included to help better show the thought processes of a 9/11 Truther, I feel that part should have been completely separate from the series, rather than apart of it.

Besides these two minor issues, I felt overall that this series was excellent, and I highly recommend viewing it, and not just for skeptics and debunkers, but also for people in the 9/11 Truth Movement, and people who just have some unanswered questions about that horrible day.

Below is the first of the seven part series:

The other six parts can be found here

Myles's Youtube Page

Myles's Blog

Myles's Facebook Page

Myles's Twitter Page

How many people really do believe the government committed the 9/11 attacks?

How many people actually believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks, or at least allowed the attacks to happen? This is a question that I sometimes wonder about.

What I mean by people who actually believe the government committed or allow the 9/11 attacks to happen, I don't mean simply people who say they believe that the government committed the 9/11, I mean people who actually mean it when they say that they believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks.

Now there are multiple surveys that have been conducted over the past decade that have asked people whether or not they believe the government was involve in the 9/11 attacks, but there are a couple of problems I have with these surveys:

One, they are often vary in percentages of how many people actually believe the government was involved in the 9/11 attacks. This can be because of where the surveys were taken, when they were taken, and how the questions were actually worded.

And two, there is no realistic way to filter out the people who just say they believe from the true believers.

Now many of you are probably asking "why would someone claim they believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks but not really mean it?"

Well, one reason might be for political purposes.

It's very well known that conspiracy theories are often time used for political and propaganda purposes, and the conspiracy theories surrounding the 9/11 attacks are no exception.

A person could be claiming this because they have anti-government beliefs, or anti-American beliefs, or anti-Israeli beliefs (for those that are antisemitic), or they could be a person who hated President Bush so much that they say they believe the government committed the 9/11 to (in their minds) further delegitimize his presidency.

Of course they could also be saying that the government committed the 9/11 attacks not because they have a anti-something beliefs, but because they wish to further their own political agendas, and they're just using and exploiting the 9/11 Truth movement to do it.

Of course, political reasons are not the only reasons why some people claim to believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks and not really mean it. It could be that they are, or fell like they are being pressured into saying that they believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks.

Perhaps a person joined a group of people who believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks because they themselves were once curious about the conspiracy theories about the attack, but now no longer believe in the 9/11 conspiracy theories. They might continue to claim that they believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks simply because they made friends in that group, and they don't want to risk losing them.

Another reason is because they are feeling pressure from their family to believe in these 9/11 conspiracy theories. Perhaps they even feel threatened by a spouse or a parent to "believe" in these conspiracy theories.

This happens all the time with things like religion and politics, and so it really would not surprise me if it happened with things like conspiracy theories (since conspiracy theories are sometimes a mixing of religion and politics).

Then there is one more group that has to be taken into consideration: people who have severe mental illness.

While a person who is severely mentally ill, and believes that the government did commit the 9/11 attacks, probably sincerely does believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks, there is the question about whether or not their belief should be considered a legitimate belief or not. The reason why I question if their belief that the government committed the 9/11 attacks should be consider legitimate or not is because it is questionable whether or not they would still believe that the government committed the 9/11 attacks if they were either not mentally ill (sometimes severe delusional disorders will make a person believe in anything), or if their mental illness was under controlled to the point where they were considered sane. Because of this it should be taken into consideration whether or not we should even count those beliefs as being sincere because their minds might not be allowing them to see clearly the facts when presented to them, rather then just simply ignoring the facts.

Because of all these factors I truly do wonder how many people actually believe that the government caused the 9/11 attacks, and honestly, I don't think it's as high as what many people think it is.

The Helmet that "Stops Alien Abductions"

Recently I came across a website that shows you how to make a helmet (actually it's a skullcap) that it's inventor, Micheal Menkin, claims to be able to not only prevent alien mind control, but alien abductions as well by preventing aliens from taking control of your mind and movements, thus preventing them from abducting you.

Basically, it's a tinfoil hat on steroids.

I find it quite strange that some head piece that, according to the website, cost only $25 to make (price may vary) can prevent beings that are so technologically advanced that they can travel through several light years of space, or go from one universe to this one, from finding you and abducting you.

The claim about this "helmet" isn't even the weirdest claims on that site.

According to the site, aliens are also causing autism (and possibly Down's Syndrome), that we are in a telepathic war with aliens, that aliens do not like cheap perfume (who does?), the smell of incense from White Sage, and that Vitamin-C is the Plan-B for alien hybrid fetuses.

There are also testimonials on the site as well. Of course, the names of the people giving these testimonials aren't given, so it is hard to say whether or not these testimonials are from actual people, or they were just made up for purpose of making people who believe that they are being abducted by aliens that these head pieces actually work. Considering how likely it is for the public in general to view people who believe they have been abducted by aliens to be "crazy" it doesn't surprise me that people giving testimonials about a head piece that is suppose to prevent alien abductions might not want their names to be given out.

So, would these helmets really prevent alien abductions? Most likely not.

Remember, these alleged beings are suppose to be thousands, if not millions of years more technological advanced then us. Some cheap, homemade head piece is not going to stop them from abducting someone (unless it makes them feel so sorry for the person wearing the said head piece that they just decide to stop abducting them).

The fact is that there is no proof that alien abductions are even real, and that the phenomenon is most likely the result of mass hysteria (some people watch television programs about alien abductions, and think they have been abducted by aliens) or mental illness, and not because aliens are coming to Earth and experimenting on humans.

What this head piece really is isn't some creative mind shield to prevent being assaulted by Extra Terrestrials,  but a ridiculous looking placebo that calms people who believe that they are being abducted by aliens by making alleged abducties believe that aliens won't be able to find them if they wear said placebo.

Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: Mind Control

Ever feel like someone else is controlling your mind?

Well, that simply could be the result of stress. Or maybe you have some psychological issues. Or maybe someone else really is controlling your mind...

Yes, there really are some people out there that really do believe that their minds are being controlled by someone else, and I'm not just talking about "brain washing" either (which is very real) but actual mind control, in which someone's mind is being directly controlled by an outside source (as oppose to brain washing, being more of an indirect control of another person's mind, and can be broken using therapy, or just an individual's own will power).

While there are multiple things in the world that people who claim to be victims of mind control (Target Individuals  or T.I. for short, as they tend to call themselves) claim that certain shadowy groups are using to execute this mind control, the two most common forms are telepathy, and radio waves.

Now the telepathy one is easy to explain: It doesn't exist.

There have been multiple studies to see whether or not telepathy is real, and all of those studies have shown that, despite being popular for comic books and science fiction novels, it is not real, and that we cannot control other people's thoughts and actions simply with our own minds.

While several governments have actually tried to use people who claimed to telepathic (or train people to become telepathic) for the use of espionage purposes (which includes the US government), most of the time these programs are abandoned simply because these programs produce no results, and become they are a big waste of time and money.

As for the claim that radio waves (in particular, extreme low frequency radio waves) can control a person's mind, this one also seems very highly unlikely that this would work as well (even if it could be proven to work in the first place).

For one thing, we are constantly being bombarded by radio waves from multiple sources (including natural sources), and they don't affect us one bit, most especially our minds. Also, all studies into ELF waves have shown that (despite popular belief by T.I.s, and other conspiracy theorists) they do not affect the human minds, otherwise it would be affecting all of us all the time because many things around us give off ELF waves (one of the most common being power lines).

Now despite the evidence that it's not even possible to control a person's mind (at least by the use of external sources) those that believe it is real also believe that such "attacks" can be blocked. Perhaps the most popular ways to block these alleged mind attacks is to wrap tin foil around your head (whom's origins may or may not be based on the Faraday cage).

Odds are this wouldn't work.

For one thing, most tinfoil hats only cover the top of the head and the forehead, so they would not give total protection. Another thing is that tinfoil hats most likely wouldn't be able to block telepathic attacks either, as telepathy most likely would be "something" other than radio waves. Also, there some studies that have suggested that tinfoil hats would more likely act like an antenna, rather than a shield. Studies that have shown that it could work (as long as it is well constructed) have been shown to only reduce radio waves getting to a targeted object (such as a radio), rather than eliminating them, and that only works if the metal construct isn't touching the antenna of said object.

Even if it was possible to control a person using radio waves or telepathy, it would be pretty hard to do in the first place due to the fact that you would have to know where the person was all the time, and target them so precisely that it wouldn't effect other people around, and then keep locked on that person (because people tend to move).

So you might be asking yourself "if mind control isn't real, then why do some people believe that their minds are being controlled, and that their thoughts are being read"?

There are two simple answers to this:

First, many people who believe in this are most likely very gullible, and are prone to mass hysteria (like believing that your mind can be controlled be the government).

Second, they could also be severally mentally ill, that if left untreated could cause them to have delusions that can cause a person to very seriously believe that their thoughts are being read, and that their minds are being controlled.

To put this article to a point, if you believe that your thoughts are being read, and that your mind is being controlled from an outside source, you should seriously consider seeking psychological help.

5 things I've noticed about... Alex Jones

While there are a lot things I could say about radio host/conspiracy theorists Alex Jones (and it would be a lot) I noticed a few things he seems to do quite a bit.

So here are five things I've noticed about Alex Jones:

5. His sites have a lot of advertisements on them.

If you go to either of his two main websites (Infowars and Prisonplanet) there are a lot of advertisements on the right side of those websites. Not only are there ads for other people's products, but also for his own products as well (mainly his videos).

And his websites have their their own shop pages where you can buy more of his videos and other merchandise.

4. He always tells people he is not crazy.

Alex always seems to need to remind people that he is not crazy (in his view). I don't know why he feels the needs to do this. I don't know why people would believe he is crazy in the first place...

Maybe it's because he does stuff like this:

Author's note: go two minutes in. That's when the best stuff starts.

3. He's against fascism and totalitarianism... unless it's in another country.

While Alex Jones is a notorious outspoken critic of anything that he perceives as fascism and totalitarianism in this country, he apparently has no problem with it in other countries (especially countries that the US has very poor diplomatic relations with).

A good example of this would be that he often calls rebels in the Syrian Civil War "terrorists" and often claims that many of the atrocities committed by the Syrian government was actually committed by the rebels.

2. He respects the 2nd Amendment more than the 1st Amendment.

While Alex doesn't think there should be any gun control laws, he calls anyone who does want more gun control laws unpatriotic, criminals, and a member of the New World Order.

And if you're from another country and you call for more gun control laws, he wants you deported.

1. He has a hard time keeping friends.

While he is always happy to ally himself with anyone who shares his beliefs in certain conspiracy theories, if you stop believing in the conspiracy theories that he believes in, or if you believe in any conspiracy theories that he doesn't believe in (which is not many), or if you disagree with his political beliefs, he'll call you an elitist and dis-information agent, and will want nothing to do with you... until he decides that you aren't a elitist and a dis-information agent.

Conspiracy Theorists: No longer harmless

Up until a couple of weeks ago I use to believe that most conspiracy theorists were just a bit nutty, and perhaps hostile online towards skeptics and people who debunked conspiracy theories, but were relatively harmless, except for those who are violently mentally disturbed (example: Jared Lee Loughner), and that at the most were more likely to alienate themselves from friends and family then anything else, and thus do more harm to themselves then to others.

I no longer believe this.

The reason I no longer believe this is because of the massive amount of illegal harassment being done by conspiracy theorists towards the parents of the children who died in the Sandy Hook elementary school massacre, and towards the heros who's efforts helped saved the lives of many more children.

While the claims made by conspiracy theorists that the attack was staged, or didn't even occur in the first place, wasn't something that fellow skeptics and debunkers like myself were not expecting (in fact, due to the predictability of conspiracy theorists we would have been more surprised if these claims were not made at all) what did surprise us was the sheer amount of slander and harassment (bordering on outright stalking) that has begun to occur.

Because of the actions of some conspiracy theorists in the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre I feel that I have been forced to re-examine my view of conspiracy theorists and their behavior, and that view is even more negative then it once was.

It appears that over the last few years as more and more conspiracy theories get debunked, the hostility of conspiracy theorists who continue to hold on to the beliefs continues to rise.

Online threats and even emails towards those who disagree with conspiracy theorists (and don't even try to debunk their claims, just say they don't agree with them and/or don't believe them) have become common place.

Some blogs and vlogs that are dedicated to debunking conspiracy theories are sometimes attacked, and even forced to be taken down by what can only be presumed to be the actions of conspiracy theorists.

Many conspiracy theorists have been purchasing large amounts of weapons for what they very seriously believe will be the coming of the New World Order, in which they will (in their minds) have to fight and defeat.

Now, they are harassing and possibly stalking people who have gone through an extreme trauma, and they do not care that they are causing even more grief and trauma because they don't believe anything happened.

As much as I hate to suggest it, I am seriously starting to believe that we should start sending at the very least the most hostile conspiracy theorists to mental health hospitals, as many of them are appearing to have serious mental health issues that is causing them act out in such and extremely hostile manner towards total strangers, and might cause to to eventually engage in violence.

Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories: Shape-shifting Aliens control the Earth

While there are a lot of strange conspiracy theories out there, perhaps one of the most bizarre conspiracy theories out there is one that the primary promoter of is David Icke: that the leaders of the world (and just about anyone who is famous) are actually shape-shifting aliens.

The aliens are often times described as being humanoid reptilians that are from either another planet or universe (although some claim that they are actually the offspring of alien-human hybrids from thousands of years ago) and have actually been in control for thousands of years, and are using their technology to take on a human form and secretly control the human race.

There are several videos on the internet that claim to show some famous person or politician showing some type of reptilian features for a split second, and the reality is that they do not. Many of these videos allegedly shows a person "revealing" some kind of reptilian features are actually the result of camera angle and light reflection, or even or even natural human bodily actions, such as pupil dilation, and just licking lips with one's tongue. Some of these video are even the result of some special effects put in to the video by someone who wants to prove that shape-shifting aliens are real.

Taking into account the wide scope that many conspiracy theorists believe this to be, many people have been accused of being a shape-shifting alien (this includes David Icke as well, and possible even myself). There are even people who actually claim to be one of these aliens. Of course they never actually turn into an alien, they just act very strange when they are in what they claim to be in their transformation. These "transformations" seem more like acting, or psychosis.

Besides considering the scope of such an alleged conspiracy (in both time and number of people involved) and the sheer lack of any evidence what so ever that any of this is true, it makes no logical sense that any technologically advanced conquerors would even bother to do something like this.

Many skeptics believe that the shape-shifting alien conspiracy theory is actually a modernization and rehashing of the many Jewish conspiracy theories (both of which just so happen to be very similar in their accusations), and have actually accused David Icke of being anti-Semitic and that he uses the reference to shape-shifting reptilians as being a code word for "Jews". While Icke does deny this, he does believe that the book The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (which was proven to be a hoax as far back as 1921) is true, and has apparently been flirting with Holocaust denial.

Regardless of the reasons behind David Icke's allegations (whatever those true reasons may be), many people (both conspiracy theorists and skeptics alike) consider this to be complete nonsense, and have accused Icke of being everything from a scam artist to being outright insane (although some conspiracy theorists have also accused him of being a disinformation agent as well).

Gary McKinnon, threat to America, or another victim of conspiracy theories?

A British man by the name of Gary McKinnon, who ten years ago hacked into NASA and US military computers (apparently damaging some of them in the process) was spared from being extradited to the United States from the United Kingdom by United Kingdom Home Secretary Theresa May.

Now the reason cited for this isn't because the crimes he has been accused committing wasn't enough extradite him. The reason stated is because he has Asperger's syndrome (which is a mild form autism) and depression, and it has been determined that there is a high likely that if he were to be brought over here that he would most likely try to commit suicide.

Now many of you are probably asking why exactly did he hack into NASA and US military computers in the first place?

Well apparently back when he did this (which was about ten years ago) he was obsessed with UFOs and a alleged cover-up by our government, so he hacked into our government and military computers to find out any information about aliens that he believed the United States was covering up.

I have no doubt in my mind that Gary's autism caused him to become so obsessed with these UFO cover-up conspiracy theories that it caused him to do something that most people who do not have this neurological disorder, or any other type of neurological or mental disorder, would not do.

But, the existence of these conspiracy theories, and those who promote them, are also partially to blame as well.

Now most people don't take these UFO conspiracy theories that seriously. They might believe in it, but they usually don't obsessed with it to the point where they would commit a crime. Heck, I even once believed in them, but I never took it seriously enough to even buy a book on UFOs, much less do something that is as highly illegal as what Gary McKinnon is accused of doing (he admits to hacking into our computers, but not damaging them) but, if these conspiracy theories didn't exist then people who are like Gary who can become obsessed to the point where they have a great amount of difficulty controlling themselves and their actions, and thus they do stuff like this.

In my opinion this is another example of how destructive conspiracy theories can be, and how it can cause a person to rune their life.

The Slate article about this story

Gary's Wikipedia article