Which of these conspiracy theories is most plausible?

where is "The gays run Hollywood"?

As for big stuff like who runs the economy, no conspiracies required. Winks, nods, campaign contributions.

I voted for the JFK one, I mean he was certainly murdered by somebody.

The 9/11 and the "faked" moon landing ones annoy me the most, govt-did-9/11 becuase it lets a bunch of people who didn't do their jobs properly off the hook, and because I want the time i spent watching those bullshit "documentaries" back, moon landing because it takes one of humanity's greatest achievements and turns it into cruft for paranoid nutjobs. Sad.

I would watch Crufts if it had a paranoid nutjob class.

Maybe JFK will win this poll.

Dr Morbius, is it true that gay people run Hollywood?

Gay Jews

The Double Whammy

Gay Jews from Mars

p: Given that American movies get worse every year, very likely.

Another question one could ask is: who *does* control world banking or (a slightly different issue, perhaps) the world economy?

I'm not really convinced that anyone controls the world economy, or at least no coherent clique or group exercises executive control over it.

They are all named in the final episode of The Prisoner. Every third letter of every word in the screenplay.

I tend to agree, Vicar, your caution sounds wise. Yet it remains true that some individuals and groups have vastly more influence over these things than others. And I imagine that these individuals and groups very often interact and co-operate. I imagine, too, now I think of it, that however badly things are going for other people, these people always come up roses and even richer than they started.

I'd go for Area 51, mainly because I want it to be true.

I'd quite like the Aliens built the Pyramids one to be true.

oh yeah, that's a close second.

So by it's abscence, the face on Mars must be true!

I think the one I'd most want to be true is "Global warming is a scam perpetrated by climate scientists". But, not for funny reasons or anything.

I imagine they are largely male and very few of them are black or from the developing world

http://www.allbusiness.com/banking-finance/banking-lending-credit-services-mortgage/5902796-1.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/business/01generation.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

More than all of these conspiracy theories, I dislike when people believe that the government never lies and people in positions of authority are always trustworthy.
I imagine there are people who still believe that watergate, My Lai, Iran-Contra, etc never happened.

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/03/cnna.spears/story.britney.cnn.jpg

I actually don't think 9/11 is to blame; if it weren't for the internet, 9/11 truthers would be as obscure as the rest, and it'd be fun to report that there were actually people who believed this insane story about that awful day - you'd be like "oh, go on, nobody actually believes that" and then I'd produce some weird pamphlet somebody handed me at a political rally or something. The internet has kind of ruined these things by making it easier for them to acquire mass; a couple of crazy people believing something stupid can be really funny, but a group of them reinforcing one another's delusions and shouting people down is maddening.

Yeah, I totally dig and concur. Actually, though, one of the main things that pisses me off about the 'truther' movement is it has kind of ruined many nights of my beloved Coast-to-Coast AM. They'd still be on that show; I'd still be baffled and irritated at night as I listened to Noory concurring with them as I fall asleep. This is a silly main beef, but it's true! It was great the other night when they had an extensive talk about 'Bigfoots' again.

The plural is Bigfoots! How could you not love that?

I have found the more far-out the topic of Coast-to-Coast is, the better I sleep! So truthers mean a bad night's restlessness.

its got to be bigfeet, no? I'm disappointed.

More than all of these conspiracy theories, I dislike when people believe that the government never lies and people in positions of authority are always trustworthy.

Where are these people?

its Them. you know, Them.

In my parents' house. They're called my parents. (I'd been looking for my biological parents for YEARS and it turned out they were just in the living room and kitchen!)

Another question one could ask is: who *does* control world banking or (a slightly different issue, perhaps) the world economy?

The number one problem I have with banking conspiracies (whether it's Big Oil, the Rothchilds, the Illuminati, or whoever) is that they don't account for some basic sociology. People and companies in similar economic power groups will act similarly. No smoke-filled room is necessary.

Actually, though, one of the main things that pisses me off about the 'truther' movement is it has kind of ruined many nights of my beloved Coast-to-Coast AM. They'd still be on that show; I'd still be baffled and irritated at night as I listened to Noory concurring with them as I fall asleep.

I still miss Art Bell.

I'd go for Area 51, mainly because I want it to be true.

Sadly, I think the only thing there are vast piles of toxic waste leftover from whatever exotic materials were used to build Aurora, etc.

The UFO followers haven't really updated their story in 60 years. They're always pounding the same drum - ETs in spacecraft from another planet. If there's anything non-human to this (and I don't doubt that people see unidentified things in the sky) I suspect that it'll be *so* weird that we'll all feel like the confused Flatlanders.

ITS NOT ALIENS AT ALL THEY'RE TIME TRAVELLERS FROM OUR OWN FUTURE!!!¬!

How did we get this far in the thread without mentioning Skull And Bones?

Has anyone been to Roswell? They have a COW in their zoo. It is pretty incredible.

MOO! la vaca, la vaca vaca vaca vaca

Anyone know that song? I was singing it as "MOO! la roca!" until my bud pointed out roca means 'rock.' "You retard, rocks don't say moo!"

la vaca vaca vaca vaca

YOU SEE YOU SEE ROSWELL REALLY EXISTS AND THERE ARE MONSTERS!!ABBOTT HAS PROOF!!

dan i. has a point though, these theories are so blatantly stupid that they risk making us dismiss ANY account of ppl in power acting in collusion to make something bad happen. i.e., few would argue that the bush administration went out of its way to deceive the country about the danger posed by saddam, but i've heard serious ppl -- new york times columnists! -- argue that it's foolish and conspiratorial to argue that bush et al didn't sincerely believe that iraq posed a threat.

yes, but on the other hand they may or may not be part of the conspiracy which may or may not be ridiculous.

who can tell? we are but small automata tapping away in our little boxes.

I never feel like admitting this to people because I don't like to get in big hoohaws over it but I feel like yeah AIDS probably is man-made.

I would also like to believe in Hollow Earth, that's where the Grey's live.

I believe Jews are responsible for Hebrew National franks.

And I thank them.

wheres the conspiracy that suggests that human energy can effect the world around us (etc)? mioto water crystals

dan i. has a point though, these theories are so blatantly stupid that they risk making us dismiss ANY account of ppl in power acting in collusion to make something bad happen.

Aye. Appointing Henry Kissinger as head of the 9/11 Commission isn't exactly the work of a totally innocent party.

wheres the conspiracy that suggests that human energy can effect the world around us (etc)? mioto water crystals

I recall that some of them have moved on to quantum mind theories.

I just typed an entry casting doubt on climate change, and it hasn't appeared. Bloody scientist illuminati.

But don't respectable scientists, well, Roger Penrose at least, give some credence to quantum mind theories?

Hands off, lizards. Climate change on is the only one which seems at all plausible, and even then I wouldn't call it conspiracy, just a mistake that became fashionable and is now being reinforced by all sorts of cognitive biases. It's not like history isn't full of such errors.

Plus, I had an environmental textbook from the 80s of which the very first line was something like 'Now that manking is facing the initial stages of a new ice age...' so forgive me for being a bit sceptical here

Quantum mind stuff and Mioto crystals go in the "weird science" bin, not the "conspiracy theory" bin. Lots of respectable scientists attached to weird theories: orgones, etc.

lol did u guys miss the thread last week where captain lorax was trying to push that stuff

Hands off, lizards. Climate change on is the only one which seems at all plausible, and even then I wouldn't call it conspiracy, just a mistake that became fashionable and is now being reinforced by all sorts of cognitive biases. It's not like history isn't full of such errors.

Plus, I had an environmental textbook from the 80s of which the very first line was something like 'Now that manking is facing the initial stages of a new ice age...' so forgive me for being a bit sceptical here

yeah this is hell of otm, when i form opinions about science i tend to weigh my 80s-era enviro textbook against the opinion of thousands of climatologists from around the world

Well, I suppose Penrose's theories are more like "consciousness is mysterious and we don't understand it, quantum mechanics is mysterious and we don't understand it - THEY MUST BE RELATED!!!" rather than any of the "WOW PEOPLE CAN CONTROL CRYSTAL GROWTH WITH THE POWER OF THEIR MINDS!!!" bs.

Funny 80s "look out for new ice age!" hysteria is often used to make contemporary warnings about global warming appear foolish or premature, but the scientific support for global warming is much stronger than it ever was for global cooling. We know warming is happening, even the most ardent sceptics (along with the politicians who have most to lose) are beginning to accept this. The only real questions that remain have to do with why it's happening, whether it's "natural", what if anything can be done at this point to halt or reverse it, and how big a role human behavior and industry have played in the change.