Which Conspiracy Theories Do You Believe In and Why?

[Larry of the Lawn]

The only thing flat-earthers fear is sphere itself.

[A True Kaniggit]

4 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

The only thing flat-earthers fear is sphere itself.

You should be pun-ished or that one. 

[Yukle]

14 minutes ago, larrytheimp said:

The only thing flat-earthers fear is sphere itself.

Is there an award for best comment?

[Lordsteve666]

19 hours ago, Werthead said:

It isn't. Demolition charges have a very distinct sound. That cracks heard in that video are the support columns buckling. When you see the windows blowing out, that's from the columns collapsing and the internal structure compressing, which causes the air inside the building to evacuate at high speed. Also, the interior structure started buckling quite a few seconds before the collapse started (you can see it sag before it goes), which journalists would have recognised. It also appears one of the supports may have given way at 2pm, when firefighters saw a bulge in the corner of the building consistent with an internal structural failure: that's when they evacuated the area and let people know the building was in danger of collapse (as it did three hours later). Finally, the building was ablaze, you could see the fire from outside and the emergency services were keeping journalists and rescue teams heading to the WTC site back from the building for quite a while before it went, on the basis of what happened to the Twin Towers.

The problem with the WTC7 conspiracy theory is that it requires the conspirators to have known ahead of time where the debris from the Twin Towers was going to land (some of the debris scoured off the side of WTC7, which is what started the fires, and just happened to knock out the sprinklers, which is what allowed the fire to rage out of control). If they successfully predicted that WTC7 would take the hit, they have blast modelling software which is light-years ahead of what we have now, let alone in 2001. If the debris hadn't landed on WTC7 and they'd rigged it to blow, the building would have collapsed for absolutely no discernible reason which would have been a bit of a giveaway.

In addition, why rig WTC7 to explode and not 4, 5 or 6, which all survived the atrocity intact (although they were all damaged to some degree and were demolished when it was decided to completely remodel the site)?

That's a really good an well written post right there. 

The truther movement just avoids or ignores anything they dislike an cherry picks the stuff they can bend to make their ideas fit.

WTC7 is a prime example because they simply avoid the fact that the building took a direct hit from a million tonnes of falling steel wreckage and burned for hours on end unchalllenged. It had a 30 storey tear down the side facing T1 & 2 for heaven's sake and people don't think that will affect it's ability to stay upright? Plus the vibration from all that collapsing nearby (as in practically on top of it) probably severely messed up it's integrity too.

But the worst aspect of the ideas are those around any of the towers being rigged to blow. How could you rig a building without anyone knowing? Especially one that size? And how could you then fly an airliner into said building (with some degree of randomness about exactly where it hits) and expect the wiring for said explosives to still work?

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

5 minutes ago, Lordsteve666 said:

That's a really good an well written post right there. 

The truther movement just avoids or ignores anything they dislike an cherry picks the stuff they can bend to make their ideas fit.

WTC7 is a prime example because they simply avoid the fact that the building took a direct hit from a million tonnes of falling steel wreckage and burned for hours on end unchalllenged. It had a 30 storey tear down the side facing T1 & 2 for heaven's sake and people don't think that will affect it's ability to stay upright? Plus the vibration from all that collapsing nearby (as in practically on top of it) probably severely messed up it's integrity too.

But the worst aspect of the ideas are those around any of the towers being rigged to blow. How could you rig a building without anyone knowing? Especially one that size? And how could you then fly an airliner into said building (with some degree of randomness about exactly where it hits) and expect the wiring for said explosives to still work?

Truthers are crazy and moreso because they think everyone who disagrees with them is a gullible sheep.  They drive me crazy.

[DMC]

When I was at AU I took a class called "Oliver Stone's America" taught by Peter Kuznick - who has been Stone's academic partner/patron for years.  Stone came in for a class to give a little spiel and then take questions from the students.  This was in....2004 I think (?), so right around when the truther movement was burgeoning.  A student asked Stone his thoughts on it, and response was very dismissive, I believe a direct quote is "damn ridiculous."  Not to disappoint, he did suggest an alternative theory that the Bush family - in tandem with the royal Saudis it has close ties to - may have been behind the perpetrators of the attack.

Anyway, point is when your conspiracy theory is too out there for Oliver Stone, you know you have a problem.

[Crazydog7]

7 pages and no one has bought up TWA flight 800?  Well maybe its an old school one no one remembers.  Its also shows the problem with conspiracy theories.  As to weather or not the government bought the plan down by mistake in some kind of weapons test that went bad ordinary people will never know the answer to that question. 

[Spockydog]

If I could choose just one conspiracy theory to be true, it would have to be the story of Project Rainbow, aka The Philadelphia Experiment. Obviously, the story is nuts, a complete work of fiction. Yet the sci-fi fan in me loves the fact that the ONR felt the need to question the author of a UFO book in order to determine his source.

The Real Philadelphia Experiment

Quote

Interestingly, there are some question marks left standing about the Philadelphia Experiment. As you might expect, two or three veterans of the Eldridge and the USS Engstrom, which was once moored alongside the Eldrige in 1943, have claimed to be a guy whom Allende saw disappear in a bar or who have found themselves transported across dimensions. It should be noted that such claims were made well after the Philadelphia Experiment became a pop-culture phenomenon, and in more than one case it turned out that these guys were not actually veterans at all. A more interesting question comes from the very genesis of the story, when the Navy ONR first summoned Morris Jessup to their office to talk about the strangely annotated book. If there was nothing in those annotations of genuine interest to them, why did they call?

Who knows. Goerman suggested that these ONR officers did this on their own time out of personal intrigue, or that some of the allusions in the annotations were similar to actual Navy research and the ONR was simply being responsible at following every lead. Conspiracy theorists maintain that this proves Allen's annotations must have been true. Whatever the truth, I happen to love that this story has this annoying little footnote that can't be easily explained away. I love a good mystery and I remember a streak of disappointment when Goerman's debunking of the case was laid out before me — like most people I'd done no thorough research of my own and only knew what the average moviegoer knows about the Philadelphia Experiment. Intellectually I know the story is silly, but I still love that little loose end. Carl Allen may have been a prankster, but I thank him for making the century just that little bit more interesting.

 

[Darth Richard II]

3 hours ago, Lordsteve666 said:

That's a really good an well written post right there. 

The truther movement just avoids or ignores anything they dislike an cherry picks the stuff they can bend to make their ideas fit.

WTC7 is a prime example because they simply avoid the fact that the building took a direct hit from a million tonnes of falling steel wreckage and burned for hours on end unchalllenged. It had a 30 storey tear down the side facing T1 & 2 for heaven's sake and people don't think that will affect it's ability to stay upright? Plus the vibration from all that collapsing nearby (as in practically on top of it) probably severely messed up it's integrity too.

But the worst aspect of the ideas are those around any of the towers being rigged to blow. How could you rig a building without anyone knowing? Especially one that size? And how could you then fly an airliner into said building (with some degree of randomness about exactly where it hits) and expect the wiring for said explosives to still work?

That drives me NUTS. There was a guy who claimed to have the smoking gun video of proof wtc7 wasn't damaged and it turned out all his video was of a DIFFERENT BUILDING and you could see WTC7 ENGULFED IN FLAMES in the background. '

IT also drives me nuts when they try and use math to prove stuff and DO THE MATH WRONG. They'll put up some equation that's either wrong, or they'll actually flub the math.

[Liver and Onions]

I admit, when 9/11 happened, I speculated that it might be our own government's doing for about five seconds, but that mostly a "omigod WHAT IF" moment rather than serious consideration. Plus this was very early and before we knew who was really behind it. 

There are some fun conspiracies out there. A personal fave is the one about secret reptile people running the planet (I find this funny because I love reptiles, so if they were running the planet, I'd be all "DAAW adorable secret reptile conspiracy!" and they'd be all "hey, take us seriously!")

[Darth Richard II]

1 minute ago, Liver and Onions said:

I admit, when 9/11 happened, I speculated that it might be our own government's doing for about five seconds, but that mostly a "omigod WHAT IF" moment rather than serious consideration. Plus this was very early and before we knew who was really behind it. 

There are some fun conspiracies out there. A personal fave is the one about secret reptile people running the planet (I find this funny because I love reptiles, so if they were running the planet, I'd be all "DAAW adorable secret reptile conspiracy!" and they'd be all "hey, take us seriously!")

Pft, I WISH at this point I could blame all the recent shit going on on reptile people.

Yeah. but to the first point, there's some 9/11 related stuff that at first glance/you first hear about it it sounds shady, but then you know, actually do research and stuff and there's a ration explanation, ala WTC7 as above. It's the people who who refuse to believe stuff like you know, physics and basic math that drive me nuts.

Oh, EXAMPLE! Truthers who say there is no way a plane could have hint the pentagon because there was no sign of any debris from a plane, when theyre are literally THOUSANDS of pictures of the pentagon lawn covered in obvious plane parts like wheels and seats and oh hey body parts(don't look these thing sup, I did it so you guys don't have to) but you show them those pictures and they either call fake or most likely just somehow ignore them completely. It's insane. I could uh, rant about this for hours on end, as you can tell.

[Liver and Onions]

11 minutes ago, Darth Richard II said:

Oh, EXAMPLE! Truthers who say there is no way a plane could have hint the pentagon because there was no sign of any debris from a plane, when theyre are literally THOUSANDS of pictures of the pentagon lawn covered in obvious plane parts like wheels and seats and oh hey body parts(don't look these thing sup, I did it so you guys don't have to) but you show them those pictures and they either call fake or most likely just somehow ignore them completely. It's insane. I could uh, rant about this for hours on end, as you can tell.

I wonder if people who believe such things think there's an entire department of the government devoted to fake photos. 

[Darth Richard II]

20 minutes ago, Liver and Onions said:

I wonder if people who believe such things think there's an entire department of the government devoted to fake photos. 

Oh, I haven't even started about some of the really weird truther stuff, that involves secret space gravity lasers.

[A True Kaniggit]

4 hours ago, Darth Richard II said:

Oh, I haven't even started about some of the really weird truther stuff, that involves secret space gravity lasers.

Are these gravity-lasers that happen to be in space? Or lasers that affect space-gravity?

[Darth Richard II]

Just now, A True Kaniggit said:

Are these gravity-lasers that happen to be in space? Or lasers that affect space-gravity?

Yes.

[A True Kaniggit]

Just now, Darth Richard II said:

Yes.

I knew it!

 

[Lordsteve666]

One of the worst ones i think I've come across in terms of how insulting i find it is the Sandy Hook conspiracy bollocks.

I mean if you actually looks into the events in detail you can see there is nothing funny going on, it was a shitty day that was confusing to all involved and people were confused about exactly what happened. It was a massive tragedy and people need an explanation for it but that doesn't mean you get a blank slate to make up any old bullshit about it to suit your own ridiculous agenda.

And worst of all these conspiracy idiots and their ilk are incredibly insulting to the victim's families with their constant bullshit.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 hour ago, Lordsteve666 said:

One of the worst ones i think I've come across in terms of how insulting i find it is the Sandy Hook conspiracy bollocks.

I mean if you actually looks into the events in detail you can see there is nothing funny going on, it was a shitty day that was confusing to all involved and people were confused about exactly what happened. It was a massive tragedy and people need an explanation for it but that doesn't mean you get a blank slate to make up any old bullshit about it to suit your own ridiculous agenda.

And worst of all these conspiracy idiots and their ilk are incredibly insulting to the victim's families with their constant bullshit.

Intentionally infliction of emotional distress.  The conspiracy assholes should be liable.

[Tijgy]

In my country, Belgium, the biggest conspiracy theories are about the Bende van Nijvel or Tueurs fous du Brabant or Brabant Killers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabant_killers). A whole Dutch site with theories and possible suspects: http://bendevannijvel.com/

In the 80's there were several armed robberies on some supermarkets with several dead victims. The weird thing about those robberies was 1° the violence wasn't in proportion to what they robbed, 2° the robbers had apparently inside information on the actions of the police, 3° they have never really found the perpetrators even after almost forty years.

The theories go about the involvement of the military police (only two months ago it was made public a military police man confessed on his death bed he was involved in the gang), manipulation by the government of the investigation, state terror, terror of the extreme right, sex parties, ... 

And this is just not anymore the Belgian public making conspiracies. Just in october our Minister of Justice said there was manipulation of the investigation. The same was also apparently said by some magistrates. 

And yesterday the lawyer of the family of the person who confessed, said that he told his co-workers that if he has an accident or commits suicide, he was actually murdered and didn't have an accident or committed suicide. 

 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

I am pretty gullible, I believe everything science and the mainstream media tells me.

However, I believe British politics is acting that silly at the moment, so that the British politics thread on this forum takes our attention away from the horrors of the US politics, and its thread.