Conspiracy Theories: Difference between revisions

{{quote|"''It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.''"

 

Conspiracy theories are, essentially, [[Wild Mass Guessing]] and [[Headscratchers]] applied to [[Real Life]]. Like all memes, conspiracy theories mutate and interbreed almost too fast for humans to track. Any of the theories and sub-theories mentioned below can be, and in all likelihood has been, combined with any or all of the others by at least one person.

People who tend to have these can be found under "[[Conspiracy Theorist]]." The [[Mel Gibson]] film ''[[Conspiracy Theory (film)|Conspiracy Theory]]'' has its own article.

 

{{examples}}

== 9/11 ==

== Disasters ==

* 9/11 has so many conspiracy theories surrounding it that it has its own entry at the top of this page.

** Some people still think Saddam Hussein masterminded the McVeigh plot.

** One of the more interesting versions of the conspiracy is that al-Qaeda was involved. There was a "John Doe 2" reported at the time of the bombing, who bore no resemblance to known conspirator Terry Nichols, and whom the FBI later claimed had never existed -- even though artist sketches of him had been leaked. John Doe II looked distinctly similar to José Padilla, an American-born al-Qaeda operative who was captured and received a train wreck of a trial and a media circus.

** An arguably more likely conspiracy is that the [[wikipedia:Aryan Republican Army|Aryan Republican Army]], a Jesse James-esque [[Right-Wing Militia Fanatic|white supremacist gang]] working at the time, was involved. McVeigh was a known associate of convicted bank robber and ARA member Michael William Brescia, and the ARA had connections to various far-right Christian groups and neo-Nazi skinheads -- groups which would have spurned the help of al-Qaeda. In addition, ARA member Richard Lee Guthrie, Jr. resembles pictures of "John Doe II".

* Some folks claim that [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] knew about [[World War II|the impending Pearl Harbor attack]] in advance and allowed it to happen, recognizing that a high body count would be needed to shock the American people into joining the fight. [[Fridge Logic|Of course, it's easier to win a fight if a large portion of your Navy isn't underwater.]]

** An alternative theory, which is even accepted by some supporters of FDR, is that while the attack itself was unexpected, Japan's hostility was not entirely unprovoked. In 1940, the US government prohibited iron and scrap steel exports to Japan, and in 1940 it also restricted oil exports, froze Japan's funds in the US, and initiated the Lend-Lease program in support of the Allies against the Axis powers, all the while demanding Japan's withdrawal from China and Indochina. Some folks argue that this was all designed to put an end to American neutrality without causing a public backlash by [[Xanatos Gambit|getting one of the Axis powers to declare war on the US]]. It hinges on the express aim of the U.S. aim of aiding Britain, which FDR did want to do. War with Japan with that aim is idiotic, and even Hitler knew it. (Also, the object was to provoke Germany to declare war, not Japan.) Of course, these actions were done in part as a response to Japan's monstrous conduct in China, so they were justified in that respect.

* Just days after the recent earthquake in Haiti, people were already claiming that the entire thing was actually man-made, using HAARP (see "Atmosphere and Weather" below), underground bombs, or some other type of "earthquake machine." The motive? Some say it's to acquire Haiti's oil, others say that the US planned it in order to acquire a base in the Caribbean to oppose Cuba and Venezuela, and still others say it's to distract from the supposed imposition of martial law in the US.

* Theories abound regarding the crash of TWA Flight 800 - "officially" caused by a fuel vapour explosion in the Boeing 747's CWT (Centre Wing Tank), but the cause of the explosion is undetermined. The most common theory says that it was shot down with a missile, either by a terrorist or by accident as part of a Navy training exercise. This theory is not supported by the NTSB because 98% of the wreckage was recovered, and a large part of the fuselage reconstructed, and not a trace of any missile impact was found. Other theories say that it was the result of a terrorist bomb on board, or electromagnetic interference from a nearby fighter plane. Some claim that the [[Bill Clinton|Clinton administration]] ordered a cover-up so Clinton wouldn't look soft on terrorism during his re-election campaign. The most prominent proponent of the conspiracy line was Pierre Salinger - formerly President Kennedy's press secretary - who didn't have much convincing evidence, but garnered attention because of his [[Appeal to Authority|former job]]. Much of the suspicion around the crash was formed because the FBI aggressively pursued a criminal investigation, much to the chagrin of the NTSB working alongside them, and did discover some explosive residue on the wreckage, but then had to backtrack and admit that it was a miniscule trace that had come from a package used to train drug sniffer dogs. The missile theory was partly started by reports from several witnesses who saw an object climbing into the sky and then heard a loud explosion. Investigators concluded that they had seen the nose-less wreck of the 747 climbing and stalling in the sky and, because light travels faster than sound, then heard the initial fuel tank explosion.

* Some have claimed that the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was planned as part of a plot to discredit offshore drilling. Some people are saying that [[Animal Wrongs Group|radical environmentalists]] or the [[Barack Obama|Obama administration]] did it to advance an environmentalist agenda<ref>even though Obama had just approved expansion of offshore drilling before the spill -- something that earned him a lot of criticism afterwards</ref>, while others claim that it was caused by OPEC to keep America dependent on foreign oil. This one is interesting in that some of the proponents are people who don't believe the "Bush was behind 9/11" theories, while some opponents are the ones who still think Bush himself destroyed the levees during Katrina.

** A contributing factor to the rise of the "radical environmentalists did it" conspiracy theory is the fact that some of the more extreme environmentalist groups have committed acts of terrorism and destruction against industries they feel have harmed the environment. These acts have had a tendency to [[Gone Horribly Wrong|unintentionally lead to far more environmental destruction]] [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|than the target ever caused]]. The main reason why this theory lacks credibility is that ''[[Genre Savvy|oil companies are well aware of this]]'' and would be on the lookout for radical environmentalists trying to blow up an oil rig.

* The sinking of the ''Lusitania'' in 1915 by a German torpedo, an event which contributed to the United States eventually entering [[World War I]], has seen suggestions that the ship, contrary to claims made at the time, was smuggling contraband military weapons and explosives to Britain and thus, Germany argued, was a valid military target. Although the ship was carrying large quantities of small-weapons ammunition, no proof of anything more destructive has yet been discovered.

* Much like with 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, some have suspected the United States of [[False-Flag Operation|deliberately sabotaging or allowing the sabotage of]] the ''[[wikipedia:USS Maine (ACR-1)|USS Maine]]'' to provide an excuse to go to war with Spain and seize Cuba.

* In the aftermath of the [[wikipedia:Belsan school siege|Belsan school seige]], former FSB agent and defector Alexander Litvinenko claimed it was a false-flag operation by the Russian government, claiming that many of the terrorists were known to Russian authorities and a few were even released from custody shortly before the attack. Others have claimed that the weapons the hostage takers used were planted in the school beforehand. It's worth noting that Alexander became the center of his own conspiracy theory after his mysterious poisoning death involving radioactive polonium-210.

* The crash of [[Poland|Polish]] presidential plane in Smolensk on April 10th, 2010 has spawned many different conspiracy theories, promoted mostly by right-wing kooks. According to them, the plane was taken off course by a spoofed radio beacon signal, shot down by the Russians who used helium ([[Artistic License Chemistry|which is heavier than air]], according to the conspiracy theorists) to generate massive amounts of fog, then proceeded to dispatch [[Anachronism Stew|KGB agents]] to shoot the survivors, all on behalf of [Vladimir Putin]], who controls the current "puppet" prime minister of Poland. Of course this is claimed to be an outrageous conspiracy theory by kooks who claim that the plane that crashed in Smolensk was empty, and the passengers have been kidnapped in Poland and then taken to Russia, where they either remain imprisoned in a Gulag or living in luxury sponsored by the Russian government. And let's not even start about those claiming that a Tu-154, as a modified bomber, [[Did Not Do the Research|would smash through trees unharmed]].

** The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon Q-Anon] "scandal" seems to have branched from Pizzagate, although many of its detractors believe it started as a hoax to show conspiracy theorists how gullible they were. It worked too well. The theory started with a poster on [[4chan]] (trouble there already) claiming he was a high-ranking official in the Trump administration, with inside information about the “deep state”. Q-Anon made the unproven (and rather ridiculous) claim that special prosecutor Robert Mueller was secretly allied with President Donald Trump, and that the true purpose of his investigation was to prevent a coup d'état by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and George Soros. When it seemed people believed him, he kept at it. Claims made by the poster became increasingly absurd. To give one example:

{{quote|'''Q-Anon:''' HRC extradition already in motion effective yesterday with several countries in case of cross border run. Passport approved to be flagged effective 10/30 @ 12:01am. Expect massive riots organized in defiance and others fleeing the US to occur. US M's will conduct the operation while NG activated. Proof check: Locate a NG member and ask if activated for duty 10/30 across most major cities.}}

 

== Famous People ==

* [[Elvis Presley]]. This one is a classic, but since it's been so long since his death, and since this theory has appeared so many times, it's mainly invoked now as a parody of conspiracy theories.

* Anastasia Romanova and her relatives. [[wikipedia:Romanov impostors|Here]] is a list of people who claimed to be surviving members of the ill-fated Romanov family.

* Combining one with the "X is dead" one, some people believe [[John Travolta]] died in 1991, and was replaced by German singer [[Roy Black]], who died of heart failure the same year. Those who push this theory claim Black faked his death and replaced Travolta for... Well, they rarely explain why. They never explain how Travolta supposedly died either, the passing resemblance is all the proof they need.

 

* [[Hideto Matsumoto|hide]], lead guitarist of [[X Japan]]. Also alleged to be murder disguised as suicide or accident, despite everything from a coroner's report to his best friends' arguments to the contrary. Everyone from the [[Yakuza]] to [[Yoshiki Hayashi]] to [[Yoko Oh No|his unnamed girlfriend]] to all three have been blamed repeatedly.

** A ''slightly'' more potentially valid murder theory centers around hide's brother Hiroshi. Slightly more valid because Hiroshi had a motive (profiting monetarily from hide's death far more than he may have had hide lived) and opportunity (he and the girlfriend were the last people seen with hide before death)

** A conspiracy among right-wing elements within the police department.

 

** One variation claims that, since Obama's father (a native of British Kenya) held British citizenship at the time of his son's birth, then Obama holds dual US and British citizenship, which they feel would make him ineligible even if he was a natural-born citizen. Problem is, there is nothing in the Constitution saying that dual citizenship makes a candidate ineligible, and even if there was, the 14th Amendment to the Constitution<ref>"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside..."</ref> would override it. Other claims allege that Obama's mother had renounced her US citizenship and, by extension, her son's (she hadn't, and even if she did it wouldn't have affected Obama's status), that a trip by Obama to Pakistan in 1981 could only have been accomplished with a foreign passport due to an alleged ban on travel between the US and Pakistan (no such ban existed), and that Obama's enrollment in a school in Indonesia in his youth could only have been done if he wasn't a US citizen at the time (living outside the US as a minor, as ruled in ''[[wikipedia:Perkins v. Elg|Perkins v. Elg]]'', does not cause you to lose your citizenship).

** Amusing bit of trivia -- Obama's 2008 opponent, John McCain, was born in the Panama Canal Zone (or Panama itself, some believe), meaning that, by some variants on this theory, he too was ineligible to be President.

** Ironically, when the Birthers produced a birth certificate of their own claiming that Obama had been born in Kenya, it was found to be a forgery, due to several instances of [[Did Not Do the Research|shoddy research]]. For one, it listed his birthplace as "Mombasa, Republic of Kenya", even though a) in 1961, the year of Obama's birth, Mombasa was a part of Zanzibar, not Kenya, and b) Kenya was still a British colony at the time, not a republic. In addition, the format of the certificate bore no resemblance to that used in Kenya at the time... but it ''did'' look like a birth certificate that a hospital in South Australia would have issued around 1961.

* Similar to Obama, former US President [[Chester A. Arthur]] was alleged to have been born in Ireland or Quebec rather than Vermont as he claimed, which would've made him ineligible for the Presidency. Arthur Hinman, the man hired by the Democratic Party during the 1880 campaign to discredit Arthur, wrote a book about it, ''How a British Subject became President of the United States''.

* The Rothschild family, a Jewish-German family with strong ties to business and government. Alleged to either be a front for the Illuminati (see below), or to be controlling the world's wealth and financial institutions, or to have staged several wars in history.

* Let's play a bit of Mad Libs. Here's the sentence for you to fill in. "Hitler was ____". Here are the words you can choose from. " an alien (illegal or from space)". "Gay", "Jewish", "an [[Aspergers Syndrome|Aspie]]", "Communist", "fighting aliens", "Sorcerer", "Mystic", "Psychic", "the owner of the Spear of Destiny", "Framed" and "/is living in South America". Now throw in "and he/the authorities covered it up" and congratulations, you have just described a good chunk of the conspiracy theories about [[Adolf Hitler]].

 

== Health ==

** Not that this excuses the accusations, but it must be remembered that it was a long time before anyone realized that rats were the ones spreading the disease. Bear in mind this all happened hundreds of years before the concept of germs was even presented (and even then, it was a while before anyone believed that germs were real). Ironically, there have been accounts of villages exterminating the ''cat'' population, for their traditional link with witchcraft, an action that certainly couldn't have ''helped'' keep the number of rats down.

* Conspiracy theories about Jews are unfortunately still common. ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' is a particularly famous (and [[Based on a Great Big Lie|fiction-based]]) 19th-century book detailing the supposed [[Evil Plan]] of the Jews and the Freemasons to conquer the world using such evils as Darwinism, socialism, liberalism, Nietzscheism, universal suffrage, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|porn]]. To the conspiracy theorists' credit, many are now blaming other groups, such as [[David Icke|space lizards]] and [[Atheism|Atheists]]. The groups that still blame Jews are almost universally white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and Islamic extremists (and the last group has some very ''[[Pragmatic Villainy|pragmatic]]'' reasons for wanting to eradicate the Jews, rather than reasons based on superstition and prejudice.)

** And even they apparently haven't read ''The Protocols'', as it's a transparent propaganda-piece that hails ''a return to monarchy'' as the only force capable of opposing the [[Strawman Political]] caricatures behind this [[Evil Plan]].

** Some modern conspiracy theorists claim that, while the conspiracy presented in ''The Protocols'' is real, the stuff about it being Jewish-led was put in by Them in order to discredit it and cause it to become associated with outdated, bigoted ideas. It's... kind of strange.

* Others believe that Jews [[The Turner Diaries|control Hollywood and the American media]], and that they use this to spread their propaganda. This includes spreading ethnic stereotypes to undermine nonwhites and generally being evil, which is apparently just what Jewish people do.

** Ironically, the man who popularized the Khazar theory in [[The Seventies]], Arthur Koestler, was an Ashkenazi Jew who was trying to challenge religious anti-Semitism, thinking that it would lose its basis if it were to be proven that the Ashkenazim weren't descended from the "[[Sins of Our Fathers|Christ-killers]]". He had a huge [[Oh Crap]] moment when he saw his theories hijacked by neo-Nazis and radical Islamists to use for ''ethnic'' anti-Semitism.

* Allegedly, the kosher labeling on various foods is to show that the producer had paid a "secret tax" to the Jews in order to support Israel -- and of course, this "tax" gets passed on to the goyim (non-Jews). In reality, the labels simply do exactly what they say -- show that the food was made in accordance with Jewish dietary regulations so that observant Jews can eat it without breaking kashrut. [[Snopes]] took this one on [http://www.snopes.com/racial/business/kosher.asp here].

 

== Media ==

** Well, Freethought and Enlightenment ideals ''are'' fairly mainstream in the western world now...<ref>Unless, of course, you're an American Republican in the early 21st century, in which case they are Dangerous Socialism.</ref>

* The Freemasons. Fears regarding their influence over America (many of America's Founding Fathers, including [[Benjamin Franklin]], [[George Washington]], and [[Andrew Jackson]], were Masons) were strong enough to lead to the creation of the Anti-Masonic Party in the early 19th century, which managed to get nearly eight percent of the vote at its peak. Today, they are sometimes alleged to be a part of the aforementioned NWO or Illuminati.

* [[The Knights Templar]]. [[Foucault's Pendulum|You just can't]] [[The Da Vinci Code|have a conspiracy]] [[Assassin's Creed|theory without 'em]].

* The Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, and the Bilderberg Group, three policy institutes dedicated to promote greater global cooperation, are all alleged to be fronts for the NWO, and are often mentioned in the same breath. In 2006, [[Alex Jones]] led a protest of a Bilderberg meeting in Ottawa.

** "Biblical Doomsday" is actually [[Older Than They Think]]. Starting around 300 BCE, apocalypticism (that is, the belief that the world was caught in an epic struggle between good and evil and that good would eventually triumph any day now) took hold in Judaism. Writings of near-future apocalypses became a literary genre in their own right; books like Revelation and Daniel are just two of ''many'' that cropped up during this period.

** Some people, in a misguided attempt to bring about the Second Coming, actually take steps they believe are in accordance with biblical prophecy. One major example of this is Christian Zionism, which is the idea that the survival of Israel, and its encompassing the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, are necessary prerequisites for the beginning of the End Times. As a result, some fundamentalist individuals, churches and organizations have taken on a very hawkish and pro-Israel stance in order to strengthen Israel's position in the Middle East, supporting its actions against its neighbors.

** Some, of course, take the "new age" idea and run with it, claiming that 2012 will be the dawn of a new era of spiritual enlightenment.

* Remember the [[Millennium Bug|Y2K bug]]? Back in the day, most computers only calculated the last two digits of the year in the date and time. When the year 2000 rolled around, the computer's internal clock would reset to "01/01/00," which would supposedly cause it to crash. Combine this with the increasing computerization of society, and people were proclaiming that on January 1, 2000, society would be sent back to the Dark Ages as electricity failed worldwide, planes fell out of the sky, and [[Ghostbusters|cats and dogs started living together]]. Businesses, schools, and the government spent the late '90s working to "Y2K-proof" their computer systems in order to keep them running after the big 2-0 rolled around, providing a lot of easy work for young computer programmers at the height of the "dot-com" boom.<br /><br />Just how much damage Y2K would've actually done if not for these preparations is debatable. One side holds that the lack of catastrophes was due mainly to the countless man-hours put in by programmers to fix and update the world's computer systems, while noting that [[New York City]]'s Y2K preparations allowed it to more effectively respond to the 9/11 attacks two years later. The other side, meanwhile, counters with the fact that, even in places that saw little preparation for the Y2K bug (such as America's school system and in countries like Italy, China and Russia), very few problems were reported as the new year rolled around.<br /><br />What certainly ''wasn't'' plausible, however, were the assortment of non-computer-related theories that proliferated in the late '90s, often taking the most pessimistic predictions of computer experts and running with them in various bizarre, apocalyptic directions. When one considers that Y2K coincided with the [[Turn of the Millennium]], it wasn't much of a stretch for religious nuts to claim that it was the beginning of the biblical End Times and the seven years of tribulation. Others alleged that Y2K would be the date when [[Ancient Conspiracy|the New World Order]] would openly [[One World Order|seize power]], when [[Police State|martial law]] [[Day of the Jackboot|would be declared]], when [[World War III]] would begin, and/or when aliens would arrive on Earth to [[Alien Invasion|invade]] and [[Planet Looters|pillage]] us (or, more optimistically, to [[Benevolent Alien Invasion|raise us]] to [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|a new level of spiritual awakening]]). Meanwhile, many ordinary people started [[Crazy Prepared|stockpiling survival gear]] in a way not seen since the "Duck and Cover" mentality of [[The Fifties]].

** Of course, the major question that is overlooked is how the changing of a date would actually affect certain systems. Most systems not dependent on keeping a calender or otherwise requiring long term calculations would simply roll over and treat the new old date as normal -- so a clock, for instance, would return the wrong date but would still otherwise give you the correct time. (Some clocks returned the year on January 1 as "19100" rather than "2000".)

*** Well, normal aircraft contrails ''have'' been proven to contribute to Global Dimming...

* Going beyond chemtrails, some claim that advanced [[Weather Control Machine|weather control technology]] is being used to remotely manipulate the weather. They claim that Hurricane Katrina was an example of a storm created using this technology, and that HAARP, a research project to examine the ionosphere, is actually a cover for just such a weather control device. Other theories claim that HAARP was designed as a weapon to knock out enemy satellites and spacecraft, and that it doubles as an earthquake machine.

* Both sides of the [[Hollywood Global Warming]] debate <ref>professional climate scientists/liberal academic elitists on one side, and climate skeptics/corporate shills on the other -- pick whichever labels fit your worldview best</ref> accuse the other of suppressing and fabricating evidence in order to support their theories. '''[[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement|And let's just leave it at that.]]'''

** There is [[Take a Third Option|a third option]] -- it's not natural ''or'' man-made, but is being caused by aliens to [[Terraform|xenoform]] our planet.<ref>It's not ''terra''form because "terra" means "Earth", and Earth [[Shaped Like Itself|is already as Earth-like as possible]].</ref>

* ''#[[Gamergate]] [http://www.salon.com/2014/10/23/gamergate_is_really_about_terrorism_why_bill_maher_should_be_vilifying_the_gaming_community_too/ is really about terrorism]''. Could there be some ''simpler'' answer than the vast conspiracy that is both hidden behind the anonymity and loudly in the open at the same time?..

* From the You Can't Make It Up department: the Bohm's quantum theory (in the sane world, discarded as an attempt to sit on two chairs at once with [//www.degruyter.com/view/j/zna.1992.47.issue-12/zna-1992-1201/zna-1992-1201.xml downright bizarre results] and no predictions that would vindicate it) is suppressed via "brainwashing" in favour of quantum mechanics as we know it is… due to good old Inquisition (or its spirit?) and good old US Senator McCarthy. Michael Brooks [https://web.archive.org/web/20190620231436/http://nautil.us/issue/73/play/the-spirit-of-the-inquisition-lives-in-science knows what really goes on] because a ghost of ⅩⅤⅠth century astrologer told him so. Amusing, but this guy is considered a "science writer" in ⅩⅩⅠ century Britain.

 

== Real Conspiracies ==

** Many people know that John Wilkes Booth was the man who assassinated [[Abraham Lincoln]]. What few realize is that the assassination was intended to be one of a number targeting the upper echelons of the U.S Government, specifically those in line for succession to the president, by a number of Confederate sympathizers allied with Booth. Secretary of State William H. Seward was injured, but not fatally in a stabbing by Lewis Powell. George Atzerodt, who was to assassinate the Vice President, chickened out and got the hell out of Washington. The assassination was in fact preceded by a plot to kidnap Lincoln during the war by Booth, but by the time they got around to organizing it, the Confederacy failed and Booth, angered by the prospect of "nigger citizenship" decided instead to kill him.

* [[wikipedia:Business Plot|The Business Plot]] in 1933 was a plan by several business leaders (including Bush Snr. Snr.) to overthrow President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and install a fascist government, conceived out of the fear that he would turn America into a socialist nation. The whole thing fell apart when they asked General Smedley Butler to act as the leader of the coup. Butler, who, although a registered Republican, was ''very'' disillusioned regarding US interventionism to support business interests, responded by revealing the whole plot to the government. It's pretty likely that the conspiracy was nowhere near as wide-spread as Butler assumed, and indeed may have only included a very few rabidly anti-Roosevelt individuals (Butler himself only met two, a contact man, and an eccentric heir to the Singer sewing machine company who he only met before the plot was finalized) who probably didn't have a real chance of success in their coup. The thing that stokes the conspiracy flames, though, is how limited the investigation was (even when it was clear that ''someone'' was planning what could only be described as a domestic terrorist plot; the "contact man," Gerald MacGuire had passed away at this point, and since he was the only one who had discussed the plot with Butler, most of the testimony was dismissed as hearsay), meaning that there are elements of the Plot that we will never know. Much modern speculation falls on MacGuire, who may have been acting in the business leader's perceived interests without going to the trouble of actually telling them anything (with the idea they'd come around to it later), or may have been stringing Singer heir (and former Marine under Butler) Robert Clark along in order to line his own pockets.

** The rate of streetcar removal in cities where GM never looked at was essentially the same as cities where GM had a presence. GM didn't make the streetcars sell out; they just snapped them up as they did, albeit in an underhanded manner. At the time, it was conceded that streetcars were old-fashioned, dirty, rickety things that couldn't raise money for repairs or upgrades, while buses were new, shiny, comfortable, modern, quiet things that didn't have to raise money for their tracks, being as how they ran on existing taxpayer-subsidized roads. Their disadvantages would not be understood until much later, and in fact still are not understood by most people, even including many streetcar and rail advocates.

** The scandal was made light of in ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'' when Judge Doom buys the "[[wikipedia:Pacific Electric Railway|Red Cars]]" in Los Angeles solely for the purpose of destroying them and promoting car travel.

* One wonders why religious fanatics go through so much trouble to make up conspiracy theories about the Catholic Church being Satanic/funding [[The Mafia]]/running the world, when a much more real conspiracy has made itself known over the past several years. To make a long story short (and it is a ''long'' story): over the past several decades, the Catholic Church has had a problem with [[Pedophile Priest|priests molesting children]], and has feverishly worked to hush up the allegations and prevent their image from being tarnished. Oftentimes, pedophile priests would simply be moved to another diocese, where they would molest again, rather than defrocked or otherwise reprimanded. There was even a special kind of priest called a [http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-pedophiles-paradise/Content?oid=1065017 "cleaner"] sent in to deal with the fallout whenever a priest was caught and transferred. While it's argued how far the conspiracy goes (local bishops certainly were involved in multiple locations, and questionable actions at higher levels), the scandal that ensued has already tarnished the Church's image in North America and Europe, and has led to calls for major reforms, not least making it automatic to turn all abuse cases over to secular authorities. There are also calls (with little to no chance of success) for radical changes such as the end of celibacy and the ordination of women. Of course, given the nature of pedophilia, those measures probably wouldn't actually do that much. Pedophiles become priests (or whatever job gets them close to children) far more often than priests become pedophiles. More relevant is the inordinate amount of authority that priests are accorded, and assumption of their moral superiority, which allows them to get away with abuse unquestioned and have people even make excuses for them.

* Terrorist plots are almost always conspiracies, particularly large-scale ones like the 2005 bombings of the London transit system or the 1998 suicide bombings of American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.

** On the other hand, the [http://www.archive.org/index.php Internet Archive] still has some articles. For example, [https://web.archive.org/web/20020214072035/http://www.nwfdailynews.com/archive/news/010901news3.html%5C]

* April Fools: a worldwide united effort to spread disinformation and propaganda for a single day, thus bringing mass confusion and embarrassment upon the populace.

* [[wikipedia:Watergate|The Watergate scandal.]]

** Interestingly, the Watergate scandal actually serves to discredit most government-orchestrated conspiracy theories (that is, theories about conspiracies orchestrated by the government, not conspiracy theories ''created'' by the government). If the federal government was unable to keep a simple scheme to wiretap an office secret, how could they ''possibly'' orchestrate something as huge as the 9/11 attacks without anyone finding out and blowing the whistle?

 

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[[Category:The Index Is Watching You]]

[[Category:Oral Tradition]]