Conspiracy Theories: Difference between revisions
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* 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. |
* 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. |
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* 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. |
* 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. |
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* The nationwide news blackout of [https://web.archive.org/web/20090116020545/http://www.americanpolitics.com/20010808Klausutis.html Lori Klausutis's] dead body found in [[wikipedia:Joe Scarborough|Joe Scarborough's]] Florida office, summer 2001, in the middle of the [[wikipedia:Gary Condit|Condit]]-[[wikipedia:Chandra Levy|Levy]] media rage. The [http://www.nwfdailynews.com/ Northwest Florida Daily News] was the only newspaper to reasonably cover the case. The Klausutis articles have been removed from the archives, and also from Google's cache. The nationwide news blackout, plus the deletion from the archives, can only be the result of a conspiracy. |
* The nationwide news blackout of [https://web.archive.org/web/20090116020545/http://www.americanpolitics.com/20010808Klausutis.html Lori Klausutis's] dead body found in [[wikipedia:Joe Scarborough|Joe Scarborough's]] Florida office, summer 2001, in the middle of the [[wikipedia:Gary Condit|Condit]]-[[wikipedia:Chandra Levy|Levy]] media rage. The [http://www.nwfdailynews.com/ Northwest Florida Daily News] was the only newspaper to reasonably cover the case. The Klausutis articles have been removed from the archives, and also from Google's cache. The nationwide news blackout, plus the deletion from the archives, can only be the result of a conspiracy.{{verify}} |
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** 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] |
** 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] |
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* April Fools: a worldwide united effort to spread disinformation and propaganda for a single day, thus bringing mass confusion and embarrassment upon the populace. |
* April Fools: a worldwide united effort to spread disinformation and propaganda for a single day, thus bringing mass confusion and embarrassment upon the populace. |
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* The IB affair. IB was a |
* The IB affair. IB was a military intelligence agency in Sweden whose mission involved gathering information on communists and other persons who where considered threats to national security. It was similar to the COINTELPRO mentioned above, only there were no rules on what it was allowed to do or not do. It is not entirely clear what "IB" even stands for, either ''Informationsbyrån" (The Informations Bureau) or "Insamling Birger" (Information Gathering Birger) after the director, Birger Elmér. The organization was exposed by journalists Jan Guillou and Peter Bratt in 1973, leading to the two being imprisoned for espionage and causing a political scandal. |
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* [[wikipedia:Watergate|The Watergate scandal.]] |
* [[wikipedia:Watergate|The Watergate scandal.]] |
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** 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? |
** 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? |