Government Conspiracy: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Drama genre or plot in which the [[Powers That Be]] and/or [[The Government]] is evil and hiding something/trying to assassinate someone/establishing a puppet foreign government. Considering how incompetent the government are considered to be in just about every other area, it's remarkable how good they are at covering stuff up. A subtrope of [[The Conspiracy]].

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', though the manga and the [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|2003 anime adaptation]] differ in how many people are aware of/involved in the conspiracy. The conspiracy itself is different in the manga and first anime; in the manga, {{spoiler|Father and the upper echelons of the military are planning to create a utopia through [[Human Sacrifice]]}}. In the 2003 anime, the conspiracy is {{spoiler|[[Vain Sorceress|Dante]] using the country (though Pride) to create situations that lead to the creation of Philosopher's Stones (again through mass human sacrifice) that Dante needs to fuel her [[Immortality Immorality|immortality]]}}.

* The ''[[.hack|.hack//]]'' series' system administrators work much the same way up until the end of ''//tasogare no udewa densetsu''.

 

 

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Three Days of the Condor]]''

* ''[[The Parallax View]]''

** It is a conspiracy incorporating most of the major world governments, and probably every single space program. And what holds it all together? Nondisclosure agreements.

** The show includes two straighter examples, in the NID and later "The Trust", that are ''even more'' secret than above-mentioned programs. The first goes to far and gets taken down by the heroes, while the second one gets infiltrated by Goa'uld.

** Section 31 were actually vital to achieving a happy ending for the Dominion War. Because it's explicitly stated (in "Statistical Probabilities", and by a Changeling admitting to their [[Salt the Earth]] strategy) that the Alpha Quadrant would have become a [[Crapsack World]], had Odo not been able to use the cure to broker peace. This, means that Section 31 did a [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|Nice Job Fixing it Villain]], and can be seen as [[Designated Villain]]s [[Straw Man Has a Point|Strawmen with a point]].

* ''[[Surface]]''

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' {{spoiler|Galenth Dysley, leader of the Sanctum, is actually the fal'Cie Barthandelus and is trying to get our heroes to destroy Cocoon to bring back the Maker.}}

* The original ''[[Max Payne (series)|Max Payne]]'' covered the aftermath of Project Valhalla, a US government-sponsored drug research that was [[Tested on Humans]] during the [[Gulf War]]. There is also the Inner Circle, a group of filthily rich old men who more or less control the US government (and are hinted to have been behind the [[Who Shot JFK?|Kennedy assassination]]).

** WORSE. {{spoiler|The SRF is goading the stubborn families away from their uninsured homes with rigged vacation lotteries, sending an insane pyromaniac to burn the homes AND kill any family that hasn't left the house, and the insurance fraud profits of these homes are worth THE DIRT THEY'RE BUILT ON, and according to Cole, the actual worth of the houses is "Firewood. All of them.". The real money is in getting the whole set of lands, so that the SRF can build an entire freeway and commercial center and profit}}. Depending on your interpretation, while Kelso retalliates violently against the leaders of the SRF for killing families and recently retired war veterans, his silence of the evidence for the latter scheme implies that he supports the now-semi-purified growth of economic progress in L.A., even if it alienates any sense of friendship he had with Cole.

* ''[[Hatoful Boyfriend]]'' {{spoiler|1=The Hawk Party created the H5N1 flu and established St. PigeoNation's institute to do further research.}}

** COINTELPRO, an FBI task force created in the mid-50s to sabotage and harass "subversive" organizations, including Civil Rights groups, workers' unions, anti-war protests, the Black Panthers, and the KKK. Discontinued in the early 70s, but you'll find plenty of people who say otherwise.

** The Iran-Contra Affair, an elaborate three-way deal between the CIA, Iran, and a band of Nicaraguan rebels. To be brief, the CIA sold weapons to Iran in exchange for cash and hostages, then funneled much of the proceeds into the pockets of the Contras—all well and good, if it weren't illegal.

** And of course the stories of the U.S. government (Specifically the CIA) involvement in the complicit smuggling, and selling of cocaine through third parties, which supplied the drug dealers on the street and which caused the crack epidemic that hit the inner cities hard. Supposedly it helped fund illegal operations elsewhere, like the above Contras.

** [[Kick the Dog|Probably one of the sickest conspiracies ever]] was the Tuskegee Experiment, wherein US Health Officials willingly and readily prevented African-American men from getting aid for syphilis, which even at the time the experiment was performed was treatable, just to see what effect the disease would have as time went on (nevermind the fact that humanity had known about syphilis and its effects for centuries, if not longer).

** The various attempts to assassinate or discredit Fidel Castro that the CIA carried out in the 1950s and 1960s. Everything from attempting to sabotage his diving equipment to poisoning / drugging his cigars (often with some form of psychotropic drug -- ''again'' with the psychotropic drugs...) to attempting to create some kind of chemical that would cause his hair to fall out, thus ridding him of his iconic beard. You couldn't make some of these things up.

** Similarly, Operation Northwoods, a series of proposals to drum up support for a war against Castro's Cuba through a [[False-Flag Operation]] against U.S. military and civilian targets, among which was included a "Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington". While the plan was rejected by President Kennedy and none of the proposals ever became operational, it has been used by conspiracy theorists ever since its declassification and release as evidence that there are elements within the U.S. government who have no qualms about deceiving their citizens.

* The Great Purge orchestrated by Stalin was officially a "swift retribution for the assassination of Sergei Kirov, beloved comrade and close friend of Stalin, an act indicating a reactive conspiracy in the highest echelons of Soviet government". According to some theories (mostly claimed by Khrushchev without any evidence), it was Stalin who ordered the assassination thus getting a pretense to eliminate all real, potential and imagined enemies. Hell, USSR during Stalin's rule IS this trope. The last sentence is very questionable as everything made by Soviet totalitarian state was very carefully controlled and documented, there isn't much classified data on repressions.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Index Is Watching You]]

[[Category:Plots]]