As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/
Options

The Aluminum Foil Hat Thread: Conspiracy Theories

1246712

Posts

  • Options
    BehemothBehemoth Compulsive Seashell Collector Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Oh, that's nothing.

    I see your so-called face of madness and raise you...

    TIMECUBE!

    Gaze upon my link, ye sane, and despair.
    Yes. That place.
    Has anyone actually ever read ...well, any of it? And did they ever attempt to parse what they found in terms of reality, or did their heads just explode like that guy in Scanners?

    It's easy enough to read, it just doesn't make any goddamn sense. And if you can read one paragraph, you've read the whole thing. He repeats himself a lot.

    Behemoth on
    iQbUbQsZXyt8I.png
  • Options
    adytumadytum The Inevitable Rise And FallRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Kalkino wrote: »
    Also, the UN is plotting to steal our guns, to allow the Third World to rise up and conquer the West etc.

    Every few years someone proposes an international treaty on weapons control, trafficking of various weapons etc, often under the broad aegis of the UN. This is taken as proof of a UN plan to take away people's personal firearms, in particular, the West.

    My father has a mild belief in this theory and has for sometime, well before the current treaty proposals.

    given that about 50% if the world's yearly military spending is done by the us (which is more than the next 20 states combined, including china), limiting weapon trafficking would probably be a pretty tangible blow for the us economy

    SIPRI does a lot of research on this. IIRC the top 5 all make a ton of money selling arms. I'll check the facts when I get home.

    Nevermind, found it. I guess it's just the top 4. http://books.sipri.org/files/FS/SIPRIFS1003.pdf

    % of world export of arms
    US- 30%
    Russia- 23%
    Germany- 11%
    France- 8%
    UK- 4%

    Oh, and 4 of the top 5 exporters sit on the UN Security Council, so I wouldn't worry about any binding resolutions reducing the arms trade anytime soon.

    adytum on
  • Options
    Kipling217Kipling217 Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    You know one of my pet theories about the JFK assasination is that there was a conspiracy, in fact there where multiple conspiracies, but that the conspiracies had nothing to do with the JFK assasination whatsoever!

    Back in 63 lots of people hated JFK because of his percived soft atitude towards Cuba(JFK having "caved" in the cuban missile crisis by saying the US wouldn't invade). Lots of lower level members of the Millitary,CIA,FBI and various exile groups start talking smack about "taking out" the SOB Kennedy. Typical Internet Tough Guy bullshit before there was a internet to post on.

    Then Oswald kills Kennedy. You are the head of a major organisation, you know several of your subordinates have been talking about how much they hate Kennedy and how much they want to kill him. Wouldn't you decide to cover up your connection to them? Shove them out into the cold, elliminating the worst ones and denying any knowledge when the press comes calling?

    Instant conspiracies everywhere.

    Kipling217 on
    The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
  • Options
    Capt HowdyCapt Howdy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Behemoth wrote: »
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Oh, that's nothing.

    I see your so-called face of madness and raise you...

    TIMECUBE!

    Gaze upon my link, ye sane, and despair.
    Yes. That place.
    Has anyone actually ever read ...well, any of it? And did they ever attempt to parse what they found in terms of reality, or did their heads just explode like that guy in Scanners?

    It's easy enough to read, it just doesn't make any goddamn sense. And if you can read one paragraph, you've read the whole thing. He repeats himself a lot.

    No kidding. WTF was that? And who has the time to create something that....well, whatever it is?

    Anyway, I'll have to go see the Georgia Guidestones someday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_Guidestones

    Capt Howdy on
    Steam: kaylesolo1
    3DS: 1521-4165-5907
    PS3: KayleSolo
    Live: Kayle Solo
    WiiU: KayleSolo
  • Options
    ThesmileyemoThesmileyemo Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Torso Boy wrote: »
    and the bones of Jesus have been found and are demonstrably holy or something

    Wait, wouldn't finding the bones of Jesus disprove the whole rising from the grave and ascending to heaven?

    Thesmileyemo on
  • Options
    Niceguy MyeyeNiceguy Myeye Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I think the closest thing we still have to a secret society has to be the Church of Scientology.

    Yeah, they've literally done things that would fit right in a conspiracy novel.

    They bought out an anti cult group that spoke out against them and now operate it
    They harass people with frivolous lawsuits
    They are outspoken against any sort of modern mental health


    Also, organized crime can fit into conspiracy theory/secret society. I realize that this isn't hookers and blow mobsters, but I read a link today about organize fraud.

    Organized Loan Fraud

    Maybe, I should read up on some sort of organized crime history book.

    Niceguy Myeye on
  • Options
    Torso BoyTorso Boy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Deadfall wrote: »

    Oh, that's nothing.

    I see your so-called face of madness and raise you...

    TIMECUBE!

    Gaze upon my link, ye sane, and despair.

    The scariest fucking thing is at the bottom, there's a link to the next page.

    Torso Boy on
  • Options
    CheezyCheezy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    so how about the whole MLK assassination conspiracy?

    Cheezy on
  • Options
    override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    JebusUD wrote: »
    So I had a girl I work with tell me that she couldn't buy Kraft brand canadian bacon pizza from the store. Because Kraft puts nanobots in the cheese that control your mind. First I laughed. Then I stopped because I realized it wasn't a joke. Then I told her merely, "That is the craziest thing I have ever heard".

    Anything that gets people to stop eating Kraft "dairy adjacent" products is fine with me
    Cheezy wrote: »
    so how about the whole MLK assassination conspiracy?

    There are people that think this? It seems relatively clear cut.

    the JFK one I'm more apt to give consideration to, even though I personally don't have enough evidence to doubt the official story.

    See something like "businesses are holding money and not hiring as political leverage" is barely a conspiracy theory, there's enough evidence where you've moved into a reasonable suspicion. Now I would argue with anyone who believes that it is fact, but it's certainly something you could rationally be suspect about. This is what bugs me about conspiracy theorists, something like this that has small amounts of evidence should be what we refer to as "conspiracy theory", but these people defend nebulous claims that require huge leaps of logic as if they were fact

    override367 on
  • Options
    dojangodojango Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Cheezy wrote: »
    so how about the whole MLK assassination conspiracy?

    There are people that think this? It seems relatively clear cut.

    the JFK one I'm more apt to give consideration to, even though I personally don't have enough evidence to doubt the official story.

    I think the question is 'why did a two-bit drifter with no prior political convictions or mental health issues decide to shoot MLK?' There was never a clear motive or rationale for it. Unlike Sirhan Sirhan who had a motive (even though it was stupid), or Hinckley (who was crazy), James Earl Ray just did it without explaining why.

    dojango on
  • Options
    JihadJesusJihadJesus Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    'Businesses are greedy fucks and not hiring' is not a conspiracy theory. 'Businesses are not hiring because the CEOs and boards are all Freemasons who intend to crash the US economy in order to gut proxy defense spending in Israel and enable the New World order to seize the Holy Land and found New Jerusalem as the seat of their one world government and begin the End Times' is a conspiracy theory.

    A lot of times the nutty flavor is in the reasoning, rather than just the normal dickbag behavior.

    JihadJesus on
  • Options
    joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    It sounds like a recipe when you put it like that

    joshofalltrades on
  • Options
    Capt HowdyCapt Howdy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Torso Boy wrote: »
    Lawndart wrote: »
    Deadfall wrote: »

    Oh, that's nothing.

    I see your so-called face of madness and raise you...

    TIMECUBE!

    Gaze upon my link, ye sane, and despair.

    The scariest fucking thing is at the bottom, there's a link to the next page.

    Has anyone dared click the next link?

    Capt Howdy on
    Steam: kaylesolo1
    3DS: 1521-4165-5907
    PS3: KayleSolo
    Live: Kayle Solo
    WiiU: KayleSolo
  • Options
    DoctorArchDoctorArch Curmudgeon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    We have talked about this before (not as though that is inherently bad, you get a large group of friends together and we will usually end up talking about the same thing after a while) and it's come up that conspiracy theories operate on many of the same levels as religion in that they cannot be proven and are accepted on faith.

    DoctorArch on
    Switch Friend Code: SW-6732-9515-9697
  • Options
    Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Silly question:
    Why is no-one talking about Apollo yet? If this thread is about 'popular' conspiracy theories, the one where the moon landings were faked (either in part or entire) surely qualifies...

    Mr_Rose on
    ...because dragons are AWESOME! That's why.
    Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
    DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
  • Options
    South hostSouth host I obey without question Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    YOU are the lowest form.
    YOU can't procreate alone.
    YOU destroyed the village.
    YOU destroyed the family.
    YOU destroyed childhood.
    YOU destroyed naturalism.
    YOU don't know the Truth.
    YOU pitiful mindless fools,
    YOU are educated stupid.
    YOU worship cubeless word.
    YOU are your own poison.
    YOU create your own hell.
    YOU must seek Time Cube.

    Dunno, makes sense to me.

    South host on
    Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.
  • Options
    Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Your signature is suddenly strangely appropriate.

    Mr_Rose on
    ...because dragons are AWESOME! That's why.
    Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
    DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
  • Options
    BehemothBehemoth Compulsive Seashell Collector Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    Silly question:
    Why is no-one talking about Apollo yet? If this thread is about 'popular' conspiracy theories, the one where the moon landings were faked (either in part or entire) surely qualifies...

    'Cause it's really, really stupid, and not in a particularly interesting way.

    Behemoth on
    iQbUbQsZXyt8I.png
  • Options
    Edith_Bagot-DixEdith_Bagot-Dix Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Gentlemen, behold...

    conference.jpg

    That's right, Galileo is wrong but they don't want you to know!

    Edith_Bagot-Dix on


    Also on Steam and PSN: twobadcats
  • Options
    HappylilElfHappylilElf Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    JihadJesus wrote: »
    'Businesses are greedy fucks and not hiring' is not a conspiracy theory. 'Businesses are not hiring because the CEOs and boards are all Freemasons who intend to crash the US economy in order to gut proxy defense spending in Israel and enable the New World order to seize the Holy Land and found New Jerusalem as the seat of their one world government and begin the End Times' is a conspiracy theory.

    A lot of times the nutty flavor is in the reasoning, rather than just the normal dickbag behavior.

    Eh, "Businesses are not hiring to intentionally keep the unemployment numbers high in an attempt to influence the 2012 elections" strikes me as at least mildly conspiracy theory-ish without some kind of evidence this is actually the case.

    HappylilElf on
  • Options
    Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Behemoth wrote: »
    'Cause it's really, really stupid, and not in a particularly interesting way.
    Not even the versions where the landings actually happened, but that the footage that was seen on TV was faked because of the aliens?

    Mr_Rose on
    ...because dragons are AWESOME! That's why.
    Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
    DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
  • Options
    BehemothBehemoth Compulsive Seashell Collector Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    Behemoth wrote: »
    'Cause it's really, really stupid, and not in a particularly interesting way.
    Not even the versions where the landings actually happened, but that the footage that was seen on TV was faked because of the aliens?

    Okay I haven't heard that one

    Behemoth on
    iQbUbQsZXyt8I.png
  • Options
    PellaeonPellaeon Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Behemoth wrote: »
    Mr_Rose wrote: »
    Behemoth wrote: »
    'Cause it's really, really stupid, and not in a particularly interesting way.
    Not even the versions where the landings actually happened, but that the footage that was seen on TV was faked because of the aliens?

    Okay I haven't heard that one

    Isn't this just the trailer for the next transformers movie?

    Pellaeon on
  • Options
    Mr_RoseMr_Rose 83 Blue Ridge Protects the Holy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Behemoth wrote: »
    Okay I haven't heard that one
    Yeah; the apollo nutters can be broken down into approximately three major groups:
    1) The whole thing was faked from the ground up because...
    2) Only A11 was faked, and that because they wanted to get in before Kennedy's 'deadline'
    3) We totally went, but found something that meant the footage had to be mocked up for reasons of national security.

    Group 3 have suggested many possibilities for the "something" including: Alien ruins; living aliens; naturally occurring moon-rocks that defy 'conventional' physics and; the secret Russian base that the commies sent up in parts on the Luna missions.

    E: @Pellaeon: Yes, yes it is. But the concept is not new.

    Mr_Rose on
    ...because dragons are AWESOME! That's why.
    Nintendo Network ID: AzraelRose
    DropBox invite link - get 500MB extra free.
  • Options
    Torso BoyTorso Boy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Gentlemen, behold...
    conference.jpg

    That's right, Galileo is wrong but they don't want you to know!

    For fuck's sake, who gives these assholes degrees, let alone PhDs?

    Torso Boy on
  • Options
    Capt HowdyCapt Howdy Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    JihadJesus wrote: »
    'Businesses are greedy fucks and not hiring' is not a conspiracy theory. 'Businesses are not hiring because the CEOs and boards are all Freemasons who intend to crash the US economy in order to gut proxy defense spending in Israel and enable the New World order to seize the Holy Land and found New Jerusalem as the seat of their one world government and begin the End Times' is a conspiracy theory.

    A lot of times the nutty flavor is in the reasoning, rather than just the normal dickbag behavior.

    Eh, "Businesses are not hiring to intentionally keep the unemployment numbers high in an attempt to influence the 2012 elections" strikes me as at least mildly conspiracy theory-ish without some kind of evidence this is actually the case.

    If you change the theory from not hiring to "raise/lower the price of Gas", I would have no problem believing that.

    I'm probably just remembering it wrong, but I swear the price of Gas always dropped a few months before elections if Republicans were in charge, and went up when Dems were in charge.

    Capt Howdy on
    Steam: kaylesolo1
    3DS: 1521-4165-5907
    PS3: KayleSolo
    Live: Kayle Solo
    WiiU: KayleSolo
  • Options
    nexuscrawlernexuscrawler Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I think the closest thing we still have to a secret society has to be the Church of Scientology.

    Yeah, they've literally done things that would fit right in a conspiracy novel.

    They bought out an anti cult group that spoke out against them and now operate it
    They harass people with frivolous lawsuits
    They are outspoken against any sort of modern mental health


    Also, organized crime can fit into conspiracy theory/secret society. I realize that this isn't hookers and blow mobsters, but I read a link today about organize fraud.

    Organized Loan Fraud

    Maybe, I should read up on some sort of organized crime history book.

    You forgot about the plotting to infiltrate the US government at all levels with sleeper agents

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_snow_white

    not really a "theory" as several high ranking memebers, include l ron hubbards wife, went to jail for it

    oh and now there's this

    http://www.torontolife.com/daily/hype/creative-types/2011/02/08/paul-haggis-speaks-out-against-scientology-in-massive-new-yorker-profile/

    which has lead the FBI to launch a human trafficking and slavery investigation against them

    nexuscrawler on
  • Options
    AsiinaAsiina ... WaterlooRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    I really can't believe this thread is on page 6 and ACSIS hasn't posted yet.

    Asiina on
  • Options
    AiouaAioua Ora Occidens Ora OptimaRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Asiina wrote: »
    I really can't believe this thread is on page 6 and ACSIS hasn't posted yet.

    But if you belive them, they aren't really conspiracy theories, just the truth.

    Aioua on
    life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
    fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
    that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
    bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
  • Options
    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Graham Hancock is like the G-rated version of the lizardpeople/moon landing/Masonic conspiracy stuff, and he's also some of my favorite airplane reading. He mostly deals in pseudo-archaeological theories, but he does occasionally branch out. He's covered aliens guiding man's development (including the building of the pyramids), using LSD to contact other planes (and aliens, again), ancient underwater cities, etc.

    But the thing he keeps coming back to is the idea that at some point before the last ice age there was a thriving, culturally and scientifically advanced human civilization on the earth, that was then all but wiped out in some sort of a catastrophe and the survivors went on to form a secret society that has guided mankind's redevelopment to this point. Now, by "advanced" he's implying that they were seafaring, able to reach any point on the globe, had a nuanced written language and an understanding of astronomy and cartography that would allow them to make detailed maps of the planet. He points to the Piri Reis map, architectural similarities between ancient societies, and all sorts of other somewhat convincing stuff to make his case. Unfortunately, he can only maintain the veneer of rational sanity for about 400 pages at a time.

    His works start as a kind of travelogue, where he is going to South America or Egypt or Japan or somewhere and writing about his trip and the stuff he visits, people he meets, etc. It's actually pretty cool for someone like myself who hasn't gotten to go a lot of these places themselves. Somewhere about halfway through each of his books,though, he must stand up from the computer, remove his pants and wrap them around his head. Because shit gets strange real quick. Not lizardman strange, but "early humanity's sudden jump in sophistication was due to extradimensional entities communicating with them via LSD trips" strange.

    The first time I read one of his books, Fingerprints of the Gods, I had picked it up at a used book store to read on a long flight. His books average like 600 pages, so they occupy all or virtually all of a round trip between Kansas and Philadelphia, even if you've got layovers. I got to page 380, and suddenly it went from "this was my trip with the wife to Gaza" to "bald white men with red beards built the pyramids to specifications that would make the Corps of Engineers shit themselves." It was a trip.

    OptimusZed on
    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • Options
    OptimusZedOptimusZed Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Torso Boy wrote: »
    Gentlemen, behold...
    conference.jpg

    That's right, Galileo is wrong but they don't want you to know!

    For fuck's sake, who gives these assholes degrees, let alone PhDs?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlqDu2cDT0A

    OptimusZed on
    We're reading Rifts. You should too. You know you want to. Now With Ninjas!

    They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
  • Options
    override367override367 ALL minions Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    JihadJesus wrote: »
    'Businesses are greedy fucks and not hiring' is not a conspiracy theory. 'Businesses are not hiring because the CEOs and boards are all Freemasons who intend to crash the US economy in order to gut proxy defense spending in Israel and enable the New World order to seize the Holy Land and found New Jerusalem as the seat of their one world government and begin the End Times' is a conspiracy theory.

    A lot of times the nutty flavor is in the reasoning, rather than just the normal dickbag behavior.

    Eh, "Businesses are not hiring to intentionally keep the unemployment numbers high in an attempt to influence the 2012 elections" strikes me as at least mildly conspiracy theory-ish without some kind of evidence this is actually the case.

    That seems unlikely and honestly too focused to me

    Businesses not hiring because they've realized that if they don't they get all kinds of perks and tax holidays and ponies and shit sounds more reasonable, and since the media only broadcasts things corporate america approves of since they fund it, nobody is really putting the blame in employment on the employers

    Like government incompetence, I don't consider it a concerted effort - more of an aggregate of many selfish people being selfish

    override367 on
  • Options
    LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    OptimusZed wrote: »
    Graham Hancock is like the G-rated version of the lizardpeople/moon landing/Masonic conspiracy stuff, and he's also some of my favorite airplane reading. He mostly deals in pseudo-archaeological theories, but he does occasionally branch out. He's covered aliens guiding man's development (including the building of the pyramids), using LSD to contact other planes (and aliens, again), ancient underwater cities, etc.

    But the thing he keeps coming back to is the idea that at some point before the last ice age there was a thriving, culturally and scientifically advanced human civilization on the earth, that was then all but wiped out in some sort of a catastrophe and the survivors went on to form a secret society that has guided mankind's redevelopment to this point. Now, by "advanced" he's implying that they were seafaring, able to reach any point on the globe, had a nuanced written language and an understanding of astronomy and cartography that would allow them to make detailed maps of the planet. He points to the Piri Reis map, architectural similarities between ancient societies, and all sorts of other somewhat convincing stuff to make his case. Unfortunately, he can only maintain the veneer of rational sanity for about 400 pages at a time.

    His works start as a kind of travelogue, where he is going to South America or Egypt or Japan or somewhere and writing about his trip and the stuff he visits, people he meets, etc. It's actually pretty cool for someone like myself who hasn't gotten to go a lot of these places themselves. Somewhere about halfway through each of his books,though, he must stand up from the computer, remove his pants and wrap them around his head. Because shit gets strange real quick. Not lizardman strange, but "early humanity's sudden jump in sophistication was due to extradimensional entities communicating with them via LSD trips" strange.

    The first time I read one of his books, Fingerprints of the Gods, I had picked it up at a used book store to read on a long flight. His books average like 600 pages, so they occupy all or virtually all of a round trip between Kansas and Philadelphia, even if you've got layovers. I got to page 380, and suddenly it went from "this was my trip with the wife to Gaza" to "bald white men with red beards built the pyramids to specifications that would make the Corps of Engineers shit themselves." It was a trip.

    The implicit but unspoken cultural imperialism underlying the whole "Chariot Of The Gods" school of conspiracy theories and the "but these non-European savages couldn't have built this on their own!" claims that support them never fails to amuse me.

    Building the pyramids for those dirty Egyptians really was the white alien's burden, wot wot.

    Lawndart on
  • Options
    BehemothBehemoth Compulsive Seashell Collector Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Aioua wrote: »
    Asiina wrote: »
    I really can't believe this thread is on page 6 and ACSIS hasn't posted yet.

    But if you belive them, they aren't really conspiracy theories, just the truth.

    Also, we haven't gotten into his specific wheelhouse of "aliens built the pyramids!" yet.

    EDIT: I spoke too soon!

    Behemoth on
    iQbUbQsZXyt8I.png
  • Options
    Gabriel_PittGabriel_Pitt (effective against Russian warships) Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Asiina wrote: »
    I really can't believe this thread is on page 6 and ACSIS hasn't posted yet.

    Man, don't bring him into here. This thread has been fun so far. Once he shows up it's just going to be page after page of him being a dumb-ass, and posting youtube videos and block paragraphs copied from the 'I feel lucky' google result that whatever's being discussed brings up to 'counter' whatever holes get shot in his arguments, until the thread is locked and we're told 'this is why we can't have nice things.' :(

    Gabriel_Pitt on
  • Options
    CouscousCouscous Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Who can forget the two classics the moon landing and Princess Diana.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6MOnehCOUw&feature=related
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoZ71sj3Kn0

    Couscous on
  • Options
    -SPI--SPI- Osaka, JapanRegistered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Lawndart wrote: »

    The implicit but unspoken cultural imperialism underlying the whole "Chariot Of The Gods" school of conspiracy theories and the "but these non-European savages couldn't have built this on their own!" claims that support them never fails to amuse me.

    Building the pyramids for those dirty Egyptians really was the white alien's burden, wot wot.
    I want to see a documentary where two professors, one egyptian and one mexican go around europe and posit theories of how aliens actually built all the largest cathedrals.

    -SPI- on
  • Options
    L|amaL|ama Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Sort of related, but the whole "Jewish slaves built the pyramids" thing annoys me quite a lot. It's completely false, the pyramids were built with home grown Egyptian labour that was only somewhat coerced, most likely (in the same way that tax is being coerced to give away your money).
    [Tycho?] wrote: »
    one of my favorites is number stations

    they're shortwave radio stations of indeterminate origin that broadcast meaningless strings of numbers. They've been around on and off since the 50s. There's been speculation that the were spies sending coded messages to home bases but it seems like a horribly inefficient way of doing things.

    More likely they're long term practical jokes made by really bored people

    You really think long term practical jokes is a more reasonable explanation? I've heard of these stations several times and it always seemed pretty reasonable. Secret, but not a conspiracy. Just a method of encrypting communications for whomever. Good enough way of doing it, less so now with the internet though.

    Yeah numbers stations are/were almost certainly legit and used for espionage. Actually there's an old guy in my physics department who does most of his work about radio stuff, I should ask if he has any interest in or knowledge of them.
    Kalkino wrote: »
    I think we've had this thread before (or something like it), but it is a fun topic I do admit

    The Masons have had a long run here - to this day there is still a bit of anti feeling here and tehre (I've met people back home or online who still believe they are up to something). Franco (dictator of Spain till the 1970s) is probably the most famous of the known anti Masons - he repressed the movement for as long as he could. It was not an uncommon belief amongst Catholics apparently and for a long time it seemed to be a Protestant thing more than anything else. Having spent time in several Lodges (as a child, as my father is a longstanding member) I can assure you the Scottish Rite still have the swords by the door, decorative as they may be.

    My favourite conspiracy theory is from NZ, although I understand some other Settler countries have similar theories. At present and for about half a century it has been accepted in academia/etc that Maori are the first known human settlers of New Zealand. It is also accepted that there has been no definitive proof of human exploration before the Maori (from about 1000AD or so), although sometimes evidence does arise. There was an popular theory up till the early 20th century that there was a predecessor peoples to the Maori - the Moriori, who had been expelled/wiped out - until they inhabited only the Chatham Islands (600-700km from the mainland). Archaeologists, anthropologists and other researchers have proven by all sorts of methods that the Maori and Moriori are the same people (just different tribes) and there has been absolutely no evidence of any other settler population until European contact in the 18th century.

    Now despite the above, there is a belief that previous explorers or settlers beat the Maori, with the usual suspects being Celts, Romans, Chinese or some other mysterious white race. It is also often believed that these peoples were highly advanced (see Stonehenge/Babylonia) and widely spread across the islands. It is also believed that they were wiped out largely by Maori invasion and/or natural disaster, despite their superiority. Finally, it is believed that these truths have been repressed by Academia, the government, the Left, the Maori, etc as it would somehow ruin their plan (s). Now why would it ruin their plans? The reason being that apparently the Maori get treated better than they deserve purely because they were the original human settlers and the later British settlers somehow are less privileged or are second class citizens. If somehow the Maori too were invaders, then perhaps their status would be altered.

    This is an issue because of land and resources primarily. Since the 1980s the government has engaged a series of compensatory agreements with various Maori tribes or sub groups, largely as compensation for broken treaties or other agreements dating back to the 19th century (see similar experiences in the US, Canada and Australia). These settlements go on to this day and currently are rather controversial due to disputes over the ownership or customary use of marine/foreshore land and resources. It is very political as you can imagine and people can get rather worked up.

    Quite a lot of people have a residual belief in the above theories, but are not necessarily anti-semitic/white nationalists etc. The Moirori theory was taught at many schools until after the War

    I actually didn't know that this was bullshit until a year or so ago when I looked up Moriori on wikipedia.

    L|ama on
  • Options
    L|amaL|ama Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Did some wikipediaing and googling around about numbers stations: a story of someone who claimed to use one in East Germany before smuggling documents out. I can't find any reference to this case that doesn't come back to this site, though.

    More interestingly, go to page 11 on this pdf about the russian spies in the US from last year.

    L|ama on
  • Options
    AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited February 2011
    Deadfall wrote: »

    To the point that it was yet another real world site that Ubisoft mined for its conspiracylishisness.

    Edit: They used the moon landing one too.

    AngelHedgie on
    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
This discussion has been closed.