Have there ever been any conspiracy theories that were widely ‘debunked’ by respected people, (intellectuals, or professors or scientists or whatever) that actually turned out to be true?
I am a big fan of conspiracy theories. When it is being presented to me, I am almost on board. Only after really giving myself a good talking to am I able to assure myself that the conspiracy is nonsense. I am embarrassed to even admit that I love the damn things.
But I have been wondering, are there any famous conspiracy theories that have been proven true? I hope so.
In a sense one could say that the process of man-made global warming is a “conspiracy theory proven true.” After all, the idea of Big Corporations (especially Big Oil, a familiar player in conspiracy theories) being involved in something that could potentially wreck the planet sounds like CT fodder writ large. And many “intellectuals, professors, and scientists” initially debunked it; some of course still do.
Let’s put it this way: if man-made global warming wasn’t a reality, and one of your rummier friends came to you with the story that “the oil and energy companies are destroying the planet, man”–what would you think it was?
Googling ‘true conspiracy theories’ comes up with some interesting links, but some aren’t clear as to whether they were actually conspiracy theories before they became proven, or if they were just secrets that were discovered.
A favorite conspiracy theory of mine is that JFK was killed ultimately by a cabal of military/industrial contractors who feared losing out on billions of dollars worth of contracts in supplying materiel to a protracted war in Vietnam, because JFK made comments expressing realization that the US ultimately could not secure victory.
JFK was assasinated.
LBJ did plunge into Vietnam all the way.
The military contractors did make billions.
Smoking. It was widely rumored that the industry was engaged in a conspiracy to cover up the health risks, and they were.
I’ll bet you could find a bunch of similar true conspiracies in various industries about dangerous materials or products. Asbestos comes to mind. Nuclear power, in the early years at least, with the AEC downplaying leaks and health risks.
How about the Tuskeegee syphillis (or was it another STD?) experiment? Certainly a conspiracy, though I’m not sure how the truth came out.
The problem with this is that it’s applied retroactively. The thinking is that the Vietnam War was bad and John F Kennedy was good so he must have been against the war. The reality, however, is that Kennedy consistently increased American involvment in Vietnam throughout his administration. If you were a military contractor in 1963 you would have been raising money for Kennedy’s re-election not planning his assassination.
I think the CFR-Trilateral-Bildeberg Corporate-Fabian-Socialist New-World-Order conspiracy theory is true to a degree. The Antony Sutton “Wall Street” trilogy is the most well documented set of books on the subject. I think however it is more of an Establishment than a Conspiracy, and that its eventual goal is a Corporatist-Consumerist Global Market, closer to a Huxleyan Brave New World than an Orwellian 1984.
Remember that lady, I think it was Martha Mitchell, she started telling on everyone in the Nixon Administration and they leaked word about she was crazy and drinking woman and such. Then it turned out she was right.
