# Conspiracy Theories That Proved True? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 19, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975 "2015-11-19T13:42:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/21 "2015-11-19T18:04:53Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > The Tuskegee experiments was the first thing that came to my mind. I have a problem with considering the Tuskeegee Experiments to be a conspiracy theory proven as a conspiracy. Its publications, data and findings were avaialble throughout the study. That it was an utter moral failing was another matter, but it was no secret hush-hush conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/22 "2015-11-19T18:48:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [General Motors Streetcar Conspiracy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy) > > It’s not clear that the conspiracy to eliminate public transportation systems was effective, but there was a conspiracy and a conviction. I bet the $1 fine must have hurt. Yeah, no doubt GM tried but stuff like the Red Cars were doomed without their “conspiring” . I rode the last of those when I was a kid, they traveled so slow you could just jump on in many places and thus no one paid fares. As your cite sez"“_Recent journalistic revisitings question that the alleged conspirators had a significant impact on the decline of the streetcar system, suggesting rather that they were setting themselves up to take advantage of the decline as it occurred. Guy Span suggested that Snell and others fell into simplistic conspiracy theory thinking, bordering on paranoid delusions[5]…GM Killed the Red cars in Los Angeles".[81] In reality, Pacific Electric Railway (who operated the ‘red cars’) was hemorrhaging routes as traffic congestion got much worse with growing prosperity and car ownership levels after the end of World War II, long before 1953.[86]_” So, yeah, there was a 'conspiracy" but it was hardly the mass effective thing it has been portrayed as, and it was just a few companies trying to get rid of the competition. meh- the dollar fine was about right. So yeah, a few little conspiracies, limited in scope- sure. But no biggies. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/23 "2015-11-19T18:49:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Fails the OP’s first criterion, in that everyone (or at least everyone paying even a modicum of attention) knew that it was going on. We might not know just how much capability the NSA has, but we know that whatever they do have, they’re using to the fullness of their capability. It personally works for me. I remember when the NSA was building their giant Utah data center (around 2008 or so?), and a couple CT-leaning friends told me the government was indiscriminately spying on the entire internet. Now, I could sympathize with them, as this wasn’t too long after the AT&T wiretapping story broke, but I just couldn’t comprehend the magnitude of what the NSA was doing. “Do you realize how much data that entails?” “Hence the giant data center.” “Do you know how many people would have to stay quiet?” “It’s classified information, lots of government projects have stayed secret for decades.” “Then how do you know about it?” “Well, it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it? Big data center, NSA, Patriot act, the terrorism boogey man, it all just follows from their known MO and this new data center construction” “Do you know how much noise is in that signal? How could a dragnet of the entire internet even be useful? There’s not enough people in the world to sort through all that garbage.” “Hey, I didn’t say they were smart, just that they’re doing it.” The whole thing sounded like loony 9/11 truther stuff, to me. Not the fact that they were spying, just the sheer audacity of intercepting _the entire internet_, day in, day out, for no other reason than the technology finally allowed them to. And Snowden eventually proved those conspiracy theorists right. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/24 "2015-11-19T19:17:38Z")
[The Big Tobacco conspiracy.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Berkshire) Many people thought tobacco was harmful but the big tobacco companies kept denying it and putting out false information. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/25 "2015-11-19T19:25:02Z")
Hell [doctors even used to recommend](http://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/news/print/hemonc-today/%7B241d62a7-fe6e-4c5b-9fed-a33cc6e4bd7c%7D/cigarettes-were-once-physician-tested-approved)certain cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/26 "2015-11-19T20:21:31Z")
How 'bout the oil companies knowing about global warming thirty years ago? ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/27 "2015-11-19T20:34:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Fails the OP’s first criterion, in that everyone (or at least everyone paying even a modicum of attention) knew that it was going on. We might not know just how much capability the NSA has, but we know that whatever they do have, they’re using to the fullness of their capability. It’s an interesting one because the conspiracy theories predate the conspiracy. There were people paranoid about government interception of messages on the Internet back in the early 90s, before Internet access was even commercially available. I always thought that they were paranoid loons. Then Snowden happened… ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/28 "2015-11-19T20:43:16Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > How 'bout the oil companies knowing about global warming thirty years ago? We’ve known about Global Warming for longer than that. Shoot, it gets a mention in the movie Soylent Green which was made 42 years ago. We just didn’t take it seriously until we started seeing evidence in the late 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/29 "2015-11-19T20:54:00Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Hell [doctors even used to recommend](http://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/news/print/hemonc-today/%7B241d62a7-fe6e-4c5b-9fed-a33cc6e4bd7c%7D/cigarettes-were-once-physician-tested-approved)certain cigarettes. _“Although the doctors in these advertisements were always actors and not real physicians, the image of the physician permeated cigarette ads for the next two and a half decades.”_ No conspiracy - but dubious surveys and sleazy advertising (including in major medical journals, at least up until the early 1950s) taking advantage of many physicians not fully realizing the harmful effects of smoking before the 1964 Surgeon General’s report. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/30 "2015-11-19T21:46:57Z")
Asbestos being banned for use as a building material, being reinstated, and again under attack. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/31 "2015-11-19T23:30:44Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Asbestos being banned for use as a building material, being reinstated, and again under attack. I give up. What’s the conspiracy? What’s the theory? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/32 "2015-11-19T23:37:10Z")
The first time it was banned (in the US) in the 60’s to 70’s they blamed the lumber/forestry block. Then in the 90’s it was cleared to be used again as long as it was bonded permanently in concrete or some other substance (has always been the case, methinks.) Now health people are at it again. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/33 "2015-11-20T00:47:26Z")
That’s a gigantic public front page issue. How is it a conspiracy? What’s the theory? Seriously, in what way does it belong with birthers and truthers and moon hoaxers? ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/34 "2015-11-20T01:07:31Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > … > Dietary cholesterol is bad for you. > Dietary cholesterol is not bad for you. Excellent point. ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/35 "2015-11-20T01:19:54Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The Illuminati created the solar system?:dubious: > > A [conspiracy theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory) generally requires a conspiracy. I’ll grant ya those things don’t meet the concept of conspiracy theory as defined in your link, but they do seem to meet the two criteria in the OP. Except for maybe quantum physics, which is more just plain wacky than conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/36 "2015-11-20T01:24:56Z")
None have been proven false. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/37 "2015-11-20T01:50:59Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > [This website](http://www.infowars.com/33-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true-what-every-person-should-know/) lists 33 conspiracies that turned out to be real. Some of those are rather interesting. #23 – Kennedy Assassination. E. Howard Hunt confessed to involvement on his deathbed. George de Mohrenschildt blew his brains out the night before he was scheduled to testify before Congress. #19 – Operation Snow White. Some time during the 1970s, the Church of Scientology massively infiltrated U.S. government agencies, wiretapping and burglarizing. #16 – The Business Plot. In 1933, group of wealthy businessmen allegedly including George H.W. Bush’s father planned a coup against FDR. Some seem unlikely: #30 – The Illuminati. …The Rothschild dynasty owns roughly half of the world’s wealth. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/38 "2015-11-20T02:07:35Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > None have been proven false. Has it ever been proven that you’re not a child molester and serial killer? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/39 "2015-11-20T02:20:47Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > Has it ever been proven that you’re not a child molester and serial killer? Never had a trial so no. Let me know how yours turns out. I’m rubber and you’re glue ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975/40 "2015-11-20T02:24:08Z")
Conspiracy Theories are like brain-eating cockroaches. They pollute from the inside out and must be stomped until they are dead, dead, dead. And where there is one there is normally many more. Believing that every event you don’t like is part of a conspiracy leads is a recipe for societal disaster. It leads to threads like [this one](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=775643), merely the latest of a million others. Conspiracy Theories aren’t merely stupid and annoying. They’re actively harmful. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories-that-proved-true/737975.md?page=3)