# Conspiracy theories **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 4, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611 "2010-09-04T19:02:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/21 "2010-09-06T07:40:46Z")
To this day I don’t understand why 911 conspiracy theorists obsess over bombs and all that other crap. Why isn’t it enough to believe that the government just hijacked the planes and flew them into the buildings? Apparently there’s a conspiracy theory about the government having Deep Underground Military Bases or “DUMBS” for some sort of nefarious purposes. You know it must be true because there’s an acronym. [This montage](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEDAE_9v4h0) of mines, NORAD and submarine pens proves it. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/22 "2010-09-06T13:02:14Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > This has it beat. Sounds like someone has been playing [Illuminati](http://sjgames.com/illuminati/) too much. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/23 "2010-09-06T23:29:10Z")
> [@AndrewL](#): > > > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > > A spacecraft isn’t all that different from an airplane in many respects. And yet they believe in airplanes, even if they don’t know Bernoulli from bat’s piss. > > I suspect the difference is that airplanes fly every day and for a not unreasonable amount of money you can go and fly on one yourself, while putting men on the moon is something we did a handful of times some 40 years ago and never since, and couldn’t do now without a massive reinvestment of money and time. No they don’t. They put me in a secret high-speed train that goes through the center of the earth with really cool fake display panels that look like windows. You can’t really believe that a heavier-than-aircraft can really fly, do you? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/24 "2010-09-07T00:28:20Z")
The only dedicated conspiracy theorist I’ve personally known, seems to have started with the idea that there must be conspiracies, and then he looked for evidence to back that up. I didn’t know him when he started, but he always used some actual ‘conspiracy’ as the starting point for his logic. I don’t recall what his favorite ‘actual conspiracy’ was, but you could use the Gulf of Tonkin, as a start. Then based on the idea this was a real conspiracy (I don’t know if that was resolved as intentional deception or not), then logically (in his mind), anything else could be a conspiracy, and any evidence that does not support the official view would then be confirmation of the conspiracy. However, this person presented me with the need to look at the facts in all these cases, and be prepared to counter the CT types with some arguments. The moon landing seems to be the most bizarre though. The conspiracies always seem to be based on aliens, or the Soviets being too dumb to find out we faked it. Of course this same type of reasoning is used for all sorts of belief systems. I don’t find it bizarre for people to have religious beliefs based on ‘faith’, an acceptance of something unproven. But there are many who seem to base their belief on unverifiable evidence and the idea that ‘it must be true if so many people believe it’. Oh well, the CTs will always be with us. ---
**Author:** ![dmatsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@dmatsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmatsch)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/25 "2010-09-08T15:18:17Z")
> [@BigBertha](#): > > > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > > > The WTC attacks were so devastating that many people find it hard to believe that the buildings could be destroyed by a bunch of fanatics with a simple plan. . > > Or many find things don’t add up, especially the complete inaction of norad for over an hour of hijacked planes. Yep. I was stationed at NORAD for 3 years. It’s amazing that it only took them an hour to get off their collective asses. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/26 "2010-09-10T14:43:55Z")
I was tempted to say that C.T.s are incredibly unintelligent but then I recalled a “documentary” I saw called Canada’s Roswell. It was about some strange lights in the sky that apparently manouvered around in the same general vicinity as a Cold War listening post or somesuch before going into the sea. It was so totally bleeding obvious that it was a common or garden meteorite shower but the main protagonist of the "people from space "theory had spent his entire life studying the phenomonononononon(sorry got stuck there) and gone on to get ,according to the programme, a PHD in Physics I believe. With the caveat of it being a genuine qualification, you need to be reasonably intelligent to get this qualification so why was he so convinced that a fairly everyday event in astronomical terms was anything other then what it appeared to be? Wish fulfillment ? A desire to make money/put his area on the map? It beats me. ---
**Author:** ![llcoolbj77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/eb9ed0/32.png) [@llcoolbj77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/llcoolbj77)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/27 "2010-09-10T15:14:43Z")
[http://despair.com/ac.html](http://despair.com/ac.html) “you can fool all of the people all of the time if your effects budget is large enough.” ROTFL!!! ---
**Author:** ![panman\_1960](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/919ad9/32.png) [@panman\_1960](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panman_1960)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/28 "2010-09-10T17:39:29Z")
I suppose that my SUSPICION that there is a group of extremely wealthy entities world wide that are in a large part responsible for the current world situation makes me one of the conspiracy whackos? How about proof positive that God does/doesn’t exist. Keeping an open mind and open eyes only aids in ones perception of reality. Of couse I’m crazy… later, Tom. eta: Oh yeah, and our government would never lie to us! ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/29 "2010-09-10T17:43:40Z")
[Yahoo](http://us.mg201.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?action=letter&YY=1660126720&.gx=1&MsgId=5226_645589_2316_2426_2601_0_182579_6031_1637456836&Idx=5&YY=51118&y5beta=yes&y5beta=yes&inc=25&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=a&head=b&box=Inbox) You are no fun at all. I get an email from these guys every month. You have no idea how many conspiracies there are. Bilderbergs, lizard people, Knights Templar and many more. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/30 "2010-09-10T20:17:01Z")
Didn’t George Carlin say something like “the good thing about being a conspiacy theorist is that you only have to be right once?” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/31 "2010-09-10T20:26:42Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > Didn’t George Carlin say something like “the good thing about being a conspiacy theorist is that you only have to be right once?” Pascal’s Wager for paranoid schizophrenics! ---
**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:** [September 10, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/32 "2010-09-10T21:40:30Z")
> [@panman\_1960](#): > > I suppose that my SUSPICION that there is a group of extremely wealthy entities world wide that are in a large part responsible for the current world situation makes me one of the conspiracy whackos? Not at all. Except that now, they’ll be able to find you. :eek:😕:eek:☹ ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/33 "2010-09-10T22:15:19Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Take the near assassination of Reagan. I’ve never heard any theory that speculated John Hinckley was anything other than a lone nutjob trying to impress Jodi Foster. Sure, that’s what [THEY want you to believe](http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/HinckleyAndBush.htm). As for why you don’t hear about it, you almost did, but THEY shut up John Chancellor and the rest of the mainstream news media when Chancellor stumbled on the REAL story. How can you people be so naive? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/34 "2010-09-10T22:59:28Z")
> [@panman\_1960](#): > > Keeping an open mind and open eyes only aids in ones perception of reality. Ok, maybe it’s just because I’m older and have been through this particular scenario a few times… But every time someone tells me to “keep an open mind”, they are quite clearly telling me “accept everything I say without any skepticism or verification”. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/35 "2010-09-19T00:47:45Z")
One thing I wonder about. Crop circles. Now, I can accept that they’re created by people, pulling weighted boards. But I’ve never heard any answer as to **why**. Apart from “We felt like it” or “Because other people were doing it.” How did it get started? It can’t be that easy to create the pattern, graph it, figure out the path for the workers (and it probably takes a pretty big crew), recruit them, **and keep them all silent** , just for the heck of it. It’s an awful lot of trouble to go to and not take credit. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611/36 "2010-09-19T01:27:42Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > One thing I wonder about. Crop circles. Now, I can accept that they’re created by people, pulling weighted boards. But I’ve never heard any answer as to **why**. Apart from “We felt like it” or “Because other people were doing it.” How did it get started? It can’t be that easy to create the pattern, graph it, figure out the path for the workers (and it probably takes a pretty big crew), recruit them, **and keep them all silent** , just for the heck of it. It’s an awful lot of trouble to go to and not take credit. One person with some strong twine and a wooden stake can make a simple crop circle. Two people can make a complex one. It doesn’t require a lot of planning, they’re mainly just circles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theories/552611.md?page=1)