# What conspiracy theories do you believe? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 23, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858 "2008-06-23T00:35:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/1 "2008-06-23T00:35:26Z")
Well? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/2 "2008-06-23T00:39:07Z")
No way. I know who you _really_ hang out with. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/3 "2008-06-23T00:45:02Z")
The ones that have been proven; Tuskegee Experiment, Watergate, Manhattan Project, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/4 "2008-06-23T00:49:57Z")
The only unproven one that I can’t force myself to dismiss out of hand is Diebold. ---
**Author:** ![Kiros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/439d5e/32.png) [@Kiros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiros)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/5 "2008-06-23T00:52:13Z")
I’m not sure about BELIEVE… but… the theory that MJ played minor league baseball for two years due to an under-the-table suspension due to gambling? Definitely within my personal realm of reason. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/6 "2008-06-23T00:56:40Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] The ones that have been proven; Tuskegee Experiment, Watergate, Manhattan Project, etc. [/QUOTE] I just googled the Tuskegee Experiment, christ on a bike that was fucking awful. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/7 "2008-06-23T00:59:37Z")
I think conspiracy theories are concocted by highly trained government psychologists as a means of distracting the suspicious and credulous masses from the Real Truth: there are no grand, over-arching conspiracies. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/8 "2008-06-23T01:00:56Z")
Whichever one is currently being breathlessly hawked in the Google ads at the bottom of the page. It’s 9/11 stuff right now but with a little effort we could try to change it to the Masons or Trilateralists. I’ll believe whatever I read on the web site they’re linking to. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/9 "2008-06-23T01:08:30Z")
I keep getting “HIV home test kit $20”. Is HIV a conspiracy? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/10 "2008-06-23T01:13:55Z")
[QUOTE=ExTank] I think conspiracy theories are concocted by highly trained government psychologists as a means of distracting the suspicious and credulous masses from the Real Truth: there are no grand, over-arching conspiracies. [/QUOTE] You actually believe THAT old chestnut??? _“Everything is just as it seems.”_ That’s pretty far out there in the woo-woo, don’t you think? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/11 "2008-06-23T01:15:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Is HIV a conspiracy? Sure. It was created by CIA to kill gays and blacks. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/12 "2008-06-23T01:18:43Z")
The only “out there” one that I believe in is that human’s haven’t been to the moon yet. The reasons it could have been faked are understandable given the circumstances. I just can’t believe that we send people out all the time to float around into space, but everyone acts as if we’re content with the 60’s findings of the moon. I just think that since we love sending people into the atmosphere and we’re fine with sending and resending billions of dollars of equipment to mars and whatnot, we would be a little more gung ho about returning to the moon, if we had been there already. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/13 "2008-06-23T01:19:06Z")
One conspiracy theory I’m willing to consider is the possibility that Edward de Vere wrote the Shakespeare plays. There isn’t proof but there is some suggestive evidence. It’s annoying how many orthodox Shakespeareans seem incapable of discussing the issue rationally. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/14 "2008-06-23T01:28:34Z")
[QUOTE=nikonikosuru] The only “out there” one that I believe in is that human’s haven’t been to the moon yet. The reasons it could have been faked are understandable given the circumstances. I just can’t believe that we send people out all the time to float around into space, but everyone acts as if we’re content with the 60’s findings of the moon. I just think that since we love sending people into the atmosphere and we’re fine with sending and resending billions of dollars of equipment to mars and whatnot, we would be a little more gung ho about returning to the moon, if we had been there already. [/QUOTE] Mmhmm, mmhmm, but why didn’t the Russians, our sworn enemies - who were monitoring everything we did at the time from the inside and out - call us on it? It would’ve been an incredibly significant moral and image victory for them, and they had nothing to lose. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/15 "2008-06-23T01:33:26Z")
Please don’t hate me, I’m just asking: Did Lance Armstrong ‘Dope’? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/16 "2008-06-23T01:36:24Z")
[QUOTE=nikonikosuru] The only “out there” one that I believe in is that human’s haven’t been to the moon yet. The reasons it could have been faked are understandable given the circumstances. I just can’t believe that we send people out all the time to float around into space, but everyone acts as if we’re content with the 60’s findings of the moon. I just think that since we love sending people into the atmosphere and we’re fine with sending and resending billions of dollars of equipment to mars and whatnot, we would be a little more gung ho about returning to the moon, if we had been there already. [/QUOTE] I’m being whooshed, right? No intelligent person denies we’ve been to the moon, right? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/17 "2008-06-23T02:01:55Z")
[QUOTE=nikonikosuru] I just can’t believe that we send people out all the time to float around into space, but everyone acts as if we’re content with the 60’s findings of the moon. [/QUOTE] So you’ve fallen for the hoax of manned orbital spaceflight? You don’t see how, for folks who were able to fake the moon missions, pretending to do such things as the International Space Station is just ridiculously easy? Man, some people are easily fooled. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/18 "2008-06-23T02:09:33Z")
[QUOTE=ExTank] I think conspiracy theories are concocted by highly trained government psychologists as a means of distracting the suspicious and credulous masses from the Real Truth: there are no grand, over-arching conspiracies. [/QUOTE] Missed it by _that_ much! There is indeed a grand conspiracy to make us believe outlandish conspiracies, but the intent is something else. The intent is to emulsify our brains, to make us so mentally unstable that we can’t tell fact from fiction, and so we will buy whatever is set on the table in front of us. Ultimately the intent is to make us the stupidest possible consumers: of products and of ideas. That way we dispose of our income ever faster to keep the rich rich. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/19 "2008-06-23T02:11:52Z")
[QUOTE=nikonikosuru] The only “out there” one that I believe in is that human’s haven’t been to the moon yet. The reasons it could have been faked are understandable given the circumstances. I just can’t believe that we send people out all the time to float around into space, but everyone acts as if we’re content with the 60’s findings of the moon. I just think that since we love sending people into the atmosphere and we’re fine with sending and resending billions of dollars of equipment to mars and whatnot, we would be a little more gung ho about returning to the moon, if we had been there already. [/QUOTE] Doesn’t it make more sense that there was no rush to return to the moon once we had been there and found it of no particular use? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/20 "2008-06-23T03:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=nikonikosuru] I just think that since we love sending people into the atmosphere and we’re fine with sending and resending billions of dollars of equipment to mars and whatnot, we would be a little more gung ho about returning to the moon, if we had been there already. [/QUOTE] It could be better argued that we haven’t seen more missions to the moon because we don’t need to — we’ve already been there. We went there before so that we would be the first, before the Russians, who had already send unmanned flights to the moon (making soft landings, gathering samples, and returning, no less). There was little scientific need to send humans then or now. Astronomically speaking, the moon is dull, a dead rock: no life, no water, no volcanic activity, virtually no atmosphere. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858.md?page=2)