# 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:** 6
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/101 "2008-06-26T13:39:17Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] If you want to rein in it a few notches and say they knew _something_ was going to happen - probably with airplanes - but not exactly when or where or what or who, and they were neglectful in trying to prevent it, well, at least that’s harder to disprove, and there may even be some evidence for it. It’s debatable. [/QUOTE] That’s not a conspiracy; that’s incompetence. At this point, saying that the Bush Administration is incompetent is like saying that the ocean is wet. ---
**Author:** ![Elret](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Elret](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elret)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/102 "2008-06-26T14:41:10Z")
[QUOTE=puppygod] [QUOTE=Elret] Bigfoot! [/Quote] It means that you believe that it exists, or that it’s existence is conspiracy? [/QUOTE] Sorry. Yeah, I guess there’s no conspiracy involved so I’m sorta in the wrong thread, but I don’t dismiss the possibility of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster having some validity. ---
**Author:** ![frog\_princess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6bbea6/32.png) [@frog\_princess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frog_princess)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/103 "2008-06-26T16:05:42Z")
[QUOTE=Mahaloth] Then why did he shoot that cop later that day? 😕 [/QUOTE] How do we know he did? He was arrested on suspicion of murder, and he was never found guilty. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/104 "2008-06-26T16:33:07Z")
[QUOTE=frog princess] How do we know he did? [/QUOTE] One eyewitness, Helen Markham, saw Oswald shoot Officer Tippit, and identified him with certainty that afternoon in a police line-up. Two other eyewitnesses, Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis, saw Oswald cross their lawn emptying a gun at the site of Tippit’s shooting immediately after they heard the shots fired. Each woman found an empty shell in the grass, and both identified Oswald with certainty in a police line-up later that day. Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard heard the gunfire and saw Oswald a half block from the scene of Tippit’s shooting, fleeing with a gun in hand. Both positively identified Oswald in a police line-up that evening. A total of four empty shells were found by eyewitnesses at the site of Tippit’s shooting; it was the unanimous and unequivocal testimony of expert witnesses before the Warren Commission that these used cartridge cases were fired from the revolver in Oswald’s possession at his arrest 35 minutes later, to the exclusion of all other weapons. Oswald also tried to shoot his arresting officer before startled onlookers at the Texas Theater. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/105 "2008-06-26T16:35:19Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] That the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings were more about Russia than Japan. [/QUOTE] I thought this was a fact (albeit one that didn’t make it into your average high school history book). I recall writing a paper in AP US History describing Truman’s reasons for dropping the bombs; one of them was to get Japan to surrender to us before the Soviets got involved (he didn’t want to split Japan). I’ll look up the book I used for the essay when I get home…maybe it was just carefully worded speculation on the author’s part. I don’t have a specific conspiracy theory that I favor…but the current political climate certainly makes me want to believe in a few. ---
**Author:** ![frog\_princess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6bbea6/32.png) [@frog\_princess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frog_princess)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/106 "2008-06-26T16:51:17Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon] One eyewitness, Helen Markham, saw Oswald shoot Officer Tippit, and identified him with certainty that afternoon in a police line-up. Two other eyewitnesses, Barbara Jeanette Davis and Virginia Davis, saw Oswald cross their lawn emptying a gun at the site of Tippit’s shooting immediately after they heard the shots fired. Each woman found an empty shell in the grass, and both identified Oswald with certainty in a police line-up later that day. Ted Callaway and Sam Guinyard heard the gunfire and saw Oswald a half block from the scene of Tippit’s shooting, fleeing with a gun in hand. Both positively identified Oswald in a police line-up that evening. A total of four empty shells were found by eyewitnesses at the site of Tippit’s shooting; it was the unanimous and unequivocal testimony of expert witnesses before the Warren Commission that these used cartridge cases were fired from the revolver in Oswald’s possession at his arrest 35 minutes later, to the exclusion of all other weapons. Oswald also tried to shoot his arresting officer before startled onlookers at the Texas Theater. [/QUOTE] I never claimed my belief was a rational one. I really don’t want to debate (I stay out of that forum on purpose) but people can be mistaken, or paid off, or frightened into saying almost anything. But what the hell do I know, I think Lizzie Bordon was innocent too… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/107 "2008-06-26T16:54:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Sorry. Yeah, I guess there’s no conspiracy involved so I’m sorta in the wrong thread, but I don’t dismiss the possibility of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster having some validity. \*\*Was the Loch Ness Monster really Jack the Ripper? Bullshit or Not?\*\* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092546/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092546/) ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/108 "2008-06-26T16:55:42Z")
[QUOTE=frog princess] But what the hell do I know, I think Lizzie Bordon was innocent too… [/QUOTE] That **is** what the trial concluded, after all. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crankyasanoldman/32/11670_2.png) [@CrankyAsAnOldMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrankyAsAnOldMan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/109 "2008-06-26T17:42:29Z")
[QUOTE=a35362] …There’s also some documentary that claims that you can _see_ on videotape of the burning WTC towers some kind of melting metal, that is meant to indicate that the towers were rigged with something to help them collapse. Part of the claim is that there is no reason why anything should be burning or melting at the corner of the building, far from where the plane hit. [/QUOTE] I’m not debating the overarching claim here (due to the rules laid down earlier) but just a comment on this aspect of it…isn’t the collapse of the building overkill? I can recall all too vividly what that morning was like before the towers collapsed. It was still awful. Airliners full of passengers plowing into buildings–regardless of whether the buildings themselves survive somewhat intact–would (IMO) incite sufficient reaction among the American public, if that’s what conspirators were aiming for. To further engineer some complicated-yet-undetected building modification to get them to collapse seems like a questionably unnecessary addition to the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/110 "2008-06-26T17:50:05Z")
I believe that after twice explaining that this is a poll and not a debate, **Czarcasm** has thrown up his virtual hands and walked away from this thread. I can’t prove it though… ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/111 "2008-06-26T18:08:01Z")
[QUOTE=Dante] I believe that after twice explaining that this is a poll and not a debate, **Czarcasm** has thrown up his virtual hands and walked away from this thread. [/QUOTE] The ostensible goal of this board being to fight ignorance, the existence of a thread consisting almost entirely of unchallenged ignorance is somewhat difficult to bear. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/112 "2008-06-26T18:16:05Z")
[QUOTE=frog princess] I never claimed my belief was a rational one. I really don’t want to debate [/QUOTE] Typical tin-hatter position. I bet you’d have no problem trying to convince someone on the fence who didn’t know the facts, though. ---
**Author:** ![frog\_princess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6bbea6/32.png) [@frog\_princess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/frog_princess)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/113 "2008-06-26T19:05:03Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Typical tin-hatter position. I bet you’d have no problem trying to convince someone on the fence who didn’t know the facts, though. [/QUOTE] Wow…you sure got me pegged, and from just a couple of posts. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/114 "2008-06-26T19:53:30Z")
I don’t know whether Lee Harvey Oswald fired one, some, all, or none of the shots at JFK, I just don’t think he was acting alone. He may have been a patsy, he may have been paid, he may have had accomplices, he may have been one of a team, but he was not a “lone nut”. I don’t believe we are currently fighting in Iraq for any of the officially promulgated reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/115 "2008-06-26T20:56:52Z")
[QUOTE=frog princess] Wow…you sure got me pegged, and from just a couple of posts. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] 'Cause no one has ever exhibited the exact behavior you exhibited in those couple of posts . . . :rolleyes: right back atcha. ---
**Author:** ![Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nefarious_chipmunk/32/1045_2.png) [@Nefarious\_Chipmunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nefarious_Chipmunk)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/116 "2008-06-26T23:12:16Z")
[QUOTE=CrankyAsAnOldMan] I’m not debating the overarching claim here (due to the rules laid down earlier) but just a comment on this aspect of it…isn’t the collapse of the building overkill? I can recall all too vividly what that morning was like before the towers collapsed. It was still awful. Airliners full of passengers plowing into buildings–regardless of whether the buildings themselves survive somewhat intact–would (IMO) incite sufficient reaction among the American public, if that’s what conspirators were aiming for. To further engineer some complicated-yet-undetected building modification to get them to collapse seems like a questionably unnecessary addition to the plot. [/QUOTE] I am not saying that I buy into this particular conspiracy, but those who have talked to me regarding their beliefs say that the buildings had to collapse to destroy what was in them. I don’t recall what exactly was supposed to be in them, but that was the idea. Personally, I am not a particularly conspiracy driven person, but I do believe that 9/11 was allowed to happen. I can’t say why I believe it, it is just a gut feeling. I don’t think that it was planned and carried out by the administration, but I suspect they knew something might happen and that it could benefit them, and thus they didn’t try to stop it. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/117 "2008-06-26T23:15:17Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] Typical tin-hatter position. I bet you’d have no problem trying to convince someone on the fence who didn’t know the facts, though. [/QUOTE] Isn’t this thread supposed to be more or less a poll? No debating the point? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2008, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/118 "2008-06-26T23:44:42Z")
See post #111. I’ve never seen a thread in a wronger forum, but Czarcasm won’t move it because s/he doesn’t want to change his/her position. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/119 "2008-06-27T00:15:07Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] See post #111. I’ve never seen a thread in a wronger forum, but Czarcasm won’t move it because s/he doesn’t want to change his/her position. [/QUOTE] [Moderator Underoos On]The only one who seems to be posting in the wrong forum is _you_. You have been told to take the sniping elsewhere-consider this an official warning.[Moderator Underoos On] ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858/120 "2008-06-27T00:33:52Z")
[QUOTE=Czarcasm] [Moderator Underoos On]The only one who seems to be posting in the wrong forum is _you_. You have been told to take the sniping elsewhere-consider this an official warning.[Moderator Underoos On] [/QUOTE] Really? _The only one_? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-conspiracy-theories-do-you-believe/453858.md?page=7)