The Internet has played a large role in my interest in conspiracy theories. Although I definitely do not believe all of them, they are fun to look into and are good tools for procrastination. Falling deeper into the hole that is Wikipedia, I spent a large amount of my free time “researching” them. It got to the point where I had to force myself to actually work on homework instead. However, I am not one of those crazy conspiracy theorists; I am only interested in ones that seem legit. All interesting conspiracy theories have similar qualities. A majority of them involve the government or celebrities. And depending on the theory, they are believable.
My personal favorites all happen to involve the government, some classics included. It is said that 9/11 was an inside job perpetrated by Bush to purposely start a war with Afghanistan. Some survivors recall that they heard separate explosions at the time of the attacks, which has led people to believe that there were pre-planted explosives inside the Twin Towers. It is a well known fact that the towers collapsed at one point, but this is seen as suspicious to many conspiracy theorists. A common known phrase among believers is “jet fuel can’t melt steel beams.” Another widely believed theory is that the Royal Family killed Princess Diana. There are a few versions, one of which is that they killed her to prevent her from exposing the Family for being awful and corrupt. The other is where she was killed for loving a man of color,
A conspiracy theory, in it’s purest form, describes a hypothesis concerning an incident in which more than one person is involved. Since 1963 more Americans have believed in a conspiracy against Kennedy than have believed in a single assassin working alone (Majority in U.S. Still Believe JFK Killed in a Conspiracy). After years of investigation, evidence continues to prove the majority of Americans wrong. There was only
Who killed John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States of America? We, the people, may never know the actual truth, but I am here to tell you what I believe happened on November 22nd, 1963. Many people believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted solely in the assassination of JFK, but I have to believe that there were more people than him involved into the assassination plan and it is much more deeply planned than a solo mission. Although I can’t pinpoint exactly who else was involved, there are quite a few things to support my belief that this assassination was not carried out single handedly such as the umbrella man, the “Grassy Knoll”, the Mob, Castro’s planned revenge,and the CIA. These theories make me believe in general that Oswald did not act alone, and it may be much deeper than any United States citizen had expected.
September 11th, 2001 was a very traumatic time for the United States. On that day planes were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center and caused the Twin Towers to collapse (“11 Facts”). Along with the Twin Towers collapsing, the Pentagon building in Washington, DC was hit with a plane and another plane crashed down near Shanksville, Pennsylvania (“11 Facts”). On United Flight 93, the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania, passengers became aware of the hijacking and tried to fight the hijackers to regain control of the plane (“11 Facts”). So many people were killed and within all those people, several of them were either police officers or fire fighters (“11
Maggie Koerth Baker’s piece titled Why rational people buy into conspiracy theories represents the reasons why rational people believe in conspiracy theories. Throughout the article Baker tries to explain the reasons behind the belief of conspiracy theories supported by research and evidence. This paper will review Baker’s article as well as her main arguments, will evaluate the quality of Baker’s writing and focus on any areas of weakness within the article.
“Have you heard of the conspiracy of 9/11, Mom? We’re learning about the religion of Islam in World History and today we discussed one time terrorists were planning on attacking the Twin towers on September 9, 2011. Apparently, some guy and no one know who it was but the FBI are looking into it. This guy exposed some dude by the name of Osama bin Laden and his group of followers before they could have attacked. Is it true?” 12-year-old Lucy Banker asked her mother.
Brian Keeley’s short essay, “Of Conspiracy Theories” discusses conspiracy theories and their value in an epistemological context. Keeley defines a conspiracy theory as “a proposed explanation of some historical event (or events) in terms of the significant causal agency of a relatively small group of persons-the conspirators-acting in secret (Keeley 1999, pg. 116).” Keeley seeks to answer the question of why conspiracy theories are unwarranted. His interest in the warrant of conspiracy theories focuses on ¬the unfalsifiability of conspiracy theories and how conspiracy theories are founded upon an extraordinarily large amount of skepticism. In section III, Keely discusses what a conspiracy theory is, and contends that there is no grounds for
In May of 2011 a video by the National Inflation Association (N.I.A) surfaced on YouTube gathering over two million views and opening the eyes of people to the American college system. According to the producers of this video, "College is the largest scam in US history!" Is college a worth-while investment? Is it just a way for the government to stimulate the economy? Are college degrees really a necessity in performing on the job? All of these questions have been asked and answered with both yes and no. Four writers with different views on this matter have written up articles concerning this issue. While
On September 11, 2001, 19 people hijacked four airliners and carried out suicide attacks against their targets.. Two of the planes crashed into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, the third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Over 3,000 people were killed during the attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., including more than 400 police officers and firefighters. (“9/11 attacks”2010). The conspiracy theories started just days after the September 11, 2001 attack. The conspiracies were easy to spread fast when using the internet and they became more and more elaborate as time went on. The most popular 9/11 conspiracy theory is that 9/11 was orchestrated by the American government.
One of the most controversial events ever to occur is still being talked about to this day. September 11th, 2001 will forever go down in history as one of the most tragic disasters to hit the United States of America. It was heartbreak for all of us to see those towers fall and thousands upon thousands of American lives destroyed. One might ask themselves; didn’t everything get explained a little too quickly? Why did everyone so quickly forget the details to this tragedy? The events of September 11th, 2001 are surely going to be remembered for its brutal truth and will always remind us of the hate that we as humans can create. The events of September 11th happened so fast that lots of details were overlooked but now, six years later one
The main purposing of reading conspiracy theories is to know the truth and many people value knowing the truth which attracts them to the theories. Viren Swami, a social psychology professor at the University of Cambridge, explains that individuals who accept conspiracy theories, mainly do it to “provide a
To most a fairy tale, to some an interesting topic of discussion, however, to a small population, 5 % to be exact, Government conspiracy does exist. How, you might ask, do I intend to prove that indeed government conspiracy is real? I do not intend to prove it. In fact I only intend to inform you of its ever growing ploy of world domination, capitalism and control and open your mind to the idea that government conspiracy is out there. Throughout history as it is known to repeat itself, I will show facts that support this “theory” and dismiss the legendary lies we have been taught to believe through a system known as memetics.
On September 11, 2001 the World Trade Center buildings one and two were attacked. However, who we were attacked by and even if we were attacked is a hard decision to make. There have been many different claims about how everything on that fateful day happened. There are facts that we know are true, though; Flight 11 flew into the North Tower at eight forty- six in the morning. Soon after, Flight 175 attacked the South Tower. By the end of the day, both towers had collapsed and other hijacked flights had caused damage. The amount of lives lost on September 11 was substantial; 2,749 people from eighty-three different countries died from the attacks (Facts about the attacks…, n.d.). All in all, America was changed forever.
Throughout history, people have attempted to come up with explanations to make sense of events which could not be comprehend, such explanations are commonly known as conspiracy theories. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the official definition of conspiracy theory is “a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators.” These theories can range from minor events, to large scale terrorist attacks. A few well known theories include, Bill Clinton caused 9/11, the Earth is flat, and a reptilian race is planning to take over the Earth. Conspiracy theories can inflict various amount of damage, but it dependent on the conspiracy theory context. (Mckay). In an
Are you the kind of person who likes to listen to a good conspiracy theory? Some people do not like them; conspiracy theories are intriguing for others. They like to explore all of the possibilities that a conspiracy theory presents, in the same direction that they like to explore puzzles or mystery novels. Some conspiracy theories are ridiculous and learning about them becomes a form of entertainment. Alternatively, you may find that a specific conspiracy is credible and then it makes you think. It is interesting to study the theory, weigh the evidence, and come up with a conclusion. It is interesting that today the name Illuminati is synonymous with conspiracy theory and it portrays a group that lurks in the shadows and pulls the strings behind the
Source: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Health, United States, 2002. Flegal et. al. JAMA. 2002;288:1723-7. NIH, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, 1998.