Old school conspiracy theories
Posted by unbrand on 6 March 2005 | 0 Comments
Suppose it’s 1934, and you live in Germany, and last year the Reichstag burned down. Would you think that the Nazis actually set the Reichstag on fire? Of course not. That would be a conspiracy theory, though I bet it wasn’t called that back then. But now we know that the Reichstag was set on fire in order to help Hitler usher in his own control of Germany.
Hamish MacEwan pointed to a Top Ten Conspiracy Theories of 2002 which was published on January 2, 2003. Everything from who actually had a hand in 9-11, to Peak Oil, to Caspian Sea oil pipelines, it’s all covered. But of the top 10 issues mentioned, exactly 0 are conspiracy theories; they are all real. Many people choose not to believe the veracity of these “conspiracy theories,” but then again, lots of people play Lotto. Wait a sec, that’s not fair to the Lotto people. But you get the point.
I wonder how many people would look at that article today and conclude that all 10 of the points mentioned are indeed true? How many people still believe the Reichstag fire was a Communist plot?