Conspiracy Theories:
The Long List of Nonsense Many Believe With Little or Poor Evidence
* The list of nonsense many conspiracists believe in is long:
* Franklin Roosevelt knowing about Pearl Harbor in advance and allowing it to happen.
* Chemtrails, claims that planes spray the air with chemical or biological weapons.
* FEMA death camps or concentration camps.
* Jewish or Zionist Conspiracies to control the world, start wars, control banking, etc.
* GW Bush blamed for 9-11 deaths, not just for inaction, but as supposedly ordering the attacks by missiles, fighter planes, or controlled demolitions.
* Obama care death panels, or Obama care as a supposed sign of socialism or Communism.
* Vaccination scares, claims that they cause autism or other diseases.
* Benghazi CIA Station deaths supposedly caused by inaction.
* Numerous conspiracy theories involving assassinations of presidents and other major public figures, supposedly done by government agencies or ordered by other presidents.
* Why weren’t any of these above included? Because they are all crackpot nonsense with no evidence, believed by gullible people with a lot of fears but not much sense. Period.
* OK, perhaps you want longer explanations. In my US history college courses I have to devote an entire lecture to pointing out all the obvious problems with these theories, mostly based on bad science. But there are already entire books debunking this nonsense. Robert Wolstedter's Pearl Harbor: Warning or Decision, for example, debunked the claim about Roosevelt's supposed blame for Pearl Harbor. Popular Mechanics devoted an entire issue to debunking the bad science behind 9-11 Truthers nonsense. The Benghazi CIA station deaths theory was debunked within the first two weeks. Not even most Republican congressmen believed it. Again, every single one of these theories had little to them to begin with, and the evidence against them is very clear, once one gets away from the self isolating bubble many conspiracy believers live in.
* Conspiracy theorists tend to be immune to things like facts, reason, and common sense. Arguing with their wave of paranoia is like trying to keep back the ocean with a toothbrush. It would require a whole series of books, so I will let others who have done so continue to try to get through to those who can be reached.
* For those conspiracy believers, I only offer these two pieces of advice: Cynicism is an excuse for being too lazy to try to actually change things. Most conspiracy believers enjoy wallowing in feeling helpless.
* Ironically, conspiracy theorists are not skeptical enough. They need to be as skeptical of sources purporting to know “the truth” as they are of governments. Making money off of conspiracy believers who are either gullible or ignorant of basic science and history is a huge multi billion dollar industry. In fact the only credible conspiracy theories involve governments encouraging conspiracy theory beliefs. Conspiracy beliefs divert their followers from doing things that might actually make a difference. It is harder to imagine a greater waste of time than obsessing over conspiracies.