Top 10 Tin Foil Hats

[Griff]

Mike Ward has a nice little synopsis of his top ten conspiracy theories in operation. We hate to think our leaders are simply stupid so sometimes it gives us comfort to think in terms of conspiracy. What's your all-time favorite theory? These are Wards present day favorites.

1. Great Game in the Caspian Sea.

2. The Afghanistan/Enron Connection.

3. The Magic Passport Theory.

4. Hijacker Oddities I.

5. Hijacker Oddities II.

6. Insider Trades.

7. The New World Order Will Not Be Televised.

8. Iran/Contra Redux.

9. The Reichstag Fire and Operation Northwoods.

10. Things to Come.

[russotto]

How about that one about faking the Gulf of Tonkin incident to get public support for US entry into Vietnam?

The Maine

Echelon

The Zimmerman telegram

[Elspode]

Outstanding read (the linked article from which the theories are cited).

The true test of a good conspiracy theory is *plausibility*. I think the ten listed do a pretty good job of meeting the plausibility criteria. I also enjoyed the author pointing out the historical incidents which Nazi Germany allegedly used to steer public opinion in the direction they needed it to go.

I do not find it at all implausible that persons of tremendous wealth and influence would use everything at their disposal, including mass murder, armed insurrection and full scale warfare to get what they want...namely, more wealth and power.

The wealthiest among our citizens are widely separated from those who toil to support their positions at the top of the pyramid. Hell, even the wealthy who share with those of lower economic strata an interest in things like Nascar racing usually get to watch the race from the suites, not the bleachers. I think that such an enormous separation from the common man and the daily experiences of survival tend to disassociate those at the top from those "beneath" them. From that disassociation grows disregard, disinterest, and eventually, callousness, perhaps even to the point of not caring whether the rabble lives or dies.

Once one has reached that point, it is a short step to actually bringing about the deaths of hundreds, thousands, even millions, in order to win the high stakes games these folks are playing.

PS - BTW, I am *not* a communist, I do not hate the wealthy and I'm not inciting class warfare. However, I think we live in a pretty cushy country overall, and I worry that we may well have all lost sight of just how incredibly evil people can become, especially with unlimited resources at their disposal and very little exposure to negative ramifications should things go horribly wrong.

[jaguar]

Echelon is not a conspiricy, it's an admitted project.

[Griff]

Manuvering the Japanese into an attack on FDR's timetable is one of my favorites, particularly because discussion of it has the secondary effect of setting off tw. I like how russotto's list cuts right to the chase. If you want a really big war, you're gonna need a big conspiracy. *cough* theory that is

Echelon was a conspiracy until its cover got blown. Now, like some others, its a fact.

I was thinking about the mechanics of Ward's article. I'm thinking he's got a conspiracy file under favorites, anything really cool goes in and suddenly he's got a nice little article outline.

[jaguar]

For WW2 stuff grab Neal Stepherson's Cryptonomicon, not conspiricy stuff, just a fucking good read about the impact of crypto on the last centuary or so, lots of great stuff about ww2.