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is...

Not sure if this counts - but I think the argument in this book might be plausible: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Error

basically Oswald did shoot at JFK, but the fatal shot may have been made accidentally by a secret service agent after hearing Oswald fire.

Jacob really lives with Elvis in the woods of Aberdeen, WA and is the leader of a major biker gang known for trafficking coupons and bicycles across state lines along the pacific coast. Come on folks, the evidence is RIGHT THERE, how can you not see this...

OK, on a more serious note, does anybody really believe that our government doesn't have some evidence of extraterrestrial life? Surely they know that we are not alone and have been visited. I want to believe...

Well there have been many real conspiracies which undoubtly occurred, such as: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/COINTELPRO

As for theories, they range from highly probable but unproven all the way to self evident tosh. Often the tosh gets more popular traction, because it's serving some other purpose. Sometimes it pretty harmless ( think alien abduction) othertimes much more sinister (like the Jews stabbed us in the back)

I don't know, but there were a lot of conspiracies that were later proven or admitted to be true. There are some good posts on Reddit about this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/com ... out_to_be/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comm ... eing_true/

Mithra will rise once more as the wolf lopes hungry from Davos.

I don't know that it's a conspiracy theory per se, but the whole image of the American Dream and consumption = happiness/freedom illusion is one of the more nefarious schemes out there.

The American Dream is just like any other dream....you have to be asleep to believe it.

^^ Yep, George Carlin said it best.

For me, it's 9/11 being a false flag inside job. No real evidence. Just fits my personal narrative and image of the American empire, and it's not like it hasn't happened before...

http://listverse.com/2014/11/10/10-insi ... n-enemies/

How about mass surveillance of the public by the government (without warrants), extortion of Tcomm and Internet companies to hand over data (E.g. Yahoo), and a secret court system that approves of wiretapping 99% of the time?

In the pre-9/11 US, saying the above statement would have probably sounded like a conspiracy theory - now maybe not so much.

This isn't a comment about anyone on here or any specific theory.

The most ardent believers of government based conspiracy theories are almost always the most ardent supporters of the general theory of government incompetence. Either the government is fantastically competent (conspiracy theories) or it's kind of incompetent (most everyone's experience). It can't be both.

One of the favorite conspiracy theories appears to be the Bretton Woods, Bilderberg, UN "Black helicopters", FEMA camps, aka...unelected elites running the world without our permission. I love this one in novels and movies (Mr. Robot is doing this very well). In reality ,it's probably just various official agreements happening to run together with unofficial and uncoordinated actions by wealthy/powerful people based on self-interest and the current system. Not some nefarious well organized elite cabal with an overarching goal they agree upon at a handful of yearly meetings.

@Chad - So believers have a preference for "evil" over "incompetence" under the general (but maybe inaccurate) assumption that they are mutually exclusive.

A Narco Proxy war between the USA and Venezuela.

The narrative is that US has cooperated with the Sinaloa cartel and allowed them to traffic dope in the USA in exchange for information on the rival cartel Los Zetas. Los Zetas allegedly receives guns, drugs, and training from the Venezuelan government in an effort to destabilize the USA and Mexico.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThcAPtAA0ec

@jacob
If I'm reading your comment correctly, yes. They believe in an ultra competent evil conspiracy government/cabal (it would have to be to be able to pull off these conspiracies) and in an incompetent normal government (good guys can't identify talent I guess). That is, they use the "government is incompetent" to argue against any government program and then turn around and tell me that UN black helicopters under Obama's orders flew over the other night. These can't be exclusive. There would have to be incompetence and competence in every aspect of the government, it couldn't just be the "evil" side that is competent.

This is based off personal conversations I have had with numerous anti-government people. This is not a blanket statement of all conspiracy theorists. Just an observation of a very specific set (rural uneducated/intelligent conservative) I have personally talked too.

PS: My previous comment was poorly worded. In hindsight, I really don't like it. Also, it appears I slightly hijacked this thread. To get it back on track I would suggest the Gulf of Tonkein false flag conspiracy theory is most likely to be true.

@Simplelife
Though, I really want the aliens in Area 51 to be true.

Chad wrote:@jacob
If I'm reading your comment correctly, yes. They believe in an ultra competent evil conspiracy government/cabal (it would have to be to be able to pull off these conspiracies) and in an incompetent normal government (good guys can't identify talent I guess). That is, they use the "government is incompetent" to argue against any government program and then turn around and tell me that UN black helicopters under Obama's orders flew over the other night. These can't be exclusive. There would have to be incompetence and competence in every aspect of the government, it couldn't just be the "evil" side that is competent.

This is based off personal conversations I have had with numerous anti-government people. This is not a blanket statement of all conspiracy theorists. Just an observation of a very specific set (rural uneducated/intelligent conservative) I have personally talked too.

PS: My previous comment was poorly worded. In hindsight, I really don't like it. Also, it appears I slightly hijacked this thread. To get it back on track I would suggest the Gulf of Tonkein false flag conspiracy theory is most likely to be true.

I've noticed that our enemies are always portrayed in the alternative as either evil masterminds and incompetent boobs, especially terrorist groups these days, depending upon what action the speaker is urging we take next. Its the tradition of propaganda.

My "vote" is simply the idea that the US manipulates foreign governments, especially smaller countries where the US has an interest. This has proved be be both true and stupid --i.e., not in our long-term interests. See Iran in the 1950s, Afghanistan/Taliban support in the 1980s and for our old buddy, Saddam, before he went ape-shit in Kuwait. Yet we never learn.

Dragline wrote: My "vote" is simply the idea that the US manipulates foreign governments, especially smaller countries where the US has an interest. This has proved be be both true and stupid --i.e., not in our long-term interests. See Iran in the 1950s, Afghanistan/Taliban support in the 1980s and for our old buddy, Saddam, before he went ape-shit in Kuwait. Yet we never learn.

No, we don't. The current situation in the Ukraine is a prime example. We started the current mess in Ukraine. Russia is just responding to our initial move.

@Dragline - Enjoy! http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2015/02/ ... tacks.html

Chad wrote:No, we don't. The current situation in the Ukraine is a prime example. We started the current mess in Ukraine. Russia is just responding to our initial move.

There is seldom an "initial move" in history, and certainly not in this case. Russia have been suppressing democracy in Ukraine for ages.