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What's The Most Outrageous Conspiracy Theory You Have Heard?

Xanatic*

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In another thread, someone was talking about the moon landing hoax. It is of course wrong, but I can see how it could be done and the motivation for it. Other conspiracy theories seem to have no such things. For me I think it would have to be the theory that the Moon doesn't exist at all. That what we see is really some kind of hologram. A hologram that apparently still causes tides, can block out the light from the Sun and be physically landed on with spacecrafts. It really seem to lack rhyme or reason for me. Which ones leave you baffled?
 
In respect of the Moon Landing hoax paradigm, I believe we must always consider two entirely-different aspects: firstly, whether or not man has actually landed on the moon; and secondly, whether or not the published imagery of that purported event is actually genuine.

I am always astounded as to both how forgetful and gullible the people of this world can be. Seriously.....the mainstream media is a Weapon of Mass Distraction.

There can still be some puzzling aspects about the Moon, as viewed from Earth. And data that doesn't make sense....yet.

Forteans, just as is the case for scientists, must always ask questions, find evidence, and seek answers. But unlike scientists, we always keep our minds open to all sorts of possibilities....some of which will one day be proven, and become scientific convention. Whilst other theories will only exist as concepts in themselves. Forever, maybe. Or perhaps just for now.
 
In respect of the Moon Landing hoax paradigm, I believe we must always consider two entirely-different aspects: firstly, whether or not man has actually landed on the moon; and secondly, whether or not the published imagery of that purported event is actually genuine.

I am always astounded as to both how forgetful and gullible the people of this world can be. Seriously.....the mainstream media is a Weapon of Mass Distraction.

There can still be some puzzling aspects about the Moon, as viewed from Earth. And data that doesn't make sense....yet.

Forteans, just as is the case for scientists, must always ask questions, find evidence, and seek answers. But unlike scientists, we always keep our minds open to all sorts of possibilities....some of which will one day be proven, and become scientific convention. Whilst other theories will only exist as concepts in themselves. Forever, maybe. Or perhaps just for now.
You're right of course, one must question endlessly and take nothing for granted and if I've suggested otherwise I apologise.

However, an open mind questions both the 'mainstream' and the 'fringe' with equal veracity and makes up it's own mind - and if the evidence fits the mainstream rather better, that's not a closed mind, it's weight of evidence.

There are always things in the real world that don't quite 'fit'. I think of those as errors in the (often subjective and second-hand) data, though which we must plot some kind of line-of-best-fit.

e.g. I have a big book of fairy sightings ("Seeing Fairies" a great book). I personally do not take this as evidence that there are fairies. However, I do consider this as good evidence that many people see things that are interpreted as fairies. But even at that point, I'd verify a few stories to ensure the whole book wasn't made up.

You're right about media distraction. One must be careful with everything you read and view.
 
For me the biggest con is religion. We've seen, in our own, so-called Rational times, how made-up religions like Scientology can get a hold on people. Things were much the same in the past. Kings and priests saw religion as a way to control the people. To expand this theme fully would take a much longer essay than I'm prepared to post on a message board.

Some people claim that Science doesn't have all the answers, but it's getting better as time goes on, while the answers given by religion rarely change. They are usually unsatisfying, and frequently ridiculous. The King has got no clothes, as an honest observer might put it.
 
For me the biggest con is religion.
Yes. In essence, this conclusively answers the question raised in this thread.

Religion....thy name is law. Once it became an abstract concept, perhaps before comparative studies began, but after blind observance began to cease, the word itself began to emerge - Religare, to bind/tie/constrain ...... or potentially Relegere to read repeatedly, ritualistically.

Remember, every religion knows that it is right, and all the others are wrong. And it's so lucky that the one you chose, dear reader, is of course, the One True Path. Please place your penny on the plate, pop out another believer from your loins, work for The Man until you drop, and surely you will receive your proper reward in heaven.

John 14:2 In my Father's house there are many abodes; were it not so, I would have told you: for I go now to prepare you a place;

And we can all be certain of this: because we Believe. Have all paid, subscribed, conspired to believe. Sixty-two thousand four hundred repetitions make a truth....put Moore's Paradox to the back of your conscious mind, and bow before the god of irreducible complexity
 
Nope, that doesn't at all answer the question.
 
Organised religion is a conspiracy I guess. But a lot of the practitioners believe in the con, even those at the top in the RCC & CoE.
 
Obviously my question was misunderstood. I didn't ask for what the biggest or most succesful conspiracy was. I was asking for the ones that seem absurd or crazy.
 
I was asking for the ones that seem absurd or crazy
Believing that Nazi UFOs are based within the polar icecaps is fairly extreme on the crazy scale (I mean in the fringe Brinsley Le Poer Trench style).

If you aren't seeing religion as an absurd conspiracy, on a tenuous link, what's your take on all the Bible Code predictions malarky? I read recently that some ultra-orthodox Jewish groups literally believe in the reality of this discredited malinterpretation.

Most of the Icke stuff is just...crazy. But there can be nuggets within dross, sometimes.
 
I just find religion to be a fairly sane and expected conspiracy.
 
It's basically a protection racket for money and power. At least in the case of the catholic church. Yes they have zany stories about floods and people being made out of ribs, but a religion without such things isn't really a religion.
 
It's basically a protection racket for money and power. At least in the case of the catholic church. Yes they have zany stories about floods and people being made out of ribs, but a religion without such things isn't really a religion.

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy attempts to place the following extended definition upon it:

"
-Belief in supernatural beings (gods).

-A distinction between sacred and profane objects.

-Ritual acts focused on sacred objects.

-A moral code believed to be sanctioned by the gods.

-Characteristically religious feelings (awe, sense of mystery, sense of guilt, adoration), which tend to be aroused in the presence of sacred objects and during the practice of ritual, and which are connected in idea with the gods.

-Prayer and other forms of communication with gods.

-A world view, or a general picture of the world as a whole and the place of the individual therein. This picture contains some specification of an over-all purpose or point of the world and an indication of how the individual fits into it.

-A more or less total organization of one’s life based on the world view.

-A social group bound together by the above.

But fundamentally, the followers do conspire in the pursuit of their religion.

Converse case, many conspiracy theories are (or were) close to being religions....a perspective could be that, once a conspiracy theory gains state recognition, it becomes an established religion. Or once it reaches more than a certain number of followers.
 
If you want to hear outrageous conspiracy theories just listen to any paranormal podcast when John Lear is a guest (loads on Youtube). Holographic planes on 9/11, secret NASA bases on Mars (Obama has visted them) alien bases on the Moon, the whole shenanigan. Some people appear to believe he's a disinfo agent.

My favourite conspiracy theory is that the Moon is actually a huge artificial satellite constructed by aliens who dwell within its hollow shell.

Also Dr David Jacobs has ramped it up a notch recently. He has a new book out claiming that hubrids (alien hybrids who look exactly like everyday humans) are now living among us in vast numbers. Abductees are tasked with teaching them how to fit in to human society, because they don't understand things like how money works or how you sit on a sofa properly. Again, he's done loads of interviews on various podcasts you can easily find on Youtube.
 
Recently I stumbled across Chris Spivey's website and this character really takes the biscuit. Almost every major event is a hoax - The Lee Rigby murder (his harassment of Rigby's family earned him six month suspended sentence) the Glasgow bin lorry crash, Tunisian terrorist attack, Shoreham air crash - you name it, it's a hoax - never happened and the people involved don't exist.

If you don't believe his theories well, he's got a rational and open minded response "I mean, those trying to make themselves look clever at my expense or desperate to prove me wrong are just parasitical wannabes and the latter are at best nonce protecting sub-humans."
 
[QUote

Also Dr David Jacobs has ramped it up a notch recently. He has a new book out claiming that hubrids (alien hybrids who look exactly like everyday humans) are now living among us in vast numbers. Abductees are tasked with teaching them how to fit in to human society, because they don't understand things like how money works or how you sit on a sofa properly. Again, he's done loads of interviews on various podcasts you can easily find on Youtube.[/QUOTE]

I hope a few people out there believe this one: I could have lots of fun fanning the flames pretending to be one of them hubrids. It'd be easy: I'm socially inept and know a bit about space and stuff. Naturally. I will need to be instructed on such issues about the biological differences between men and women, and reproduction - and all that sort of stuff.

But to get serious for a moment:if you're looking for a morally outrageous conspiracy theory then surely it's the mother (and blueprint) of all conspiracy theories: Holocuast denial.

They have an elaborate and convincing sounding spiel - as need they must in order to preserve their own nostalgia for a discredited ideology - but the trouble is, there are still living people out there who remember those times or who lost family members in the camps.(when this generation passes countering the deniers will get harder.)
 
The most jaw-dropping one was one I first read online about seven years ago, I'm not going to explain it for legal reasons as it involves despicable acts and very, very high profile people in the UK and certain recent events that have already proven to be litigious.

Sadly, since I first read it, several of the more outlandish claims have begun to look more and more plausible...
 
I will need to be instructed on such issues about the biological differences between men and women, and reproduction - and all that sort of stuff.
You will of course require lots of practical instruction. Of course. ;)
 
My favourite conspiracy theory is that the Moon is actually a huge artificial satellite constructed by aliens who dwell within its hollow shell.
That's one of my favourites too. It's almost plausible.
 
Recently I stumbled across Chris Spivey's website and this character really takes the biscuit. Almost every major event is a hoax - The Lee Rigby murder (his harassment of Rigby's family earned him six month suspended sentence) the Glasgow bin lorry crash, Tunisian terrorist attack, Shoreham air crash - you name it, it's a hoax - never happened and the people involved don't exist.


I have a friend like that. Don't get me wrong he's a lovely bloke, really genuinely kind, fair and helpful.

Lee Rigby never happened. The Paris business never happened. I remember him showing me testimonials from 'ex special forces' types who swore blind that based on their huge experience, the footage showing the murder of the poor French policeman was obviously fake.

Also 9/11 couldn't have been the result of planes hitting the buildings because they'd just crumple.

I mean, what I don't get is the fact that on the one hand they seem to believe that these hoaxes are the work of a sinister and ruthless elite. While at the same time they seem happy to believe that rather than just say killing one or two of their own. They'd go to the mad lengths of inventing entirely fictitious people, and poorly choreographing unconvincing murders.

Presumably without access to any ex soldier in a consulting capacity to tell them how to make being shot look convincing.

Worse, they seem to believe that most logical way to stage something on the scale of the Twin Towers, would be an amazingly complex operation involving hundreds of people. When just infiltrating an existing terror cell, or organisation, could cut the number of conspirators down to about two. Because as they don't seem to realise, the kinetic energy of an airliner hitting a building is more than enough to louse things up.
 
Also I dare say he's had some plastic surgery along the years which would explain the slight differences in his facial proportions that the conspiracy believers obsess about.

Anyhow, last night I fell asleep listening to a podcast featuring the authors of Who Built the Moon? Their favoured theory was that humans from the far future came back in time and built the Moon using miniature black holes in order that life could develop on Earth. Apparently, without the Moon the Earth's tilt would be so irregular that most of it would be either freezing cold or boiling hot, with virtually no temperate zone in between.

I dunno. I could have, like, learned a language or how to play the saxophone in all the time I've spent listening to this kind of stuff.
 
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There's Ed Chiarini's media lookalikes conspiracy, along with the idea of "crisis actors", which is very, very strange to me. Chiarini's beliefs could be a symptom of Fregoli's Delusion, which IIRC is a rare brain disorder. It doesn't explain all the people who follow him, though. They can't all have a rare brain disorder.

Chiarini's website was undergoing maintenance the last time I looked, but there is an acerbic and skeptical overview of his theories here:
http://swallowingthecamel.me/2011/05/26/weirdstupid-conspiracy-theory-media-lookalikes/
 
Anyhow, last night I fell asleep listening to a podcast featuring the authors of Who Built the Moon? Their favoured theory was that humans from the far future came back in time and built the Moon using miniature black holes in order that life could develop on Earth. Apparently, without the Moon the Earth's tilt would be so irregular that most of it would be either freezing cold or boiling hot, with virtually no temperate zone in between.
I love the artificial moon theories, but that bit above has an obvious logical inconsistency.
 
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