[OT] Do you subscribe to any conspiracy theories?

[Simon Magalis]

Here's one for you... I know someone (and I am NOT saying who) that plays the "roles" of several (quite a few actually) of the posters on these boards. He often has rather heated arguments with himself that turn entire threads into flamewars and then has one of his alter-egos chastise himself for doing so. Actually, I guess this isn't all that surprising and is all the more reason to stick to polite discussion of gaming issues rather than ego contests or flame wars. Just remember that the next great arguement you jump into might not even be real. Shrug...

 

[Vuron]

You and your cronies don't scare me Mr. Noah, I've heard all about your "Black Lodge" and what goes on in it. And don't think that you can get rid of me as easily as iconoclast, dragoth and bugaboo!

 

[Dr Midnight]

don't think that you can get rid of me as easily as iconoclast, dragoth and bugaboo!

Was bugaboo banned?? Pardon me for being either ignorant and/or gullible...

 

[der_kluge]

Conspiracy theories? I don't know...

I do believe that the government withholds things from the general public. That much is fact. They wouldn't have "classified" documents if that weren't true.

The two main ones that come to mind are:
UFOs, and the whole Roswell Incident

and the Philadelphia Experiment, in which the U.S. Military experiemented with trying to teleport a Naval Battleship. It worked - sort of, but most of the crew died, or was horribly mangled in the process.

A friend of mine went to a lecture once from a guy claiming to have been a part of that experiment. Apparently, what happened was that the scientists said that it would work, but that the effects that it would have on humans was undetermined, but the officials wanted to go through with it anyway. They performed the test, and the ship completely disappeared. Spy satellites eventually found it in the waters in the middle east. When they got to it, they found that many of the bodies were fused in with the metal of the hull. Most of the crew was solidified in the hull to the point that they were killed, but those that just had limbs stuck, had them amputated and were brain-washed to forget that it ever happened. This particular guy that did this lecture apparently "remembered" through hypnosis. My friend seemed convinced.

They made a movie about it.

 

[Pheonix]

Yes, but the person who "exposed" the Philedelphia Experiment later recanted. Also, naval and shipyard documents show that not only was the destroyer in question not docked at that yard at that time, but the man had never been a crewmember of that ship. On the other hand, documents can be falsified. On the gripping hand, I believe the man was later committed to a mental institution-which can either be evidence for or against, depending on your viewpoint.
And as for Roswell, the reason that that one has persisted for so long is because at first, the US military actually though they _had_ recovered an alien spaceship. After about a week of odd headlines and US soldiers hushing things up, an officer of one of the defense research agencies was brought in to examine the wreckage. When asked what it was, he replied that it was a weather balloon. After that, no wonder there was a hushup-who would like to admit they had mistaken a weather balloon for an alien spaceship?

 

[Ancalagon]

Greetings

Conspiracies "exist"... I don't know wich is true and wich is not, but here is an example of a well documented one:

The Orde de Jacque Cartier, also know as "La Patente", when its member wanted to talk about it in public (patente is a french word for "thingamabob" ), was a secret society that had several thousands members in Canada, up to 11 000 at its peak. All were french speaking, and its main goal was to defend and promote the rights of the french speaking minority. It lasted for over forty years (it no longer exist... as far as I know), and had lawyers, journalists, doctors, burocrats and polititians (in the goverment AND the opposition... at the same time often) among its members.

Now, I'll admit that it isn't very sinister or anything, but for a very long time this secret society existed and manipulated events in Canada as much as it could. There wouldn't be a separatist movement (a strong one) in Quebec if it wasn't for it. Now, if you can have a secret society for "good" (the french minority was being repressed), you can certainly have one for not so good goals.

If you enjoy conspiracy theories, by the alternity seting "dark matter". It is chock full of them, and gives you a setting to play in them! Plus, it is fairly rule light... you could convert it to d20, or use the spy craft rules or the upcoming d20 modern rules to play!

Ancalagon

 

[Pielorinho]

A conspiracy, as I understand it, is when a group of people get together and make a plan to do something shady or illegal.

Do I believe in conspiracies? Absolutely not: people NEVER plan to do shady or illegal things!

Obviously, in a technical sense, conspiracies exist. I guess the real question is whether X generally-trusted large organization is carrying out a huge conspiracy that is out of character for them.

Does the Vatican really have the world's largest collection of pornography? I doubt it: it's out of character for them, I've seen no evidence that this is true, and it sounds awful like something that an anti-Catholic would say to make the Vatican look bad.

Does the US government really have a UFO in Roswell? I doubt it: there's little real evidence that they do, all the evidence that DOES exist is more easily explained by commonly-accepted phenomena, and the quesiton has been so studied that it would be very difficult for the government to keep it a secret still.

Are corrupt small-town officials in Western North Carolina soliciting bribes from road construction companies and diverting the monies into their campaign coffers? It sure looks that way; I saw a neighboring town be featured in News of the Weird this week.

Did a small group of angry men meet today and talk very seriously about how they could blow up a bunch of American civilians? I'd bet on it: we know that conspiracies like this existed, and we can bet they still exist.

Was Martin Luther King, Jr. really killed by a conspiracy of Southern white supremacists who pinned the blame on James Earl Ray? Insufficient Data: either way wouldn't surprise me.

I think there area couple of helpful concepts to remember when discussing conspiracy theories:
-Extraordinary cliaims require extraordinary evidence. If you claim that the downtown bank was robbed by a conspiracy of criminals, you don't need overwhelming evidence to convince me. If you claim that the conspiracy of criminals was actually stealing an ancient volume of forbidden lore from the bank's vaults, you better have some powerful proof.
-Strange Loops are scary. I think Robert Anton Wilson came up with this concept: any theory that postulates a conspiracy that manufactures (or suppresses) more fake evidence than the theory rests on could have manufactured the evidence that the theory rests on. Then what do you believe? Holocaust deniers are the perfect example of strange loop theorists: any organization that could fabricate the mountains of evidence of the Holocaust could surely fabricate the shreds of "evidence" that the Holocaust didn't happen.
-Occam's razor is your friend. The fewer assumptions a theory requires to you make, the likelier it is to be true.
-Conspiracy theories are awful hard to discuss without veering into dangerous political waters. I've tried to stay out of such waters; my apology if I've failed.

Daniel

 

[The Allamistako]

The following was brought to my attention by a... close friend:

As we know, the american declaration of independance (or was it the constitution?) was signed in Philladelphia. We also know that an uncommonly large amount of signees were Freemasons. Well, this... friend looked at the name "Philladelphia", and took it to pieces. This is what he came up with:

Philae Delphia
Or rather: Filae Delphia

Which, if my latin doesn't betray me, translates into:
Sons of Delphi

Who happened to be, at the time, a very powerful Freemason Lodge. What do you (you lot being mostly americans, if I'm not mistaken...) make of this then?

-Alla

 

[Richards]

Originally posted by Pheonix:

On the other hand, documents can be falsified. On the gripping hand...

Hey! A Larry Niven fan! Tanj, but that's cool.

Johnathan

 

[Pielorinho]

Philae Delphia
Or rather: Filae Delphia

Which, if my latin doesn't betray me, translates into:
Sons of Delphi

Doubt I'll be the first to point this out, but Latin is only betraying you by poking its nose in where it doesn't belong.

Phila- is a Greek root meaning "love", as in philosophy, philodendron, and philanderer.

Delphia is a Greek word meaning (I believe) Brother. I can't think of any similar words in English.

Philadelphia, therefore, is the city of brotherly love. Were it Latin, it wouldn't be spelled with a "ph."

Daniel