When Conspiracy Theory Meets Fact
We are now one month into the anticipated year of 2012, and the dreaded term “conspiracy theory” appears to be more prevalent. A conspiracy theory relates to a secret group or organization working together to craft an unlawful or harmful plan. These past few months I’ve been called a crazy conspiracy theorist, anti-American, liberal hippie, left-wing nut and countless other variations of the prior. Yet, none of this “name-calling” bothers me the slightest, I just propose a question. When does conspiracy theory meet fact?
When my brother and I first began The Occupy Tour, our initial intent was to capture the collaborative voice of the 99% and document the various reasons why people were out protesting. As most media outlets portrayed, this movement doesn’t have a uniform list of demands. However, instead of focusing on that fact and rendering an unorganized illustration of the movement, people need to start asking why to discover the truth.
The Occupy Tour has taught me that this movement is divided into what I like to call different “layers.” I like to view them as layers because there’s no set number or black and white distinction between each. These layers range from the homeless looking for food and other amenities, to those personally affected by an issue such as being foreclosed on, to the conspiracy theorists. Personally, I believe these layers are a major factor for all the factions within the camps.
Before I dig deeper into conspiracy theories, I want to make a note that I’m not necessarily saying these theories are completely accurate; I’m trying to bring to light the facts instilled within these theories. There’s a lot of information easily available today, and we need to take advantage of this while still available.
I’ve spent the past five months essentially living online researching anything and everything, including conspiracy theories. Being a curious person by nature, I’ve always wandered about the foundation of these theories. I openly admit I used to shrug off conspiracy theories as a waste of time and unimportant, but after researching a few I was able to draw connections and make my own conclusions. I took freethinking to a whole new level, and I’ll never be the same again.
“The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings,” said John F. Kennedy in his ‘Secret Societies‘ speech. If anyone is skeptical of even discussing conspiracy theories or believes them to be nothing more than a joke, need to realize one of our greatest presidents gave a speech paralleling many of the same ideas as conspiracy theorists.
John F. Kennedy was faced with a conspiracy-like experience himself when he rejected Operation Northwoods. Operation Northwoods was a series of planned terrorist attacks on citizens to be blamed on Cuba in order to shape public opinion in favor of war. The proposed document clearly stated, ”The desired resultant from the execution of this plan would be to place the United States in the apparent position of suffering defensible grievances from a rash and irresponsible government of Cuba and to develop an international image of a Cuban threat to peace in the Western Hemisphere.” After the rejection of Operation Northwoods and an order to withdrawal American troops from Vietnam, Kennedy was assassinated.
The Operation Northwoods document isn’t theory, it’s fact. If our government could’ve plotted against us once, could it be successful the next time…? If people would just take these issues more seriously and ask questions, maybe we could have avoided the 9/11 attacks or at least the government propaganda and military action that followed.
There have been numerous conspiracy theories proven to be fact in time, but it’s not my intention to just list them all. My goal is to get people to wake-up and think differently because a lot of things are about to unfold here in the present. We are living in a country full of secrets, and people need to realize they shouldn’t believe everything they hear, even if it may be from “trustworthy” sources such as the New York Times.
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