Skeptical Humanities

I feel like the weekend was not been as long as had been promised. I have a feeling that “They” are responsible. Stupid “Them.”

On with the week in conspiracy:

• William Cooper was…so mentally ill it’s still unbelievable. Dealey Plaza is an outdoor Masonic pagan temple.
• It was the anniversary of 7/7 this week. Conspiracies about the event abound.
• Nibaru, the storm on Saturn and…the Beatles.
• Above Top Secret stunned, STUNNED, to find that they might have some antisemites posting there. Why would anyone think that when you turn this obvious fact into: “Isreali plot against ATS”?
• There has been a lot of talk about Comet Elenin lately. Some suspect it is responsible for earthquakes, for instance, a claim so untamably bonkers that I have little tiny strokes every time I hear it.
• Another person posited that Comet Elenin was under intelligent control. The last time a similar conspiracy theory went out, the Heaven’s Gate people committed suicide.
• Oh wait. I take it back: “SCREW ELENIN! Look at the Honda comet! It will impact us DIRECTLY!“
• Why haven’t I heard of these meteoric threats before? Oh, right: “Military Hush-Up: Incoming Space Rocks Now Classified.”
• SHUT UP, STUPID MAYANS! It’s the Inuit we should have been listening to! It’s apparently breaking news to the Inuit that the earth is tilting on its axis. Runaway!
• A strange tendency runs through conspiracy theories. I’ve noticed that many people HATE America so much (and I don’t mean that in the cynical sense that W. used it–they live in bizarro world and hate it) that they will uncritically look kindly on someone–any monster or tyrant (the irony)–who is subject to sanctions, for whatever reason. Take the current NATO excursion in Libya. They think it’s possible–or necessary–to frame Gaddafi. The man attacked protesters with planes, and that’s not in doubt. There’s something about these conspiracies that makes people embrace what they despise–genuine tyrants. So much fail.
• An example of the above tendency is Russia Today, which is a propaganda mouthpiece of the Russian state–it is not considered legit by other news organizations. They really do just blast America constantly. Vigilant Citizen is a site I’ve mentioned here before. The author is what Dave Mabus would be as an art critic. He spends most of his life looking for pictures of people showing one eye and then says that they are in the service of the Illuminati.

Satanic Illuminati mind-control or spazz? You make the call.

Anyway Vigilant Citizen says the Republicans are Satanic. As tempting as that hypothesis is, as someone who does not do the whole religion thing, I am forced to hold Republicans responsible for their own decisions, not Satan. But VC’s source is Russia Today, people who actually do manipulate stories! (facepalm)

• Rising against FEMA. The saddest, most amusing revolution I have ever witnessed.
• The Daily Beast discusses the rising number of white supremacists running for office.
• Obama is establishing the type of dictatorship where you reelect the dictator every four years by popular vote and the dictator is limited to two terms. Someone slept through civics, I see.
• ATS reports that dozens of women are disappearing from the Canada wilderness. This is not mysterious, however, since the expansion of cities is destroying their habitat.
• I find it ironice that a gent named “Huff” is talking about fluoride causing brain damage.
• I am giving you a link to Blag Hag because she is awesome. Also, because her first item in the “WTF round-up” is a story about a hate group claiming teachers’ unions are paying students to turn gay. But mostly because you need to read Blag Hag.
• Here’s a lesson about how to follow sources and verifying information. So, a 9/11 Truther for Architectural Justice, or whatever, says that Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth members were identified as terrorists in Congress. Let’s see where this leads. The first link in the article sends us to HuffPo. The source for the panic stricken blog post is a comment following the article, and says that the Simon Wiesenthal Center, in testimony supporting a “anti radicalization and homegrown terrorism” bill, identified AE911Truth as a terrorist organization. So, I follow up with this on the databases at Georgia Tech. I search for the phrases “Simon Wiesenthal Center” and “homegrown terrorism”. There is one hit in ProQuest Congressional:

SUMMARY:
Committee on Homeland Security Serial No. 110-83. Hearing before the Subcom on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment to examine Internet use by Islamic terrorist groups to spread radical and extremist ideology and to recruit new members in the U.S.

The entire text of the testimony happens to be available, and so I go to the testimony. On 6 November 2007, Mark Weitzman Director of the Task Force Against Hate at the Simon Wiesenthal Center said exactly NOTHING ABOUT ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS FOR 9/11 TRUTH, YOU ANTISEMITIC PUKE! Here’s a screen capture of me searching for the word “architect” anywhere in the testimony and coming up with zero hits:

Click to embiggen.

I look forward to the retraction and the satisfaction of having helped disabuse people of unfounded fears. You’re welcome.

• TOP SECRET FEDERAL RESEVE LOCATION FINALLY REVEALED, AFTER YEARS OF EMPLOYEES FREELY DISCUSSING IT! Federal Jack simply has it wrong. I can’t find the original source for this.
• Joe Mercola is just a horrid botch. He claims that human DNA in MMR vaccines is “linked” (the most valuable, meaningless word in conspiracism) to autism. No, dude. It’s human DNA in autistic people’s cells that is associated with autism, given the tendency of autism to run in families.
• Is “The Secret” a gateway to universal truths or mind control? UFO Digest asks the hard questions that the mainstream media can’t. Because milk is streaming out of the mainstream media’s nose.
• Here’s evidence that there is no national tragedy that Truthers can’t shit on.
• The Pakistan Observer claims that the Council on Foreign Relations is conducting psychological warfare on Pakistan. What are they the “observers” of, anyway? Their own colon?
• Strauss-Kahn conspiracy theories. My favorite of the five presented by ABC News is that “Strauss-Kahn suffered for the sins of movie director Roman Polanski, who pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor but fled the United States in 1978 before sentencing, and has been a fugitive ever since, living in France.” It all comes together now, doesn’t it?
• Conspiracy theories kill those who are most vulnerable. Seth Mnookin talks about the impact of Western misinfo campaigns in developing nations and the effects they have on children’s health.
• Here we have it. The least convincing conspiracy theory ever: “A guy who is now dead once told me the moon landing was hoaxed and encouraged me to not look at the counter-evidence.” Freaking air-tight, that.
• When fellow Domers go bad they start accusing Ted Hesburgh of complicity in eugenics.