Your Most Annoying Conspiracy Theories?

[Experiencer7]

I was polishing my magic wand today (no jokes, please) and imagining what it might be like if I could wave it about and erase the most annoying conspiracy theories out there. By "annoying," I mean those theories that no amount of reasoned examination, contrary evidence or implacable logic can dissipate.

I have a couple that come immediately to mind:

1. The 9/11 "truth" [sic] movement. No matter how much direct, unquestionable evidence and hard logic one hurls at its proponents, this rather lucrative and ratings-garnering blather just won't go away. Poor Alex Jones - this dead horse is his only ride.

2. The "Secret Government." Whether suppressing the "truth" about free-energy, UFOs, the moon landings, mass alien abductions, the War on Terror, 9/11, peak oil, water depletion, solid-fuel automobiles, the JFK/RFK/MLK murders, the Masons, etc., these nefarious minions of the Dark Side have moved about the planet in their black helicopters and dark suits, pulling hidden levers and pressing unseen buttons for centuries - all without leaving a shred of evidence anywhere behind them. Puh-leeze.

Face it: our governments are clumsy, oafish and incompetent. And they have nukes.

3. The so-called "Moon Landing Hoax." Reasonable rebuttal of this nonsense should have nailed this conspiracy into its coffin long ago, but it keeps clawing its way out of the grave, no matter how much logic, direct evidence and science you throw at it. Spooky, really.

Yours?

You failed to mention the flat earth flatheads.

 

[Anubis]

You failed to mention the flat earth flatheads.

I forgot about them... They are even more annoying than the tinfoil-hat wearing Illuminati nutters.

 

[SoCalGNX]

In the spirit of Christmas, Christianity has got to be on the top of my list. The idea that some unseen entity has conspired to not only control people, but to bury dinosaur bones and flood the entire planet, then become mortal, then immortal, while millions were living in the Americas, just waiting for Manifest Infection to kill them 'In His Name'... The bigger the lie........etc.

This would be an incorrect notion....Christianity is actually a pyramid marketing scheme.

 

[pixelsmith]

I forgot about them... They are even more annoying than the tinfoil-hat wearing Illuminati nutters.

i hate assholes who sling the tinfoil hat term around.

 

[Kieran]

i hate assholes who sling the tinfoil hat term around.

Every conspiracy annoys me guys sorry! Whoops sorry the J.F.k conspiracy maybe, i kind of think it was the Mob who killed him .They were pissed of about alot of stuff that j.f.K done. Anyway all theories no facts. A pity do, i wish i did have the answers. I consider myself to be sherlock holmes sometimes, Not.

 

[Anubis]

i hate assholes who sling the tinfoil hat term around.

Is that because you wear one?

 

[SoCalGNX]

i hate assholes who sling the tinfoil hat term around.

Long before the movie "Signs" (i think that was the name of persona non grata Gibsons movie), aluminum hats were an "Arizona" thing. Long before. I once lived in a small town in central AZ. Because funding for mental health services was pretty much non-existant, at least of the local cops carried a roll of foil in his trunk. He had occasion to pass out sheets of it for hat making to various members of the community. This would calm them when nothing else would.
So don't be so quick to condemn people who talk about these hats.

 

[thetruthisoutthere]

I am actually a believer in most of the conspiracy theories listed in the first post. The only one I can think that annoys me ( I don't know if it could be technically called a conspiracy theory) is the idea of religion. In our societies history religion has never been responsible for anything good in fact you could say just the reverse that religion as been responsible for most of the foul ups in history ( the crusades, the dark ages, the inquisition, child molestation, misuse of money) just to name a few. So I guess you could say that organized religion no matter the denomination or creed annoys me and I wish it would just go away.

 

[Dantheufoman777]

The moon landing hoax and that reptillian one where bush and the royals are all shapeshifting reptiles. Im also starting to think the roswell crash wasnt an alien craft and that it was project mogul..but who knows

 

[AnnetteMarie]

I am actually a believer in most of the conspiracy theories listed in the first post. The only one I can think that annoys me ( I don't know if it could be technically called a conspiracy theory) is the idea of religion. In our societies history religion has never been responsible for anything good in fact you could say just the reverse that religion as been responsible for most of the foul ups in history ( the crusades, the dark ages, the inquisition, child molestation, misuse of money) just to name a few. So I guess you could say that organized religion no matter the denomination or creed annoys me and I wish it would just go away.

now, just a goldarned minute here. Religion was used as an excuse to expropriate lands and money and other assets during the Inquisition. Isabella and Ferdinand wanted to get rid of Jews, Muslims, and other citizens of their country that were not Catholic, and therefore, not easily controlled. Catholicism was the Crown's chosen religion, and the Inquisition could only legitimately "investigate" those of the Catholic faith who were heretics or secretly observing their original religion, such as Islam, or Judaism. Many horrible things were done in the name of religion, but none any worse than other atrocities committed as punishment for treason, theft, witchcraft, etc. Keep the Inquisition's barbarism in context with the times.

Molestation of children does not need religion to promote it. It is promoted quite well on the Internet these days, so by your argument, the Internet should also just go away. Also, travel to Thailand needs to just go away, as that is one of the favoured places for pedophiles to travel for sex with young boys. Vietnam apparently is a great place for young girls. So airlines and the other means of international travel, too, should just go away, as they have as much to do with facilitating the molestation of children as religion ever did. And just as much effort is made to cover up these countries' lack of success in preventing molestation as was made by the Catholic Church, our local schools, orphanages, etcetera, etcetera.
People who prey on children naturally gravitate towards those organizations and jobs which put them in proximity to their targets, and allow them trusted access. Religion is but one of many avenues towards their victims. Including parenthood, step-parenthood, brotherhood, sisterhood, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Should all those just go away, too?
Misuse of money, well have you checked out the banks in the US lately? what about the massive printing press known as the US Treasury? What is going to back that dollar now? The elite have control of that printing press, not you, not religion. And what about the Stock Exchange's most trusted economic adviser, charged with defrauding somewhere in the amount of $50 billion from investors in a Ponzi scheme? That's a lot of cash. And no church in sight telling him to do it.
Crusade... again, religion used as a reason to motivate the masses to benefit the ruling class. It was easy to get the peasants to sign on to fight if it was done in the name of God. The ones who benefitted were the crowns of Europe, who amassed wealth and lands beyond what was available to them in their own back yards. If religion had not been available to use as a carrot in front of those who hoped for everlasting Paradise as their reward for fighting the good fight, then perhaps the crown heads of Europe would have used, lets say, witchery, cannibalism, whatever would have worked to get the masses fired up and willing to die so the kings and queens and lords and ladies could have more...
Dark ages. Superstition seems to be the ruler of that age. Fear of losing control of the masses if they were educated? Again, using the masses beliefs against them to keep them under control so the ruling class could keep what they had.

But what about countries other than Europe during the Dark Ages? There are other religions that flourished during that time, and the advances in the sciences and technology in Asia and Africa are ignored? The Arabic countries such as Persia were enlightened at that time. Arabs invented our number system, for crying out loud. And they had religion.

So, I don't buy the argument that religion is to blame for all of our ills. The driving force under each and every dark time in our history is greed.
Religion is just a tool used to hit the masses over the head with.
Nowadays, the tool being used is fear of terrorism. Not terrorism itself, but the fear of terrorism.
Next thing you know, the government is going to ask us to spy on our neighbours and report suspicious activity as it might be terror-related, just like the Inquisition searched for informers, and the Nazis searched for Jews...
Find something other than religion to hang all the world's ills on. Start with our own greed.
That's my two cents. And no, I don't particulary believe in "religion", but I do believe in God.

 

[wicro]

Hmm I suppose the one conspiracy theory that is most abhorrent to me is the whole 'holocaust denial' ones e.g. David Irving and his ilk.

But most annoying? probably the crash retrieval conspiracies, I just find the whole 'evidence' a bit lacking but some people are just making too much money out the subject to back down now.

Another conspiracy theory that annoys me is the denial of the impact of humans on climate ( I'm open to the debate of how much impact i.e the science behind global warming), I've attempted to engaged some of these proponents in forums which inevitably results in one being branded a 'weak minded liberal', among other less savory insults. I usually reply that i,m actually a vegan anarchist, which throws them into a frenzy which is always fun!

One other idea that particularly annoys me is the short hand (mainly perpetrated by our governments and mass media outlets)of using the term 'Al Qaeda' as short hand for all 'terrorist' groups without addressing any of the multi-facet complexity of transnational and indigenous 'terrorist' groups. The idea of an ageing nomad nefariously controlling a global network of 'terrorists' from a cave in Afghanistan is just plain fanciful with the evidence we have now.

Though, to be fair it does seem to be changing slightly with the term 'Al Qaeda inspired' to describe atrocities. I'm not sure though if this is conspiratorial, or just through sheer ignorance/propaganda, it can be hard to tell sometimes!

 

[Schuyler]

My most annoying conspiracy theory is the idea that your average garden-variety citizen with an average education and no particular insights into how the world or politics or anything-at-all works, who has no special access to hidden knowledge whatsoever and no special expertise except an interest in the issue--actually believes he has 'figured it out' and KNOWS the TRUTH for certain.

 

[rodeo97]

The most annoying conspiracy theory I have heard is that the government is taking a percentage of what we earn every paycheck. Then these loons go on to say that they use this money to bail out failing companies and banks instead of providing for health care or education. This is just ridiculous. The other crazy conspiracy theory I hate is the idea that our government trains people in third world countries on how to kill and torture villagers in the name of our national interest. How insane! What is the motive for all of this you ask? These wackadoodles claim that the government is really run in the name of Billion dollar corporations which buy government offices. Laughable. Laugh damn you! The very idea that a war could be instigated just to make billions of dollars in weapons sales is insane. Everyone knows that we have planet obliterating arms to combat cobra commander. That vile villian is always trying to destroy the world. One day cobra commander, mark my words we will find you!

 

[rodeo97]

 

[Kevin Daly]

1) The Moon Landing one. It just makes me want to hit people for being so wilfully bloody stupid.
2) The entire category of "it's all the Jews" (sometimes coded as "international bankers") or "it's all the Catholics" or the religious or ethnic group of your choice (or odd and usually bizarrely improbable combinations thereof)
3) Although it's relatively rare compared with the others I'm going to make a special case for the claim that Global Warming is a hoax - because it's a conspiracy theory promoted for short-term financial gain, and could contribute to the extinction of life on Earth. Which is a bad thing.

Obviously any decent conspiracy theory has to include both the Templars (for the sake of tradition) and Bunnies. Preferably Templar Bunnies.

 

[rodeo97]

Kevin Daly is anti-semitic because he believes in global warming. Get him!

 

[rodeo97]

Templars were a religious order which became rich by being castle stewards and escorts for pilgrims to the holy land. They do not hold any secret blood lines and they are not even a functional organization. The fact that this theory has any hold on lay people just goes to show that it is a red herring in the whole conspiracy theory realm.

 

[celia]

That the media is only run by Librals, ugh

 

[AdamI]

Most annoying conspiracy theories?

The vaccination conspiracy theories, since this sort of quackery actually kills people. I'm mostly referring to the histrionic "vaccines cause autism" hype.

The 9/11 "truthers"... I do believe there are issues with 9/11, but the truthers just distract from them and focus everyone toward nutty stuff. They remind me of the UFO noisemakers that distract from the real evidence.

Any conspiracy theory that implicates some racial, ethic, or religious group. "The JEWS run the world!$!#!?" No they don't, and they're not responsible for America's warmongering either. Do you really think America would give a damn about Israel if it wasn't a beachhead near a bunch of oil?

Finally, the moon hoax. The weakness of the argument combined with the defamation of one of humanity's greatest achievements really bothers me.

 

[DanielBrenton]

1) The Moon Landing one. It just makes me want to hit people for being so wilfully bloody stupid.

Finally, the moon hoax. The weakness of the argument combined with the defamation of one of humanity's greatest achievements really bothers me.

I'm there. Only wish Buzz has cleaned the guy's clock properly -- let alone all the other astronauts he's called liars.

I'd never be able to sit on that jury -- but I'd want to, if nothing else but to deadlock the jury deliberation if it needed to be.

Bart Sibrel, you are a brain-damaged idiot.

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.
-- Albert Einstein