Heartland

markfiend wrote:Labelling an idea "conspiracy theory" doesn't automatically mean that the idea is false; Raf's Wiki link mentions several real conspiracies that are historically documented.

Well, if you mean "a group of people conspiring to do something" then yes, cospiracies do take place. And yes, governments and large agencies do try and keep secrets from the people. We know this because they usually get caught out, the main reason being that, the more people involved in keeping a secret (and when it comes to large organisations with large secrets, the numbers involved are going to be correspondingly large) the more likely it is that someone will leak information.

But few if any of the so-called proven conspiracies really correspond to the more outlandish sorts of things usually associated with conspiracy theories such as harbouring aliens, assassinating Kennedy or - Lord have mercy - faking the moon landings. That particularly hilarious notion was finally comclusively debunked by, of all people, Neil Morrissey on TV some years ago where, after disproving all the other elements, they dealt with the stickiest issue - the photos with supposedly impossible light sources - by recreating the conditions and taking matching photos.

Now, you'll have to excuse me - the police are asking awkard questions about the yeti in my spare room.

lazarus corporation wrote:No, they weren't a hoax.

Conspiracy theorists always amuse me - they seem to believe they're important enough for the government to spend millions of dollars/pounds to lie to. Sorry, you're just not that important in the eyes of the government.

I totally agree with you, except not with the moon landing.

Btw I don’t think the moon landing was a hoax, but there was a lot at stake during the cold war, propaganda was one thing but showing your technical superiority was what is was all about. So when Kennedy announced there to be an American on the moon they better made it so, if the USSR had beaten them to it or just focused on something else while the USA made a fool of themselves, the end of the cold war would defiantly have looked different.

christophe wrote:

lazarus corporation wrote:No, they weren't a hoax.

Conspiracy theorists always amuse me - they seem to believe they're important enough for the government to spend millions of dollars/pounds to lie to. Sorry, you're just not that important in the eyes of the government.

I totally agree with you, except not with the moon landing.

Btw I don’t think the moon landing was a hoax, but there was a lot at stake during the cold war, propaganda was one thing but showing your technical superiority was what is was all about. So when Kennedy announced there to be an American on the moon they better made it so, if the USSR had beaten them to it or just focused on something else while the USA made a fool of themselves, the end of the cold war would defiantly have looked different.

How would a hoax moon landing have fooled the Soviet government? The USSR had the technology to track Apollo 11 right to the moon and back - they had access to their own space technology, a number of observatories with multi-million dollar top-of-the-range telescopes & tracking facilities, and all the other things a superpower could afford.

But they were using them to play online poker and surf for porn.

As far as I know during the Apollo 11 m*****n a cateye-reflector was planted at the landing site that could be iluminated with a strong laser from earth. Since then they use that reflector to measure the distance between earth and moon via the time the laser beam needs for the trip.
The Russians surely would have noticed if that reflector hadn't been there, and I doubt they would have remained silent about it not being there.
Edit: Bloody swearfilter!

You mean the Russians have been to the moon too?

I thought they just used a few empty cereal packets and a piece of string.

lazarus corporation wrote:How would a hoax moon landing have fooled the Soviet government? The USSR had the technology to track Apollo 11 right to the moon and back - they had access to their own space technology, a number of observatories with multi-million dollar top-of-the-range telescopes & tracking facilities, and all the other things a superpower could afford.

true, and that is why I don't think it was a hoax anyway, I just tried to explain it was an important missoin (J )

Unless the entire cold war was a hoax and the US and USSR were colluding over everything all along, which is pretty far fetched really (although I'm sure there are wacko nutjobs out there who would go for that one - I don't even wanna check).

mh wrote:Unless the entire cold war was a hoax and the US and USSR were colluding over everything all along.

I'm a total sucker for every far-fetched consipracy theory around. 9-11 was a field day. (Remember that cloud with Osamas face in it?)
Hopefully someone soon discovers the Osama-Obama connection.

Keep'em coming folks.

canon docre wrote:Hopefully someone soon discovers the Osama-Obama connection.

Haven't they already?

stufarq wrote:But few if any of the so-called proven conspiracies really correspond to the more outlandish sorts of things usually associated with conspiracy theories such as harbouring aliens, assassinating Kennedy or - Lord have mercy - faking the moon landings.

Agreed

canon docre wrote:Hopefully someone soon discovers the Osama-Obama connection.

Seems like these guys thought they did...

christophe wrote:

lazarus corporation wrote:How would a hoax moon landing have fooled the Soviet government? The USSR had the technology to track Apollo 11 right to the moon and back - they had access to their own space technology, a number of observatories with multi-million dollar top-of-the-range telescopes & tracking facilities, and all the other things a superpower could afford.

true, and that is why I don't think it was a hoax anyway, I just tried to explain it was an important missoin (J )

I know how to fuck around with the swearfilter. But I nearly piss my pants with laughter every time I see me word "m*****n" hit the swearfilter.
Sorry I will behave now.

canon docre wrote:Hopefully someone soon discovers the Osama-Obama connection.

He's selected a running mate called Biden. Obama Biden. Someone's gonna have a field day with that. Especially if they're not wearing their reading glasses.

Dear God, I would like to file a bug report.

any views on the Roswell 'Conspiracy'?

The moon is a hoax.

nowayjose wrote:The moon is a hoax.

I think you might be right

But we like the moon, nonetheless.

Because it is close to us.

moses wrote:any views on the Roswell 'Conspiracy'?

In all probability, it was a weather balloon.

Those pictures of debris support it, mark. Who ever crossed interstellar space in tinfoil and balsa wood.

timsinister wrote:Those pictures of debris support it, mark. Who ever crossed interstellar space in tinfoil and balsa wood.

IZ.

timsinister wrote:Those pictures of debris support it, mark. Who ever crossed interstellar space in tinfoil and balsa wood.

But the first hand witness accounts of the locals claim that the debris presented by the authorities is not what they saw at the crash site.

moses wrote:

timsinister wrote:Those pictures of debris support it, mark. Who ever crossed interstellar space in tinfoil and balsa wood.

But the first hand witness accounts of the locals claim that the debris presented by the authorities is not what they saw at the crash site.

Correction. Alleged first hand witness accounts given 40-plus years after the fact.

markfiend wrote:

moses wrote:

timsinister wrote:Those pictures of debris support it, mark. Who ever crossed interstellar space in tinfoil and balsa wood.

But the first hand witness accounts of the locals claim that the debris presented by the authorities is not what they saw at the crash site.

Correction. Alleged first hand witness accounts given 40-plus years after the fact.

I think the 'incident' was a set up from the beginning. The U.S. government and various agencies wanted their 'enemies' to believe they had actually recovered an alien craft by using a reverse conspiracy theory. No smoke without fire etc.[/i]