Which of these conspiracy theories is most plausible?

I find many of these theories utterly implausible. But in a way I don't understand the virulent reaction against them that one encounters, for instance on this thread. If you don't believe a theory, OK, don't believe it; maybe even produce some evidence for that disbelief. Does one's response need to be any fiercer than that?

Plausible, to me:

-- John F Kennedy was murdered by the Mob/Expat Cubans/CIA etc -- surely this is quite mainstream, not a bonkers belief at all? In fact I'll vote for it here.

-- Jews control Hollywood and the worldwide financial system -- well, there are two different claims here. In fact Hollywood in its early days certainly did contain a proportion of rich and powerful Jews, possibly because they were fleeing anti-semitism elsewhere (in America as well as the rest of the world). It probably still does. It would probably be true to say that some people of Jewish descent do indeed wield significant power and influence in Hollywood. I don't see any reason, though, to think that they pursue a 'Jewish agenda' in any way, in their film-making. They are probably to be distinguished from the Israel Lobby that Mears and Walsheimer have described (is that just a conspiracy theory? I don't think so: I think it's true).

It is also true that some Jewish people have exercised significant influence on finance, and have been involved in or owned some of the richest corporations in the world, in the last century at least. I'm not sure that this should be a pejorative claim.

-- Scientologists control Hollywood (and are working on the financial system) -- Scientologists probably DO want to control Hollywood, and probably are trying to work on the financial system, though I imagine their success is limited. Certainly it would seem that there are more powerful and influential Scientologists in Hollywood than elsewhere. Various significant actors are Scientologists, whereas I have never met one in real life.

-- Pope John Paul I was murdered by the Mafia/CIA etc -- don't know much about this, but from the little I do know I think it could be true

-- Dr David Kelly was murdered by MI5/British government -- I don't particularly think that this happened, but it was a very murky affair and this might have happened; though I don't really understand the motives involved.

You don't really understand the motives involved behind this thread.

"I still have trouble grasping how the nerve-center of our country's national defense system can get hit by a known-hijacked plane without any attempt at interception for the 41 minutes that it was known to be hijacked post-WTC attacks."

No-one had ever intercepted a hi-jacked plane because such planes were never ever flown into buildings before. Someone would have have to have ordered the killing of all the people on that jet based on what?

While there is some evidence that the CIA was aware of a possible tactic of flying planes into buildings who knows who/what was in place to be able to get authorisation to scramble a jet, make a decision that this jet was going to be crashed into the WTC/Pentagon then order the pilot to shoot it down, all the time not knowing the hi-jackers intentions. I think the best info they had was that they said they had a bomb. Not to mention that shooting down could have led to more casualties on the ground

lol @ pinefox bemused at anti-semitic conspiracy theories

Aspartame = bad is not a conspiracy theory in itself but seems to be a favourite "oh, and by the way..." of people who want to tell you about the other conspiracies listed on this thread. I don't know whether the FDA-Rumsfeld thing counts as "OMG conspiracy" or just "hello capitalism" but makes a pretty good starting point for the former.

To be honest I haven't read up on some of these because I realised I'm far too likely to believe this sort of thing and try not to give it brain-time any more in case I do. A loose assortment of vaguely detailed "facts" that I haven't heard specifically rebuffed is too enticing for my brain. "This guy lists specific timings and quotes people I've never heard of, there must be something in it!"

And once you try to google counter-arguments for them all you're in a hall of mirrors of people out-batshitting each other, like the time I was looking for rebuffs of the moon landing hoax stuff and found some website of "duh, of course it's not a fake: [list of intricate scientific details] oh, and also, how else would top secret joint US and USSR cabal have built their pyramidal glass dark-side-of-moon palace for mind control and alien communication?"

Ha ha, I guess the problem is, that Aspartame = bad for you functions kind of like a gateway drug. Once you find out that the government lied to you about one thing, what's to stop them from lying to you about anything or everything?

And down the rabbit hole you go.

Lots of these "conspiracies" there is a sense of something unexplained or odd or underhanded at the bottom of them. And for the pattern-forming brain, well, it's hard for some people to know where to stop.

Coupla old school conspiracies:

Princes in the Tower
Man in the Iron Mask

One new school conspiracy:
Family in the Gutted Shropshire Mansion

David Davis Resignation

dom temp ban

Chaki Tombot Rant

doomie's novel

The Maracas Affair

ghostbusters 2 existed to try and help noo yorkans be friendlier

disappearance of ILX::OZ thread

Tesla coil used in secret invisibility experiments!

ongs hat!

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN KEPT AT NUMBER 2 IN JUBILEE WEEK PEOPLE

Wire denied opportunity to perform "Outdoor Miner" on TOTP by EMI record hyping scandal

and Crass kept off the number one position by every other record in it, during the Falklands 'campaign'

1. Bob Krasnow adding phasing effects to "Strictly Personal"
2. Lou Reed remixing "Heard Her Call My Name" to make his guitar more prominent.

But seriously though:

http://digilander.libero.it/massimoxsempre/paul_is_dead_mag.jpg

Fluoridated water

http://www.bisleyonline.net/content/view/15/55/#boy

S OTM OPE POE

Board 77

The whole conspiracy theory game used to be a kind of fun hobby, (I used to rather enjoy keeping track of them, because I was interested in how the human mind could put together patterns) but now it's turned into some kind of mass hysteria post-9/11.

I actually don't think 9/11 is to blame; if it weren't for the internet, 9/11 truthers would be as obscure as the rest, and it'd be fun to report that there were actually people who believed this insane story about that awful day - you'd be like "oh, go on, nobody actually believes that" and then I'd produce some weird pamphlet somebody handed me at a political rally or something. The internet has kind of ruined these things by making it easier for them to acquire mass; a couple of crazy people believing something stupid can be really funny, but a group of them reinforcing one another's delusions and shouting people down is maddening.

and then it'd be like "not only do people believe this; organized groups of people believe this" and you'd be like "well, that's fucking depressing"

if it weren't for the internet, 9/11 truthers would be as obscure as the rest

hmm, my friend who rarely uses the net now wholly believes the 911 was an inside job because of some dreadful channel 4 docu. You could argue that the programme only existed because of the net tho ?

the truth is out there

omg he should play the joker

capone's hitman guy in the untouchables

haha YES

i honestly couldn't blame someone for believing elements of the 9/11 conspiracy, outside of the real hardcore frootloops. in times of yore, conspiracy theories used to be for the credulous but now they're for the cynical, at least where the US government is concerned, and who can blame people for that cynicism?

mind you, i still believe Marilyn Manson is that kid from the Wonder Years, so...

i remember getting shot down big style by some hardcore metal fan for even suggesting that one

my favourite conspiracy detail is the widely disseminated assertion that all members of a particular ethnic group who worked in the World Trade Center took the 11th of September off. I can just about imagine people thinking that 11-9 was some kind of government plot, but you would have to be seriously deficient in the reasoning stakes to believe something like that.

lol @ pinefox bemused at anti-semitic conspiracy theories
-- DG, Thursday, 28 August 2008

?? What part of what I said was inaccurate, DG? I am not at all bemused at the idea that anti-semitism exists. It does, and it has produced terrible damage and destruction in the world. I actually said that insofar as early Hollywood did contain some powerful Jewish members, this might partly be a result of anti-semitism that had in effect forced those people out to CA and that new industry.

I don't think that the much-discussed account of the Israel Lobby in the US is an anti-semitic conspiracy theory. I think it is a convincing account of how certain interests hold too much political power in the US and how this has damaged world peace and perhaps even US national interests. Again, what part of this view do you think is untrue?

It is also true that some Jewish people have exercised significant influence on finance, and have been involved in or owned some of the richest corporations in the world, in the last century at least. I'm not sure that this should be a pejorative claim.

the perjorative claim is that jews control world banking not that there's the odd guy called solly who works for barclays

What I said had nothing to with people who 'work for Barclays'. All kinds of people work for Barclays. I said it *is* true that a small number of Jewish people (ie: not the vast majority of Jewish people, many of whom have been very poor) have been involved at the top level of very high finance, at least in the past. The names of some of the world's biggest companies arguably demonstrate this. Again, to understand this, one would have to make a historical inquiry into how Jewish people have indeed, over a very long history, often been involved with finance. I suspect, again, that it must be partly a result of anti-semitism which excluded them from other areas. But this is doubtless a complex question on which should not comment too lightly without knowing and understanding more. I don't think one should make vague, incoherent sneers like the one you made above, either, about such a sensitive issue.

i don't think one should make vague incohent attempts to find kernels of truth in rampant racist horeshit but hey ho

Another question one could ask is: who *does* control world banking or (a slightly different issue, perhaps) the world economy?

And whoever they are (I don't really know, but I imagine they are largely male and very few of them are black or from the developing world), are we in favour of them and the way they influence the world for their own interests and in ways largely unknown to us?

And if we're not, are we guilty of producing a 'conspiracy theory'?

These questions, by the way, have nothing to do with anti-semitism; like I say, I don't know who might be in this group, but I would imagine that a majority of them are white / caucasian and non-Jewish. Whoever they are, is not their ethnicity that is objectionable about them. Arguably, it is their actions that are objectionable.

where is "The gays run Hollywood"?

As for big stuff like who runs the economy, no conspiracies required. Winks, nods, campaign contributions.

I voted for the JFK one, I mean he was certainly murdered by somebody.

The 9/11 and the "faked" moon landing ones annoy me the most, govt-did-9/11 becuase it lets a bunch of people who didn't do their jobs properly off the hook, and because I want the time i spent watching those bullshit "documentaries" back, moon landing because it takes one of humanity's greatest achievements and turns it into cruft for paranoid nutjobs. Sad.

I would watch Crufts if it had a paranoid nutjob class.

Maybe JFK will win this poll.

Dr Morbius, is it true that gay people run Hollywood?

Gay Jews

The Double Whammy

Gay Jews from Mars

p: Given that American movies get worse every year, very likely.