Rebel Yell
06-17-2009, 12:52 PM
The Shady Agendas Behind 5 Popular Conspiracy Theories
#5.Barack Obama's Citizenship
Despite the overwhelming physical evidence (the Obama campaign did in fact produce a copy of his birth certificate, and others even dug up the local Hawaiian newspaper from 1961 that has the Obama family birth announcement), it was promoted quite heavily by some Conservative commentators right up to Election Day and lives on in places like the Free Republic forums to this very day.
#4.The "Clinton Body Count"
Vince Foster's death became a huge talking point in Republican circles, fueling speculation about Clinton abusing his power.
A number of people involved in the Arkansas Project would eventually admit they thought the Foster thing was bullshit, and Scaife himself would later endorse Hilary Clinton for president, which suggests that either he agreed that the whole theory was retarded, or he had no problems with a mass murderer running the country.
RY: Remember this line for future reference.
#3.The Jews Secretly Run the World
But don't tell the conspiracy sites, Neo-Nazis and the world's angrier Muslims who still quote it as their key piece of evidence against the Jewish conspiracy.
RY: And we all know Neo - Nazi's are conservatives.
#2.Water Fluoridation is a Communist Conspiracy
Of course, according to the Center for Disease Control, "Better use of fluoride can lead to considerable savings in public and private resources. But fuck all that noise, the John Birch Society, a conservative group with a far more colloquial sounding name, opposed fluoridation because they saw it as an involuntary medical treatment that violated individual rights. They also really, really hated communism. Guess which one of those stances got more press?
#1.Global Warming is a Socialist Hoax
Occasionally you'll see a headline on right-leaning blogs or news portals like Drudge boasting that "500 Scientists File Protest Questioning Global Warming Theory!!!" That's the Heartland Institute. It's a conservative "think tank", funded by a number of conservative foundations and corporations (donors include the American Scaife Foundations--recognize that name from the Clinton entry?) and their board of directors had included executives from ExxonMobil and Philip Morris (coincidentally, their other big cause is convincing everyone cigarette smoke isn't dangerous).
RY: Yeah, I remember that name, he's a Hillary Clinton suppoter, right?
Regardless of the realities of global warming, it's true that any action taken against it would harm industry in some way. And while it's not going to be in a "turn it over to the commies" conspiracy way, it's still looking like solving it would take the one thing conservatives hate: government regulation.
Anybody see a pattern here? I still haven't found the comedy in this as much as I have left wing political commentary. The comments section is littered with people calling the writer out on it.
I'm left wing, but even I'll admit this article could've been a bit more balanced.
Of course, in the end, it's just comedy. But as I was reading through it, I kept thing, "I really hope they get some theories in from the other end of the spectrum." That didn't happen. And when I see bias, even in absurd comedy articles, it takes away from some of the entertainment.
Maybe it wasn't even intentional on the author's part. But it's something to keep in mind.
Now, and more importantly, why are 90% of the users here stupid enough to think that it's appropriate to actually f*****g debate these theories in the comment section? Keep it up guys. You're really lending credence to your beliefs.
http://www.cracked.com/article_17439_shady-agendas-behind-5-popular-conspiracy-theories.html
#5.Barack Obama's Citizenship
Despite the overwhelming physical evidence (the Obama campaign did in fact produce a copy of his birth certificate, and others even dug up the local Hawaiian newspaper from 1961 that has the Obama family birth announcement), it was promoted quite heavily by some Conservative commentators right up to Election Day and lives on in places like the Free Republic forums to this very day.
#4.The "Clinton Body Count"
Vince Foster's death became a huge talking point in Republican circles, fueling speculation about Clinton abusing his power.
A number of people involved in the Arkansas Project would eventually admit they thought the Foster thing was bullshit, and Scaife himself would later endorse Hilary Clinton for president, which suggests that either he agreed that the whole theory was retarded, or he had no problems with a mass murderer running the country.
RY: Remember this line for future reference.
#3.The Jews Secretly Run the World
But don't tell the conspiracy sites, Neo-Nazis and the world's angrier Muslims who still quote it as their key piece of evidence against the Jewish conspiracy.
RY: And we all know Neo - Nazi's are conservatives.
#2.Water Fluoridation is a Communist Conspiracy
Of course, according to the Center for Disease Control, "Better use of fluoride can lead to considerable savings in public and private resources. But fuck all that noise, the John Birch Society, a conservative group with a far more colloquial sounding name, opposed fluoridation because they saw it as an involuntary medical treatment that violated individual rights. They also really, really hated communism. Guess which one of those stances got more press?
#1.Global Warming is a Socialist Hoax
Occasionally you'll see a headline on right-leaning blogs or news portals like Drudge boasting that "500 Scientists File Protest Questioning Global Warming Theory!!!" That's the Heartland Institute. It's a conservative "think tank", funded by a number of conservative foundations and corporations (donors include the American Scaife Foundations--recognize that name from the Clinton entry?) and their board of directors had included executives from ExxonMobil and Philip Morris (coincidentally, their other big cause is convincing everyone cigarette smoke isn't dangerous).
RY: Yeah, I remember that name, he's a Hillary Clinton suppoter, right?
Regardless of the realities of global warming, it's true that any action taken against it would harm industry in some way. And while it's not going to be in a "turn it over to the commies" conspiracy way, it's still looking like solving it would take the one thing conservatives hate: government regulation.
Anybody see a pattern here? I still haven't found the comedy in this as much as I have left wing political commentary. The comments section is littered with people calling the writer out on it.
I'm left wing, but even I'll admit this article could've been a bit more balanced.
Of course, in the end, it's just comedy. But as I was reading through it, I kept thing, "I really hope they get some theories in from the other end of the spectrum." That didn't happen. And when I see bias, even in absurd comedy articles, it takes away from some of the entertainment.
Maybe it wasn't even intentional on the author's part. But it's something to keep in mind.
Now, and more importantly, why are 90% of the users here stupid enough to think that it's appropriate to actually f*****g debate these theories in the comment section? Keep it up guys. You're really lending credence to your beliefs.
http://www.cracked.com/article_17439_shady-agendas-behind-5-popular-conspiracy-theories.html