Would you believe that there are Sandy Hook truthers, people who believe the murders at the Newtown schools were completely faked? Some of them are even college professors! They think it was a cunning plan by Obama to railroad through gun control.
On the other hand, there are conspiracy theorists who have a completely different idea.
My worst fear: Dozens of terrorist sleeper cells, with five or six men each, would activate roughly at the same time and attack designated schools across the country. I’d be at work, and I would be helpless to retrieve my children and keep them safe from maniacs.
I imagined further that, from a terrorist’s point of view, these attacks would have a dramatic, profound effect on our collective psyche: No parent would allow his child to return to school to long as they were not secure from violent, lethal attacks. Our economy and economic security wouldn’t just hiccup; it would collapse.
I have a request. Can we please give them all the guns they so deeply desire, lock them in a room together, and let them…settle…the issue?
President Bush is at it again.
Oh, you say that Obama’s president now?
That’s what they want you to think.
Glen Davidson
Now, now. Physchikell vilensch iz nevah dee anscher.
I was wondering about the conspiracy thoeries that might have already gotten started regarding the death of Aaron Swartz.
Suicide?
Accident?
Murder?
There certainly seems to be enough intrigue in his life to support a variety of theories about all of that.
You cannot legislate against schizophrenia.
@coozoe (#4): sure you can! Increase funding to mental health facilities, doctors and treatment programs.
Then people who suffer from debilitating paranoia, depression and psychosis can be safely treated, instead of being forced to self-medicate or suffer without hope.
So the folks who are trying to destroy our school systems are now called “terrorists”? I’m going to keep calling them Republicans.
Fortunately, it’s almost certainly not these people’s problem.
Here’s what actually happened. A (Bloomberg) group of aliens from Area 51 escaped and went to Connecticut where they assassinated the local True American Militia™ and then used their Alien Morph Ray™ to make the bodies look like six year olds.
It was all coordinated from their headquarters in Kenya.
Is a terrorist attack on schools really that far fetched?
Well, terrorists in the US mainly attack abortion clinics, abortion doctors or federal buildings, so it probably is far fateched. And what if it wasn’t? We should arm teachers?
Came across this comment/question that seemed innocent enough, in a science discussion.
Somehow his name (handle) seemed familiar to me. The comments were in Disqus so I decided to take a peek at his other comments.
HO BOY lo & behold, no wonder I remembered him from somewhere. Could’ve been anywhere. He makes the rounds. He has thousands of comments posted, (and strangely over double the thumbs up).
And he is to be seen commenting on a variety of articles & blogs & such.
Among his assertions:
– Chemtrails from airplanes
– Osama Bin Laden died 10 years earlier than the “official version”
– separation of church & state is really forced atheism (& Communism)
– Obama is secretly gay
– “the left” is trying to “normalize pedophilia”
– vast underground pedophile supply black market for politicians
– Thinks climate science is not just bunk, but an actual conspiracy
– Some secret agency controls weather
– thinks secret agency has been trying to cause global warming, but have failed mostly
– Obama won by a rigged election (rigged by cooperation of both parties)
– Congress “cooperates” at conflict (superficial conflict)
– id chip implants serious serious conspiracy to get them in everyone
– Sarah Palin was the victim of sexism & basically set up as a political fall (girl)
– war is a way the government deliberately kills off the common people
– gun control legislation aims to take away citizens’ guns so a dictator can be installed
– government deliberately sabotaged relief in both Katrina and Sandy… and maybe caused them
– obama is pushing for austerity measures so the U.S. winds up like Greece
– Wall Street, rather than just being greedy, is actively trying to do away with working people
– drones are some part of a bigger expansive plan for Obama’s war machine
– New World Order
Need I say more?
Oh yeah, and of course he’s also “a Birther”.
His disqus acct. is like a wiki-conspirapedia of just completely wildly nutball assertions.
He doesn’t even seem to have a political leaning… unless to say he leans toward the crazy in any direction. He seems to cover both ends of the political spectrum.
And by that I mean he covers some topics where he has some comments that aren’t crazy, but are normal rational opinions any average Republican or Democrat might have… Point is, he has both, which is a bit unusual, I thought.
It’s positively fascinating in a way.
But quite scary & sad.
Then he also makes comments that are quite benign and ordinary, about household purchases, and the tough labor market today, and irrelevant innocuous opinions about products or various small talk comments… (Well, except for weather!)
I think he’d be okay at a dinner party that followed the etiquette rules of not discussing religion, sex, or politics…. Though perhaps ironically, weather should be added to the list! ha ha ha And I’d still be worried that he’d let a comment slip about “The New World Order”. lol
I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone who believed more nonsense & conspiracy theories ever!
And I used to take my cats to a veterinarian who was just WONDERFUL with animals of all types. But a total conspiracy theory NUT. He even had one that I never did find any evidence that anybody else was pushing it. (if interested, just google “corning secret agency super spies” & you’ll find my blog post about that.)
(BTW: For a long time I didn’t mention it was my veterinarian, but I think it’s okay now, because he was 84 10 years ago.)
Anyway, sorry for making a lengthy blog post in the comments here. HA HA HA
But I figured people here might at least relate.
I mean not relate to this guy I’m talking about! ha ha I meant relate to me, and my fascination with this sort of thing. :)
(Though I’m sure there’s some people here who might relate to this guy. For all I know this guy is here!! LOL)
I thought nothing would surprise me anymore.
But then yesterday I found out that even with all the talk of effective tax percentages during the election campaigns, and all the talk about taxes during the fiscal cliff stuff… SO MANY PEOPLE still don’t know the difference between the marginal tax rate and an effective tax rate…
This is actually rather scary.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20130111/news/701119803/
https://www.facebook.com/cmmcgroarty
My worst fear: dozens of ninja proctologists. I’d be walking down the street, minding my own business, and then, from out of nowhere, bam! guerrilla colonoscopy. It could happen! This is why I always carry my own endoscope.
How’s this for a conspiracy theory?
I fear that Bin Laden won the war that culminated in the 9/11 attack. He won it from the inside, by creating a deep well of gun-toting paranoia.
Enough Americans now see terrorists behind every park bench and in every fake garbage can in every alleyway that the entire country can be led to accept the most outrageous stupidity. Land of the Free? Never really was, but certainly is no more. Forget the Patriot Act, if you say the wrong thing out loud your neighbours will cut your balls off. Secret tribunals superceed the Bill of Rights. Any attempt at making general society safer gives every gun-wielding looney access to a seat in a national television debate.
Europe is on edge with anti-Muslim fear bubbling beneath the surface – are They going to take us over?
Throughout the Western world it has become a de facto crime to be a Muslim, their only offence being that Christians don’t understand how similar the two religions really are. And neither can effectively grapple with the underpinning nonsense upon which both are built.
Here in Canada our gun registry has been scrapped by our ultra-right-wing leaders (I know they’re still somewhat left of the American “socialists”, but for us, Prime Minister Harper feels like being ruled by Attilla the Hun’s godson). Sure, it was a flawed system – but it could easily have been fixed, instead of thrown out altogether. All of the collected data was immediately slated for complete destruction, despite at least one province’s willingness to pick up the pieces within its own jurisdiction.
At least we still have some significant gun control laws… so far.
Paranoia rules the day as we slide ever-so-gently into an Al Qaeda-inspired parallel to the Zombie Apocalypse.
Like every other conspiracy theory I’ve run into, I hope it’s bullshit.
But I can’t help wondering…
Idolatry, that.
Praying to a flag.
And I’ll be happy to see those nice young men
/ In their clean white coats / And they’re coming to take me away ha haaa!
It’s weird:
… because, by the time they’ve grown up, the SCOTUS will (may) have redefined the rules they are promising to obey, except for the 2nd Amendment, which guarantees them the ability to not obey the rules they were instructed to obey.
It’s all very confusing. (I’m glad we don’t have a constitution.)
Ah, conspiracy nuts. Negotiating the middle path between denial and projection is hard.
Moggie @ 13:
That’s not enough! The only way to reliably prevent a guerrilla colonoscopy is by plugging their point of entry! Fortunately, the accessories needed to keep yourself safe are readily available…
Uh, yeah. They faked 27 murders in order to get a couple gun bans passed. Except : if *they* are as evil as the conspiracy crowd would like to believe, why stop at faking murders, and why stop at a mere 27 people ?
Or, if 27 makes Lanza look to proficient, why not stop at 12 or so ? Look. nobody will ever know for certain what motivated the shooter to do it. He’s dead now, and cannot tell us. Even if he were still alive, we may never have gotten the real truth out of him. What matters is what epilogue we wish to write to this story of tragedy.
American reality is truly surreal.
Interesting post by a Facebook friend yesterday about the NRA’s checkered past with respect to gun control. Guess what? The NRA once supported gun controls.
http://thegrio.com/2013/01/11/nra-was-pro-gun-control-when-it-came-to-black-panthers/
For example, the NRA supported the 1934 the National Firearms Act (“Tommy Gun” law), which was passed in part because of the number of innocent people and police officers being killed by gangsters carrying fully automatic weapons and concealed weapons, which were legal until then. The NFA was reviewed by the Supreme Court and was ruled not in violation of the 2nd…so there is a precedent.
I love the part where in 1967 the Panthers walked into the California State Capitol fully armed to protest gun control legislation that would undermine their “police patrols.” Just exercising their rights. Anyway, the California legislature quickly passed the bill and Reagan (!) signed it. Oh, and yes, the NRA supported the measure.
@owlglass
You know my used to sing the chorus of that all the time.
After watching that I’m not sure it’s as amusing I thought it was at the time…
No no. That would be… Umm… (fidgets…) Bad. I must responsibly speak against this.
Yeah. Bad. Naughty. We really mustn’t.
I mean it. Anyone arranges anything like this, I’ll probably even write them a sternly phrased letter. Just so we’re clear I was really against it. I’m that completely appalled at the very suggestion. Truly.
(/Also, any rumours after the fact the effect that I had helped scout the venue would obviously be utter calumnies.)
I thought that They’re Coming to Take Me Away was hilarious.
When I was 11 years old.
Now.
Not so much.
I just wanted to come on here to defend the honor of Florida Atlantic University, as I’m a student here. I met James Tracy for a grand total of one minute, so I can’t say much from personal experience. However, from what I understand, he makes Alex Jones look rational.
He doesn’t have the greatest rating at Rate My Professors (although one of them accuses him of being a Socialist, which I’m pretty sure is incorrect), and he’s been the laughing stock of a large group at FAU since long before Newtown (they’re the ones who told me all about this guy).
And for the record, I not 100% sure Tracy will be teaching at FAU much longer. I wouldn’t be surprised if FAU considered cutting him after this. I don’t know whether or not he has tenure, but I have doubts that it’ll help him if he does.
Putting all the conspiracy theorists in one room with loaded guns? All the survivors from each group could claim self defence. Might deplete the dues-paying membership of the NRA.
Ugh
Jeebus. I’m glad this moron was put in charge of the Pledge Police.
Here, our young’uns say the US pledge, the state pledge and then the school motto. It rankles me to hear the “under god” in both US and state pledges, but I don’t say/do anything because it would be unproductive (and embarass the young’uns). The school motto is pretty good (stuff about respect self and others, and always do one’s best). They then follow with a moment of silence, which is fine with me (I usually play the Jeopardy jingle in my head).
But for some idiot to come in and say that the school is doing the pledge “wrong” AND make a deal about it makes me want to punch him in the mouth (I would never do it, it is just a feeling). You want to do it differently yourself? Have at it, as long as you don’t disrupt others. You want to change how everyone does things? Well, you gotta change the LAW, or STFU.
While they’re at it? coordinated car bombs at like wal marts or major high-way road stop mcdonalds, or in traffic jams or literally anywhere there isn’t already a massive security theater in place. Make it patternless, and for god’s sake, don’t just pick major population centers. but smaller towns and cities.
If you’re afraid simply to be in public, no gun or TSA or anything is going to change that. Because you aren’t actually afraid of terrorism, you’re afraid of life.
Making a deal about it is politely phrased. His string of actions in this situation were perfectly “rationalized” by a This Is God’s Embattled Country MRA™. On Facebook, he says that his ex-wife is doing terrible things because she’s caught in “the system.” Pray for her, doncha know, because there’s still a slim hope that she won’t be separated from the children for all eternity, making them all sad faced in heaven that mommy is writhing in hell.
I don’t know how it’ll all turn out, but for the short term, I’m glad the restraining order keeps him away from his kids until a hearing at the end of the month.
Lest anyone dismiss university professors who speak of conspiracies as mere kooks, I offer the case of Valery Fabrikant (no links, just search on the name).
oohlordy Fabrikant.
fuck
He was alot of ‘fun’.
As far as I know, Tracy doesn’t display any of those signs… I likely would have been told. Most say he’s arrogant and has impossibly high expectations of his students, but those who hate him still find that he has an overall “likable” personality, aside from the arrogance.
FAU has had its share of crazies (how many of you heard about the girl who freaked out because “evolution kills black people” just after the shooting of Treyvon Martin? I got to witness the part of that involving the cops and a tazer), and every single campus had at least one armed intruder alert last semester, but nothing from any professor and no deaths… yet.
Nate havens PZ’s had a blogpost about her so there are probably many here familiar with Jonatha Carr.
The internet is like having a window into people’s heads – and it is pretty scary. In the past, only family, friends and neighbors got an inkling of the personal “idiosyncrasies” of these characters. Now, they are free to share it with the world.
No clue where the ‘s came from
I screencapped a comment thread on Facebook the other day because it had me at a loss for words, which doesn’t often happen. Some girl who is ignorant on most things that aren’t lyrics to a Drake song or something of that nature, and is also an army wife whose entire life is paid for by the government, was spreading the conspiracy theory about our government being behind Sandy Hook for all to see.
A 2 second Snopes search turned up what she was going on about and made me cringe even harder.
I wanted to send the screen caps somewhere because they were just so unbelievably ignorant. (stfuhatemongers.tumblr , maybe? Any suggestions?) I guess the icing on the cake for me was that you are so proud of your husband for defending our country and one of those USA! We’re #1!! types, but a rumor with not one single fact to back it up has you turn your tail and start babbling on about your government killing kids in exchange for shitty gun legislation?
The least these morons could do is also start conspiracy theories about how much the gun makers rake in after these shootings. If I were to buy into anything like this, my first look would be to who is profiting the most.
speed0spank
The ‘army’ allows marriage to minors?
@26:
If we bring them all to Florida and put them in a room, they can use ‘stand your ground’ as their defense.
Look, I can see being afraid of someone coordinating an attack on schools and you, as a parent, being unable to do anything about it. Sort of. Kind of. I tend to be on the “paranoid” end of the parenting spectrum, but luckily I have people in my life to talk to about these kinds of irrational fears, which really, in the end, boils down to some version of “I don’t deserve these kids and they will get taken away and I won’t be good enough to stop it”.
But wth does that fear have to do with guns? What, are you going to arm every school principal, teacher and/or school child? What? Seriously, I’m really dying to know over here.
I have a theory: all right wing-nuts are former human beings replaced by aliens with replicas grown in pods as they sleep in front of the TV. Government leaders around the world are also alien pod people and in on the conspiracy. It’s really quit clear. Just look at how they act. Listen to their words. You will soon realize that large numbers of people are now devoid of humanity, incapable of rational thought, and bereft of true empathy.
@37
Sorry, woman. I am trying hard to correct my speech on that one but I am used to saying “that girl” in my everyday speech. I’ll work on it more.
@39 A lot of these people and people who aren’t really conspiracy theorists, just extremely pro-gun rights, have suggested just that! Why if all the teachers and the principal were armed this would have turned out very differently.
Check out his faculty bio: http://www.fau.edu/scms/tracy.php
I’m ashamed to say I went to the University of Iowa (different department though)
I have received several e-mails from the same conspiracy nut-case and in each one he swears that this is Teh TRUF!
The first one claimed that the shootings at Sandy Hook were done by the government as a false flag operation so the outrage could be used to give Obama a pretext to take our gunz.
The most recent one – also one he claims to believe – is that they shootings never happened, and it was staged.
The onlky constant between the daily e-mails of wilder and wilder conspiracies is that they are all apparently so the outrage could be used to give Obama a pretext to take our gunz.
I’ve been hearing some people saying “Obama arranged Aurora/Newtown to get our guns!” from certain elements in firearms circles (thankfully, nobody I know personally) and usually from the same people who pointed to his complete lack of action in his first term as proof that he was going after guns in his second.
I honestly don’t understand how anyone can be that far removed from reality to take this shit seriously, they’re up there with 9/11 Truthers (who, in my experience, are for the most part way the fuck out there on the opposite end of the political spectrum).
Sufficient paranoia coupled with an isolation from contradictory viewpoints does tend to warp one’s view of reality – just look at Glenn Beck.
.. and look at this shit (I’d link to the citadel site itself, but I found the CNS article even funnier, but I highly recommend wading through the main citadel site, some if it’s hysterical);
http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/patriotic-group-build-armed-defensible-neighborhood-fortress (naturally they’re planning on funding it by selling AR-pattern rifles).
I don’t understand the motivation for this crap, at all.
The first sentece of this article made me want to be sick. But once I got over my revulsion and read the rest I was struck by this part of the pull quote:
I haven’t read the comments yet, so apologies if this has been discussed, but did that make anyone else think of the very real consequences of certain US policies?
It’s not like the old days anymore. These days, as soon as the massacre occurs, we all start wondering who who will come out with the first conspiracy theory. If it doesn’t come soon, we go looking for it. We find lunatics and we ask them leading questions until finally someone says it was all staged by the Coonyites or the President and that’s all we need. We don’t even have to find any other person who shares the conspiracy theory – one lone nutcase gives us the headline we need.
The answer is not less gorillas but more gorillas.
http://www.theonion.com/articles/gorilla-sales-skyrocket-after-latest-gorilla-attac,30860/
Make sure that room has one open window and drive past in a car that’s backfiring (can they still do that??) and wait till it goes all quiet in the room…
Lovely idea, except that bullets can go through walls.
Oh, and by the way, shoot anyone that emerges.
I have an alternate conspiracy theory: Sandy Hook was a conspiracy by the NRA and gun dealers to protect gun rights and increase sales.
My evidence?: Sales of extended ammunition clips have increased and there has been a surge in NRA membership.
#34
I was just saying that the other day when my spouse found some kook Youtube video. ha ha
In the past (before the internet), these people were merely the oddballs of their community.
You might here them occasionally in the neighborhood, or downtown at the newsstand, at gas stations, etc, loudly expressing their bizarre opinions on the state of the world.
But they dispersed, and not accessing every venue point in your travels through daily life. It would be confined, like my veterinarian, telling me crazy conspiracies, when my cat needed a hospital stay.
Now these people have the access to every point on the internet with ease. If they have the time & inclination, they can visit hundreds of web sites every day to spread bizarre & off putting misinformation.
Rush and others have had theirs sewn shut to prevent alien probing.
That’s why they have to shit through their mouths.
According to a right wing fanatic I know, Lanza was a victim, too. He, and everyone else, were killed by a secret NSA version of SEAL teams and then it was staged to look like a mass murder so that Obama could take everyone’s guns and to increase support for teachers and their union. (I was on the porch, smoking a cigar, and either gave up on the cigar or listened to him.)
I try very hard to stay away from this person. Every conversation (and he knows I work for the government) gets steered into conspiracy-land. Hey, nice warm day? — government is heating up the earth with satellites so we all have to get rid of our trucks. Hey, nice flowers? — government is introducing special plants that produce more and more pollen to support Big Pharma. I see you got a new TV? — government is forcing us to go to the plasma TVs because, without a special filter screen, it lets them control your thoughts. Obama won? — a CIA operation in Virginia and Ohio to throw the election. Abortion? — the government selectively aborts babies that have the genes for intelligence and resistance to communism. National Parks? — training grounds, bases and airfields for the UN troops that something-something-something. It goes on and on and on.
Obviously the logical and moral reaction to all of this is to buy even more guns and to home school your kids.
Add denial of human rights to everyone who is not hetero, white, and Christian, add giving corporations and the military free reign, and add tax cuts, and you have the GOP platform. Hmmm.
Ogvorbis:
Wow. That’s serious commitment to conspiratorial thinking.
He is in deep.
He has been rebuilding his house with spaced armour plate. He has an oil furnace, a gas furnace, electric heat, and a wood/pellet/coal stove so he’ll be able to survive. I shudder to think how many guns he has stockpiled. Or the thousands of rounds of ammunition.
He scares me.
Moggie’s “ninja proctologist” conspiracy suggestion is like a “add the next sentence” game thing, only with a collaborative “make a conspiracy” instead of a make a story. lol
I love it.
I like the idea of ninja proctologists. Has a certain flair to it.
It’s also kinda scary.
There are seven ninja proctologists in this room. Can you find them?
Silly conspiracy mongers. If Obama wanted to cook up a massacre as an excuse for gun control he would have had his brainwashed shooter shoot up Congress. Kill a bunch of politicians and see how long it took the survivors to crack down on guns.
@ #61 timgueguen…
I like #51’s suggestion better…
It does seem like the NRA & gun manufacturers had more to gain (excessively financially) by Sandy Hook.
What with not only people with a firm gun fetish already stocking up… but new people deciding to buy guns.
It’s definitely expanded their market, I think,
The conspiracy mongers don’t need facts, just wild claims. People grounded in reality (typically but not solely Democrats) want facts with statistics to back up our claims. We do not have as many as we would like with respect to gun violence, because the right wing nut jobs pulled the science funding. Former Rep. Tiahrt added an amendment to CDC and other funding bills that stops agencies from keeping data on gun registrations and essentially blocks research on gun deaths. This was based on protecting Second Amendment rights, but it probably just feeds into the conspiracy nut-jobs paranoid fantasies even more. Any serious gun legislation has to remove the Tiahrt amendments so we can separate out what gun control works from what sounds good.
We certainly shouldn’t pay teachers to teach children! Especially not with tax money that should be better spent to fund an overfunded defense, or even better, to line some rich politician’s bloated pocket. That’s morally wrong, apparently.
It’s already happening in Texas, and it looks like many other school districts are considering it.
In tiny Texas town, teachers are armed with concealed weapons
And, I guarantee, when a teacher kills a student with a concealed weapon, the radical right will scream, even more, about the evils of public education and teacher unions.
(Maybe I’m being too cynical? (or not cynical enough?))
My cynicism says a student will steal the pistol and shot the teacher and/or another student.
A few days ago in California, a shooter struck at a high school when the armed guard was out sick. A teacher managed to talk him down before anyone got killed.
Obviously, this is a false flag operation planned by Big Nonviolence.
You win. You out-cynicised me.
“I have a request. Can we please give them all the guns they so deeply desire, lock them in a room together, and let them…settle…the issue?”
Oooh, and we can sell tickets and put it on Pay-Per-View — put all the proceeds towards eliminating the national debt.
I wish I could make light of this, I really do. But my mind keeps seeing dead children, and worse, the last screaming moments of their lives. Those tableaux, bloody and indelible, suck any humour I have right out of me.
I can understand these denialists; I wish it was all made up too. But to deny the reality of it is also to deny the need to do anything about it. And something most definitely needs to be done.
I have no easy answer to the problem of school shootings, I doubt that there is one. And fuck I hate the fact that that phrase, school shooting, has become a necessary short hand. All I can think of is to make it as hard as possible for anyone to get the tools of easy killing while we search and search and search for effective ways to keep troubled folks from reaching the point where killing seems like their best and only option.
I have just been listening to the Dogma Debate Podcast on gun control with AronRa.
http://www.spreaker.com/page#!/user/smalleyandhyso/50_guns_thunderf00t_dprjones_aronra
I have to say I was APPALLED at Aron!
I have much respect for AronRa, for his knowledge on evolutionary matters and his ability to take down Anti-evolutionist liars, although I have noticed considerable “arrogance” in his attitude before, I felt he was well placed in having that arrogance because of the bullshit he was opposing.
But now this.
His attitude appears to be; “I WANNA HAVE GUNS! WHAAAAA! . . . My Desire to fap over my penis extensions (Cos guns are soooo coooool!) has greater priority than innocent kids getting killed”
While blatently refusing to acknowledge:
1, That if there is more guns around more innocent people are likely to be killed.
2, Guns make mass slaughter much easier.
3, Guns make individual murders much easier.
4, Guns “desensitise” killing.
And so on.
Another fallen hero in my eyes. :-(
Moggie:
I call dibs on the band names.