The 9 Most Shocking Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out to be True

[villager]

The 9 Most Shocking Conspiracy Theories
That Turned Out to be True


Most people can't resist getting the details on the latest conspiracy theories, no matter how far-fetched they may seem. At the same time, many people quickly denounce any conspiracy theory as untrue ... and sometimes as unpatriotic or just plain ridiculous.

While intelligent cynicism certainly can be healthy, though, some of the greatest discoveries of all time were initially received (often with great vitriol) as blasphemous conspiracy theories -- think of the revelation that the earth was not the center of the universe, or that the world was not flat but actually round.

Have you heard? About five decades ago the CIA gave LSD and other drugs to people, without their consent, in an attempt to develop a truth serum.

What follows are some of these most shocking modern conspiracy theories that were apparently right all along.

(Of course, the counter-claims of conspiracy theory regarding some remain open ... and who knows?)


The Dreyfus Affair: In the late 1800s in France, Jewish artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus was wrongfully convicted of treason based on false government documents, and sentenced to life in prison. The French government did attempt to cover this up, but Dreyfus was eventually pardoned after the affair was made public (an act that is credited to writer Émile Zola).


The Mafia: This secret crime society was virtually unknown until the 1960s, when member Joe Valachi first revealed the society's secrets to law enforcement officials.


MK-ULTRA: In the 1950s to the 1970s, the CIA ran a mind-control project aimed at finding a "truth serum" to use on communist spies. Test subjects were given LSD and other drugs, often without consent, and some were tortured. At least one man, civilian biochemist Frank Olson, who was working for the government, died as a result of the experiments. The project was finally exposed after investigations by the Rockefeller Commission.


Operation Mockingbird: Also in the 1950s to '70s, the CIA paid a number of well-known domestic and foreign journalists (from big-name media outlets like Time, The Washington Post, The New York Times, CBS and others) to publish CIA propaganda. The CIA also reportedly funded at least one movie, the animated "Animal Farm," by George Orwell. The Church Committee finally exposed the activities in 1975.


Watergate: Republican officials spied on the Democratic National Headquarters from the Watergate Hotel in 1972. While conspiracy theories suggested underhanded dealings were taking place, it wasn't until 1974 that White House tape recordings linked President Nixon to the break-in and forced him to resign.

<snip>

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/07/02/28/the-9-most-shocking-conspiracy-theories-that-turned-out-to-be-true.htm

[hedgehog]

1. What about the plan to decapitate the US government , April 14, 1865?

[MinM]

20. Re: What about the plan to decapitate the US government , April 14, 1865?

Good point, hedgehog. The most blatantly obvious one to be sure and by definition it was a conspiracy. Yet it's rarely lumped in with other conspiracies. Better to lump them in with -- Big Foot - UFO's - Bermuda Triangle - Loch Ness Monster...

Perhaps it would lend to much legitimacy to other conspiracies?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_assassination

Lincoln's assassin, actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth, had also plotted with fellow conspirators, Lewis Powell and George Atzerodt, to kill William H. Seward (then Secretary of State) and Vice President Andrew Johnson respectively. Booth hoped to create chaos and overthrow the Federal government by assassinating Lincoln, Seward, and Johnson. Although Booth succeeded in killing Lincoln, the larger plot failed. Seward was attacked, but recovered from his wounds, and Johnson's would-be assassin fled Washington, D.C. upon losing his nerve...

[bhikkhu]

31. Or the 1934 corporate/fascist plot against FDR:

http://coat.ncf.ca/our_magazine/links/53/53-index.html

http://www.eclectica.org/v1n1/reviews/wharton_plot.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot

[P. Dexter]

2. Some people call you a nut for saying something is a conspiracy

Even once. In their world, nothing in this world occurs as a result of a conspiracy. Nothing is secret and everything that's not reported by the New York Times or the Washington Post is nonexistent.

[Raster]

14. Many times denying the existence of the conspiracy and defaming those that recognize it,....

is a conspiracy in itself to hide the truth.

[fascisthunter]

3. 1990 Testimony of Nayirah: Iraqi soldiers pulling Kuwaiti babies from incubators - BS

A 15-year-old girl named "Nayirah" testified before the U.S. Congress that she had seen Iraqi soldiers pulling Kuwaiti babies from incubators, causing them to die. The testimony helped gain major public support for the 1991 Gulf War, but -- despite protests that the dispute of this story was itself a conspiracy theory -- it was later discovered that the testimony was false. It was actually the creation of public relations firm Hill & Knowlton for the purpose of promoting the Gulf War.

[StarfarerBill]

4. Let's not forget the conspiracy to overthrow President Franklin Roosevelt...

...by a clique of far-right industrialists; Gen. Smedley Butler blew the whistle to Congress after being approached to lead the coup.

[villager]

5. Good addition....

...to the list...

[jpak]

6. I remember watching that animated Animal Farm movie when I was a kid

It was very disturbing

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

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[Don Caballero]

8. The problem is that 99% of conspiracy theories are totally fake

Like 9/11 inside job conspiracies and a faked moon landing conspiracy. Wading through them all is tedious.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[TheWraith]

11. +100.

People act like because there's such things in the world as conspiracies, that means every conspiracy theory is automatically true.

[villager]

12. then again, there are the people who insist the powerful never conspire

which is every bit as destructive and naive a worldview...

[TheWraith]

16. Ahh, binary thinking. Is there anything you can't simplify for people who don't like nuance? nt

[villager]

22. Ahh, condescension and snark. Is there anything you won't do...

...to avoid an actual discussion, devoid of insults?

[tomp]

37. the only person who gets to criticize 9/11 conspiracies...

...is the person who can answer the multitude of unanswered questions about it. that should be obvious.

[yurbud]

10. I would add that Iraq was a threat to the US

intelligence insiders complained at the time that they were being pressured to cook the books and Dick Cheney even went to the CIA to pressure them personally.

What few noticed or mentioned at the time though was that even if Saddam Hussein HAD nukes, it would have been suicidal for him to use them against us or even give them to terrorist groups to use against us.

[villager]

13. does "Gulf of Tonkin" fall in to that same general category, Yurbud?

n/t

[Andronex]

17. confirmed...

Gulf of Tonkin was confirmed as a False Flag ops by then US secretary of defense Robert McNamara.

[yurbud]

18. yep--and I posted it too.

[Andronex]

15. The Lavon Affair

The Lavon Affair refers to the scandal over a failed Israeli covert operation in Egypt known as Operation Susannah, in which Israeli military intelligence planted bombs in Egyptian, American and British-owned targets in Egypt in the summer of 1954 in the hopes that the Muslim Brotherhood would be blamed. It became known as the Lavon Affair after the Israeli defense minister Pinhas Lavon, who was forced to resign because of the incident. In 2005, Israeli President Moshe Katzav honored the nine Egyptian Jewish agents who were involved.

[Joanne98]

19. Don't forget Bohemian Grove and the worship of the great owl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtSVBTne-KY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg5An6oOzdc&feature=fvw

The right wing always leaves out Reagan and Nixon!

[billh58]

21. And then, there are

the numerous Internet conspiracy theories which have been disproven by fact, or remain unproven, as this article points out:

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=5946

Some of the examples given in the OP (the Mafia) were not so much "conspiracy theories," as they were backstreet whispers. Many such open secrets have arisen throughout the ages, and the fact that they were "proven" to be true at some point did not come as much of a shock to anyone.

The Internet has given conspiracy theorists a much quicker method of disseminating false information, and to a much wider audience. Honest skepticism remains the watchword for anything presented on the Internet.

Here is another site with some rational insight on CT:

http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Conspiracy_theory

[villager]

23. skepticism both for "official explanations," *and* unfounded rumor-mongering, yes?

Too often, though, "skepticism" is only used to buttress up the interests of the "official story," etc...

[billh58]

24. Tricky question,

because if the "conspiracy theory" consists of a good con replete with convincing half-truths and believable lies, then no amount of explanation from any source can dispel the myth to the satisfaction of true believers: case-in-point, the Birthers. The main purpose of a well-presented conspiracy theory is not to convince anyone of the truth of the "theory," but to gain believers and to point to any attempt at an explanation of facts, as proof that the explainer is a part of the conspiracy. CTs feed on themselves.

I will stick with my original advice: take anything being purported to be "absolute fact" by a group, or someone with an axe to grind, on the Internet, with a high dosage of skepticism. Facts have a way surfacing all by themselves, if one does not subscribe to yet another CT that claims deliberate "misinformation."

Social scientists are studying this behavior as we speak... :silly:

[Andronex]

26. well obviously anybody...

who question the official narrative must be crazy... and if the conspiracy theory is official then no serious evidence is needed, such as 19 men with box cutters, too bad we already know that the anthrax letters did not come from Muslim terrorists, but the source was a US military lab.

While we should not automatically believe everything that's on the Internet(or the mainstream media), it's odd that some prefer not to question the versions of events offered to us by interested officials with an agenda, who have a habit of lying.

[billh58]

29. That's not what I

said, or even implied, but I suspect that you know that.

Questioning the "version of events offered to us by interested officials," is always prudent, and is not much different from questioning a far-fetched version of events as presented by a group of extremists with an ideological agenda.

Some mysteries are exactly that: mysterious, and not immediately explainable, but people attempt to "explain" them anyway. By their very nature, "theories" are subject to initial skepticism and require indisputable proof to be accepted as fact. Most Internet conspiracy theories are very similar to urban legends, in that they start life as plausible speculation, sound reasonable, and grow closer to accepted fact with each telling. At their root, however, most CTs contain very little fact or substance, and a high amount of conjecture.

And then there is the "broken watch" analogy...;-)

[villager]

33. Not really "tricky" -- the powerful have axes to grind, too.

Skepticism applied only on "command," or only when counter-theories to "official versions" are supplied isn't really "skepticism" at all...

[billh58]

34. All "theories"

require skepticism, regardless of where they originate, and whether they involve co-conspirators, or not. That is why they are called theories. I believe that conspiracy theories fall into two general categories: those with at least some basis in fact, and those which are wholly fabricated. The former has the better chance of eventually being exposed because there are actual witnesses, while the latter lacks any witnesses, or participants.

Covert, clandestine, and "secret" government operations (similar to those which you have pointed out) which are conducted under a conspiratorial cloak, in my estimation, fall into a category of their own, and don't qualify as simply wild-eyed speculation, nor are they technically theories. These types of operations have a way of eventually coming to light, for varied reasons, but mainly due to someone from the inside "blowing the whistle," and coming clean. I would classify backstreet whispers about these events as "open secrets."

Most Internet-inspired conspiracy theories, however, are formulated by people with absolutely no inside knowledge of the targeted events or actions, nor any expertise in the fields they weave conspiracies around, and are the result of speculation or willful misinformation.

And then, I will concede that there is the possibility of the "perfect conspiracy," where many suspect subterfuge, but can never prove it: the recorded pregnancy and subsequent live delivery by a virgin over 2000 years ago, and involving millions of co-conspirators, comes to mind. I won't even discuss the talking snake, or the Big Boat event which preceded the Bethlehem miracle.

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

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[billh58]

40. Actually, that mindless

little attack says a lot more about you than it does about me. An open mind looks at all sides of an issue with healthy skepticism, and asks questions. A closed mind is secure in the belief that there is nothing more to learn.

Try this bubba:

http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/List_of_Conspiracy_Theories

:tinfoilhat:

[Octafish]

25. Poppy's CIA armed Saddam's Iraq when it was against the law...

Poppy also made sure the US taxpayer picked up the tab.

[Andronex]

27. Operation Gladio

Operation Gladio was an operation by NATO, CIA, and MI6 to counter communist leftist influence in Europe. These state-sponsored secret armies used false flag terrorism against their populations in order to frame left wing groups, influence elections, and justify increased security. Gladio has been confirmed by various governments and condemned by the European Parliament.

a few examples:

The August 2, 1980 bombing of the Bologna train station which killed 85 people, is widely recognized as a Gladio operation. While it was initially blamed on the communist Red Brigades, eventually, right-wing and fascists elements were discoverd to be the culprits. Two Italian secret service agents and Licio Gelli, the head of the infamous P2 Masonic lodge, were convicted in connection to the bombing.

1985: In Belgium, a secret army attacks and shoots shoppers in supermarkets randomly in the Brabant county killing 28 and leaving many wounded. Investigations link the terror to a conspiracy among the Belgian stay-behind SDRA8, the Belgian Gendarmerie SDRA6, the Belgian right-wing group WNP and the Pentagon secret service DIA.

[CLANG]

28. What about the conspiracy to take us to war in Iraq?

And why is nobody being prosecuted for it? The Bush/Cheney administration cornered the market for conspiracies.

[Andronex]

30. "And why is nobody being prosecuted for it?"

Because it goes way beyond Bush and Cheney, and the government can't prosecute itself...

[grahamhgreen]

36. Like the sub-plot that Saddam had WMD's? True tin foil hat stuff!

[troubledamerican]

32. But "somebody would have talked" for any conspiracy... like JFK... and Jimmy Hoffa

If you don't believe in conspiracies, then you don't believe in history

[grahamhgreen]

35. dupe

[happy_liberal]

39. The FDA and food industry are conspiring with Big Pharma

to create diseases and then profit on the treatment.