Conspiracy Theories The World Top Five Secret Plots
The world is an even stranger place than it seems if these conspiracy theories are to be believed
Briefing
Friday, March 13, 2015 - 11:47am
They range from the absurd to the intriguing, but these conspiracy theories have proved remarkably resilient over the past decades. Regardless of their improbability, they provide an unsettling glimpse of human curiosity and gullibility - and, paradoxically, our reluctance to trust authority.
THE TOP FIVE CONSPIRACY THEORIES
5. Area 51
In 1947 claims that an "alien spacecraft" had landed in Roswell, New Mexico, were dismissed by the US military, which said the alien craft was merely a weather balloon. Ufologists believe that the spacecraft was taken into Area 51 - a division of Edwards Air Force Base - and the US government has been researching alien technology and life forms on the site ever since. Video footage of an alleged "alien autopsy" has been shown to be fake, but Area 51 is known to be a secretive and heavily guarded base. The reasons, however, may be more earthly than the conspiracy theories suggest: the U-2 spy plane, and several other top-secret aircraft, were developed and tested here.
4. 9/11
On 11 September 2001, four planes were hijacked by al-Qaeda and two of them were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York, killing 2,996 people. However, some people believe that the attack was an inside job, orchestrated in order to cement America's place as the top global power or to secure the oil reserves in the Middle East. Another theory is that the building's owners were responsible for the event (they stood to gain 500m in insurance profits). For more detail, read our feature on the top ten 9/11 conspiracy theories.
3. Moon Landings
Neil Armstrong's giant leap kicked off one of the most persistent conspiracy theories of the 20th century. The sceptics claim that the 1969 landings - and all those which followed - were faked by Nasa and that no human being has ever set foot on the surface of the Moon. Even though there is substantial evidence to the contrary (including Moon rocks brought back to Earth and manmade objects left on the Moon) some people remain adamant that film director Stanley Kubrick was hired to produce the footage after his experience on 2001: A Space Odyssey.
2. JFK
In November 1963, John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald, a former US Marine who defected to the Soviet Union before returning to America, was accused of the crime but was shot dead before he could stand trial. But was he just a scapegoat? Did the real killers get away with murder? No official investigation has turned up evidence of a conspiracy, but theories implicating everyone from the KGB to Jackie Kennedy continue to circulate. Read more about the JFK conspiracy theory here.
1.Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory
To the most dedicated conspiracy theorists, none of these plots on their own is sufficient to explain the sustained malevolence of the world in which we live. Instead, each one is a manifestation of what RationalWiki describes as "an interlocking hierarchy of conspiracies", in which all the world's events are controlled by a single evil entity. It is a complex and self-reflexive premise: if it is correct, then it must be the case that awareness of the Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory is itself a part of the conspirators plan - and so, of course, is this list.
Conspiracy theories JFK 9/11 Roswell
Posted by Unknown
|
at
5:55 AM
