What Do You Believe?

Conspiracy theories can be fun. Sometimes the idea of a big cover-up of something more than what we "know" gives a little thrill, as people think they've detected something  and hope to possible bring some powerful entities to their knees with their revelations.

The problem with some conspiracy theories is that not only do they imply that governments kill their own citizens for political gain, or issues reform, but that they often take years of planning, and the money comes from...where? (9/11 theories all imply that Cheney started planning well before he was in office, and had special top secret government scientific products applied to the inner structures of the buildings for at least a year before the attacks.)

But the larger issue is the loose ends. Many conspiracy theories discount the fact that so many random people end up being involved, and witnessing things, that it would be nearly impossible to get them all on board, even if each was threatened or paid off.

Take Sandy Hook for example. This article talks about a neighbor of the school who is being harassed because he is "a part of the conspiracy" to change gun laws in this country. It follows on the heels of a professor in Florida also opining that the government murdered 20 children, and then claimed it was one lone crazy guy. So all the first responders, all the families, all the teachers in the school, all the kids, they got to all of them. And not a single one is slipping. Man, a government that can pull that off should be able to, I don't know, figure how to fix the economy, maybe?

When I was younger I loved conspiracy theories, and some were believable to me then.  The only one that I still believe today is TWA flight 800 that went down in Moriches Bay on Long Island. The reason I believe it is two-fold: One,  no one said the conspiracy was in place BEFORE the event, just that it was covered up after the fact (that it was either a terrorist that shot it out of the sky, or that during Naval exercises in the area it was accidentally shot down.) Two, and this is what I am talking about above-a bunch of random people who lived in the area, or were on the water that night all said they saw something go up right before the plane went down.

Cover-ups? Maybe. Planned disasters/terror? Please. The government can hardly get two agencies to work together to do good. And in this age of twitter and facebook, when everyone is a reporter? I am not a believer.