Have you ever found yourself believing in a 'conspiracy theory'?

Bush did 9/11.

I used to believe in paranormal stuff and UFO’s as extraterrestrial visitors. I was compelled by the idea that lots of poor quality evidence somehow added up with sufficient quantity to good evidence to believe a thing, when the opposite is, in fact, true. The $1,000,000 Paranormal Challenge is what convinced me I was wrong. All anyone had to do was demonstrate paranormal activity in basic, high-school science fair levels of control and repeatability and they’d get a check for a million dollars. Because nobody ever got even close since 1964, that’s a pretty damning piece of evidence against the paranormal.

I still believe it could be possible that Jeffery Epstein was bankrolled by Mossad to get dirt (aka child molesting caught on camera) on important global leaders to blackmail them into pro-Israeli policies. It’s long been rumored that Ghislaine Maxwell’s father was a Mossad agent, or at least worked with them. I don’t have a firm belief that it’s true, but I certainly believe that it’s within the realm of possibility. I’m pretty sure (over 85%) Epstein was murdered though.

Sure, though I pretty much always reserve some amount of skepticism and/or awareness that “I don’t really know” about even things that most people think are entirely true.

I tend to only believe ones that pass my own rational tests for plausibility pretty solidly. So they’re more like things I think are probably the actual truth behind the popular/media ideas about something, than something I would call a conspiracy.

Some of it’s backed up by non-mainstream information I know. Like, the popular narrative on/around “9/11”, as mentioned by public figures, included something like “Before 9/11, no one ever imagined that terrorists would fly jetliners into skyscrapers.” That is not just bullshit, but Bull Shit. The US government even had drills about the idea (even some related ones at about the time it happened), and of course terrorists had tried to blow up the WTC about a decade earlier. And so on – I could go on about a lot more about that subject, but I don’t want to derail this question. But I relate to it as a question mark. I know the Bush administration was aligned with people who wanted an excuse to invade Iraq to be able to give oil corporations and investors more ability to accurately predict oil prices, which was discussed before the 2000 election. I know US security organizations were aware of the possibility. I question some of the WTC damage and how it happened, but those all leave me with questions, which I don’t think I know all the answers to.

And, I also don’t think the answers particularly matter, because I also believe that the POTUS is largely a figurehead, and that the two parties are largely string-pulled by more powerful but less public groups, and that the D vs R, Left vs Right US political conflict is largely used as a distraction (though maybe one that’s getting out of control). What matters is an excuse was given to invade Iraq, and I think IF that administration knew about it and could get away with letting it happen (or even enabling it somehow) without getting caught, they would. But I’m not certain I’m right, and it really doesn’t matter, because in any case, they DID lie about WMD to get their invasion.

But I sort of think of that as just realistic political perspective. So let’s see . . . actual conspiracies . . .

During the 2016 primary campaign, Sanders went from saying he had plans for how to keep fighting for the nomination, to suddenly endorsing Clinton, suddenly in a matter of days, to the surprise of many, and when he showed up endorsing Clinton, he had facial injuries and looked like he’d been through something. People theorized he’d been beaten up and threatened into dropping out and endorsing Clinton. I thought that looked pretty credible. I think it’s a bit less credible now, and I’d like to know if anyone has any better information about what happened and why he looked injured. On the one hand, I think it’s entirely possible they did beat him up and threaten his family or whatever it took. On the other, it seems like if they were going to threaten or even torture him, they probably would be smart enough NOT to leave physical evidence of it. So I think it’s unlikely for that reason, but I don’t know. I do think that when so much wealth and power is at stake, that certain unscrupulous elements will do whatever they think is necessary and most expedient. I imagine it tends to involve threats and blackmail more than anything else, though.

I still believe Oswald didn’t kill JFK.

I’ve been accused of being a conspiracy theorist several times, mostly around Trump. I said the entire Russia Collusion thing was a scam that was being perpetrated by bad players in the government and the Dems. Can’t tell you how many times I heard that was a conspiracy theory. Hunter’s Laptop was another one. I was told I would believe anything and that it was just a conspiracy theory that people it was real. Funny thing about both of those…they weren’t conspiracy theories. Both ended up being proven true.

My point is not to turn this to a political thing. It is to point out that what many people call a conspiracy theory can actually turn out to be true. If you decide to talk to your friends about some of these things, go at them with an open mind. Listen to their beliefs and think about them. Ask what proofs they have and consider any logic answers they have. Ask how they heard about this theory and review the source material. Starting there will first off not alienate your friends. It will help you understand what their beliefs are and why. After that you can then start to look rationally at the facts to see if they hold up to scrutiny and logic. If you find things that don’t hold up you can discuss these with your friends. Ask about things that seem off. Let them look at it with you.

Some conspiracy theories are just that…theories about events that happened based on a belief that something nefarious happened. Some are theories about events that happened that someone doesn’t want you to know. They are branded conspiracy theories in an effort to ridicule people that believe them. It’s a tactic of shutting down open discussion. It’s sometimes hard to tell the difference until you actually start challenging both sides of the belief.

And I’m with @filmfann that Oswald didn’t kill JFK. I don’t even believe that there was a lone gunman.

I also don’t think Oswald acted alone.

I think Johnson was involved in Kennedy’s death.

Usually if you believe in it, you don’t consider it a conspiracy theory.

No, but that’s what they want you to think.

There’s significant paedophilia among the British ruling elite, and information on this has been suppressed for decades.

That’s the “conspiracy theory” I believe is true.

Not sure if this is a conspiracy theory, because to some extent we know it’s true, but I think it reaches way farther than people think.

I believe an incredible amount of money and threats are used by the wealthy Christian Dominionists to control a lot of the Republican politicians. We know it happens in Texas, but I think it is all over the country. I think it probably explains partly why Ron DeSantis became more right wing cuckoo than his original positions in politics, and why we see some Republicans sometimes talk some sense and then change gears and shift over with the religious extremists.

@chyna and Gerald Ford in the cover-up.

I am a firm believer in the Oliver Woofing Theorem. All praise to the holy prophet Jim Oliver. Keep your trap shut.

I used to believe a lot of silly things. Roswell was a coverup, everyone killed JFK, bush did 9/1, were all favorite topics of mine in my teenage years. It wasn’t until I watched Peter Jennings special on JFK “Beyond Conspiracy” at 21 that things really changed for me. It picked apart all my deeply held conspiratorial assumptions, and gave me a better framework for understanding the real world. After that I started getting into James Randi and fuggedaboutit.

I’ve tried all of them on for size. My favorite is Stanley Kubrick faking the moon landing using Scotchlite (i.e., projecting a background image of the moon’s horizon onto a massive curtain of glass beads), which is indirectly corroborated by Richard Hoagland’s claim that running moon landing photos through Photoshop filters reveals massive glass structures on the moon (that NASA has purportedly kept secret from the public).

The part about my story that is relevant to your question is to relate that my conspiracy obsession was a fever, and at the time, one of the only things I cared about was getting to the bottom of it all. It tapped into fear—suddenly realizing you’re trapped in an unethical system, and as you go further down the rabbit hole, it can become a head-ripping reeducation on just about every commonly held assumption about how the world works. I would say what drove it in part was a vague notion of figuring out how to live a more ethical life with a “more real” set of truths. One part of that ethical equation was a notion that telling other people would raise awareness and bring about positive change. Some of it, too, is just sounding out a new set of facts so they will solidify. (We go around in our cultures chanting all kinds of things over and over to keep them solid, and I’d say this is no different.)

I learned a few things: 1) Most people really can’t digest conspiracy theories. You could say there’s a level of denial or that they just aren’t vibrating on that level. Also, it’s not a conversation topic that inspires hope, so maybe people avoid it for that reason—and really, there’s nowhere for a conspiracy-based conversation to go if that’s the case. 2) On a global level, it doesn’t matter what I believe because it’s not enough to overcome the mass of conventional thought and conventional action. 3) Reality is weird—like really weird. 4) If there is black magic in the world, then there must be white magic. 5) Thankfully, something came of it all—earnestly pursuing the topic to its many ends prepared me for a spiritual awakening into a flavor of nondualism. Understanding that “we are spiritual beings having human experiences” means the minutiae of how those experiences play out are secondary to a greater truth that it’s all just one divine consciousness at play.

Having come to this point, I would say that I don’t believe or disbelieve any of them anymore, but I find them to be less important. The world carries on. Life carries on. If I am sticking to my knitting, then my attention is turned to the one observing what is seen.

I’m sure I’ve said enough, but don’t bother with changing their minds. They are wearing different prescription glasses than you. You might have success challenging them to widen the frame: “If that’s true, then what?” Rather than arguing the points, take them at face value and get them to articulate what their or your response should be.

I was just talking about one in the Epstein thread.
I think/know it’s a CIA conspiracy. Possibly another intelligence agency.

I used to believe in the biggest conspiracy of all. Christianity, and Santa Claus…

@MrGrimm888
Clearly it was the orangutan that had epstein killed.

^It could have been Col. Mustard, in the study, with the candlestick holder…

“Nobody” killed him. I bet Epstein begged for his life…
“Nobody,” walked right past a guard and malfunctioning camera, and snapped Epstein’s neck.
“Nobody” is either a BMF for Epstein’s, or even a contractor hired by who knows. Maybe even the family of one of the girl’s/victims…

Such a man, knew WAY too much. His female accomplice probably has better security. After the assassination/suicide.

Money makes odd things happen.

I sometimes wonder if Queen Elizabeth II, had triplets on November 15th 1948, and placed two for adoption.