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7 bizarre conspiracy theories that the GOP takes seriously

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:04:00 +0000

Once upon a time, the most outlandish fantasies of fringe political fabulists were confined to a narrow spectrum on the AM radio dial. They concocted delusional narratives that ranged from murderous first ladies to galactic alliances with Martians. It was an entertaining world of fiction and a guilty pleasure for some, even as the true believers were convinced of the frightening fate that was unfolding.

Today, however, the boundaries between rational political discourse and raving madness have been erased. The extremist peddlers of nightmare scenarios who were once thought to be charmingly eccentric at 1am are now advising elected representatives of the people to initiate investigations and draft bills addressing these non-existent threats. Here are just a few of the urban legends that are circulating in the halls of state and federal legislative bodies courtesy of the whack job broadcasting set.

The changing facts in the Boston investigation

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:11:00 +0000

In the aftermath of massive, complicated crimes it's not uncommon for a bit of crucial information to be immediately put forward by police, only to be contradicted later on. While it's understandable that initial leads and assertions might end up being wrong in a dynamic situation like the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, wholesale contradictions can encourage skepticism of the motives of those releasing inaccuracies -- as with initial, false reports that Osama bin Laden hid behind his wife when U.S. forces shot him. Another effect of changing details can be to encourage conspiracy theorists who latch onto inconsistencies, and to undermine trust in authorities.

Now, almost a week after the Tsarnaev brothers fought a rolling street battle with dozens of heavily armed police officers, we learned Wednesday night that they had only a single handgun, according to sources who spoke with ABC News and the AP, something that directly contradicts what officials had previously said.

Right won’t let go of Saudi conspiracy theory

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:45:00 +0000

As the world turned its attention to the manhunt in Boston last night and the two brothers now suspected in this week's bombings, some on the right are still stuck on that Saudi national whom the New York post initially fingered as a suspect (when they also reported that 12 people were killed in the attack). According to Boston Marathon bombing conspiracy theory B (conspiracy theory A being Alex Jones' "false flag" notion), the U.S. government planned to quietly deport the Saudi in a kind of coverup of the administration's incompetence and a paean to the Saudi Royal Family.

Terrorism "expert" Steve Emerson, who seems to have an awful lot of gaps in his knowledge of terrorism for an "expert," first created the narrative on Sean Hannity's show Wednesday night, and soon Hannity, Glenn Beck, Pamela Geller and even a Republican congressman took it and ran with it. Officials categorically denied the claims yesterday, saying proponents of the rumor were confusing the Saudi questioned after the marathon with a different Saudi national who was being deported on an unrelated matter, and that the first Saudi was never a suspect in the bombing.

Beating conspiracy theorists at their own game

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:37:00 +0000

Since conspiracy theories have already arisen surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing, one man in California is doing what he can to head them off by registering the domain name bostonmarathonconspiracy.com. If you visit the site, you get this message:

I BOUGHT THIS DOMAIN TO KEEP SOME
CONSPIRACY THEORY KOOK FROM OWNING IT.

PLEASE KEEP THE VICTIMS OF THIS EVENT
AND THEIR FAMILIES IN YOUR THOUGHTS.

It's a simple, small, but powerful gesture of goodwill from a stranger 3,000 miles away from the scene. Jaimie Muehlhausen, the man behind the site, explained in an email to Salon that he wanted to do something after seeing so many other tragic events become fodder for theorists:

Sadly, one of my first thoughts was that it would only be a matter of hours before a certain group of people would begin to say it was a government conspiracy; an act of terror on our own people for political gain. It's sickening, but take a look at the massive numbers of 9/11 conspiracy nuts...people who think Bush and the gang took down the twin towers and ended the lives of nearly 3000 people so we could go to war. The heartless and sick Sandy Hook conspiracy theorists who think the Obama administration killed kindergartners to bolster the gun control debate. And there are plenty of others. Well, I was wrong. It didn't take hours...it took minutes.

Aurora theater shooting victims harassed by conspiracy theorists

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 16:02:00 +0000

DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors say victims and witnesses in the Colorado theater shootings have been pestered by conspiracy theorists, impersonated in court filings and had their addresses and phone numbers posted online.

In a motion made public late Wednesday, prosecutors say some victims are concerned for their safety.

Prosecutors asked the judge to ensure that victims' and witnesses' names are redacted from any documents released in the future, although many were identified in previously released court filings.

James Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 at a suburban Denver theater on July 20. He's scheduled to enter a plea next month.

The judge has barred attorneys and investigators from speaking publically about the case and sealed many documents, prompting numerous objections and requests for information from media outlets and others.

Whither the Sandy Hook truthers?

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:52:00 +0000

Could the Sandy Hook truther movement, the people who question whether December's mass shooting could have been some kind of government hoax, already be dying out? Conspiracy theories have developed after every major tragedy like this -- “Once I learned about all the false flag attacks in history that have been proven to be true, I knew it was only a matter of time before another came a long,” the creator of "The Sandy Hook Shooting - Fully Exposed" YouTube video told Gawker -- but Sandy Hook seemed different, thanks in part to the fact that it produced meaningful action on gun control, for a change.

But even as the White House and congressional Democrats forge ahead with gun legislation this week, interest in conspiracy theories surrounding Sandy Hook already seem to be flagging after reaching a fever pitch last week.

The music world’s fake Illuminati

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:06:00 +0000

Beyoncé’s had an unexpectedly tough spin in the news cycle after her universally acclaimed Inauguration performance was revealed to be a lip-synch job.

But it’s hard to believe that the pop singer, who is preparing for the Super Bowl halftime show, hadn't already heard it all. After all, an entire corner of the Internet believes her daughter is the Antichrist.

Beyoncé and her husband, Jay-Z, are just two of the popular music stars whose ties to the so-called Illuminati have come in for Zapruder-level scrutiny online, on sites like Vigilant Citizen, Media Exposed, and, yes, Beyonce-Illuminati.com.

The fear of the entity known as the Illuminati is neither unique — Bey and Jay join Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Kanye West, and practically every prominent banker and politician on Earth is under conspiracy theorists' microscope — nor novel. The original Bavarian Illuminati, a short-lived Enlightenment group devoted to overthrowing the local government, would likely have been forgotten, said "Occult America" author Mitch Horowitz, had Scottish physicist John Robison not speciously alleged in 1797 that the group had infiltrated the Freemasons and instigated the French Revolution.

Poll: 64 percent of Republicans think Obama’s hiding info about his past

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 15:30:00 +0000

A whopping 64 percent of Republicans think it's "probably true" that President Obama is hiding important information about his background and early life, including his possible birthplace, according to a new nationwide survey of registered voters from Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind project examining Americans' belief in political conspiracy theories.

Belief in conspiracy theories is not unique to Republicans -- 56 percent of Democrats believe in one of the four popular myths researchers asked about -- but it is more common. Among registered GOPers, 75 percent said at least one of the four theories was likely true. Moreover, researchers noted: "Generally, the more people know about current events, the less likely they are to believe in conspiracy theories -- but not among Republicans, where more knowledge leads to greater belief in political conspiracies."

“There are several possible explanations for this,” said Fairleigh Dickinson political scientist Dan Cassino, who helped conduct the poll. “It could be that more conspiracy-minded Republicans seek out more information, or that the information some Republicans seek out just tends to reinforce these myths.”

Sandy Hook truther-reporter?

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:05:00 +0000

Journalists are supposed to question official accounts and probe for hidden evidence, but does questioning the media and police’s account of the Sandy Hook massacre go too far?

It’s a question worth asking in regard to Ben Swann, an anchor at the local Fox affiliate in Cincinnati, who uses his personal YouTube channel to “question this whole narrative” and advance alternative theories about the Sandy Hook and Aurora shootings.

Swann, who has attracted a national following by appealing to the Ron Paul-ish “liberty vote,” anchors two newscasts every day for Fox 19, and produces the thrice-weekly “Reality Check” segment, which is billed as a fact-checking series, but can sometimes feel like a conservative-libertarian opinion segment. His interview with President Obama, in which he grilled the commander in chief on the legal underpinning of the “kill list,” captured national headlines, and he’s won an Edward R. Murrow award. He’s been praised alternately by RT and the Atlantic for his fierce coverage of civil liberties issues, but criticized by the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple for being too friendly to Ron Paul and “allow[ing] his affection for constitutionalist politics to corrupt his judgment.”

Five crazy right-wing theories about why the Newtown shootings happened

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:20:00 +0000

Part of dealing with a national tragedy is trying to understand why it happened and trying to prevent it from happening again. And that's what most of America is trying to do right now, from focusing on gun control, to engaging in a national conversation about the stigma against mental illness, to examining any possible links between violence and a "gun culture" at large.

What is not helpful, though, is using a tragedy to promote an agenda rooted in fear, hate or reactionism. But, of course, there are a few loud right-wingers doing just that, and the theories are so nutty that they're hard not to gawk at.

Here are the craziest (and therefore, saddest) conspiracy theories right-wingers are using to explain the Newtown, Conn., massacre:

1. Damsels in distress

National Review writer Charlotte Allen argues that Newtown shooting could have been minimized, or prevented altogether if more Prince Charmings worked at the school:

But in general, a feminized setting is a setting in which helpless passivity is the norm. Male aggression can be a good thing, as in protecting the weak — but it has been forced out of the culture of elementary schools and the education schools that train their personnel. Think of what Sandy Hook might have been like if a couple of male teachers who had played high-school football, or even some of the huskier 12-year-old boys, had converged on Lanza.