The Rise And Rise Of Conspiracy On the Internet.
by "John bull 1", Senior Staff, AboveTopSecret.com/forum
September 9th, 2004
The first and most important point to make when discussing conspiracies is to say that conspiracies really do exist. That that point has to be made
is a sign of how the average person today often associates the term conspiracy with outlandish claims and tall tales. History is littered with well
documented accounts of conspiracy at the highest level right up to the present day.
In 1956 the British and French governments conspired with the Israeli government to start a conflict which became known as the Suez War. The
purpose of this war was to allow British and French troops to occupy the area around the Suez Canal which the Egyptian President, Nasser, had
recently nationalised. This is not a conspiracy theory. This is conspiracy fact.
In 1972 the Democratic Party's National Committee offices at the Watergate building were broken into with the intention to bug discussions there.
This act and the following coverup was not a conspiracy theory. It was a conspiracy fact.
Conspiracy enthusiasts and theorists get a bad press, often portrayed as fanatics obsessing over unlikely occurences but if governments and other
authorities had always acted above reproach then people would have no grounds on which to distrust them.
Before the internet came into everyones lives there seemed to be alot less popular conspiracies around. There was Roswell, JFK's assasination, the
moon hoax theories and a few other classic topics mostly published in books or used for plotlines of movies. When conspiracy hit the internet
initially these same subjects became the basis of static pages written by amateur enthusiasts who wished to share their own theories and insights with
the wider world. Quickly though new conspiracy theories started to appear on a variety of topics as internet users siezed the opportunity to publish,
in an inexpensive way, what they considered to be inconsistancies in any official story. When the feature of interactive discussion became available
on the internet, conspiracy theorists were amoung the first to form small communties which over time have grown into some of the largest and most
popular community based discussion boards on the internet.
The transition from static one topic pages written by enthusiats to interactive discussion by community has also led to an expansion of the subject
matter and a far more diverse user base than many of the uninitiated may realise. Users of community conspiracy boards fall into three catagories.
There are those that read a board purely for entertainment, the internet equivilent of watching a friend tell a spooky story with a torch shone in his
face next to a campfire at night. There are those openminded people that enjoy the intellectual exercise of arguing hypothetical cases, and there are
those that believe wholeheartedly in a conspiracy. Though I did know someone once who believed that aliens had been responsible for JFK's death most
believers ascribe to one conspiracy only. The image of the tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist who believes in anything and everything other than
what is officially established is a stereotype which does not reflect the make up of a user of a conspiracy discussion board.
Conspiracy on the internet took another giant leap with the election of George W Bush in November 1999 who might seem to be on an active mission to
provide conspiracy theorists and conspiracy boards ample material on which to muse. From his contentious election, past 9/11, onto three declared
wars, War on Terrorism, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq, and the threat of military action in Syria, Iran, and North Korea, and into this new
presidential election run up, in which both candidate's campaign teams appear to be actively providing scandel and conspiracy material for conspiracy
boards. There is no doubt that the last four years have seen conspiracy move from the fringe of internet use into an integral part of many internet
users day.
It is said that the first casualty in any war is truth. Disimformation is an important weapon. It is also in human nature to not be satisfied with
lies and half truths and so it is only natural that conjecture and speculation should be rampant at this time. At other times, during other wars,
governments could have expected a tamer media as established national media outlets bowed to patriotic pressure and even national security laws to
parrot the official government line to the general public. The internet, as a medium, is independent of national laws and is freer to tell the truth.
The only problem is finding the truth.
A good example of this would be the initial official reports released by the U. S military on the occasion of Private Jessica Lynch's rescue. The
reports of an heroic rescue from the hands of brutal captures suited the purposes of the authorities at a time before the coalition forces made a
military breakthrough and all news from Iraq appeared bad. Speculation on the internet started as soon as the news came through and these discussion
within a few hours bare more resemblence to the truths that have been established in the last year and a half than the initial propagandist news
release.
Much of what is classified as conspiracy on the internet could just as well be called alternative journalism. It is the act of looking at established
facts anew and arrive at different, often more convincing conclusions.
Another important service conspiracy discussion boards provide is to dispel many hoaxes and suburban myths that seem to be endemic on the internet.
Using the same process used in analysing official news it is often here, within a collaborative community with diverse fields of expertise, that
hoaxes are uncovered. Though some of what would at first appear to be obvious internet hoaxes are often not as easy to disprove as might be thought.
The story of John Titor would come into this catagory. In late 1999 John Titor arrived on the internet claiming to be a time traveller from the
future. Posting extensively on conspiracy discussion boards on diverse topics such as politics, war, and the enviroment in the future within a few
months he disappeared. Despite the efforts of many people his story has been impossible to disprove. It is hoped, however, that this particular
conspiracy will be laid to bed very soon as many of John Titors predictions are centered around a contraversial presidential election in November 2004
and a low level civil war resembling many Waco type incidents in it's aftermath.
Whoever wins the Presidency later this year conspiracy boards such as abovetopsecret. com will continue to grow. Politically, the U.S.A. is split
down the middle and a close or even another legally contested election appears on the cards. The war on terrorism will continue as will the trouble in
Iraq and because truth will always to be a casualty of war conspiracy theorists and internet users in general will of necessity try and keep
themselves as imformed as possible.
John Bul 1 is a staff member of abovetopsecret.com, the largest and most active conspiracy board on the internet.
Copyright: abovetopsecret.com
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