Conspiracy Theories
©2000-2017 Roedy Green of Canadian Mind Products
Never ascribe to malice, that which can be explained by incompetence.
~ Napoléon
Bonaparte (1769-08-15 1821-05-05 age:51)
Random Thoughts
- Every major crime is necessarily a conspiracy. It is simply too much work for one
person.
- Just because you can find some crazy people who subscribe to a conspiracy theory
e.g. bin Laden had some inside help, does not disprove the
hypothesis. Laughing at the crazies for their general nuttiness to discount the theory
is just a garden variety ad hominem logical fallacy.
- It is just as irresponsible to dismiss a hypothesis without any sort of
investigation of the evidence, as it is to swallow it whole. In particular I have
contempt for people who blindly believe President Bush’s version of 9/11 on
general principles. Their decision is based primarily on a desire not to look crazy,
not on any evaluation of the evidence. This is Christian
sheep logic.
- There is a claim that a secret conspiracy is impossible because people will always
talk. A counter example is the Manhattan project. I think it highly probable we still
have not figured out the Kennedy assassinations. There are so many strange bits of
stray data. We also have the logical problem that any conspiracy that has remained
secret to this day is by definition unknown.
- Conspiracy theories of the form politicians, CEOs… lied
to us or did not tell us the whole story are almost certainly true. Almost never
does anyone talk about what they did without putting a positive spin on it and leaving
out embarrassing details.
- Fruitcakes like to postulate plots about large numbers of people secretly
conspiring. They present no evidence, just weak plausibility based mainly on the
presumed wickedness of the perpetrators. Unfortunately, the use of term conspiracy theory for these wild conjectures tars serious criminal
investigations even when there is plenty of evidence.
The Global Warming Hoax
By far the most important conspiracy theory is that global warming is a hoax. This
strikes me as one of the most preposterous I have ever heard. Anybody can look out the
window at the shrinking snow cover on mountains and see it is a false. How did it get
traction?
- Big Oil and professional ad men managed it. They were smart enough not to sell it
directly, but as a controversy. They used experienced shills like Fred Singer who
earlier managed to sell the health benefits of tobacco. This accusation might sound
like a conspiracy theory of its own until you look at public statements from Big Oil
over the decades. Big Oil is beginning to greenwash, but still dishonestly try to sell
clean coal as if coal that did not pollute or emit CO₂
existed or that it does not matter that it does. They also promote natural gas as if it
has no CO₂
problems.
- The Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, supports it. He has fired most of the
climate scientists and insisted that any government scientist get approval from his
office for the text before speaking in public. He has blocked all discussion of climate
change. He makes no bones he is and always has been in the pocket of big oil.
[Global warming is] a scientific hypothesis and a controversial one.
~ Stephen Harper (1959-04-30 age:59)
anti-environmental Prime Minister of Canada, Toronto
Star, 2002-09-05
- People want global warming to be a hoax. Then there is nothing to do, no sacrifice
of any kind required, no disaster awaiting us.
- Christians don’t like scientists. Scientists are constantly pointing out the
idiocy of their superstitions. The conspiracy theory casts scientists as the villains.
Christians don’t like the idea of man destroying himself with climate change and
Yahweh calmly watching. They prefer other myths, usually involving them being yanked
into the air while everyone else writhes in flames, or Jesus taking them to lunch and
magically cleaning up all the damage man has inflicted on the planet.
- The media see the world in terms of a dichotomous debate. They can see no way to
cover climate change without some opposing point of view. They pretend both sides are
equally valid. They need conflict even when there isn’t any. They also take
advertising from big oil.
How Do You Know the Global Warming is a Hoax Conspiracy Theory is Nonsense?
- The effect of CO₂ on atmospheric temperature
was discovered back in the 1800s by Fourier and Arrhenius.
This is very old established science. Arrhenius was the guy who discovered ions.
Fourier was the guy who discovered Fourier transforms, one of the foundation pins of
modern computer communications.
- How did all the scientists communicate to plot this hoax? What did they do to shut
up those who would not go along? Why are there no records whatsoever, even alleged, of
these communications? Scientists are stereotyped as irascible. How could they possibly
agree to do this.
- This implies that all the data published in all the science magazines is a
carefully constructed self-consistent hoax. Where does all this data come from. How do
they make sure it is consistent?
- If scientists go through elaborate charades collecting data all over the earth and
space, what happens to the real readings?
- The motive for the hoax is supposedly that scientists will get more money by lying
and giving false answers. If that is true, you would think every other branch of
science would have already pulled the same trick. Surely you have met scientists driven
by the notion of winning a Nobel prize. They have no chance of winning one by faking
data. Even if they did, they would eventually be caught, (science works that way) and
the prize would be taken away and they would disgraced for all history, hardly someone
driven by a desire for immortal fame would tolerate. The proponents of the hoax theory
have no idea of how difficult it would be to pull off such a hoax and do it so well
that nobody outside the conspiracy noticed even one slipup.
This is just too preposterous to even consider to anyone who has any connection with
science. It is a Christian-creationist view of science. They imagine scientists are just
as dishonest and unscrupulous as they are. It may seem odd to almost equate climate
change denier with Christian, but you will find the #1 denier justification is
God would not allow it. This conspiracy theory is all tied up
in an overwrought end-times stew. This is part of the reason I put so much priority on
debunking Christianity.
What harm would it do, if a man told a good strong lie for the sake of the good and for
the Christian church... a lie out of necessity, a useful lie, a helpful lie, such lies
would not be against God, he would accept them.
~ Martin Luther (1483-11-10 1546-02-18 age:62)
CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Conspiracy Theory
Let me create a new conspiracy theory.
Over the last 5 months or so, there has been an ongoing
public debate in BC and Alberta about the tar sands, pipelines, tanker traffic and
bitumen.
Oddly climate change and global warming are never mentioned on
CBC radio
or their website. Proponents of the various fossil fuel projects including politicians,
talked as though the projects would producing revenue for a century. Nobody ever
discussed the possibility we would have to stop because of high greenhouse gas levels, or
because alternative fuels were now cheap enough to switch over.
Similarly there was lots of talk about advanced technology to scoop up floating crude
from the ocean surface. Somehow the fact that bitumen rather than crude was going to be
shipped and that it sank and there was no bitumen scooping technology, just never came
up. Under ideal conditions, what percentage of the oil can you recover after a spill.
This too never came up.
I wrote the ombudsman and CBC radio personalities dozens of times about these issues.
Yet not once were they ever mentioned. Not one question on them was ever asked a
proponent. Whenever they did have someone on who was not gung ho on a fossil fuel future
for Canada, they seemed to get side tracked in irrelevant trivia.
In interviews of people who have vested interest, but never special knowledge, they
ask, How do feel about X replacing
What do you know about X. These idiotic
questions create endless meaningless blather to avoid the important issues.
Oddly, these issues did not come up even when Elizabeth May, head of the Green Party
was interviewed. I know she was aware of the issues because I wrote her and she wrote
back.
Why would the supposedly leftist CBC
do
this?
I asked various CBC employees why they were avoiding these questions. No
answers.
My best answer is, technically not even a conspiracy. It involves just one man. Prime
Minister Stephen Harper, fundamentalist Christian and climate change denier has been
reducing their budget over and over.
