One of the hallmarks of American culture is the notion of the ‘conspiracy theory’. At every decade since the early sixties, there have been numerous events, often tragic, but not always, that have an official narrative, but whose facts didn’t stand up to intense scrutiny. People, especially Americans like to question things. Not everyone will be satisfied the ‘official narrative’.
In fact, according to some theorists, the very moniker ‘conspiracy theory’ was coined by a member of the CIA in addressing the skeptics of the events surrounding assassination of JFK in 1963. Those of us alive at the time remember vividly the chaos and events of that day in Dallas, but just as significant were the unknowns as to who was responsible for his death. Sure, Lee Harvey Oswald was convicted of the shooting, but then from various quarters came the suspicion of the involvement of others, giving rise to the ‘grassy knoll’ and other theories of what really happened. What gave credence to alternative views of the official narrative was that the JFK files were sealed until just recently. Someone kills the leader of the most powerful nation in the world and they want to seal the facts for 75 years? Sounds logical.
Another popular event with lots of controversy was the famous Moon landing in 1969. The official narrative is pretty much there for everyone to see since the networks all carried the event live ‘as it happened’. Until recently, no one doubted this ‘greatest step for mankind’. Now, with the aid of technology and some sober reflection of the events and technologies, the veracity of the event has come under great suspicion. The official footage of the event looks like very bad AI renderings today. The official narratives and the review of available technology at the time have fed into a growing pool of skepticism.
We all remember the events in New York in September of 2001. The nation witnessed in real time the destruction of the two World Trade Center towers that day as 2 planes crashed into them. There was little reason to question the official narrative; we all saw it. Except that while 2 planes crashed into 2 buildings, a third building, the Salomon Brothers tower 7, also collapsed spontaneously. As the years progressed, many professional engineers have cast doubt that aircraft alone would have caused the buildings to essentially implode, much less spontaneously. But they’re sticking to the official narrative: 2 planes, 3 buildings, a virtual 7-10 split in bowling.
In 2020, a global pandemic emergency was declared in which a deadly virus was loosed upon the world that was so dangerous, that one of the symptoms was that there were no symptoms. Masks became mandatory, sequestration was enforced upon the public and mandatory vaccinations were imposed on entire populations, except politicians. The official narrative was that only a 14 day containment was necessary and the virus would be contained. They were only off by 3 years as the segregation and confinement became part of daily life. One vaccination became two, then three, then a series of boosters to make sure. Common sense and rational thinking disappeared faster than crab legs at a cruise ship buffet. After almost 4 years, the charade could no longer be maintained and the edicts quietly died off.
Some may recall the mass shooting in Las Vegas in 2017. A man opened fire from his suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel onto a music festival below, killing 60 people and wounding over 400 others. He was later found in his room dead of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. The motive for the shooting was officially undetermined. The logistics of how this one man could have moved so much weaponry and ammo up 32 stories came into question and of course, gave rise to various conspiracy theories.
Not to be outdone, Jeffrey Epstein, a well-known wealthy party guy to the jet set and politically connected, was arrested in 2019, accused of being the mastermind of a massive global honey-pot operation involving sexual activity with young children, murder, spying and political intrigue. His partner Ghislaine Maxwell was tried and convicted and received a 20 year sentence. After his arrest, Epstein apparently committed suicide in his high security jail cell. So said the official narrative. Just a few days ago, after the most publicized outrage and promise of justice for the children by all chest beating politicos-in-charge, it turns out that Epstein had no client list and the case was closed. Thus, Epstein must have un-alived himself out of hysteria. The conspiracy theories will write themselves on this one.