Conspiracy Theories - Good, bad or no consequence?

[rxpharm]

The increasing use of the internet has enabled conspiracy theories to spread more than they have in the past.

Some say they are good, some say they are bad, and some say they are of no consequence.

This story is from National Public Radio  April 2/20- a fairly unbiased (in my opinion) news source in the USA.

 

Quote

Train Engineer Says He Crashed In Attempt To Attack Navy Hospital Ship In L.A.

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April 2, 202011:46 AM ET

A train engineer told police in Los Angeles that he intentionally crashed his locomotive at high speed near the USNS Mercy hospital ship in what seems to be a bizarre attempt to expose a perceived conspiracy.

Eduardo Moreno said he doesn't believe "the ship is what they say it's for," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

The freight locomotive was traveling at a very high speed when it crashed through barriers, plowed under a highway overpass and skidded to a stop more than 250 yards from the Mercy. The ship was not harmed during the attempted attack, and no injuries were reported.

The Mercy is stationed in the Port of Los Angeles to help cope with the coronavirus crisis. But Moreno, 44, told law enforcement officers after the incident Tuesday afternoon that he is suspicious of the U.S. military vessel.

"You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don't know what's going on here. Now they will," Moreno allegedly told a California Highway Patrol officer who apprehended him immediately after the incident.

 

The CHP officer, who was not identified, described watching "the train smash into a concrete barrier at the end of the track, smash into a steel barrier, smash into a chain-link fence, slide through a parking lot, slide across another lot filled with gravel, and smash into a second chain-link fence."

Moreno then attempted to flee the scene, only to be taken into custody by the highway patrol officer.

The attorney's office adds that video footage recorded from inside the locomotive shows that at the time of the crash, Moreno was in the cab holding a lighted flare.

Admitting to driving the train off its rails and toward the water, the engineer said that "he did it out of the desire to 'wake people up,' " the U.S. Attorney's Office says, citing an affidavit filed along with the criminal complaint.

Moreno now faces a federal charge of one count of train wrecking — a crime that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

The freight locomotive was operated by Pacific Harbor Line, which handles rail transportation and related services at the Port of Los Angeles.

The Mercy arrived in L.A. over the weekend, part of a plan to use its 1,000 beds to relieve pressure on hospitals that are struggling to cope with COVID-19 patients. The white ship is a former oil tanker that was converted into a full-service hospital.

NPR's Colin Dwyer contributed to this report.

Thankfully he failed in his attempt - but what would cause someone to want to do such a horrible action? Imagine if he was successful.

Sure we think conspiracy theorists may be strange, but harmless, but when this happens is it all that harmless?

[Ashoka]

I don't mind conjecture but conspiracy theories are nuts.

 

Just look at our POTUS. The CDC called Coronavirus a warning on Jan 8. But he called it "Fake News Conspiracy"

Trump held campaign rallies on Jan 9, Jan 14, Jan 28, Jan 30, Feb 10, Feb 19, Feb 20, Feb 21, & Feb 28.

He golfed on Jan 18, Jan 19, Feb 1, Feb 15, Mar 7 & Mar 8.

And now he's calling us who need medical supplies a bunch of complainers.

 

If we had used the almost 3 months to ramp up production of ventilators and N-95 masks instead of calling it a conspiracy, would we still have a major shortage now?

[strocube]

Dude, you must’ve known I’d take the bait. Lol! 
Since I don’t have much else going on right now, I’ll try and explain my position on this. I realize this is seemingly paradoxical, but I think the vast majority of “conspiracy theories” are epistemological cartoons. By that I mean ideas like Flat Earth, or that the Jews, the Vatican, the Masons, the CIA, the Jesuits, or name your preferred boogie man, are in charge behind the scenes and running the world according to their nefarious designs. This position does not hold up to even the most superficial scrutiny. On the other hand, it seems obvious to me, that conspiracy is how the world operates. Conspiracies are everywhere. In the most basic, simple terms, a conspiracy is two or more people agreeing to do a crime and keep quite about it. This happens every single day, at all levels of society. That means, gasp, the rich and powerful conspire all the time. So based on that, it looks to me, that what you have is a bunch of various power blocks, at the top of the power pyramid, each pushing their respective agenda (conspiracy). It’s the battling conspiracy model, if you like. Or the mafia war model. No one group is in control. Instead, you have a handful of battling conspiracies. If history is any indication, it’s been this way for a very long time. The Great Game, The Grand Chessboard, innit. 

Off the top of my head here are few “conspiracies” that turned out to have actually happened: Epstein, Mk Ultra, Gulf of Tonkin, Tuskegee, “Irag has weapons of mass destruction”, Operation Paperclip, Operation Mockingbird, Operation Northwoods, radiation experiments by the US government on unsuspecting humans.