Origins of popular conspiracy theories?

[David Wong]

Do we generally know where the big conspiracy theories got started? I don't mean in general, I mean do we know the exact name of the first guy to say/write that Oswald wasn't the lone shooter (or that the Apollo moon landing was faked or whatever)?

This seems like a really obvious question but a forum search didn't turn up a similar thread. I ask because, as some of you know, I write and edit a website for a living. I have written about 9/11 in the past (see my sig) and I was wanting to do another article on conspiracy theories. But instead of doing the same tired debunking, I wanted to actually trace down who exactly started each of the major conspiracy theories (JFK, moon landing, 9/11, Illuminati, etc) and kind of get into the origins of how the theory got started and how it spread.

At this point that's more interesting to me because it gets into how myths get created and take on a life of their own, and how some beliefs grow roots. But now I'm becoming concerned that the information just isn't out there, or has been lost to history.

So that's what this thread is about, the origins of CT's and good resources for tracking them down if we don't know off the top of our heads. Obviously I'm not asking you to do my job for me (well, I'm not JUST asking that) as I think this would be instructional, to get a sense of how these things happen.

 

[Stout]

Hi David.

The only CT genesis I cat attest to is 9/11, which I heard on that very same fateful day.When I asked the guy who said it " how do you know ?" he replied with "isn't it obvious" Funny thing is, I work with the guy who said this, and we don't have internet access, only a TV in a nearby restaurant, so it's not like he logged onto any website to get the idea from.

The only conclusion I can draw from this experience is that it came from anti-American sentiment ( we're in western Canada ) and was instantly seized on as a way to stick it to the man. so to speak.

Wait a minute...I know who you are now ( I have sigs disabled ) you're the guy who wrote that great piece on Loose Change...I've posted a link to that story quite a few times. Cheers.

 

[ElMondoHummus]

http://911guide.googlepages.com/history

ETA: Oh, whoops, wait a minute. I kneejerked and linked stuff relevant to 9/11 only. Sorry... that wasn't exactly what you were asking for. But it's a start on the 9/11 stuff.

 

[sleahead]

The originator of the WTC demolition theory, as unearthed by Ref.

 

[fromdownunder]

I actually recall reading at one point that the "Paul is Dead" CT started from a joke radio broadcast, with only a very few of the hundreds of clues that eventually came forward.

I am not sure when the "yes Paul did not die, but the whole thing was set up by the Beatles, who deliberately provided fake clues" (phew!) thing came from. The "origin" of the original Paul CT has been cited on the Web, but unfortuately, nobody could find the original recording. So it remains conjecture.

I know the Princess Di thingy was on the Web in multiple places in under 24 hours from her car crash. These days, anything "suspicious" (a term I am using for any event) will generate multiple theories, often within minutes.

With new events, I suspect there is no "the" original source. Just the WWW (World Wide Woos) springing into action.

Norm

 

[David Wong]

With new events, I suspect there is no "the" original source. Just the WWW (World Wide Woos) springing into action.

Norm

I am afraid that will turn out to be true, I guess the closest I can come is trying to hunt down the earliest instance where somebody spelled it out. Like if there's three different conspiracy sites that ran articles on 9/12 implying controlled demolition, then that's what I'd say, I point out how quickly they were on the case.

For the older ones, I guess I was assuming they could more easily be tracked to a specific book or magazine article or talk radio broadcast. But the Paul Is Dead thing is a fabulous example, because if you can really hunt these origins down and it turns out the originator is really goofy, that's what will make it really entertaining.

 

[Praktik]

I've pimped this guy here before but check out Michael Barkun "A culture of Conspiracy". If your google skills are advanced you should be able to find the whole thing online - otherwise there's some articles he's written you can find too. Its also worth buying.

ALso, Hofstadter's "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" - is oft cited and worth a full read.

His essay on the "Free Silver Movement" is equally engaging and informative.

 

[Chuck Guiteau]

I'm not sure where the first "theories" originated, but the first one I saw was Myssan's "Find the Boeing", probably around Nov, 2001, followed shortly thereafter by Dr. Albert Pastore, PhD's, "Stranger Than Fiction", not long after.
I did some checking on Pastore and he appears to be a hoax himself, most likely a creation of Carol Adler, an Arizona huckster who runs Dandelion Books, a POD publishing house that specializes in promoting tinfoil hat authors whose works run the gamut from 9/11 CT's to homeopathic cures for alien abductees. Adler strays from the usual CT loony-toons publisher only in that she increases her net profits by scamming the real authors ( if that term isn't an oxymoron in this context) by regularly under reporting sales, neglecting to pay royalties, and reneging on her contracts, at least if any of the numerous complaints against her can be believed. Probably the only clients she doesn't rip off are the ones who reside exclusively in "Carolville".

I was going to publish my landmark expose, "Transexual Bikers for Jesus: The True Story of Elvis' Three Headed Martian Baby" at Dandelion but realized this was no doubt too highbrow for its readership, and changed my mind. Plus, I didn't want to get clipped for the gobs of money sure to roll in off such a scholarly work.

Just as an aside, this research led me to Carol A. Valentine, who runs the Waco Holocaust Museum on the Internet.
Ms Valentine also hosts a lot of 9/11 CT authors on her website, especially those who believe the Jews are at the heart of 9/11 (and everything else), something so dear to the heart of Ms Adler that I wonder if they are not in fact the same person, especially in light of the published photo of Ms Adler on the Dandelion site and the one of a Ms Valentine "look-alike" on the Waco site, both of which look remarkably similar save the hair color. However, this could just be coincidence.

Another coincidence is their affinity for extreme anti-Semitic websites, authors, and ideas, particularly those with a bend towards revisionist history and/or 9/11 themes. The Waco page even links to the Zundelsite which, quite literally, places it in the moon-bat category since there you can learn all about the Flying Saucers regularly shuttling between the Nazi base inside the Mare Imbrium to Der Fuhrerpalaz located under Antarctica.

At any rate all of these have been in operation since Nov,2001 or very shortly thereafter, which places them pretty close to the front of the pack I think.

 

[MikeW]

Something I've suggested before, that helps figure out the origins of recent theories, is to use Google Groups (groups.google.com). You can do an advanced search for the second half of September 2001, for any newsgroup messages containing "controlled demolition" and WTC, say, and see what comes up - a very handy way to see what people were saying very early on.

 

[scratchy]

Where do ct:s come from? I'd say most evidence points to the NWO. They plant it to distract their enemies in the wrong direction, to make them look like fools and obscure the really important issues.

 

[MaGZ]

I think the first conspiracy theory were started by a blue-eyed person thousands of years ago.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/02/01/blue_eyes_mutation/

 

[Pardalis]

I think the first conspiracy theory were started by a blue-eyed person thousands of years ago.

That's not a conspiracy.

It's like you're not even trying to make sense.

 

[David Wong]

Does the "vaccines cause autism" thing qualify as a conspiracy? Or is there some real group of scientists out there saying that?

I'd love to include it just because it's such a hot web topic, but I don't know if it's the same deal.

Otherwise, the obvious ones:

JFK
Roswell
9/11
Apollo Moon Landing
The Illuminati

I'd like to expand beyond those big, standard conspiracies. Are there any more you guys would like to see in an article like this?

I'd like to include the Bermuda Triangle but that's probably not so much a "conspiracy theory." Still interesting though.

 

[Brainache]

Does the "vaccines cause autism" thing qualify as a conspiracy? Or is there some real group of scientists out there saying that?

I'd love to include it just because it's such a hot web topic, but I don't know if it's the same deal.

Otherwise, the obvious ones:

JFK
Roswell
9/11
Apollo Moon Landing
The Illuminati

I'd like to expand beyond those big, standard conspiracies. Are there any more you guys would like to see in an article like this?

I'd like to include the Bermuda Triangle but that's probably not so much a "conspiracy theory." Still interesting though.

I believe "The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion" has a lot of documentation concerning its origin and was a pretty influential piece of BS.

There is also the whole "Federal-Reserve-is-unconstitional" thing.

"Income Tax Is Illegal"? Does that count as a CT?

 

[David Wong]

I'd like to include that just because of the Snipes thing. That was Wesley Snipes' problem, wasn't it? That he believed the "taxes are illegal" thing?

 

[Brainache]

I'd like to include that just because of the Snipes thing. That was Wesley Snipes' problem, wasn't it? That he believed the "taxes are illegal" thing?

"That's just what he wants us to think".

I'd love to hear the judge use that line at his trial.

 

[rtalman]

Couldn't the first reference to the JFK assassination conspiracy be considered to have come from Oswald himself?

I am just a Patsy!

 

[Mobyseven]

There's that one guy who thinks that Stephen King was involved in a conspiracy to assassinate John Lennon. It's not widespread, otherwise I guess it would classify...

 

[The Doc]

Origins of most popular 9/11 conspiracy theories:

Holocaust deniers.

 

[rtalman]

A theory about CTs

I have been thinking a bit on the origin of the more popular CTs out there, and I may have a germ of an idea.

It seems to me that the big CTs all have one thing in common: Live, unscripted television coverage, with huge populations watching.

Consider the possibility that out of a group witnessing an event, a small percentage of those watching sees or hears (or interprets what they see or hear) something they consider amiss, that no one else catches. For example, someone watching the live coverage on 9/11 sees one of the towers falling, and their brain interprets it as 'just like that clip I saw of the controlled demolition of that hotel in Las Vegas'. Once that idea of controlled demolition is planted, then that part of their brain that demands patterns looks for what it considers signs of CD. Every clip shown, from every angle, and their brain sees what it wants to see, 'proving' to itself again and again that the towers were demolished (I think that is what is called confirmation bias).

Once they have convinced themselves of a crime, they go looking for suspects, motives and methods. Every statement, every witness, every report is scrutinized, but it is only with the view of proving their hypothesis. The suspect, motive and method are all subordinate to the initial perception of what happened. That's why the theories of who/why/how vary so much within CTs.

After they have built their houses of cards, their 'proof' goes out to the public. It used to be books, then TV specials, now it's the internet. The larger an audience they can reach, the more people they can pull to their cause (1% of 1,000,000 is a lot more than 1% of 10,000).