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Exam no. 3 will be on the following material. There will be about 30 questions for your Scantron 882 form. One essay question for your Blank Blue Book. Essay 50% of exam grade. Leave first page blank in your Blue Book for my grading.
“Do you believe in any of the Conspiracy Theories we covered in this section?...List at least one of your most troubling DOUBTS….something that really gets to you and bothers you.”
At least 3 pages for a B
At least 2 pages for a C
3+ for an A
Types of Conspiracy Theories
• Walker's five kinds. Jesse Walker (2013) has developed a historical typology of five basic kinds of conspiracy theories. The first identifies an “Enemy Outside”, with devilish figures mobilizing outside the community scheming against it. The “Enemy Within” finds the conspirators lurking inside the nation, indistinguishable from ordinary citizens. The “Enemy Above” involves powerful people manipulating the system for their own gain. The “Enemy Below” features the lower classes ready to break through their constraints and overturn the social order. Finally, there are the “Benevolent Conspiracies,” where angelic forces work behind the scenes to improve the world and help people
Major Conspiracy Theories
• Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories
Anti-Semitism has, from the Middle Ages, frequently taken on characteristics of conspiracy theory. Anti-Semitic stereotypes continue to circulate. In medieval Europe it was widely believed that Jews poisoned wells, had killed Jesus, and consumed the blood of Christians in their rituals (despite the fact that human and animal blood are not kosher).
In the second half of the 19th century conspiracists claimed that Jews and/or Freemasons were plotting to establish control over the world. The most famous text alleging the existence of this Judeo-Masonic conspiracy theory is The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. A more modern manifestation of such ideas is the theory of a Zionist Occupation Government.
Various conspiracy theories have been advanced regarding Jews and banking, including the theory that world banking is dominated by the Rothschild family, that Jews control Wall Street, and that Jews control the U.S. Federal Reserve System. A related theory is that Jews control Hollywood or the news media.
Most Holocaust denial claims imply, or openly state, that the Holocaust is a hoax arising out of a deliberate Jewish conspiracy to advance the interest of Jews at the expense of other peoples, and to justify the creation of the State of Israel. For this reason, Holocaust denial is generally considered to be an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.
• New World Order (conspiracy)
This conspiracy theory states that a group of international elites controls and manipulates governments, industry, and media organizations worldwide. The primary tool they use to dominate nations is the system of central banking. They are said to have funded and in some cases caused most of the major wars of the last 200 years, carry out false flag attacks to manipulate populations into supporting them, and to have a grip on the world economy, deliberately causing inflation and depressions at will. Operatives working for the New World Order are said to be placed in high positions in government and industry. The people behind the New World Order are thought to be international bankers, in particular the owners of the private banks in the Federal Reserve System and other central banks, and members of the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg Group. The New World Order is also said to control supranational and global organizations such as the European Union, United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the proposed North American Union. Claimed motivations behind the New World Order conspiracy vary but a commonly suggested end goal for the conspiracy is the creation of a one-world government through which the conspirators would exert absolute dominance over the Earth and eliminate all sources of dissent.
The World Bank and national central banks are said to be the tools of the New World Order; war generates massive profits for central banks because government spending increases dramatically in times of war and distress. Many conspiracy theorists believe that Denver International Airport is the western U.S. headquarters of the New World Order, and a massive underground base and city is believed to exist underneath the airport. Reasons for this include the airport's unusually large size (larger than some major cities), distance from the Denver, Colorado city center, the set of environmentally themed murals by artist Leo Tanguma depicting burning cities, gas-mask wearing soldiers and girls in coffins, and the capstone of the Great Hall which includes Masonic symbols and strange writing. It is claimed that secret fleets of black helicopters are ready to take control when the New World Order is set up.
The Illuminati
The Illuminati (plural of Latin illuminatus, "enlightened") is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776 to oppose superstition, prejudice, religious influence over public life, abuses of state power, and to support women's education and gender equality. The Illuminati—along with other secret societies—were outlawed by the Bavarian ruler, Charles Theodore, with the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church, and permanently disbanded in 1785. In the several years following, the group was vilified by conservative and religious critics who claimed they had regrouped and were responsible for the French Revolution
There is no evidence that the original Bavarian Illuminati survived its suppression in 1785. However, writers such as Mark Dice, David Icke, Texe Marrs, Jüri Lina and Morgan Gricar have argued that the Bavarian Illuminati survived, possibly to this day. Many of these theories propose that world events are being controlled and manipulated by a secret society calling itself the Illuminati. Conspiracy theorists have claimed that many notable people were or are members of the Illuminati. Presidents of the United States are a common target for such claims.
Other theorists contend that a variety of historical events from Waterloo, the French Revolution, President John F. Kennedy's assassination to an alleged communist plot to hasten the New World Order by infiltrating the Hollywood film industry, were all orchestrated by the Illuminati.
• False flag operations Conspiracy
False flag operations are covert operations conducted by governments, corporations, or other organizations, which are designed to appear as if they are being carried out by other entities. Some allegations of false flag operations are verified or at least credible and some are still subjects of historical dispute. The 1933 arson attack of the German parliament building is such an example where in 2001 four German historians argued that the fire had been a Nazi false-flag operation blamed on a communist group. Other accusations of false flag operations conspiracy theories include:
Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge conspiracy theory
Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy theories.
Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy theories
2004 Madrid train bombings.[32]
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories
Many 9/11 conspiracy theories, which allege that the United States government conducted the 9/11 attacks or knew beforehand the attacks would happen but deliberately did nothing to prevent it in order to drastically alarm and sway public opinion to favor war. 9/11 conspiracy theories also suggest other conspirators were involved.
• Assassinations and other deaths
Conspiracy theories sometimes emerge following assassinations of prominent people. The best known of these is the assassination of John F. Kennedy (1963), which has caused a number of conspiracy theories to develop. Central to this theory is the claim that the injuries received by Kennedy and Governor John Connally could not have been caused by a lone gunman behind the motorcade and to the right. This theory was popularized by the Oliver Stone movie, JFK, which centered on Jim Garrison's conduct of the only criminal prosecution related directly to Kennedy's assassination.
The assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X are also the subject of conspiracy theories.
Some deaths that are officially recorded as having resulted from accidents, suicides, or natural causes are also the subject of some conspiracy theories. Examples include Patton in 1945, the car crash that killed Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed in 1997, the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. in a plane crash in 1999, and the death of Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash in 2002.
There are also theories about untimely deaths of celebrities, the number one example arguably being the death of Marilyn Monroe, but also those of Sam Cooke, Salvador Sanchez, Brian Jones, Tupac Shakur, The Notorious B.I.G., Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Jeff Buckley, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, John Lennon, Alexis Arguello, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson.
• Apocalyptic prophecies
Claims about the end times, the Last Judgment, and the end of the world have inspired a range of conspiracy theories. Many of these deal with the Antichrist. The Antichrist, also known as The Beast 666, is supposed to be a leader who will create a world empire and oppress Christians (and in some conspiracies, Jews as well). Countless historical figures have been called "Antichrist" in their times, from the Roman emperor Nero to Adolf Hitler to Ronald Reagan to Javier Solana to Barack Obama to Prince William. At times, apocalyptic speculation has mixed with anti-Catholicism, believing that the reigning Pope is the Antichrist or the False Prophet. Another interpretation sees the Antichrist as a world leader involved with the United Nations, who will create a one world government (New World Order) and establish a single monetary system. The latter is identified with the Mark of the Beast, which the Bible states that people in the end times will need in order to conduct trade. Some Christian groups have claimed UPC bar codes include the number 666.
Two nations often involved in apocalyptic conspiracy theories are Israel and Iraq. The former is the location of both the Temple Mount and Armageddon (Megiddo), places seen as important in prophecy. The latter is the ancient location of Babylon, which also figures in the Book of Revelation. During the Gulf War, some suggested that Saddam Hussein had ordered the excavation and re-population of the city of Babylon, thus casting Saddam as an Antichrist figure. Other interpretations have held that "Babylon" in the Book of Revelation refers to another mighty nation, such as the Roman Empire, the Vatican (Rome) and the Catholic Church, or more recently the Soviet Union or the United States of America.
• Bible conspiracy theory
Bible conspiracy theories posit that much of what is known about the Bible, in particular the New Testament, is a deception. These theories variously claim that Jesus really had a wife, Mary Magdalene, and children, that a group such as the Priory of Sion has secret information about the bloodline of Jesus, that Jesus did not die on the cross and that the carbon dating of the Shroud of Turin was part of a conspiracy by the Vatican to suppress this knowledge, that there was a secret movement to censor books that belonged in the Bible, or the Christ myth theory, proposed for example in Zeitgeist, the Movie as a means of social control by the Roman Empire. A fictionalized contrivance of this is portrayed in the novel The Da Vinci Code.
Contrary to this theory, is the belief that those who put forth such information against the Bible, are of themselves part of a grand conspiracy to suppress Biblical prophetic knowledge, to, in effect, keep people completely ignorant about the truth of Christ's imminent return to earth. Associated with this belief, is the conspiracy of the Antichrist, who is to lead the New World Order against Christ. This same theory also proposes that current events such as global earth changes resulting from global warming, are in fact fulfillments of Bible prophecies coming to pass, being signs of the impending Tribulation and the end of days.
• Extraterrestrials: UFO conspiracy theory
A sector of conspiracy theory with a particularly detailed mythology is the extraterrestrial phenomenon, which has become the basis for numerous pieces of popular entertainment, the Area 51/Grey Aliens conspiracy, and allegations surrounding the Dulce Base. It is alleged that the United States government conspires with extraterrestrials involved in the abduction and manipulation of citizens. A variant tells that particular technologies, notably the transistor—were given to American industry in exchange for alien dominance. The enforcers of the clandestine association of human leaders and aliens are the Men in Black, who silence those who speak out on UFO sightings. This conspiracy theory has been the basis of numerous books, as well as the popular television show The X-Files and the Men in Black film series. The X-Files based the plots of many of its episodes around urban legends and conspiracy theories, and had a framing plot which postulated a set of interlocking conspiracies controlling all recent human history.
• MEDIA CONSPIRACY: Predictive programming
and Subliminal Persuasion
Media: Some theorists claim that forced transition to digital television broadcasting is a practical realization of the "Big Brother" concept. They claim that miniature cameras and microphones are built into set-top boxes and newer TV sets to spy on people. Another claim describes the use of mind control technology that would be hidden in the digital signal and used to subvert the mind and feelings of the people and for subliminal advertising. This theory posits that media outlets produce media (generally fictional media such as popular films, television shows, novels, etc.) that include images of events such as terrorist attacks, epidemics, or other natural or man-made disasters with the intent of programming the general population to accept such events as plausible, so that when the government undertakes such operations in the future, the public will be predisposed to believe the operations are actually terrorist actions and not government actions. (See False flag operations above.)
Subliminal stimuli ("below threshold"), are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception. A recent review of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies shows that subliminal stimuli activate specific regions of the brain despite participants being unaware. Visual stimuli may be quickly flashed before an individual can process them, or flashed and then masked, thereby interrupting the processing. Audio stimuli may be played below audible volumes or masked by other stimuli. Disney and Coca-Cola have been using (or at the very least, highly suspected of) it for decades, including suggestions that are political, sexual, pro-gun ownership, and general profiteering, among others. See for vivid Examples of this.
Subliminal stimuli ("below threshold"), are any sensory stimuli below an individual's threshold for conscious perception.[1] A recent review of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies shows that subliminal stimuli activate specific regions of the brain despite participants being unaware.[2] Visual stimuli may be quickly flashed before an individual can process them, or flashed and then masked, thereby interrupting the processing. Audio stimuli may be played below audible volumes or masked by other stimuli.
Visual stimuli
In order to study the effects of subliminal stimuli, researchers will often prime the participants with specific visual stimuli, often images, and determine if those stimuli elicit different responses. Subliminal stimuli has mostly been studied in the context of emotion, in particular, researchers have focused a lot of attention to the perception of faces and how subliminal presentation to different facial expression affects emotion. Visual subliminal stimuli has also been used to study emotion eliciting stimuli and simple geometric stimuli. A significant amount of research has been produced throughout the years to demonstrate the effects of subliminal visual stimuli.
Images
Attitudes can develop without being aware of its antecedents.[9] Individuals viewed slides of people performing familiar daily activities after being exposed to either an emotionally positive scene, such as a romantic couple or kittens, or an emotionally negative scene, such as a werewolf or a dead body between each slide and the next. After exposure from something which the individuals consciously perceived as a flash of light, the participants gave more positive personality traits to those people whose slides were associated with an emotionally positive scene and vice versa. Despite the statistical difference, the subliminal messages had less of an impact on judgment than the slide's inherent level of physical attractiveness.[9]
Emotion eliciting stimuli
A subliminal sexual stimulus has a different effect on men compared to women.[15] Men and women were subliminally exposed to either a sexual or a neutral picture, and their sexual arousal was recorded. Researchers examined the accessibility of sex-related thoughts after following the same procedure with either a pictorial judgment task or lexical decision task. The results revealed that the subliminal sexual stimuli did not have an effect on men, but for women, lower levels of sexual arousal were reported.[15] However, in conditions related to accessibility of sex-related thoughts, the subliminal sexual stimuli led to higher accessibility for both men and women.[15]
Subliminal stimuli have elicit significant emotional changes, but these changes are not valuable for a therapeutic effect.[16] Spider-fearful and non-fearful undergraduates experienced either a positive, negative, or neutral subliminal prime followed immediately by a picture of a spider or a snake. Using visual analogue scales, the participants rated the affective quality of the picture. No evidence was found to support that the unpleasantness of the pictures can be modulated by subliminal priming.[16] In fact, the non-fearful participants rated the spiders as more frightening after being primed with a negative stimuli, however, for the fearful participants, this effect was not found.[16]
Some studies have looked at the efficacy of subliminal messaging in television. Subliminal messages produce only one-tenth of the effects of detected messages and the findings related the effects of subliminal messaging were relatively ambiguous.[28] Also, participants’ ratings of positive response to commercials are not affected by subliminal messages in the commercials.[28]
Karremans suggests that subliminal messages have an effect when the messages are goal-relevant.[29] Subliminally priming a brand name of a drink (Lipton Ice) made those who were thirsty want the Lipton Ice. However, those who were not thirsty were not influenced by the subliminal messages.[29] Karremans did a study assessing whether subliminal priming of a brand name of a drink would affect a person's choice of drink, and whether this effect is caused by the individual's feelings of being thirsty.[29] In another study, participant's ratings of thirst were higher after viewing an episode of "The Simpsons" that contained single frames of the word "thirsty" or of a picture of a Coca-Cola can.[30] Some studies have shown greater effects of subliminal messaging with as high as 80% of participants showing a preference for a particular rum when subliminally primed by the name placed in an ad backward.[31]
Many authors have continued to argue for the effectiveness of subliminal cues in changing consumption behavior, citing environmental cues as a main culprit of behavior change.[32] Authors who support this line of reasoning cite findings such as the research that showed slow-paced music in a supermarket was associated with more sales and customers moving at a slower pace.[33] Findings such as these support the notion that external cues can affect behavior, although the stimulus may not fit into a strict definition of subliminal stimuli because although the music may not be attended to or consciously affecting the customers, they are certainly able to perceive it. Subliminal messaging is prohibited in advertising in the United Kingdom.[34]
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