Conspiracies

Plenty out there willing to use tragedies to peddle dubious theories

After every terrible tragedy it seems there are those who refuse to believe the officials accounts. We see it the terrorists attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. There are more than a few of our fellow citizens who insist they didn’t happen as reported. Many of those claim the U.S. government was behind it all and staged the horrifying events of the day. Thanks to the Internet and the ability to spread such conspiracies far and fast, the originators of these ideas are still garnering new converts.

We saw it after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. Adam Lanza killed 20 children and six adults at the school, as well as his mother and himself. But there are those who say it never happened, that it was staged, a “false flag” incident for some nefarious government purpose or to further the aims of those who want to ban guns.

The massacre last year in Las Vegas left 58 dead and 851 injured. Conspiracists insist there is more to the story than we are being told. It was either a U.S. government “deep state” conspiracy or an attack by Muslim terrorists the most popular of these theories claim.

Now with the November 2017 shootings at Sutherland Springs First Baptists Church that left 26 dead and 20 inured and the tragedy last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that claimed 17, with 16 others injured, the conspiracists are at it again.

But things went too far this week when two people entered First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs and confronted pastor Frank Pomery, claiming the tragedy there never happened and was a U.S. government hoax. Pomery lost his 14-year-old daughter in the shooting, but the intruders demanded proof she had even existed.

They were arrested—one on a terroristic threat charge and the other with obstructing a deputy.

It must have been very upsetting, even frightening to the pastor. Especially when you consider that another conspiracy theorist duped by online stories of a child sex ring operating out of a Washington pizza restaurant first three shots into the place. No one was injured and no evidence backing up the allegations of a child sex ring was ever found.

We have free speech in this country and the conspiracists, for better or worse, are free to peddle their delusions all they want. Conspiracy theories have become an industry and there is no shortage of those willing to profit from wild ideas and flimsy evidence. Nor, apparently, any limit to the number willing to buy.

There is nothing wrong with questioning the official story. But just remember that the conspiracy crew is just as capable of spreading rumors and fake news, editing or flat-out faking audio, video and photos and using the power of the Internet for their own purposes as any shadow government or “deep state” power. You may not trust the powers that be, but that doesn’t mean the conspiracy theorists are worthy of your trust, either. Be careful before you put your confidence in those who cruelly make bank on others’ tragedies and your doubts.