re: What is your opinion of conspiracy theorists?

That one along with Policy and the Media Prism. It was a 2014 lecture at UF I believe.

JournoList

Well, Alex Jones has basically zero credibility with mainstream audiences due to his pushing of conspiracy theories FAR more absurd than the ones proven true by Wikileaks. He talks about Lizard People and children being used as slaves on secret space program colonies on the Moon and Mars. A lot of conspiracy theorists believe that Alex Jones may actually be a CIA asset who promotes outrageous conspiracy theories to discredit the real conspiracies in the public mind. Basically, because he's talking about Lizard people AND the CIA running guns and drugs all over the world, people will conflate the two and see both narratives as illegitimate coming from Alex Jones because the Lizard People stuff is down right insane.

Andrew Breitbart is dead (likely poisoned), Edward Snowden was forced into hiding in exile in Russia, Chelsea Manning is now in prison, Seth Rich was murdered, and Julian Assange cannot leave the Ecuadorian Embassy in London without being arrested.

I'd say they're doing a pretty good job.

As for Julian Assange, he has said repeatedly that he has information that would end the U.S. political order as we know it. Killing him would result in a document dump that the establishment does not want.

I believe Assange has documents that show our government knew about 9-11 and allowed it to happen to use as a justification for perpetual war in the Middle East. It is hilarious to see those in Washington and the media try to paint Assange as a foreign agent. He has caught those in power with their pants down time and time again and they can't attack his credibility, so they try and shift the narrative and question his motives.

It's a bargaining chip for his life. That's his insurance for not being killed. If we wanted him dead, the Ecuadorian Embassy isn't going to stop us. There's a reason Assange hasn't been murdered yet.

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As for Julian Assange, he has said repeatedly that he has information that would end the U.S. political order as we know it. Killing him would result in a document dump that the establishment does not want.

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I think in most these theories there is some truth. The question is where does the truth end and the conspiracy begin.

The world is chaotic. When thinks go south, people automatically assume some cabal of rich old dudes is sitting in a mansion somewhere plotting to take over (Eyes Wide Shut style). It's easier to believe that than to actually analyze the complexities of the world.

That said, there are conspiracies. I just don't think they are as elaborate as the conspiracy nuts make them.

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Republicans/conservatives are the party of Watergate (and all of Nixon's insane crap), Iran contra, Iraq WMDs, and so on, but it's crazy how it's only the DNC, Soros, "Clinton Machine", MSM and the "deep state" that get much play on this board. Weird how that works, that the conspiracies work out to perfectly reinforce someone's political beliefs.

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Well said. I think people are realizing there is a neocon ruling class on both sides behind a lot of the BS in our recent history. I'm pretty sure both the Clintons and Bushes knew about drugs being run out of Mena. I used to think that a guy like Dick Cheney was the most evil of the D.C. power brokers, but he doesn't hold a candle to sweet, old pappy Bush.

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Nor, finally, is it in any way a "theory" that the one, single name that can be directly linked to the Third Reich, the US military industrial complex, Skull and Bones, Eastern Establishment good ol' boys, the Illuminati, Big Texas Oil, the Bay of Pigs, the Miami Cubans, the Mafia, the FBI, the JFK assassination, the New World Order, Watergate, the Republican National Committee, Eastern European fascists, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission, the United Nations, CIA headquarters, the October Surprise, the Iran/Contra scandal, Inslaw, the Christic Institute, Manuel Noriega, drug-running "freedom fighters" and death squads, Iraqgate, Saddam Hussein, weapons of mass destruction, the blood of innocents, the savings and loan crash, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the "Octopus," the "Enterprise," the Afghan mujaheddin, the War on Drugs, Mena (Arkansas), Whitewater, Sun Myung Moon, the Carlyle Group, Osama bin Laden and the Saudi royal family, David Rockefeller, Henry Kissinger, and the presidency and vice-presidency of the United States, is: George Herbert Walker Bush.

"Theory?"

To the contrary. It is a well-documented, tragic and — especially if you're paranoid — terrifying fact.

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Paranoid Shift.