Conspiracy Theories

 The recent exchange between Rand Paul and Anthony Fauci was instructive, and gave us insight into the origins of COVID19.   As Senator Paul began to probe Fauci’s role in funding the Wuhan Laboratory and the hypothesis that the NIH, directed by Fauci, had been funding “gain of function” coronavirus research at that lab.  Fauci, of course, got touchy and vehemently denied his involvement.  When the former director,  Robert Redfield, opined that COVID19 likely originated in the Wuhan Lab, Fauci, with no mention of evidence, summarily dismissed him.  “That’s his opinion,” he stated, as if Redfield were just a layperson at the end of the bar.    When Tucker Carlson challenged Fauci over the effectiveness of vaccines, Fauci responded by writing it off as “conspiracy theories.”

Early in the outbreak, evolutionary biologists Bret Weinsten and Heather Heying raised the hypothesis that COVID19 had escaped from the lab and were immediately savaged by the press as “conspiracy theorists,” and “right wingers,” and “loons.”

“Conspiracy theorist” has now become the reflexive charge flung at someone that proposes a plausible alternative hypothesis.  Its use has become especially prevalent when a skeptic is on to something, when someone has either distorted or actively hidden relevant facts and data that are contrary to an espoused narrative.   Like its sister term, “racist” or “systemic racism,” it is employed to stop the discussion and stop further inquiry.   In 4^th grade schoolyard terms, it’s telling you to “just shut up.”

But in addition to the COVID19 outbreak, over the past year, we have had several events that defy the government and media narrative about them.

The Capitol Insurrection and the death of officer Sicknick

The Capitol “Insurrection” on January 6 has been used to justify fortifying the Capitol with national guard troops and encase it in barbed wire, hold protesters in solitary confinement for months when their actual only offense was trespassing, hiring outside firms and the USPS to spy on social media accounts, and halt military operations to root out “extremists.”

Yet, strange, incongruous facts are emerging.  Film clips show officers ushering protesters into the building, however.  AOC flat out lied about her whereabouts and her “fear for her life.”  And the media pushed the narrative that five people had died in the protest, and advanced the claim that Officer Sicknick had died from being struck in the head with a fire extinguisher.  None of this was true.

Most troubling was the death of Ashley Babbit, the unarmed woman that appeared to be attempting to crawl through a broken window.  Film of her shooting showed that armed capitol guards were directly behind her.   She was given no warning.   A gun appeared and put her down.   The identity of the person that shot her was not revealed by the government and no charges were brought against the officer, even though it was highly questionable whether deadly force was justified.

All of these issues raise real questions over the “insurrection,” and make a “Reichstag fire” alternative narrative something to think about.

The Christmas Bombing

Early in the wee hours of Christmas morning while sugar plums were still dancing in our heads, a bomb ripped through downtown Nashville, near the AT&T communications center.  Oddly, the bomber(s) picked a time when it was almost certain that no one would be around.  The truck announced a warning to evacuate before the bomb went off.   That’s not how terrorists usually operate.

Within 48 hours, the F.B.I. had claimed that they had identified the bomber through his DNA and announced that he was a “lone wolf.”  So the F.B.I. really wants us to believe that it is so efficient that it was able to identify the culprit, interview his family, neighbors and coworkers, access his computer and phone and look through his correspondence and social media accounts, all in 48 hours.  Hmmm.

AP and Hamas

Before destroying the building that housed the Associated Press and Hamas, the IDF gave ample warning to evacuate.  The AP complained and asserted that it did not know that the building also housed Hamas.

Right.

The Election
Much has been written about the midnight ballot drops, statistical anomalies and odd behavior of officials in key swing states, so I won’t regurgitate assertions here.  But these anomalies and the fact that the Biden campaign drew little enthusiasm raises serious questions about the outcome.

 

Because we no longer have an independent inquiring press that acts as a watchdog on government, we have learned to be very skeptical of narratives.  Time and time again, we have seen the press either withhold information (as it did with Hunter Biden), distort facts (as it did with the Covington kids) or outright lie (as it did with officer Sicknick).  When we cannot count on independent journalists to dispassionately dig out the truth, we create our own possible narratives.

And when we do, we are dismissed as conspiracy theorists.

Except, sometimes they turn out to be the most accurate interpretation of facts.