Image courtesy of ben.snider's Flickr page - Notre Dame South Glass; France: https://www.flickr.com/photos/13012027@N04/2073417549/in/photolist-4adNNr-cvQnhf-nZbmw1-jvSPF6-e1ZJRk-qx7ff-etH5FJ-7d4jUs-K61XV-98LiUp-ZxSn8k-29nmV5W-57b8nd-bqFMdi-4HX6AX-ohiTRK-4tDtBH-oAjbQv-pjEZh-9EKzhP-2c9nxQW-K63Zc-bqFGT4-K62Cn-247t3YC-6PwFmt-tHzud-4HX6Qa-8oHLNd-dAUqHd-54z6U7-4Je762-66x6VL-4tHwiG-57b921-upaPY-fcmhfa-ohWdN9-K62QT-ax5G9j-4Qk3hx-9ENw2s-4XZGfz-ndH5w9-ax2Umn-54zawE-bqFEjg-4VCa6Y-57b8iC-cSKHSb
Image courtesy of Pedro Szekely's Flickr page - Notre-Dame Cathedral: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pedrosz/28198464088/in/photolist-JXNuXj-279v5B9-5gX1JR-xAu3K-6dSqnu-JPqPFy-7dixfF-HMPkfi-kshKXo-8EcaEZ-o476mS-Wkr3Nb-2erDrFb-o8251s-kqW3iN-sv9Kaa-xAy5n-tHDft-6hJS9r-jphU4a-auFpD8-24MY9yy-6hJS8i-tHDfC-aejX58-tHDfv-9EKzfk-tHzua-269d6nT-4adNNr-cvQnhf-nZbmw1-jvSPF6-e1ZJRk-qx7ff-etH5FJ-7d4jUs-K61XV-98LiUp-ZxSn8k-29nmV5W-57b8nd-bqFMdi-4HX6AX-ohiTRK-4tDtBH-oAjbQv-pjEZh-9EKzhP-2c9nxQW
Image courtesy of Celso FLORES' Flickr page - Paris - Notre Dame: https://www.flickr.com/photos/celso/2701644331/in/photolist-57JCJF-d89ixW-auFqQr-7d2zaw-eusNi4-k5YA4s-K5Y1F-eTeJWP-5FbH6c-drsxSC-7P7XZc-5RVhJd-q6dATN-7uHAxA-auJ785-54zafG-auJ5jh-jpTZSz-4gZsZJ-drs79i-5ZezE4-2erUkQJ-auFr8n-K5YwR-UE2dfm-6qAF6B-K67qP-4xRfqp-N67uDv-4xf5mj-7PbYpy-HL6Rc-9KbPGb-Qj6CDN-7KX5k8-7P7YZX-7tdEfW-5ZpvyJ-8Efn33-5PVksf-opVhJX-aaxo6F-7P7WDv-k61gbc-5RYPCw-9uG6uN-6eDruU-2b5RWtD-nZboiN-WxS2D4
Image courtesy of David Merrett's Flickr page - Cathedral of Notre Dame Paris, France: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davehamster/8164290385/in/photolist-drs86k-7Tdz61-drsxSC-8hjNne-ohQyht-drsNcd-fp6vMS-oAjbQv-9TZr1r-37UmJi-sv9Kaa-7TajDe-o8wjDH-7TakZK-68RUm6-eMAQ3N-o8v5Uo-8j32mn-53Hzja-ohWdN9-auFpD8-d89ixW-oWo8Mx-7N1Fzx-cbWgVG-9RVUKM-6FMbRc-2eTZ5gP-2erUkQJ-dvobRE-82TaKK-drsBEB-6HPRsz-2aQ56Cq-9UrP5o-ahwbEL-9U8Nae-6qAF6B-6FzZN6-24PFeSU-2376yCo-7oogRD-esYHyS-wrRA4-Zb8TBh-6FAzuP-82Wmt5-dyW1h4-82T7Yt-6FzTr2
Image courtesy of Josh Hallett's Flickr page - Notre Dame - Paris, France: https://www.flickr.com/photos/hyku/5338714771/in/photolist-98LiUp-ZxSn8k-29nmV5W-57b8nd-bqFMdi-4HX6AX-ohiTRK-4tDtBH-oAjbQv-pjEZh-9EKzhP-2c9nxQW-K63Zc-bqFGT4-K62Cn-247t3YC-6PwFmt-tHzud-4HX6Qa-8oHLNd-dAUqHd-54z6U7-4Je762-66x6VL-4tHwiG-57b921-upaPY-fcmhfa-ohWdN9-K62QT-ax5G9j-4Qk3hx-9ENw2s-4XZGfz-ndH5w9-ax2Umn-54zawE-bqFEjg-4VCa6Y-57b8iC-cSKHSb-54uTjn-5KRbsk-baaoEX-235a9Ko-K67vH-8ohzP1-7WYyGB-AAcZc-iZVsY8
I wrote this some time ago, but never quite got around to finishing it, much less actually publishing it. This was a piece about conspiracy theories, and how they seem to be flourishing these days on a level we really have not seen before since before technology began to give us a new enlightenment. Perhaps then, we could excuse ignorance and wildly imaginative stories to fill in the huge gaps in our knowledge. Today, with greater access to information than ever before, it feels a lot less easy to excuse it. However, it does make you wonder why conspiracy theories flourish. Perhaps we have reached the point where we have too much information, to the point where many people cannot handle it. That, at least, sure appears to be the case.
Conspiracy theories have always existed, of course. Perhaps back in the day, there really were some true conspiracies. But history shows us things like witch trials and the Spanish Inquisition, and these seem to be the most extreme reactions to what basically come down to conspiracy theories. They go back farther than this, even.
Far from slowly going extinct, the trend of conspiracy theories seems to be picking up steam lately. In fact, the fixation with these theories really is growing absurd these days. There are just such an incredible number of people who swell the numbers of conspiracy theorists.
Let's explore some of them.
For many, the Kennedy assassination was a bold-face conspiracy theory. Polls still show a majority of Americans do not accept the official account of who killed Kennedy, and feel that it is obviously wrong and very flawed. That, in and of itself, is not insane. Indeed, there were just so many coincidences that have remained very mysterious and unexplained over the many years and now decades, that it makes you at least scratch your head. From the secret service agents suddenly falling back, to the slowing of the motorcade to the umbrella man to the seeming impossibility of the shots from where Oswald was to what appears to have been a shot taken in front of the president and finding it's mark to how the audio files that go with the video and allegedly debunk the three shots argument, and on and on and on. There are indeed many, many reasons why a rational person would have difficulty accepting the official account. Where it gets frankly crazy, however, are in the number of unofficial accounts that proclaim themselves to be the "real truth." It was...well, take your pick of which theory you believe in. The mafia. LBJ. The CIA, with future President George H. W. Bush leading the plot. The Soviets. The Cubans. The limousine driver. The umbrella man. One of the hobos arrested on that day. Someone who was hiding in the sewers, and somehow managed to get a clean enough look for the kill shot.
That, of course, is just one conspiracy, but at least there are some clear doubts remaining as to the strange coincidences regarding this particular conspiracy. But there are plenty of others, and the belief system clearly is there for millions around the world to disbelieve the official account of history, and believe in unproven, and sometimes quite clearly nonsensical, theories. And if you run down the list of what so many people feel we have been lied to about, it is extensive.
Here are just some of them:
FDR knew about Pearl Harbor before the Japanese attacked. The Holocaust never happened. Man never walked on the moon. Whitewater. Bush knew about September 11th before it happened. Covid-19. Bengazi. Pizza Gate. Prominent Democrats, particularly the Clintons, eating babies (a conspiracy theory that seems to me straight out of the Middle Ages). Vaccinations are poisoning people. Climate change is not real. The Denver Airport. Evolution is a hoax. Multiculturalism is a plot by Jewish bankers to destroy America. The Sandy Hook school shooting did not actually happen. Chemtrails. Antivaxers. Area 51. Roswell. Trump was cheated out of the 2020 election appears to be the latest, even though this one truly perplexes me. After all, how hard could it be to believe that the most hated and least trusted president in American history would lose an election, and convincingly, at that?
Some that go beyond this country (but which millions of Americans seem to believe in) are truly crazy! The Earth is flat. Australia does not actually exist. The Rothschilds control everything. Billionaire George Soros is behind everything sinister. The Illuminati, or the Freemasons, control everything. Hell, there are even conspiracy theories when some unexpected result shocks Someone must have paid that team to lose, or that fighter to fall. There's just no way, right?
Hell, some people have various theories on just one particular sports franchise: the New England Patriots!
Then, add to that, the actual conspiracies and cover-ups just in the United States alone, as if to confirm that everything really is suspicious and deserves to be distrusted. Watergate. The Iran-Contra Affair. The Savings and Loan Scandal. Both Bush and Kerry belonging to the same secret organization during their college days: Skull and Bones. No Bid contracts in Iraq, and all of the corporations with a vested interest. Tom Delay and the fraud that he pulled on Native Americans. The Panama Papers. Hillary asked for, and received, help in order to secure the Democratic nomination that everyone assumed she had locked up from the beginning, and then the Democratic party leadership provided that help for her, taking sides when they are clearly not supposed to. Now, the Mueller Report, which is thousands of pages, being reduced to a four-page summary and now, weeks later, it is being released - a redacted version, of course. And those were just the ones that were verified. We probably have not found out or discovered many other real ones, as well!
Again, these are only some of the more well-known conspiracy theories that have gained significant attention in the United States. Trump partially won the 2016 election by borrowing from Bernie Sanders, who kept suggesting that the political system, and the economy, is rigged. Of course, Trump himself has clearly benefited from however the system was rigged, and he suggested then that a defeat to Clinton would mean that the election was rigged. he is already suggesting that much again for the 2020 elections.
In fact, Trump specifically has thrived from conspiracy theories. He fosters them, he seems to believe in them. Climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese to hurt the American economy. Obama is behind everything sinister. There is a plot to destroy his credibility (as if he actually had any to begin with) and to smear his name, such as the so-called "witch hunt" of the Mueller Report which, in act, was responsible for a number of arrests and convictions (which would seem to contradict the notion that it was a witch hunt in the first place, of course). As mentioned earlier, thousands of pages were summed up within hours of Attorney General Barr receiving the report, and he basically said that it suggested that there was not enough evidence to convict Trump of collusion. This, Trump suggested, translates to him being completely and totally exonerated, which is of course not what the Mueller Report summed up, but FOX News and other Trump political allies and spokespeople jumped on that bandwagon.
All of this nonsense has gotten really bad, and opponents of Trump have been forced to try and remind everyone that, indeed, facts do matter. This was a popular response to Trump's election win. But in terms of American politics these days, it does seem actually very debatable whether or not facts matter, and this goes on several fronts. But that is a discussion for another day. After all, if we want to talk about how much powerful people with a sense of entitlement can get away with, we could hardly find someone better to illustrate this point than Donald J. Trump.
Far from slowly going extinct, the trend of conspiracy theories seems to be picking up steam lately. In fact, the fixation with these theories really is growing absurd these days. There are just such an incredible number of people who swell the numbers of conspiracy theorists.
Let's explore some of them.
For many, the Kennedy assassination was a bold-face conspiracy theory. Polls still show a majority of Americans do not accept the official account of who killed Kennedy, and feel that it is obviously wrong and very flawed. That, in and of itself, is not insane. Indeed, there were just so many coincidences that have remained very mysterious and unexplained over the many years and now decades, that it makes you at least scratch your head. From the secret service agents suddenly falling back, to the slowing of the motorcade to the umbrella man to the seeming impossibility of the shots from where Oswald was to what appears to have been a shot taken in front of the president and finding it's mark to how the audio files that go with the video and allegedly debunk the three shots argument, and on and on and on. There are indeed many, many reasons why a rational person would have difficulty accepting the official account. Where it gets frankly crazy, however, are in the number of unofficial accounts that proclaim themselves to be the "real truth." It was...well, take your pick of which theory you believe in. The mafia. LBJ. The CIA, with future President George H. W. Bush leading the plot. The Soviets. The Cubans. The limousine driver. The umbrella man. One of the hobos arrested on that day. Someone who was hiding in the sewers, and somehow managed to get a clean enough look for the kill shot.
That, of course, is just one conspiracy, but at least there are some clear doubts remaining as to the strange coincidences regarding this particular conspiracy. But there are plenty of others, and the belief system clearly is there for millions around the world to disbelieve the official account of history, and believe in unproven, and sometimes quite clearly nonsensical, theories. And if you run down the list of what so many people feel we have been lied to about, it is extensive.
Here are just some of them:
FDR knew about Pearl Harbor before the Japanese attacked. The Holocaust never happened. Man never walked on the moon. Whitewater. Bush knew about September 11th before it happened. Covid-19. Bengazi. Pizza Gate. Prominent Democrats, particularly the Clintons, eating babies (a conspiracy theory that seems to me straight out of the Middle Ages). Vaccinations are poisoning people. Climate change is not real. The Denver Airport. Evolution is a hoax. Multiculturalism is a plot by Jewish bankers to destroy America. The Sandy Hook school shooting did not actually happen. Chemtrails. Antivaxers. Area 51. Roswell. Trump was cheated out of the 2020 election appears to be the latest, even though this one truly perplexes me. After all, how hard could it be to believe that the most hated and least trusted president in American history would lose an election, and convincingly, at that?
Some that go beyond this country (but which millions of Americans seem to believe in) are truly crazy! The Earth is flat. Australia does not actually exist. The Rothschilds control everything. Billionaire George Soros is behind everything sinister. The Illuminati, or the Freemasons, control everything. Hell, there are even conspiracy theories when some unexpected result shocks Someone must have paid that team to lose, or that fighter to fall. There's just no way, right?
Hell, some people have various theories on just one particular sports franchise: the New England Patriots!
Then, add to that, the actual conspiracies and cover-ups just in the United States alone, as if to confirm that everything really is suspicious and deserves to be distrusted. Watergate. The Iran-Contra Affair. The Savings and Loan Scandal. Both Bush and Kerry belonging to the same secret organization during their college days: Skull and Bones. No Bid contracts in Iraq, and all of the corporations with a vested interest. Tom Delay and the fraud that he pulled on Native Americans. The Panama Papers. Hillary asked for, and received, help in order to secure the Democratic nomination that everyone assumed she had locked up from the beginning, and then the Democratic party leadership provided that help for her, taking sides when they are clearly not supposed to. Now, the Mueller Report, which is thousands of pages, being reduced to a four-page summary and now, weeks later, it is being released - a redacted version, of course. And those were just the ones that were verified. We probably have not found out or discovered many other real ones, as well!
Again, these are only some of the more well-known conspiracy theories that have gained significant attention in the United States. Trump partially won the 2016 election by borrowing from Bernie Sanders, who kept suggesting that the political system, and the economy, is rigged. Of course, Trump himself has clearly benefited from however the system was rigged, and he suggested then that a defeat to Clinton would mean that the election was rigged. he is already suggesting that much again for the 2020 elections.
In fact, Trump specifically has thrived from conspiracy theories. He fosters them, he seems to believe in them. Climate change is a hoax invented by the Chinese to hurt the American economy. Obama is behind everything sinister. There is a plot to destroy his credibility (as if he actually had any to begin with) and to smear his name, such as the so-called "witch hunt" of the Mueller Report which, in act, was responsible for a number of arrests and convictions (which would seem to contradict the notion that it was a witch hunt in the first place, of course). As mentioned earlier, thousands of pages were summed up within hours of Attorney General Barr receiving the report, and he basically said that it suggested that there was not enough evidence to convict Trump of collusion. This, Trump suggested, translates to him being completely and totally exonerated, which is of course not what the Mueller Report summed up, but FOX News and other Trump political allies and spokespeople jumped on that bandwagon.
All of this nonsense has gotten really bad, and opponents of Trump have been forced to try and remind everyone that, indeed, facts do matter. This was a popular response to Trump's election win. But in terms of American politics these days, it does seem actually very debatable whether or not facts matter, and this goes on several fronts. But that is a discussion for another day. After all, if we want to talk about how much powerful people with a sense of entitlement can get away with, we could hardly find someone better to illustrate this point than Donald J. Trump.
It seems that, these days, no major event can happen without some conspiracy theories soon rising up.
So, it could really be no surprise that these conspiracy theories flourished when the Notre-Dame Cathedral went up in flames a couple of years ago.
So, it could really be no surprise that these conspiracy theories flourished when the Notre-Dame Cathedral went up in flames a couple of years ago.
To be sure, as with every tragedy, some unsavory, perhaps even suspicious, facts arose that make you wonder just what in the hell people were thinking, or how they could miss some things, similar to employees in the World Trade Center building that was not hit being told to ignore what had happened, remain calm, and go back to work. It now seems that the fire that broke out in Notre-Dame could and should have been easily avoided.
The following was what I wrote some time ago about the Notre-Dame, and it is a mixture of updates on what as saved and what was not from the cathedral, as well as some of these very questions that now seem to demand an answer:
Okay, so, there is some good news on the Notre-Dame front. The worst did not happen. The structure of the historic cathedral still stands, and some priceless art works and historical artifacts were saved. That includes some statues and, most notably, the Crown of Thorns that, it is believed, were worn by Jesus. That is absolutely crucial, because Notre-Dame Cathedral officials consider this the "most precious and most venerated relic." Also, there are reports that the Rose Windows - the most famous of Notre-Dame's stained glass windows - escaped catastrophic damage. And at least French media is reporting that the piece of the True Cross, as well as one of the original Holy Nails, was also saved, although it is unclear if these reports have been verified as of yet.
Okay, so, there is some good news on the Notre-Dame front. The worst did not happen. The structure of the historic cathedral still stands, and some priceless art works and historical artifacts were saved. That includes some statues and, most notably, the Crown of Thorns that, it is believed, were worn by Jesus. That is absolutely crucial, because Notre-Dame Cathedral officials consider this the "most precious and most venerated relic." Also, there are reports that the Rose Windows - the most famous of Notre-Dame's stained glass windows - escaped catastrophic damage. And at least French media is reporting that the piece of the True Cross, as well as one of the original Holy Nails, was also saved, although it is unclear if these reports have been verified as of yet.
Also, there was apparently no loss of life. Considering how many people come to visit the Notre-Dam Cathedral - the most visited site in Paris - that is saying something. So, we should count our blessings on that score.
However, that is not to say that this fire was not devastating, or that it will not be remembered as a horrible event. After all, most of the historic roof of the cathedral was indeed destroyed. Many
So, that is indeed some good news. But there were some questions, as well. Was the True Cross destroyed? This is one of the priceless relics that has not been reported as recovered just yet, and there are concerns, because it is feared that this may have been destroyed by the fire.
Apparently, there were 23 minutes between the first fire alarm, and the second one. Obviously, a lot could have been done in that span of time, and much could have been saved. Possibly even the horrible fire might have been either controlled or averted altogether, if things had been clearer. It is uncertain what exactly happened, and so now, there are investigations to determine exactly what happened, and why.
Witnessing the Fall of Notre-Dame It survived eight centuries of plague, war, revolution, and the Nazis. How could it be burning? RACHEL DONADIO APR 15, 2019:
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