Conspiracy Theory:
The four facts used as the bare bones case for nonlethal weapons crimes by military intelligence are historical facts and real physical evidence. The four facts are all that is necessary to convince a reasonable person that these crimes are real and must be stopped at all costs. It is inevitable that critics who are unable to challenge these four facts will avoid doing so by using name calling, personal smear, and a familiar refrain…conspiracy theory. Shouting conspiracy theory loudly, and repeating it at every opportunity allows people to avoid using or confronting logical arguments and facts on their own merits. To put this charge to rest it will be necessary for the author to run the gauntlet of bizarre theories, borderline beliefs, and conspiracy theories.
Lockness Monster: There is probably no such creature because there has been no physical evidence besides dubious photographs and there is not a large enough food supply in the area to support large predators.
Big Foot: No physical evidence exists besides casts of “foot prints” and video evidence that both appear to be faked.
Other Monsters: There may be mega fauna (giant animals) that exist, but without physical evidence there is no basis to believe in their existence. Example: For nearly one hundred years a large reward has been offered for any snake skin that equals thirty feet or more. Even though it is possible to stretch a snake skin, no one has ever collected the prize.
Kennedy Assassination: I believe that JFK was murdered by Lee Harvey Oswald, who was the only shooter, and there was no one on the “grassy knoll”.
9/11: I believe we were attacked by Islamic terrorists. I do not believe that George Bush was behind the attacks on 9/11. I do not believe in the mantra of a clash of civilizations. There are two political and religious extremes on both sides, while 99% of humanity is trapped in-between.
Angels: The majority of American citizens believe in angels, however, I do not believe in supernatural beings, merely human ones.
Ghosts: There is no scientific basis for belief in ghosts, and though it may be possible that human souls do not immediately cross over and leave the material world, there is currently no evidence to back up this theory.
Magic: Sympathetic magic is the theoretical use of incantations and spells to change the physical world. This belief and practice has no basis in fact.
Miracles: I do not believe the human mind can manipulate the physical world if we just think the right thoughts or concentrate hard enough. I classify this belief as sympathetic magic. God does not intrude into the physical world to help individuals because this would void the concept of free will. The universe is not determined, that is to say you have the freedom to succeed or fail, to choose evil or good. The price of freedom is bad things happen to good people and evil often triumphs.
Rapture and End Times Theory: All throughout human history people have claimed the end was near and prepared for it, yet it has yet to occur. This was true of the first millennium A.D. (the year one thousand) and the second millennium A.D. (Y2K). This belief reoccurs in the US among secluded cult like religions on a fairly regular basis.
Souls: Normally I would have said there is no such thing, but personal experience leads me to believe that all living things possess what we refer to as a soul.
Life After Death: The human personality is transitory and does not survive death, but the “soul” of living creatures are probably conserved and reemerges, just as water is conserved as it cycles through the earth environment from liquid to gas, and back again. The water in your veins once circulated in the bodies of dinosaurs; it is conserved.
God, Heaven, and Hell: I believe there is a God, but that God is not human like in appearance nor does God possess a human like personality. I do not believe in the Devil or in Hell. I believe that evil exists here on earth and that the only hell is that which mankind creates for itself here on earth.
Jesus: I believe as the agnostics do, such that there was a real man named Jesus who lived and much of what is attributed to him in the bible are his own words, though some are not. I believe he was a radical who was tortured and executed, but I do not believe he was divine, immortal, or that he was reborn.
Witches and Warlocks: There are no such thing as witches, but there is such a thing as Shamanism. Almost all native cultures practice similar forms of the art of Shamanism. These people are the spiritual leaders and visionaries who use psychoactive plants to achieve spiritual transport and enter what might be termed the collective unconscious or the dream world. I refer to it as being awake and asleep at the same time. These individuals tell stories, sing songs, predict the future, and interpret the present for the tribe. They function as the internet and cable TV all rolled into one. They are not chiefs or rulers, but the people follow them in respect of the powers they demonstrate. Often they employ slight of hand as magicians do, but their true power is not relegated to tricks alone. In Europe before the coming of Christianity, Shamanism was widely practiced. Nearly a thousand years ago the Pope released the edict, “burn all witches”, which meant the women and men who still practiced Shamanism. In the Gobi Desert one can still find graves 3,600 years old containing women dressed in the traditional black conical hat and other garb that was the Celtic Shamanic uniform.
Crop Circles: The crop circles are most likely man made, but there is a slim possibility that SOME crop circles are formed by natural geophysical phenomenon such as disturbances in the earths magnetic field. Having said this, it is important to note that nearly all such formations are man made, if not all of them.
Marfa Lights and Unexplained Lights in the Sky: These lights are probably the result of geological and geophysical forces that happen as a result of granite and quartz rock being placed under extreme pressure. Lab experiments show that these rocks under extreme pressure give off a pulse of energy that can resemble ball lightning. These circular balls of energy may travel along the naturally occurring magnetic field lines of the earth.
Alien Invasions: There are so many stars in the universe (10 to the 22nd power) that it is a mathematical certainty that life and even intelligent life exists outside of planet earth. But ask any astronomer or astrophysicist and they will tell you that the distances between these locations are statistically so vast that even traveling at the speed of light would take many hundreds of thousands or even millions of years to travel to earth. Sorry, there are probably aliens, but no alien visitors. It is part of the human condition to need to believe in forces larger than ourselves. Many people have invested decades of their lives into this belief and will not give it up, no matter the fact that no physical evidence exists and all videos of alien autopsies and such are obvious fakes. On a basic level most human beings need to believe.
Bilderburg, Illuminati, Secret Societies that control the World: There are influential private organizations that influence government policies and world events, but I do not believe in a hidden hand that controls the world, nor do I believe in pure blood lines that go back to Jesus. There are different centers of power contending against one another, but these are economic, political, and religious institutions, not the illuminati or secret bloodlines. In fact this belief may act as a smoke screen.
Protocols of Zion (the Jews did it): I do not believe in the so called Protocols of Zion. The Jewish people are not controlling the world or engaging in world domination. There is no such thing as a monolithic Jewish perspective or world view. Jewish political and religious thought runs the entire spectrum of human thought. Zionism is often it’s own worst enemy, meaning it is probably counter productive for all Jewish people and how they are perceived by the wider world.
Evolution: Darwinian thought is correct and based upon physical evidence. Like the fourth grade kid told his folks, “It’s settled, they found the fossils”. The exact mechanisms that are the biological and genetic basis of change are probably more robust than the simple phrase, “survival of the fittest”, but the basic theory is sound. It is possible and even desirable to believe simultaneously in God and the Theory of Evolution. Intelligent design theory is incorrect.
Freudian Theory: Freud is basically correct in assigning the primary human drives and the thwarting or confusion thereof, as the cause of neurosis and mental illness. There may be an overemphasis upon human sexuality, but if Freud was wrong then why do TV advertisements rely on sex to sell toilet paper. Meaning that if Freud was wrong then why do advertisers spend nearly a trillion dollars a year using sexual messages to sell the world products. The sex drive is paramount.
Jungian Theory: The Jungian concept of a collective unconscious means that there exists the concept of an ocean of unconscious mind that is shared by all of humanity. Each dreamer lays down their head at night and drifts off within or to the edge of this ocean of thought. It is the source of all imagination, all dream imagery, dreams, archetypes, and is at the root of all human creativity. If you go to the far side of the world into the depths of the jungle and ask a man who has never even seen an outsider to imagine a bad smell, he will make a face just as you would. Ask him to think of something happy, and he will smile just as you would. These emotions and expressions are hard wired into the human body and mind. Just as hard wired into all humanity is the well spring from which these images and thoughts emerge from. We are all connected through an unconscious “party line”. If we could hear each other while awake, then the Tower of Babble would drive us mad. The dream world is our common playground. When my uncle was killed in a war on the other side of the earth, his mother set up straight in bed in the middle of the night and said, “he’s dead”. This and similar experiences are more common than people imagine.
This treatment of various beliefs and superstitions is designed to describe my degree of acceptance of what are commonly referred to as conspiracy theories. My background is that of a scientists and I require supporting evidence to advance a theory, and at least a preponderance of proof to accept the probability of a theory. I like to keep an open mind, but as the man from Missouri said, “Show me”.
Marshall Gregory Thomas
