Sandy Hook becomes newest "Conspiracy"

[Crossroads Inc.]

From LiveScience

One month after the Sandy Hook school shootings, the list of victims continues to grow. One man, Gene Rosen — who found six children and a bus driver in his driveway, brought them into his home, fed them and called parents to assure them that their children were safe — has been harassed by telephone, email and online by those who think he is lying about his actions, and is part of a conspiracy.

Rosen is not the first hero to be assaulted and insulted by conspiracy theorists with doubts. In 2002, when conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel confronted astronaut Buzz Aldrin and called him a "coward and a liar" for faking the moon landings, the 72-year-old promptly punched Sibrel in the face.

A group called the Sandy Hook Truther movement has emerged from the dust and chaos over the past weeks to claim that the school shooting was all a staged event. Though many Americans are outraged and incredulous that anyone could doubt that the tragedy even happened, the Sandy Hook school shootings follow classic conspiracy thinking. Here are a few reasons why.

Poignant political implications

Shootings — even child murders — happen every day, several times a day, in America. According to UNICEF, America has the worst record of child abuse and homicide in the industrialized world, with an average of 27 children killed every week by their parents and caregivers. But those child murders don't have implications for enacting a national policy on gun control.

Most events producing conspiracy theories have important social and political implications, and the Sandy Hook shootings are no exception. No one, regardless of what side of the gun control issue they are on, can deny that guns played a key role in the Sandy Hook killings. So the conspiracy theorists must instead challenge the claim that the attack even occurred. They believe it's all a hoax to scare people into supporting more gun control and a step toward an outright repeal of the Second Amendment. [5 Milestones in Gun Control History]

'Holes' in the 'official story'

A common theme running through conspiracy thinking is that if you're smart enough, and just look closely enough at all the news coverage and available information, you can see lies and contradictions in accounts of the event. Truthers claim that they have found "absolute proof" that the shootings were a hoax, pointing to a 6-year-old girl named Emilie Parker, who was shot to death in the school massacre.

Or was she? They claim that the smoking-gun photographic proof that Emilie is still alive is that she was photographed after the shooting with President Obama during a visit with the families. The girl is actually Emilie's sister, wearing the same dress that Emilie wore in another photograph.

In the topsy-turvy world of conspiracy thinking, any little girl who resembles Emilie and is wearing the same dress as one she owned must be her. It could not possibly be her sister, who could not possibly be wearing either Emilie's dress or an identical one. Instead, it's obviously proof that the whole shooting was faked.

But this claim, even if it were true, raises more questions than it answers. For example, if Sandy Hook was indeed a "staged event" as claimed, with Emilie Parker alive and the president part of the conspiracy, why would the government be so careless as to release a photograph of Emilie, knowing that she had been reported dead in a carefully orchestrated national hoax? Is a widely published photo opportunity with the president of the United States really the best place to hide someone who is supposedly dead?

Conspiracy theorist websites offer dozens of other examples and pieces of evidence, ranging from real or perceived contradictions in eyewitness accounts to conflicting news reports. And indeed there are some contradictions. [The 10 Most Bizarre Conspiracy Theories]

The minds of conspiracy theorists

But what the conspiratorial mind sees as misinformation and lies, others see as merely perfectly ordinary incomplete and inaccurate information following a multifaceted tragedy. Especially in the hours and first days after such a chaotic and horrifying event, witnesses can be confused and mistaken. Police officers and reporters can misspeak, or be given incorrect information.

Not every single statement about what occurred, from dozens of different people in different places at different times, will agree in every detail. Three different witnesses to a minor car accident will often give three slightly different accounts of what they saw, so it's unrealistic to expect dozens of people who were involved in a chaotic school massacre to report exactly the same things.

Part of the reason that conspiracy theories linger is that any contradictory evidence — no matter how conclusive or compelling — can just be dismissed by claiming that it's part of the cover-up. There is ultimately no evidence that would satisfy most conspiracy theorists. Those who distrust the government will use any excuse to support their beliefs, logical or not. Conspiracy theorists prefer complex mysteries over simple truths, and find mystery where none exists.

Research has shown not only that a person who believes in one conspiracy theory is likely to support others, but also contradictions don't deter conspiracy theorists.

The idea that the Sandy Hook massacre was faked is not only absurd, but also an insult to the victims of the tragedy. The victims are really, provably gone; they are not safely hidden away somewhere until the Sandy Hook shooting has served its ultimate goal of taking away America's guns. The bullet holes are there. The children and adults are dead. Toxic conspiracies, however, will live on.

Here yo go people, America at work. Because when something so horrible so terrible and so...inconvenient happens. The only rational explanation is that of course, it is all a giant Liberal Conspiracy!

[Lord Zentei]

I didn't want to start a thread on this, but since we have one now I'll post this. This is not the first time I've seen this, it has been brewing for some time now. The contradictions are also in part due to the existence of different brands of conspiracy theory on the matter. Such as this one:



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Here yo go people, America at work. Because when something so horrible so terrible and so...inconvenient happens. The only rational explanation is that of course, it is all a giant Liberal Conspiracy!

And there are always people who simply seem to need to believe in some kind of sinister world behind all the goings on they experience in this one.

[Lord Zentei]

GHETTO:

And there are always people who simply seem to need to believe in some kind of sinister world behind all the goings on they experience in this one.

To clarify: just a brief buzz-phrase to remind people that it's not just those who oppose Liberal policies who are prone to believe conspiracy theories: "nine-eleven was an inside job". This is a common (if ugly) tendency in modern culture.

[Civil War Man]

To paraphrase Maddox's thoughts on the 9/11 Truther movement, the fact that the conspiracy theorists are still alive is evidence that the conspiracy theory's bullshit. Any conspiracy callous enough to either kill or pretend to kill so many people and competent enough to pull it off would have absolutely no qualms assassinating anyone who risks exposing the conspiracy.

[AniThyng]

But assasinating them would validate the conspiracy! Far better to keep them alive and rambling because obviously that means it must be nonsense

[Civil War Man]

But assasinating them would validate the conspiracy! Far better to keep them alive and rambling because obviously that means it must be nonsense

Only a stupid conspiracy would risk that, while a smart one would arrange an accident or a "burglary" gone wrong. Considering that the supposed goal of the conspiracy is to take away everyone's guns, it's probably pretty fair to assume that a lot of the conspiracy theorists in this case have guns themselves. And we have so many gun deaths in this country that a few conspiracy nuts mishandling their guns and "accidentally" shooting themselves would be a blip on the radar at most.

(I realize you were just doing the common response a conspiracy theorist would give so they wouldn't have to face the fact that them not being dead invalidates their own theory, but I still felt it needed to be said)

[Ahriman238]

Wasn't something like that on the Evil Overlord List? Keep the conspiracy theorists that are onto you around unless they find truly compelling evidence. In the meantime, assassinate random conspiracy theorists who are nowhere close to the truth, so the heroes will waste a lot of time and effort trying to find out what the dead people knew.


Back on-topic, I heard of this, but the first place I heard of it was the snopes page debunking it. Here you go.

[Kuja]

Hell, you don't even have to kill him. If you're 'Teh Beeg Bahd Evul Conspeeruhsee' just have him arrested by the FBI on, say, possession of an illegal substance, possession with intent to distribute, transporting an illegal substance across state lines, and several counts of beastiality. Plant evidence to frame him and seize his assets and better yet, while he's in custody inject him with some of the juice so his lucidity is suspect.

His conspiracy theory buddies might rail about his innocence to some degree, but they'll be reluctant to press his case for fear of being the next one to be grabbed, and meanwhile everyone else will sagely nod their heads and say "well, you just know those people are messed up in the head."

[Pendleton]

I think American society in particular has a pretty good grasp on how to concoct the most elaborate bogeymen, thanks in no small part to ego, boredom and the MSM.

[Korvan]

I seems like the conspiracy folks come up with theories that are much more complicated than necessary. Such as the Sandy Hook shooting was staged vs the shooter was controlled / influenced by the government. The 911 conspiracy theories are much the same way. They immediately jump to the most complicated, convoluted scheme possible instead of more plausible scenarios. Why not have the terrorists trained and under the control of the government, or even just the government having intelligence about the attack, but deliberately ignoring it. But no, they pick the scenario that involves having to "disappear" four flight loads of people, flying empty planes into the towers and then setting off a controlled demolition.

[eyl]

I seems like the conspiracy folks come up with theories that are much more complicated than necessary. Such as the Sandy Hook shooting was staged vs the shooter was controlled / influenced by the government. The 911 conspiracy theories are much the same way. They immediately jump to the most complicated, convoluted scheme possible instead of more plausible scenarios. Why not have the terrorists trained and under the control of the government, or even just the government having intelligence about the attack, but deliberately ignoring it. But no, they pick the scenario that involves having to "disappear" four flight loads of people, flying empty planes into the towers and then setting off a controlled demolition.

Oh, don't worry, there are truther conspiracy theories covering that as well (google "LIHOP" for examples)

[mr friendly guy]

Sorry to rain on your parade, but we Australians beat you earlier.

In the aftermath of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, several members of the racist nutjob One Nation party in the Queensland parliament criticise the Federal government's gun buyback scheme. One of them suggested the buyback scheme was designed to leave Australia vulnerable to foreign invaders (no mention of whom, but since they hate Asians we can kind of guess who), and that this plan was hatched in a foreign capital (which he can't name).

[K. A. Pital]

GHETTO:

And there are always people who simply seem to need to believe in some kind of sinister world behind all the goings on they experience in this one.

To clarify: just a brief buzz-phrase to remind people that it's not just those who oppose Liberal policies who are prone to believe conspiracy theories: "nine-eleven was an inside job". This is a common (if ugly) tendency in modern culture.

Is it really ugly that people are more distrustful of large bodies (governments, TNCs, etc.) than they presumably uh... were? I mean, conspiracy theories were always there, were they not? Sure, being prone to conspiracy theories is perhaps an ugly consequence of distrust, but I would not say that distrust is entirely a negative phenomena.