Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: They faked those moon landings too, you know

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  • Che Tibby,

    first.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • Che Tibby,

    now that i've read the post...

    WMDs aeh?

    bit like the hunting of the snark really.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • Neil Morrison,

    Michael Moore peddled a Left wing conspiracy theory about 9-11 that went down pretty well with many on the left. That was far more influential than Melanie Phillips' craziness.

    In fact conspiracy theories about 9-11 have come mostly from the Left.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report

  • Lyndon Hood,

    <i>bit like the hunting of the snark really.</i>

    "It's a Snark!" was the sound that first came to their ears,
    And seemed almost too good to be true.
    Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers:
    Then the ominous words "It's a Boo-"

    Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air
    A weary and wandering sigh
    Then sounded like "-jum!" but the others declare
    It was only a breeze that went by.

    They hunted till darkness came on, but they found
    Not a button, or feather, or mark,
    By which they could tell that they stood on the ground
    Where the Baker had met with the Snark.

    In the midst of the word he was trying to say,
    In the midst of his laughter and glee,
    He had softly and suddenly vanished away---
    For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 1115 posts Report

  • Neil Morrison,

    the neocon commentariat is almost universally up for it. The story has been more or less embraced by the whole gang: Instapundit, Malkin, Powerline, Pajamas Media

    I don't know what "neocon" means anymore but glancing thru those sites there's not really any indication that they are taking this seriously. Instapundit and Powerline mention it in passing. Pajamasmedia doen't seem to have anything other than a link to the orginal story.

    Glenn Reynolds doesn't sound particlularly convinced -

    "I FOUND SADDAM'S WMD BUNKERS:" Er, wouldn't this be news if it were true?

    Maybe there's other evidence but it doesn't appear to have been embraced that much.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Michael Moore peddled a Left wing conspiracy theory about 9-11 that went down pretty well with many on the left. That was far more influential than Melanie Phillips' craziness

    The part about flying out the Saudis on Sept 13, on account of the Bush family's links to the Saudi royal family? I had a quick search and found that claim being damned TomPaine, Juan Cole in Salon, History News Network, etc. Salon has also been very hard on Loose Change and other 9/11 deniers.

    And frankly, in terms of scale and sheer out-and-out craziness, the Phillips conspiracy has it all over anything Michael Moore has alleged in his career. An all-consuming cover-up and conspiracy involving the entire American government? A secret pro-China sect in the State Department? Russia and China building the Islamic bomb?

    And you have the major online winger commentators (including Time magazine's former "Blog of the Year") apparently giving this tosh the time of day, and The Spectator printing it. Neil, these people are so desperate not to be horribly wrong they'll buy anything. They have truly jum[ped the shark.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Glenn Reynolds doesn't sound particlularly convinced -

    "I FOUND SADDAM'S WMD BUNKERS:" Er, wouldn't this be news if it were true?

    Maybe there's other evidence but it doesn't appear to have been embraced that much.

    You left off the last line of Reynolds' post:

    Maybe not, these days. . .

    Ellipsis points and all, thats' Reynolds' usual passive-aggressive linking style. As Instaputz responded: "Er, wouldn't it be news if they found Bigfoot?"

    And this is what Powerline actually said:

    "MEET DAVE GAUBATZ -- The current issue of the (UK) Spectator has some extremely interesting articles. . . . . none surpasses Melanie Phillips's "I found Saddam's WMD bunkers" in interest. Phillips's article tells the story of Dave Gaubatz, an agent in the US Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations who searched Iraqi WMD sites after the fall of Saddam."

    Not exactly dismissive, is it?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Hadyn Green,

    Just to help confirm some OTHER conspiracies, I read this on PostSecret.com today.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 2090 posts Report

  • Ben Austin,

    My favourite anti moon revisionist

    I seriously think some people are wired to believe conspiracy theories. I can't explain it any other way.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Oh, crap... What really annoys me is that there's more than enough reality-based angst to be had around North Korea pretty much telling the UN to go fuck itself. Putin's increasingly autocratic and (possibly) murderous regime in Ruslia, the determination of governments from Wellywood to Washington to squint past China's malfeasances at the hint of market access etc. without spinning off into paranoiac conspiracy mongering,

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    I seriously think some people are wired to believe conspiracy theories. I can't explain it any other way.

    Yowsuh. Few things can match the initial rush of discovery that Everything You Know Is Wrong. Never again will you be made to feel inferior by a bunch of pointy-headed professors who can't even park their bicycles straight.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Neil Morrison,

    Not exactly dismissive, is it?

    But neither is it 'more or less embraced by the whole gang'.

    At The Corner the only mention is this by Jonah Goldberg -

    I have no idea what to make of this, but it seems a healthy dose of skepticism is a good way to start.

    Yes Melanie Phillips' is crazy here but it doesn't look like it is being picked up by the usual suspects. It's yet to reach the levels of madness the left got to. Truthout etc. Maybe it will though.

    It is amusing how the conspiracy bizarrely includes real neocons.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report

  • Che Tibby,

    I seriously think some people are wired to believe conspiracy theories. I can't explain it any other way.

    what else explains the popularity x-files?

    sure as hell wasn't a lot of occam's razor on that show...

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Yes Melanie Phillips' is crazy here but it doesn't look like it is being picked up by the usual suspects. It's yet to reach the levels of madness the left got to. Truthout etc. Maybe it will though.

    Technorati is showing page after page of winger blogs taking it seriously, quite a few of them crediting Powerline with the tip. It seems well on the way to becoming an article of faith.

    Let's not forget that three US Congressmen have already touted this story (before, presumably, realising that Graubatz is a paranoid, racist, lunatic) and that there's a whole conference full of crazy people convening behind it soon.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg,

    Yes Melanie Phillips' is crazy here but it doesn't look like it is being picked up by the usual suspects

    Malkin's pretty close to the mainstream of the US right and the phrase "seems credible" is on her site (albeit tempered by a warning about "truthism") as a description of the source...have you seen his sites? The comments on Malkin's site are eyeopening too...I've yet to find that level of delusion on Truthout.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

  • Ben Austin,

    Craig, I totally agree. Why they chose to hone in on these issues just weirds me out.

    These people should be focusing on the real issue, viz. Why online games are corrupting our society and turning gamers into psychotic slave soldiers ready for the new world order.

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Riddley Walker,

    may well represent the neocon media's final jumping of the shark

    oh how i wish that were true.

    Daily Mail columnist Melanie Phillips. (You may recall her as the journalist plagiarised by the Maxim Institute's Bruce Logan)

    perhaps that explains why John Key is now trying to do a flip-flop on the s59 stuff despite 'conclusive and overwhelming clinical [Maximesque] evidence that thrashing your kids with whips and lumps of wood is good for them'. obviously the grand uberconspiracy is that both the left and right know this is true but it's too embrassing for them to say.

    I don't know what "neocon" means

    neocons are not really Conservatives, who seek to conserve the status-quo under the Burkian premise that 'traditions get to be traditions because they work'. the neocon program is very un-conservatively radical dismantling of the State to make way for total corporate hegemony. so it's hardly surprising that suggesting they are remotely conservative is a bit confusing.

    What really annoys me is that there's more than enough reality-based angst to be had

    exactly Craig

    AKL • Since Feb 2007 • 890 posts Report

  • Riddley Walker,

    I seriously think some people are wired to believe conspiracy theories. I can't explain it any other way

    I think Dissonance Reduction theory with an overlay of Confirmation bias goes a long way to explaining it. Of course other intellectual shortcomings and psychological maladies help too ;)

    AKL • Since Feb 2007 • 890 posts Report

  • Neil Morrison,

    It seems well on the way to becoming an article of faith.

    We'll have to disagree there for the time being about how much the the conservative commentariate is taking this up. LGF don't have anything about it, but the're probably too busy baiting Muslims.

    But Gaubatz sure is mad.

    Since Nov 2006 • 932 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg,

    Craig....Putin's toast next year anyway, but with approval ratings around 80-85% percent he'll go out happy I think. I'm actually rather impressed with Russia's slow grind towards democracy over the past 17 years. Despite the backward steps it does seem to have taken root in a country which has never known enfranchisement at all before.

    You can toss the re-militarization of Japan into that list of yours too....an issue causing a great deal unrest here in Asia, far more so than Sino military expenditure or loopy old Kim.

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    Che farted:

    first.

    Don't let PA System become one of those forums.

    Please.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Nice to see Mr Wishart's onto it.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Ben Austin,

    I see his posters have made the obvious points

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Andre Alessi,

    Robyn Gallagher wrote:

    Don't let PA System become one of those forums.

    Please.

    Oh come now, you get better at getting the first post the more you practice!

    We could always do what Fark.com does and have "First post" filtered to "Boobies" and twelve hours added onto the timestamp of the post.

    Russell Brown wrote:

    Nice to see Mr Wishart's onto it.

    I must admit, I chuckled to see this:

    Or will we still be intoning 'there were no WMDs in Iraq' when the Islamic bomb goes off?

    I don't even know if that's a metaphor.

    Devonport, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 864 posts Report

  • Che Tibby,

    Che farted

    nice spotting on the flatulence problem. and you haven't even met me.

    soz... was a issue formed at the pub on friday after a beer and whisky chaser. hadyn, *in your face!*

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report

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