Dan Casey over at The Roanoke Times pokes some fun today at the latest conspiracy theory — a takeover of U.S. society through the United Nations Agenda 21.
Tea Party groups in Virginia — including the Floyd County chapter — cite Agenda 21 as a threat to property rights and individual freedoms. Some speakers at Tuesday’s public hearing on the a new comprehensive plan for the area claimed the plan was driven by Agenda 21 as part of a Socialist plot to take over the government.
Conspiracy theories like this one have been with us for a long time and most are as ridiculous as they sound: The phony claims questioning Barack Obama’s citizenship, the purported plot by the Bush administration to blow up the World Trade Center and blame it on Arab terrorists and so on.
But people buy into these theories and promote them as fact even when even a cursory examination of the facts easily disproves such speculation.
What promoters of these theories don’t realize is that when they make such claims it destroys their credibility and cripples their cause.
For them, however, facts don’t matter. They just get in the way of the conspiracy theory of the day.
Related articles
- Conspiracy Theories Come Naturally (psychologytoday.com)
- 11 political myths and conspiracy theories that still persist – CNN.com (ledinghammer.com)
- Don’t get sucked into conspiracies (erratasec.blogspot.com)
- Is obsession with conspiracy theories a sign of schizophrenia? (gunnyg.wordpress.com)
Doug, I overheard Joe Montague and other members of the tea party talking after the public hearing Tuesday night and they were saying they plan to put pressure on the Floyd Press and others that you work for to have you fired. Watch your back brother. These backstabbers are out to get you.
I heard the same thing. They were bragging about how they will put a “big dent” in Doug’s income and “teach him a lesson about what it means to take on the tea party.” I wonder if any one of them has had the nerve to say anything to Doug’s face or will they just hide in the shadows.
So typical of small people. When they don’t agree with, or just dislike someone, the motto is “Let’s get ’em” through shadow campaigns. I’ve seen it many times since I’ve lived here. Been a victim, too. And would love to name names but the law prevents that. I trust that karma will do its thing in the long run. In the meantime, Doug, a lot of people have your back. Keep on keepin’ on with your common sense reporting. We Americans need it!
If the allegations are true, this reminds me of the tactics used by the supporters of Joe McCarthy in the early 1950s. He and the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) destroyed the lives of many, many people.
Why should any of us be surprised that the tea party engages in McCarthy tactics. They took a page right out of his playbook by creating a threat and using it to opress. His red-scare tactics are just like the false tea party claims about socialism and the UN Agenda 21 claims. These people have a strange concept of freedom.
I like the fact that this was named “Agenda 21”; that should mean its entry in the Conspiracy Encyclopedia will go right next to another favorite of mine, Area 51.