In another context - 911 conspiracy theories - Pittsburgh columnist Reg Henry today proposed the staging of an international Stupid Olympics.

URL: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opi...exclusive.html

A couple of quotes:

"Still, it would [be] a great thing if all the world's nuts could congregate every four years to compete in a spirit of international brotherhood and misunderstanding. The most ridiculous theories would be entered in various categories."

... and

"As a Frenchman has inspired my proposal, it seems fitting that the first Stupid Olympics be held in Paris. It is the City of Light, so it could certainly be a City of Dim Bulbs as well."

One of the categories would have to be

"Lunar Conspiracies"

Any suggestions for Gold, Silver and Bronze ??? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

URL: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opi...exclusive.html

"William The Conqueror"

I dont know that many conspiracies, so here's my list.

Bronze : The Illuminati
Silver : Crop Circles
Gold : Moon hoax

I think the guy who doesn't think a plane hit the Pentagon deserves a nomination.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

what, you mean Jack White on jfkresearch? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]

he compared the recent crash in china with the pentagon crash, and was showing pictures from both crashed asking why there was no debris at pentagon...

He's not the one who started it - there's some book out now in France with the same theory.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

I would want to see category awards. For instance:
Most destructive: satanic ritual abuse (hundreds jailed, thousands of families destroyed)
Most easily refuted: Secret rail tunnels for transporting detainees (popular on the wacko right, for those who have never heard of it.)
Most fashionable: Bush knew in advance about 9-11 and let it happen to boost his stock portfolio.
Most durable: Knights Templar (600 years and going strong)
Largest: Moon hoax (1 million+ conspirators)

He's [Jack White] not the one who started it - there's some book out now in France with the same theory.

There's a locked thread here on that subject. I pointed out several flaws in the photo analysis. It's exactly the sort of thing Jack White would go for.

Most destructive: satanic ritual abuse (hundreds jailed, thousands of families destroyed)

While I know something of the hysteria over satanic ritual abuse, I would vote for Hitler's Mein Kampf as the most destructive conspiracy theory, having led to the Holocaust and a major war. It also has the ignominious distinction of having spawned another conspiracy theory to deny the first.

From the article...

Such craziness suggests to me that the time might be ripe to hold a Stupid Olympics. I know this will seem a bold proposal and perhaps even redundant, considering that in the last Olympics they actually gave medals for curling, a sport that involves brooms.

Hey, our womens team won the Gold Medal because they were best at using the brooms. We even beat Canada.

All the curling events sold out here, with tickets being scalped for $200 or more. Curling may be a sort of whipping boy for ridiculous sports, but there's something about it that people emphatically want to see and do.

Curling doesn't even come close to Synchronized Swimming for the gold in the Silly Sports category. But of course, that's a summer Olympics event...

In this past Olympics I think figure skating takes the prize for silly sport. Not because its participants are not legitimate athletes -- they are. But because winning and losing is determined by opinion, not by objective observation.

Okay, to drag this back on topic ...

There is a legitimate social purpose in opposing conspiracy theories.

First, conspiracy theories are not harmless. As we've seen, some can blossom into the most despicable acts of human depravity in recent memory.

Second, society as a whole is not generally helped along by superstition and ignorance, which is what conspiracism eventually boils down to. We can, and should, be tolerant of varying opinion, but if the proponents of those opinions wish them to motivate a course of action, then we are obligated to weigh the support of those opinions against the consequences of the proposal.

Third, a lot of people worked very hard and sacrificed a lot to effect Apollo. If their accomplishment is to be questioned, it ought to be on solid grounds, not flimsy ones. Conspiracy theories are not without their consequences.

Oh, come on now. You don't think pushing a forty pound teapot across the ice and using brooms to sweep up isn't the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard? So what DO you think is silly? [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

At least (silly as it is) synchronized swimming has an element of grace and athleticism to it. Curling is just a spruced up drunken ice game as far as I'm concerned.

As for Jays comment, I think it was popular this time simply because it's so ridiculous. Everyone's got to get in there to see the "stupid" sport. I'm sure a lot of the popularity is simply due to it's being in the media so much (mostly as the target of jokes).

Well, enough of this off-topic olympic ranting. Frankly, I lost all interest in the olympics once I realized that it had ceased to be a (mostly) friendly competition among the world's amateurs and became a win-at-any-cost, money-grubbing arena for showing-off and making a few advertizing dollars.

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...And that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped. --Sir Bedevere

To add to what Jay said:
Fourth, conspiracy nuts cost us money. There are groups demanding that the government officially investigate all UFO claims. I would assume investigators would want to be paid. Every time the government has to debunk this idiocy, it costs.
Lisa