Home Pop Culture Boston Marathon Bombing Conspiracy theory now includes left and right wing assaults.

Boston Marathon Bombing Conspiracy theory now includes left and right wing assaults.

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Boston Marathon bombing
Boston Marathon bombing

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In the aftermath of Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing the public has anxiously begun to call for the assailants to be brought forth. With at present no chief leads as to who may be responsible for the bombing a number of conspiracy theories have begun to emerge. Not surprisingly the most beguiling one involves the presence of a Saudi national who attempted to flee (like other attendees) the scene after the blasts and who was subsequently tackled by concerned bystanders.

boingboing: A twenty-year-old man who had been watching the Boston Marathon had his body torn into by the force of a bomb. He wasn’t alone; a hundred and seventy-six people were injured. But he was the only one who, while in the hospital being treated for his wounds, had his apartment searched in “a startling show of force,” as his fellow-tenants described it to the Boston Herald, with a “phalanx” of officers and agents and two K9 units.

Interestingly the speculation of Arab roots being behind the bombing led to this comment on the web that had me wondering as well:

I can’t really remember if they said “Saudi” or “brown” or whatever, but the first thing that popped into my head was that somebody overreacted to a brown person, and I said “That poor guy…”

Then again ought we really be surprised that such rampant profiling is taking place given the ongoing presentation of the Mid-East as bomb wielding nihilists? Never mind that one can be sure such negative profiling (rightly or wrongly) of American imperialism exists in that neck of the world as well.

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Also making the conspiracy rounds is the purported sighting of a mystery man on top of a nearby roof that had social media wondering as well:

csmonitor: A photo credited to Suffolk University junior Dan Lampariello shows the instant of the second explosion that occurred near the marathon finish line Monday. The photo went viral in social media, and was broadcast on CNN, ABC, and CBS, among others.

Dan Lampariello told ABC News Monday “I was about 200 feet from the finish line … right in front of the Mandarin Hotel. My aunt was actually running in the marathon. We were out there to cheer her on. We thought maybe it was fireworks at first, but when we saw the second explosion we definitely knew that something was wrong.”

Mom responded by saying my name with a strong note of exasperation. You know, the kind that means, “Shut up and stop speculating”.

Also making an appearance in the conspiracy wars includes controversial conspiracy stalwart Alan Jones and right wing darling of infowars:

huffpo: Right wing activist Alex Jones and his infamous conspiracy site, Info Wars, have also suggested that the attack was orchestrated by the American government as a “false flag” to infringe on civil liberties.

Alan Jones goes on to speculate that authorities were warned of an impending bomb attack but chose to keep this to themselves as they conducted a bomb drill. Or even worse a staged attack courtesy of the bomb drill squad who may or may have not set the bombs off themselves.

“You saw them stage Fast and Furious. Folks, they staged Aurora, they staged Sandy Hook. The evidence is just overwhelming. And that’s why I’m so desperate and freaked out. This is not fun, you know, getting up here telling you this. Somebody’s got to tell you the truth.”

A cursory google check also brought this author to the attention of another Alan Jones, prolific Australian radio host and commentator who opined (plausibly) that the bombing may have been the work of left wing outlets courtesy of the overwhelming existence of universities in Boston populated by many young individuals. Nevertheless the host was met with hostility when he went on to posit that the blasts ought to also now provoke local Australian government checks on foreign students that it allows to study in that nation’s universities.

But not to be outdone is the public itself who some have gone on to create domain sites specifically for the purpose of providing a forum as to who may have planned the Boston Marathon bombing. That said not everyone is going for it with some individuals going out of the way to buy domain sites to preempt the creation of false ideas.

Explained one individual, Jaimie Muehlhausen who bought the website domain bostonmarathonconspiracy.com to in his words prevent some “kook from owning it.”

nydailynews:Buying the domain name was an impulsive action in anticipation of the inevitable reaction from a certain group of people. Nothing more,” Muehlhausen told the Daily News in an email. “This story isn’t about me. I did not do this for any sort of media attention. I did this out of respect for the victims and the families of those affected by this horrible tragedy.”
And then there was this too via huffpo…

huffpo: UPDATE: Two similar domains, bostonmarathonconspiracies.com and bostonconspiracies.com, have now also been bought up by people attempting to keep them out of the hands of real conspiracy theorists.

With no solid leads to work on (unless of course authorities have simply chosen to keep all leads off key until necessary) the public at large remains stymied as to who is in the end behind the bombing. Which probably says more about the desire to contextualize fear and the sense of helplessness that so often follows such horrific events.

Then again that too may be part of the broader focus of most terrorist acts, to keep the public living in perpetual fear and to think and agree to things that they perhaps may not ordinarily do. One ought to wonder if the bombing may lead to increased surveillance, cutting off of liberties or the public capitulating to any mass hysteria theory that comes their way?

isportstimes: In liberal Massachusetts, many believe that this event was a “false flag” but a move that had a bigger purpose. With an upcoming vote on gun control coming up in the United State Senate, people see this bombing as a chance for the U.S. to begin taking away more liberties away from its citizens. A bombing such as this could make people lean on the government more and trust that they will do all they can to protect them … which means that the government could ask these traumatized citizens to do what they say. The gun control debate was delayed before the bombing occurred but this will be a big topic going forward.

above image found here.

And then there was these reflections on the web that made me wonder as well:

nowtoronto: Their thinking becomes improbably seductive in its own inside-out lucidity, attractive to anyone thirsting for simple answers, for any answers. For worse, ours is a world where the clowns regard themselves as tragic Yorick figures, gibing, gamboling, speaking undiluted truth out of their assholes, men of infinite jest.

 

The notion that we are being lied to by our government and our media is not all that difficult to believe, and most everyone believes that to one degree or another. That fact, added to an increase in the number of people believing that we are being lied to consistently by both the media and the government, give conspiracy theories solid ground to stand on.

Simply stated, a lot of people are willing to entertain conspiracy theories because they are already convinced that our government lies to us, and that the media is an accessory to those lies.

 

Jones’ fans are a perfect example of groupthink: a loudmouthed attention whore says something, and people that find it hard to think for themselves slowly agree with him for the sake of agreeing. Since Jones’ fans find it easier to let someone else think for them, they will instead focus on attacking anyone that doesn’t live in fear of their own shadows as “brainwashed sheep that refuses to learn the truth” because “they don’t want to do research”.

The only “research” they accept are “news” sites made by people that convinced readers that every other news organization is lying to them and that “they” are the only ones that know the “truth” because they’re “edgy” and “fighting the system”.

Jones fans are so predictable in their responses, it makes me laugh every single time.

 

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1 COMMENT

  1. Its curious that you say “dissection of popular culture”. To my postgraduate- academic level, sounded interesting. And your article too. Though at the end you proved me wrong. You are not a “dissection” but a regular American that believes almost consistently in what main media and the US government says and anyone that questions it or presents another point of view contradicting these is crazy and should not expressed them publicly or in a news/media outlet. What is freedom of speech then?

    These is not told to Americans, but in the rest of the world but Americans have an image of been the most gullible people in the world. Whatever you watch on TV or read in NYT, WP, Newsweek, Time or your government tells you you think is the absolute truth. And because of your very efficient government propaganda of decades you have been manipulated to believe that is “un-American” to question your government or your main media sources/reporters. This is as the world sees Americans, their media and their government.

    I am nothing of a libertarian, nor a right wing person and disagree in many things with Alex Jones. But he is always surprisingly critical of your government and your media and if you look very carefully he is very smart in picking information from the most interesting sources, the main media itself and reading between the lines and connecting the dots and presenting the whole picture.

    One specific issue that impressed me was his information and views regarding ASPAN, also fast and furious case, etc. To me an intellectual, highly informed professional that has worked with the federal system in Mexico is surprising and impressive that he can connect the dots in this an other issues regarding a country that I do not believe he even has ever visited nor cares to with just searching through US main media or local or foreign newspapers and connecting the dots with other previous information, articles, before others did and in a much more realistic and broad way that is the closest to the truth that you will ever hear or read in the US.

    Regarding 9/11, Sandy Hook, OKC bombing, as inside jobs are the general opinion of mostly well educated people outside the US. We have seen outside was your government and your media really about and capable of doing, we have suffered directly because of it, its economic/military/political intervention in protecting and serving special interest groups interest, many times at the cost of many human lives.

    Your media is the most controlled media there is. Is impressive the quality of the information outside the US, very visible in certain situations like the Irak war, the Iran-Contra, Desert storm, etc, etc, etc. in contrast to what the US people get in the US compare to European and Latin American independent media. Sometimes is laughable to us and we just say poor Americans the are still brainwashed, manipulated by fear, ignorance, disinformation, propaganda. (Example: While the US media and government kept using the terror/Osama threat card for years until his “killing”, since around the end of 2001 thanks to the French media we were informed of Osama Bin Laden’s stay in a US hospital in dyalisis and was visited by the top CIA person there with kidney failure and reason why he had also acquired a mobile dyalisis machine. -Which was reported in Europe and Latin American newspapers, and also later by Alex Jones by the way- as was in his deathbed afterwards and died later after).

    So do not believe the whole truth in only one place. So do not discredit people that think differently than you and question everything specially the government and their media.

    Read between the lines. See the whole picture. If one as a good citizen does not question what we read or watch and what our governments say that we are doomed as a society specially when there is clear evidence that we are been repeatedly lied to by the government and the media and we live in a country/world were special interest groups are served not the people by these. This is as simple as 2+2 equals 4. But is hard to see the world that we live in as it is and the people that governs us for what they really are. How then can we change and contribute to our community and our country to make things better for all if we keep a blind eye on this very basic reality?

    (The Guardian article below).
    CIA agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July 2001
    French report claims terrorist leader stayed in Dubai hospital
    Anthony Sampson
    The Guardian,
    Thursday 1 November 2001 03.17 GMT

    Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10
    days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by
    the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro.
    The
    disclosures are known to come from French intelligence which is keen to
    reveal the ambiguous role of the CIA, and to restrain Washington from
    extending the war to Iraq and elsewhere.
    Bin Laden is reported
    to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own
    personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology
    department. While there he was visited by several members of his family
    and Saudi personalities, and the CIA.
    The CIA chief was seen in
    the lift, on his way to see Bin Laden, and later, it is alleged,
    boasted to friends about his contact. He was recalled to Washington soon
    afterwards.
    Intelligence sources say that another CIA agent was
    also present; and that Bin Laden was also visited by Prince Turki al
    Faisal, then head of Saudi intelligence, who had long had links with the
    Taliban, and Bin Laden. Soon afterwards Turki resigned, and more
    recently he has publicly attacked him in an open letter: “You are a
    rotten seed, like the son of Noah”.
    The American hospital in Dubai emphatically denied that Bin Laden was a patient there.
    Washington last night also denied the story.
    Private
    planes owned by rich princes in the Gulf fly frequently between Quetta
    and the Emirates, often on luxurious “hunting trips” in territories
    sympathetic to Bin Laden. Other sources confirm that these hunting trips
    have provided opportunities for Saudi contacts with the Taliban and
    terrorists, since they first began in 1994.
    Bin Laden has often
    been reported to be in poor health. Some accounts claim that he is
    suffering from Hepatitis C, and can expect to live for only two more
    years.
    According to Le Figaro, last year he ordered a mobile dialysis machine to be delivered to his base at Kandahar in Afghanistan.
    Whether
    the allegations about the Dubai meeting are confirmed or not, the wider
    leaks from the French secret service throw a worrying light on the
    rivalries and lack of coordination between intelligence agencies, both
    within the US and between western allies.
    A familiar complaint
    of French intelligence is that collaboration with the Americans has been
    essentially one-way, with them happy to receive information while
    giving little in return.

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