by Joseph Coleman

Created on: June 11, 2009   Last Updated: June 15, 2009

We are not talking about conspiracy: "the secret plan, by a group, to commit an unlawful act". We are talking about conspiracy theories: "an idea formed when multiple people do not subscribe to the "truth" of an action by government or authority". Conspiracy theories are not unlawful, but they are rampant in the world today. Some are wildly inaccurate, some are based on flimsy evidence. Some are insanely stupid! These are easy to dismiss, and should be.

Then, there is the 9-11 conspiracies. Like all others, some are merely crazy rants! And then again, some have merit. Some have evidence of incompetence, and some have evidence that the actions of some inpower, caused the events of 9-11 and were down right criminal! There are so many unanswered questions about 9-11 that it can only serve to increase the speculation of conspiracy.

Like, why did Bush fight so hard against a commission to investigate 9-11? Then, when he finally capitulated, what we ended up with was even more speculation! The assessment of this conspiracy is that it will not go away until the people have an honest, and complete investigation.

Conspiracy theories serve a purpose because the people want honesty from their government. If theories are left open-ended, a portion of the people will never trust their own government. I realize that "honesty" and "government" are like oil on water, much like "politicians" and the "truth". And it is true that a genuinely honest person can never be elected an American President. I believe we have come as close as we can to electing an honest person. But even he has conspirators.

Conspiracy theories do damage when they are filled with "wowachi sni", the Lakota word for lies! We are in a time of many conspiracy theories. Some believe that this is the era, spoken of in the Bible as, "wars and rumors of wars", propelling us toward the end time of Armageddon. This is a conspiracy theory, and there are those who wish it to be, because of their beliefs!

Now, with the internet, people have a way to gather evidence of their theories. Such as the video showing Donald Rumsfeld saying that Flight 93 was "shot down". Or, Condalezza Rice saying: "We had no idea they would use planes as weapons". This was "wowachi sni", the lie! These actions feed the conspiracy theory.

In assessing conspiracy theories, we must keep our minds open to evidence of what the theory concerns. If it does not have evidence, it is just talk, and is of no value whatsoever. It is mere gossip. A theory is speculation, and not necessarily a truth. But it can lead us to the truth, if it has a foundation based on evidence.

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