History Repeating Itself & A Conspiracy Come True

When I was in high school, we went to Washington D.C for our end of year trip. While most of my classmates seemed more interested in the Smithsonian Institution and the national Mall, it was a walk through the Holocaust museum that changed my life and subsequently shaped my university studies.

The museum had on display thousands of pounds of hair shaved from the heads of prisoner's who had been sent to Germany and Poland's concentration camps. Another display held thousands of suitcases with names and address written with white chalk under the pre tense that the owners would one day see their belongings again. A last encasement held thousands of shoes - I'll never forget a tiny pair of fashionable little red slippers.

Despite all the overwhelming evidence that we know exists of the Holocaust, the mere thought of mass genocide was so entirely unfathomable that during the Second World War, the Holocaust was thought to be a Jewish conspiracy. No one believed that death could become so industrialized and manufactured 

This sort of leads me to bring up the situation in North Korea - the death camps it houses and the atrocities committed onto its detainees are not unlike Auschwitz or Birkenau. It's no conspiracy, and yet  it seems to fall on deaf ears in North America. Yes, North Korea does have WMDs pointed to the South, and no, they might not have the oil reserves to spur the United States into action… but how can we say 'never again' when it's happening right now and we are doing nothing about it?

A Victim of Drunk Driving and a High-Speed Chase, or a Target of British Monarchy

This just in: the in-laws of a former soldier whose estranged wife claims that he had been instrumental in the 'murder' of Princess Diana speaks to reporters about the British military's role in her death. Known only as 'Soldier N', he claims that the Special Air Service (SIS) had arranged Diana's death and subsequent cover up.

Other theories, propagated in part by Dodi Fayed's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, claim that Diana was murdered because the British monarchy would not accept a Muslim as the step-father to the future King of England. He went further to claim that Diana had been pregnant by Dodi at the time of her death - and this, again, had to be 'dealt' with. However, Hasnat Kahn, a heart-surgeon Diana had a relationship with previously, stated that his relationship with the princess had never been opposed by the royal family, and in fact, they had received Prince Charles' blessings to wed.

Here's the takeaway - when it comes to what happened that night - the driver of the Mercedes Benz had been drinking and the autopsy revealed his blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit in France. Diana had not been wearing a seatbelt - and the paparazzi had been pursuing the car. Until there is some cold-hard evidence that the Royal family or the military had been involved, unfortunately this was  more a tragic car accident than international conspiracy.

Even the Sharks are Spies

Egyptian security boats search for sharks after the first attack on a
German tourist in December 2010.

Tourism in Egypt took a plunder in 2010 when a series of shark attacks were reported off the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, severely injuring four and killing one tourist. In response, the resort was closed and dozens of sharks were captured and killed.

The governor of South Sinai, backed by numerous Egyptian television broadcasts, insisted that the shark attacks were linked to an Israeli conspiracy to harm Egyptian tourism. These were no ordinary sharks - but remote-controlled Israeli spies. Fuelling this theory was the fact that some sharks were found with GPS devices attached to them.

 It's rather evident that this theory was propagated by nothing but anti-Semitism. As someone who has studied international relations in university, I'm well aware that conspiracy theories about Israel and the Jews are relatively commonplace in the Middle East.

There's actually a pretty simple explanation for the shark attacks. During the Islamic Festival of Eid al-Adha, dozens of sheep carcasses had been illegally dumped into the Red Sea, luring the sharks to the shore. Additionally, Egypt's issue with over-fishing by the Red Sea also contributed to the depletion of natural prey in the area. Those GPSs that were apparently controlling the sharks? Planted by marine biologists to study shark behaviour.

And, as the cherry on-top of the cake, guests of the resort had been feeding the reef fish and the sharks.

Remote-controlled Israeli spies? Nice try.

The Truth on the Moon - Vol. 1

It was one of the greatest technological advancements of the 20th century, and one of the most iconic feats of all time; the 1969 Apollo Moon Landing.

Along those lines, few conspiracy theories have received the amount of attention and television specials as the lunar landings.

Dwindling in popularity but still hanging by a thread, people like filmmaker Bart Sibrel have asserted that the American government was so threatened by Soviet advancement amidst the height of the Cold War, that officials fabricated the landing in a Hollywood studio. Quite a bit of photographic 'evidence' is used to back their claim - so much that it is impossible to tackle in just one blog post.

A favourite seems to be the famous, image of the American flag fluttering in the wind… like it's totally not bothered by the fact there's actually no air on the moon, and thus, no wind. Pretty damning evidence for some.

In actuality, the flagpole was intentionally designed outward, precisely so it wouldn't turn into a shapeless wad of fabric. The extension piece became stuck and the flag wrinkled because it had been folded - giving it the appearance of moving. Take a look at these shots of Buzz Aldrin. In the first, he is looking at the flag, and he begins to turn towards the camera in the second. The flag remains completely stationary.