It is pretty clear to most Americans by now that information we receive from the government is the information that they want us to have. Too many times we are misled or distracted from what is actually taking place by rumors that are created by our own elected leaders. It is to easy to start a little story that breeds and forms into a giant mess. We try to make sense but, our government has a different agenda. It seems unlikely that a nation would not be able to handle or understand the truth.
A rumor is usually started as a question then is interpreted as a factual statement. The process takes off into a downward spiral out of control. It is blown so far out of proportion it becomes difficult to go back as if nothing was ever said. It is human nature to love gossip, and a rumor is most often nothing more than just gossip. Breeding thoughts that are building up and just waiting to reek havoc. Unfortunately for most, it is hard to tell the truth form the gossip.
This leads us to ask the important questions about some of the rumors involving our United States government. Was the South Asia Tsunami in 2004 caused by a U.S. nuclear bomb? Was this just a way to divert our attention from things happening elsewhere in the world? This suggestion is a hard pill to swallow. Could our very own government do something so horrific and cover it up as a natural disaster? I am compelled to think that it is impossible for something disguised as a natural disaster could even happen. Then again, that is the idea. Starting a string of rumors to distract us from what is really taking place.
These accusations are that of Joe Vialls, Dick Eastman and others who have posted their ideas about world events in “The Rumor Mill News Agen...
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...carrying 2,000 marines and not its usual 500 when it went into the Indian Ocean. Our marines are usually expected to be on the front line of defense for the U.S., not an aid in a natural disaster. Some other examples of such instances with our Navy ships cannot be just chance. Would these things really have happened if the Untied States had no involvement?
What can we really believe? There is a lot of proposed evidence that this theory could be true, but is it? I am reminded of examples in my own life where a simple question or statement becomes a mass of theories. People creating their own gossip askew from what actually happened. Without people and the media raising questions that begin such rumors, we may never know the real truth involving global events.
Works Cited
Joe Vialls: Tsunami Result of U.S. nuclear bomb?
newslog-at-cyber journal.org10 Jan. 2005
Gossip can be a form of either informal or conversational talk that is not usually planned but happens spontaneously in conversation (Tholander, 2003). Gossip is a distinct and unusual form of storytelling as it involves a non-present third person. In order for a story to be considered as gossip it must handle a past event of which the absent third party was involved in. It often occurs within friendships,
so. Many people believe other theories which is fine but there is no doubt that this is a conspiracy
Robert Knapp has come up with some ways to identify different types of rumors in his writing called A Psychology of Rumor. Knapp says, “In practice it has been found that the emotional needs most frequently served by rumors are wish, fear, and hostility” (496). Knapp uses the name Pipe-dream and Wish Rumor to describe the rumors that contain wishful thinking. He also uses the name Bogie Rumor when describing a rumor that comes from the fear and anxiety of the people. Knapp lastly uses The Wedge-driving Aggression Rumor when describing a rumor that is made out of aggression or hatred. One of these names will be chosen to categorize the reading called Paul is Dead by Alan Glen. The name that will categorize the rumor is the Bogie Rumor.
In researching this and many other conspiracy theories, one can see many uses of sensationalism, mainly by the media. This media- the news (local and national), magazines, tabloids, television shows, movies, and so on- has a huge e...
On November 22nd, 1963 America lost its innocence. It also perhaps lost its trust, trust in the American Government. In a gallop pole in 1960, 89% of the American population trusted the government. Since then it has dropped to less than to . That means that since the early 1960's over 70% of the population lost its trust in the Federal Government. While there may be different reasons why many people lost their trust, the most major one was probably the assassination and investigation of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. In 1963 and 1964 the US government told the American public about what happened that fateful day in Dallas Texas. They said that one crazy man, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone killed the President of the United States. This is not the truth. The man that was going to make peace with Russia, and put an early end to the Vietnam war was not killed by one man. JFK was killed in one of the biggest conspiracies in this countries, and perhaps the world's history.
There have been many wars that the Unites States has been a part of. Some were fought on American soil, others fought abroad. But through it all, there has always been a need for the public’s support. And what better way to get that support than by putting information out there for the public. Now of course this is biased information that it put forth in front of the general public; just enough to get people caring and thinking about the war, but not enough to keep them fully educated on the subject. Once people start knowing too much and researching, it becomes something that they either feel has too much support, or they take stands that the government does not want. The different media that is out there is geared towards the general public knowing the truth. But I pose the question that “what is the truth?” especially back in the old days? Who, but those who put the information out, knew what was really going on when it came to wars and the enemies? This is why I thought it might be interesting to look at the way the citizens were swayed towards believing certain things during the war. Why was there such a scare about the Japanese being in the United States during WWII? The propaganda that was out at the time was highly against the Japanese, even the Japanese Americans, calling them the enemy. While it is sad to know that these sentiments are true, it is important to remember the past and to learn from it.
No, not at all deceived, just not well informed. America’s government refrains itself from telling the population the entire truth considering major contemporary political issues, which ultimately leads to confusion as to what rumors are true and which aren’t, due to the suspicious actions that America’s speakers take.
blames the spreading of this myth on the politicians because they are the ones who
People have their own perspective of a government that they envision for their people. Thomas Jefferson has been the president of the United States and ruled under a monarch. Jefferson couldn’t tolerate the abuse from a monarch, so he rebelled against the British crown. In 1776, Thomas Jefferson wrote The Declaration of Independence, and declared the colonies were free from British rule. Before he became the author of The Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was established “ as an ardent republican and revolutionary” (Jacobus 77). Jacobus states Jefferson is, “one of the most versatile Americans of any generation” (Jacobus 78). In The Declaration of Independence, Jefferson and the founding fathers envisioned a government that would govern the people, and the people would be free. The people must be governed with rights, Jefferson implies it’s the government’s duty to guide and secure the people, therefore, he believes the government’s obligation to the individual is more important than the individuals obligation to the state.
A survey can be defined as a gathering of a sample of data or opinions considered to be representative of a whole. Such as when the United States government polls a random selection of people throughout the country to get an accurate reading of the people's overall prospective of what the American people think is best for the country. As I almost reach the age of eighteen, not only do I have to start worrying about my career and college, I have to affliate myself with a party and prepare to vote. I have taken three online polls and they all came out with similar results; I am a republican. The three polls I took were The Political Affiliation Quiz, The Political Quiz, and Political Compass. I liked them all but all for various reasons.
In conclusion, the government was not part of the 9/11 attacks because, terrorists admitted to it, nobody has found evidence against the government, and 3,000 people were killed, the government would not do any of those things. Something you could do about this issue is telling people who believe that the U.S government did this, that they are
... the rumor. In December of 1981 they received 1,152 queries, about the rumor, and then by “June, however, the center was receiving more than 15,000 queries monthly”. In just a matter of months the Rumor had skyrocketed, and this information shows just how big the rumor actually was.
This section was given in order to show why conspiracy theories are appealing to the average person and how anybody can create one. Next, research data on the general personality and mental state of conspiracy theorists was introduced with believers being more likely to be cynical and have low self-worth (Koerth-Baker 343). Afterward a brief explanation is given on the amygdala, a part of the brain which activates after fear is felt, and how it is crucial to the creation of the various theories we have today. There has also been research showing a correlation between theorizing and strong support of democratic principles due to the fact that conspiracy theories wouldn’t exist without real conspiracies coming to light (Koerth-Baker 344). Then, Koerth begins to talk about how an abundance of available knowledge on the internet has made destroying conspiracy theories even more difficult due to the constant use of confirmation bias. In 2006 scientists discovered an event called the “backfire effect” where any attempts to debunk a theory makes it more popular to the people, but the effect seems more noticeable when it supports a worldview or ideology (Koerth-Baker
People today are willing to do anything to avoid facing the truth, and are willing to go to extreme lengths to silence those who encourage them to do just that. A great example in today’s society would be Donald Trump. He faces an astronomical amount ridicule each day because he tells people the truth about the actions of the government and refuses to compromise his beliefs to please others. It is hard for people to accept and understand something that challenges their beliefs. In fact, a multitude of people today would rather be told a reassuring lie than an inconvenient truth. This makes it easy for the government to keep feeding the people lies with very little opposition. Until people begin to analyze these lies in an attempt to discern the truth, they will remain as gullible and naïve as the prisoners chained in the cave and will forever remain at the mercy of their
“Through the ongoing interaction of theorizing and empirical research consistent with the scientific method, agenda-setting theory has evolved from a tightly focused perspective to a broad theory. Initially, the focus was on the way media affect the public’s view of which issues are important. Later the theory broadened to encompass five distinct aspects of public life: basic and attribute agenda-setting effects, the psychology of these processes, and the consequences of these effects for opinions and behavior. The participation of scholars worldwide has been central to the continuing productivity of the theory” (Maxwell McCombs).