I know no-one will read this blog because I don't have any idea how to make these things go viral beyond my dog reading it and a few of it's fleas. However I felt the need to just right down my rants in the hope someone will see it and common sense will prevail.
There's a lot of misinformation spread on the internet. Most are harmless and unintentional like someone believing changing their status for an hour on Facebook to honour a 'cause week' which unbeknown to them doesn't actually exist. Some however are quite disturbing and could lead to people being hurt or worse. It's this I'd like to address now.
There's a series of websites which are labelled as alternative media which have grown in popularity over the past few years. They use cleverly constructed stories with vague references to shadowy sources and links to similar stories on the same types of website as the journalistic proof their story has legitimacy. I thought them quite harmless at first, entertaining at best as their stories were so outlandish and one-sided I did not think anyone would give them credence. Besides, once a handful of the claims in these stories never saw the light of day I thought that people would not trust any such future nonsense from them and move on. I am afraid I was wrong.
As they sometimes do seem to get genuine scoops and as they feed off the fear and paranoia of a certain section of the public, their popularity has grown. People who follow them 'religeously' believe they are getting the inside information, the secret knowledge censored from the mainstream media and the public at large.
Since Obama came into power some of these sites have gone rabid. I don't know if it's because he's the first coloured President or if it's the links to Muslims or what, but there's a growing number of people in the US who's convinced Obama is going to enslave and kill the US people. Crazy huh? It became even worse since the Newton Massacre and Obama started talking seriously about tackling the gun problem.
There's some people, and I include some of my American friends who are normally quite logical and sane, who believe the US government wants to take guns away from 'normal, patriotic' families by force if necessary. They believe a civil war is coming and are arming up like never before in preparation for a bloodbath. Some also believe if they do, China will invade because an armed population is the only thing stopping such action. Sounds nuts right? No-one in their right mind would believe this without concrete proof right? I'm afraid not. Using the art of sophistry and misdirecting all it takes is some articles on the internet which plays heavily on people's fears and bingo, people will seemingly believe anything based on just words.
Here's an example. If you do a search in google on "DHS buys 1.6 billion rounds of ammo" you will find loads of 'news' articles on the subject which are very disturbing to read. E.G.
http://www.infowars.com/government-cover-up-of-ammo-buys-implodes/
The article is very convincing. It quotes lots of other reports and sources but close scrutiny shows the links are either to articles on it's own website or similar websites reporting the same type of news. Where is the balance here? It seems very one-sided and you can only come to the conclusion that the US government is planning to go to war...on it's own citizens. Yet a ten minute search on google by myself found this:
http://westmoreland.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=642&Itemid=372
The answer is simple. They buy in bulk to the maximum amount they are allowed to buy for a five year period to save the taxpayer money. Now maybe this is a conspiracy or a cover up but what I find very telling is in all the articles I've read on these news websites, none quote this explanation direct or link to it. At most it is mentioned vaguely in a sentence at the end.
Next there's this:
http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/police-departments-beg-and-barter-ammo-while-dhs-buys-16-billion
OMG - The government has bought so much ammo there's none left for local police forces! Again a ten minute search by me found this:
http://www.policeone.com/media-relations/articles/6087399-Police-departments-facing-ammo-shortage-nationwide/
From the police themselves saying the ammo shortage is due to panic buying from citizens convinced by the fear and paranoia spread by the alternate media. Now again, this may be a cover of some sort, after all the suspicious part of me questions if the government has bought so much ammo why are the police running out? However that's not the point as we are not even allowed to discuss this point as it is never even mentioned on these websites.
It seems people faced with a choice would much rather believe the government is out to rip the guns out of their hands by force, bring in martial law and introduce internment camps for 'dissident citizens' rather than even consider they are buying in bulk to save money and it's the public's own panic buying which is causing the problem.
And who's profiting from all this? Well I'd say the gun/ammo companies and organisations like the NRA are probably making more money then they ever have before! It also seems to me these websites spreading this news must be making a mint from advertising revenue and 'patriotic citizens' donating cash to 'the cause!' Look past the misdirection and follow the money trail, that's were the real source of the problem is usually found.
I look at the comments under these articles and get a chill. People seem to be stockpiling guns and ammo like never before. How long is it before people are killed over this? I hope common sense eventually prevails. Here is a link to a great article on a sensible way forward for guns in America.
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/18/opinion/frum-obama-plan-b-on-guns/index.html
Again, I never see this linked or suggested in the alternate media so the question I ask is why? Why not report different sides to a story? Is the real conspiracy here not the government but the so called reporters of the truth?
Now before you say anything I am not saying there's no government conspiracy theories, governments do not have secrets, corporations do not meet and come up with plans to dominate the market more etc. I'm saying that conspiracy theories are just that, a theory. A conspiracy is harder to put together than you might think as people, by their very nature, cannot keep secrets. The bigger the group of people involved, the more complex the conspiracy, the more exponentially difficult it is to keep a secret, yet every major event in modern history and beyond is now labelled as being brought about by a conspiracy theory.
If you look at what's happening in America right now you'll see Obama and Congress are struggling to even get a discussion on suggesting a re-introducing a ban on assault rifle. That's light years away from a home invasion, but since when did a little commen sense get in the way of sensationalism?
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