London - Page 4 - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**worldwidemike** · 07-24-2005, 02:42 AM

worldwidemike

**omisan** · 07-25-2005, 12:08 AM

Just to add some more conspiracy theory fuel to the fire. I thought this one up myself...

London mayor Ken Livingstone (lovingly dubbed "Red Ken" by his detractors) blames Western policy and UK involvement in Iraq for terrorist bombings. This is obviously met by much derision and denial by everyone in the other camp.

Not in the news (over here, at least) until now, he takes a tough-guy stance and declares a shoot-to-kill policy for suspected suicide bombers in London.

Suspected suicide bomber is shot to death at a station.. It turns out to be a Brazilian national who had nothing to do with any of it.

Livingstone looks really stupid. Question: Did the cops really just screw up? Or were they led to believe that this bystander had to be shot and killed, simply to make "Red Ken" look like an ass?

Seems pretty asinine, doesn't it?

Well, there's been some mention of Occam's Razor in this thread, and I generally believe in the principle. But with all the absolute bullshit that we've seen in the last 4 years, sometimes conspiracy IS the simplest explanation.

(To play the devil's advocate, you can also take into account that British police haven't been packing heat for very long, and a shoot-to-kill order may not exactly be carried out judiciously by novices in the area of firearms... us Yanks have that market cornered.)

**LiveFreeorDie** · 07-25-2005, 09:08 AM

Quote:

(To play the devil's advocate, you can also take into account that British police haven't been packing heat for very long, and a shoot-to-kill order may not exactly be carried out judiciously by novices in the area of firearms... us Yanks have that market cornered.)

I thought it was the beat cops that never carried, but that they always had a rapid response team kind of like our S.W.A.T teams that were always armed and ready to go for more serious crimes? Is the rapid response team new? just curious.

Why not add the Egypt bombings to the conspiracy list. Seems like good timing to rally some public support against terrorists in a muslim country as well as get said Muslim country more firmly on the side of the West? What would do that better than a bombing that kills mostly fellow Muslims??

On a lighter note, this whole little conspiracy theory would make an excellent movie idea, true or not...with lot's of spies, coverups, doublecrosses, government coverups, a few good car chase scenes, etc.

**omisan** · 07-25-2005, 09:13 AM

Haha.. a movie along those lines would be great, but in the current atmosphere, no studio would touch it unless it's got a ra-ra-pro-"us" spin.

**bluepea** · 07-25-2005, 03:37 PM

Just wanted to see if anyones still caring about the news or just your own thoughts and whether or not there's been another attempt at a bombing in London, plus one person shot dead that (in my humble opinion, tho I'm sure there'll be a debate about this) didn't deserve it.

Er go

Also, in case you don't like first source, enjoy this one.

Don't forget about the people in Egypt either.

**worldwidemike** · 07-26-2005, 09:18 AM

Yeah...no one would touch a conspiracy theory movie that, say, makes the military out to be bad guys, or Vice Presidents out to be part of an evil conspiracy. Nope. No one would touch a movie like the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate."

The thing we have to remember is that our imagination is inventive enough to find a conspiracy behind EVERYTHING. It's what you choose to actually believe and disbelieve that defines whether you're the type of person who sees a spook in every shadow.

It's easy to come up with little theories like the Gnomes of Zurich are behind a shadow movement to rule the world, then find convenient little news items or websites that support our pet theory. Any failed fiction writer like myself could do that.

So, if you don't really believe this garbage, what's the point? Unless, of course, the goal is to say it just to get others' undies in a bunch...

worldwidemike (obviously trying to untangle his undies...)

**omisan** · 07-26-2005, 11:18 AM

Touché, WWM - the 2004 Manchurian Candidate was a decent indictment of the Halliburton/gov't connection. Still, I'd like to see more stuff like the 90's Clear and Present Danger, applied to current events. Now that stuff is fun!

However, I'll stand by my sentiment that it's good to question and consider everything you're told, whether it's by the news, some conspiracy theorist nut, or some blogger on the other side of the world.

To accept everything at face value because it's the simplest explanation is nothing more than mental laziness rationalized as "logic."

**space virgin** · 07-26-2005, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by omisan@Jul 26 2005, 06:17 PM
To accept everything at face value because it's the simplest explanation is nothing more than mental laziness rationalized as "logic."

Which is why for so long people believed the earth was flat, that slavery was perfectly acceptable and the Inquisition was righteous and just.

So, yeah, question EVERYTHING!

**voyd** · 07-26-2005, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by space virgin@Jul 26 2005, 12:20 PM
So, yeah, question EVERYTHING!

Exactly. I never believed in Santa, but 99% of all other little kids did. Why? Simply because they never questioned what they were told.

Oddly, I would have been considered the "bad guy" and a "paranoid conspiracy theorist" to heretically suggest that Santa was all just a huge scam...

And yet, I was right all along!

PS - Occam's Razor actually states that "Plurality should not be posited without necessity." Well, if the company line fully explains everything, then no alternate explanations are likely to be needed. However, many would argue that there are too many questions left unanswered and unaddressed by conventional mainstream dogma. That perhaps the dots are all connecting to a bigger picture than is being widely portrayed. If that's the case, then I think the last thing patriotic citizens should do is to stick our heads in the sand - but instead must remain aware and vigilant. And worst case, what's the harm in that?