I offer you this question: Why is it that when people read something that presents some form of theory contrary to popular belief that is supported by ascertains, referred to as facts, that they immediately begin to question the validity of popular belief but forget to question the validity of where this new theory is coming from?

This question has been at the forefront of my mind of late thanks to some notable recent events. Several days ago sequential still images were released from a video camera pointed at where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001. The nature of the video camera meant that images were only taken once ever half a second or so and thereby the video appears to be inconclusive which ultimately set off a barrage of the conspiracy theorists once again. The other notable event happened last night for some, and is about to happen this Friday for the rest of the world. That event is the release of The Da Vinci code to theaters. What was so significant about the book and now the subsequent movie is that it in and of itself is the conspiracy theory, and thanks to the movie's release we get to hear people on both sides of the argument yell until they're blue in the face. These events, while totally unrelated, offer an interesting perspective into the thoughts of a twenty-first century person.

Conspiracy theories have always intrigued people, from the moon landings to the assignation of JFK to 9/11 and everything in between. The internet has helped by giving people anonymity while also giving them a free platform to say whatever they want and call it fact. Then people read what others have written and take it as face value, while never going back to the original source, or never checking the facts of the theorist. Are we that excited by the prospect of vast conspiracies that we just choose to not do our homework, or are we too stupid to check? Perhaps it's a combination of both mixed in with a healthy dose of American laziness. It's not just the United States though, I certainly have no numbers on this but I'd venture to say that it's just as prevalent elsewhere in the world if not more so. I could spend the time it takes to debunk every single theory addressed by 9/11 theorists, and by what's written in the Da Vinci Code but would it do any good? Not likely, in fact it would probably just cause a lot of people to begin arguing with me about how I'm being blinded by the lawyers and Jews in control. I understand the need to question that which is around you, but why don't we take the time to question everything?

The funny thing is that most conspiracy theories break down in such simple areas, for instance a movie about the 9/11 conspiracy known as "Loose Change" couldn't even get the melting point of Titanium correct, and Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code wrote about an albino monk in Opus Dei, but Opus Dei doesn't even have monks. How many readers of Brown's book checked that though, that extremely simple point and how many viewers of "Loose Change" checked up a simple melting point? Most likely none, and if they're not going to check the simple things, why would they check the more complex things, truth is they won't. All you need do is present something as fact and people will believe it, and just go on with their daily lives. For instance if you're reading this you're probably accepting it all as fact. It is, but have I given you any supporting evidence to prove it? No, in fact I've just claimed everything here and you have to take my word that I know what I'm talking about. When can we learn to check out both sides of the argument, not just the side that best fits what we'd like it to given our mindset at the time? Probably never, and so we will have conspiracy theories for the rest of our lives suggesting that commonly known facts are in fact false.