Emerging 2012 Conspiracy Theories: A Year in Review
January 2nd, 2013
Big government is a shady enterprise. Cloaked by state secrets, bureaucratic disorganization, and misleading press statements, government officials often obscure their errors and ethical failures behind “official stories” that don’t add up. When this happens, citizens lose faith in the motives of politicians and bureaucrats. As scandals mount, conspiracy theories emerge in folklore.
2012 was an extraordinary year for conspiracy theories. In fact, the year was special in that regard on day one, as an ancient prediction based on the Mayan calendar singled out December 21st, 2012 as a possible end date for the world. Not only that, but alternative media journalists, hackers, and whistle-blowers exposed unprecedented levels of government corruption. As we move on to 2013, let’s take a look back at some of the conspiracy theories that emerged during the past year.
Open Secrets and the Collapse of the CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency is the focus of many conspiracy theories. However, one might argue that 2012 was a breakout year for CIA corruption. In years past, the CIA’s secret wars went largely unnoticed by the public. This year saw an intense escalation in off-the-record drone attacks in nations like Pakistan and Yemen, and the American public now considers this open secret to be a political fact.
CIA Director David Petraeus was forced to resign after the public became aware of an affair he had been having with his biographer. Meanwhile, four Americans were killed in Benghazi, Libya at a CIA safe house, including US Ambassador Chris Stevens. One theory even alleges that the Obama Administration watched the attacks unfold in real time, refusing to send help despite knowing attacks were in progress. Also, many believe Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is faking an illness to avoid testifying on the issue.
Monetary Manipulation
As the Federal Reserve began unleashing historic levels of new currency into the marketplace through quantitative easing programs, many conspiracy theories began to emerge from the banking and commodities sectors. Some are alleging that central banks are manipulating commodity markets by hiding or overstating reserves of gold and silver. For example, a new theory emerged about the existence of massive, hidden stashes of gold.
A Libor scandal exploded onto the scene in 2012. Some banks were caught fudging interest rate figures. The fallout from this was far-reaching, and, as such, became connected to a wide range of additional conspiracy theories. Since two major school shooting suspects had family connections to bankers tied to the Libor scandal, other vague theories began to form around those associations. Another huge banking lawsuit was dubiously connected to the murder of a CNBC executive’s children.
The typical election-year conspiracy theories were in full force for 2012. People tossed out allegations of voter fraud. Countless “October Surprise” conspiracy theories were leveraged leading up to the election. The Benghazi scandal unfolded in the chaotic month ahead of election day, and Hurricane Sandy hit days before, leading to theories about weather manipulation and HAARP being used to change the outcome of the election.
Thousands of drones began to fly over US airspace, causing accusations that the government is planning a military-style coup. In fact, when a house exploded in Indianapolis, many believed that it was a CIA drone strike.
While it’s certainly important to remain skeptical of the official stories put forward by governments and the overreactions of conspiracy theorists that sometimes jump to conclusions on little evidence, it can take years to figure out what really happened when scandalous things occur behind a shroud of secrecy. Each Tuesday, we take a closer look at popular conspiracy theories in a feature called Tinfoil Tuesday.
In closing, 2012 was an epic year for conspiracy theories, but, above all, the debunking of the Mayan apocalypse theory was the most noteworthy event of the year. After all, we’re all still here!
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