What particular incident turned you into a Conspiracy Theorist?

As I entered my teens in the 70's I read everything I could get my hands on about UFOs. Once I became aware of the growing evidence that aspects of the Roswell incident were covered up and that witnesses were threatened and intimidated, I also became aware that governmental authorities and agencies were not always to be trusted or believed. The simultaneous occurrence of Watergate helped to cement this new awareness. It was an impressionable time for me and from that point on I paid more attention to world-wide events and their aftermaths with the understanding that the truth is likely hidden behind the public version offered to us..

The Roswell 'turning point' has prevented me from swallowing everything hook, line and sinker.. I am grateful.for possessing this protective sense of cynicism.

It was a slow evolution.

Was a subscriber to Omni Magazine (yeah yeah, I'm old) that got me into UFO stuff, etc. Voraciously read Colin Wilson, etc. around that age too.

Fascinated by Big Foot, ETs, vampires, the paranormal since I was a child. I've always been fascinated by the hidden 'truth' or what goes on behind the scenes, since what goes on in front of us seems so artificial a lot of the time. My parents could never lie to me the way they could lie to most children - I could see through almost anything and was a natural skeptic. Other things in my life at a very impressionable age contributed to this.

Grew up in the 70s/80s and watch a LOT of movies. 70s movies in particular could be pretty paranoid - Capricorn One, Parallax View, etc. Then in the 80s, learning about all the secret military black-budget projects, Iran-Contra, etc. Punk music (back when it mattered) exposed some of this stuff too - especially Jello Biafra.

Then in the early 90s a bunch of students held a conference and a visiting professor was working on a book essentially connecting a very rich family in Canada as pulling the strings behind every Prime Minister and the Premieres of Quebec and Ontario, regardless of party affiliation.
I thought it was a bit of a stretch and asked him how he responded to people who claim he's just a 'conspiracy theorist'.
He asked why they aren't all called 'coincidence theorists'? WHY would everything that happens, particularly when a few rich, powerful people benefit most from these things happening, simply be a coincidence?
If events were random, sometimes these people would lose, but they don't...

By the time 2001 rolled around, a few seconds after hearing about the WTC attacks, I was thinking 'inside job'.

Originally posted by Cobaltic1978
What one particular incident made you decide to look at alternative views and dare I say it, become a Conspiracy Theorist?

ATS!

I came here looking for ghost pictures...pfft! That was a long time ago...

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


I would say 9/11 for me, I was only 13 years old but from that day on I knew something was not right.

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


In researching my Native American heritage from my GrandFather who is Choctaw and learning as to how my people ended up in Oklahoma.

They were marched at gunpoint from the South Eastern US near the Alabama/Florida border to "Indian Territory" now called Oklahoma.

A long trip by foot I might add, especially in the winter. And Many did not make it.

Realizing that I'd never been told any of this genocide in any of my US History courses and or heard anything on main stream media.

It only opened my eyes as to how much we really don't know about what is really going on here as far as the Govt. is concerned.

And when people state that the Govt. wouldn't Kill their own people in 911....I beg to differ.

Ask any Native American.

All I can remember is that by the time I was 10 I was interested in UFOs, ancient astronauts etc - and that inevitably led to other stuff as I grew older.

The interesting thing being that over the subsequent decades, the more I've learned the more sceptical about (most) conspiracy theories and alternative ideas I've become....

I grew up on things like Sightings, Unsolved mysteries and X files. Since I was a kid I was always fascinated by what could possibly be behind the curtain. Being a space enthusiast UFO's were my first love in the conspiracy world. The rest is just icing.

Originally posted by soundofathousandbirds
reply to post by Cobaltic1978

 

Plus the media...not a fan of the media....

One book I grew up with and first read around the age of 8 was 'Between the Lines' (Black Rose Press). My mother and grandmother had both been in journalism and were appalled by how much their profession had regressed by the 80s. I grew up not believing anything on TV or in the newspapers to the degree that I don't even bother watching or reading them.

I also worked for a long time at a 'paid newswire' where companies, governments, etc. send press releases over the same wires as AP, Reuters, etc. Most people have no clue how much of their 'news' is simply copy-pasted press releases and what little 'reporting' there really is apart from local pancake fundraisers, consists mostly of 'sources' with their own agenda. When I say about 90% of news out there comes from a press release most people don't believe me, but I studied this professionally.

reply to post by Cobaltic1978


Seeking the MOST HIGHEST who was speaking in Genesis WHEN I WAS A YOUTH. When I realized "GOD" spoke I wanted to know who it was. Further it influenced my direction to study Religion Science then Ufology to verify what I was reading in the religious sector. Once I heard and realized all in the religious sector were not humans it made me seek verification in science which led me into ufos. And now I am here

Ive always been interested in the occult and esoteric.

I remember reading a book by David Icke when younger, didnt believe most of it, but started reading more and paying more attention to the underlying facts behind the news. I remember when reading his book thinking that his theory that the Illuminati was busy taking control of the food supply and swapping normal seeds with ones that are infertile was a load of hogwash.

A few years later I started reading about Monsanto and I was like, holy crap, he might not have been so crazy after all.....scrap that he still is bat ass crazy.

The thing that finally got me on to this website was the Norway spiral.

If there is one question I wish I could get the answer for it would be what that was.

Punk rock, reading books, really looking at history, and a general distrust of the establishment.
I had been into conspiracy theory as a pop culture hobby since 1997.
So when 911 happened I didn't buy the official story.


Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus Triology also helped
www.amazon.com...

What did it for me was I grew up in the military and married into the military. I experienced first hand knowing what really happened and knowing how it ended up being explained in the media. Finally as an adult once when I got angry at the military for something that happened to my husband and foolishly talked about "talking", a psy ops "game" was done on me and my child.
I am still recovering from that one psychologically, cured me from wanting to talk for sure.

I was eleven years old living in Stephenville, Texas when I saw the JFK assassination on 11-22-63 live on national TV and while subsequently following the media coverage, once I heard Oswald on TV state that he was a "Patsy", I honestly believed him.

Then, the next contributory thing I saw that was Oswald getting shot and murdered in front of hundreds of cops, live and on national TV, by Jack Ruby, a known gangster or mid level strip club manager that took orders like all the rest of the Mafia criminal elements he associated with.

When Oswald got shot, I knew right then that he was being silenced, so that no one would know the truth that Oswald didn't shoot JFK and that he truly was a patsy. Soon afterwards, I learned there would be much more intrigue and so, that is how it all started for me.

The more I learned during the change of power over to LBJ, the JFK State funeral that saddened the nation and world and then the phony and blind to justice, Warren Commission investigation about Oswald being the lone gunman.

Anyway, the more I learned and just absorbed over time on the same subject matter, the more evidence existed that Oswald didn't do it. That of course begged the question of who did and why?

Anyway, I have always been quick to see certain continuity things that others don't, but for me, it was JFK and all of the sequence of events that transpired afterwards that continued to affirm my conspiratorial inclination.

Besides, the only people that still utter the so called lone gunman official JFK and Warren Commission findings are corrupt government politicians. Ever wonder why that is? I do. It's called complicity.

Thanks for the thread.

JFK for sure. Like many young kids, I learned about the Presidents and Kennedy was the only one who looked modern to me. He was a very handsome man, and the story of his U Boat got me interested. Then when I read about the assassination, I was saddened. Even as a youth.

I think young people take to conspiracies a lot easier than adults. Think about the way they embellish almost everything....so naturally, some crazy story of the assassination caused my mind to wander. And as a four or fifth grader, it made me feel like I was grownup. I was thinking of real adult issues and even could discuss them with adults. Even though they were probably just humoring an excited youth. It was a step up from the Transformers and Nintendo that dominated my thoughts at that age.

I consider myself a skeptic on almost every theory, and as a youth this was no different. What kid doesn't ask "Why" almost constantly? Isn't that what we do here everyday? We are not satisfied with the "Because I said so" response that we get along with the official story. We question that story, and then we question the "conspiracy" story too. We seek the truth, but are never satisfied with our findings.

I am sure 9/11 will be the Kennedy conspiracy of the next few generations. There will always be something that will make us question current events and the "Hive Mind" explanation. Because we are the kids that always wanted to know "Why"

I have been lurking here for a few years now, this is my first post. I hope to be more active, but until I have something new to add to discussions I will just enjoy the stimulation this site provides..

For me it was Roswell. The government's horrible attempt at a cover up is what first opened my eyes to how they operate.

I really enjoyed reading everyone's response....Good thread. I liked the way Deplume said it & I can relate.

I'm at work and need to make it short and sweet.....

For me it was either my parents telling me that I must do as they say and not as they do.

Or

When I was first told of the Three Secrets of Fatima at a young age.

For more info on the Third Secret See Fatima Movement

I was a Catholic my whole life. We had an alter room in our basement with pews and holy water (pretty scary). It wasn't until I was 27. I was working construction at night in Indiana on route 30 in Valparaiso the sky make a bunch of crazy sparks, a shot of lightning what appeared to be a meteor then and-a hole the size of a football field opened up with purple and green translucent gases when 3 orange UFO's flew out with exterior panels and a golden trail coming from them that are burned into my mind.
The three of them drifted and the one on the left almost hit the other 2. The other two crafts instantly turned away to avoid being hit. Then they drove out into the darkness disappeared. The hole in the sky closed and stood slackjawed for a minute wondering if I had taken any medication in the past 6 months.

Why me?

Here is my report to MUFON:www.mufon.com...

The JFK assasination.

I was a few months old when he was killed.

As I grew up and learned about the circumstances surrounding his death, nothing added up for me.

I will say more in my introductions post, but reading this thread converted me from a 8-month lurker to an actual member! Reading everyone's comments so far I realize I belong in this community.

In short, the UFO phenomenon and discrepancies/similarities between several world religions piqued an undying curiosity for TRUTH. Not my way, my opinions, my family's or friends view, but searching for the least biased (impossible to remove all bias, i realize this) viewpoints on global and cosmic matters. Now my opinions and beliefs are subject to change daily- if appropriate evidence is provided.

thumbs up to ATS'ers who share interest in this quest for knowledge, accuracy, and open-mindedness!

I have read through all the posts, thank you all for sharing.

It's been fascinating to read them and I find it amazing how many incidents over the years, have spurred people to look at alternative views.

There are a lot of incidents I have heard of before, but also a number that I will do some futher research on, help me to join the dots further.

It's good to be able to share thoughts with like minded people and I have found there are more and more people beginning to wake up and question what we are being fed by TPTB through the MSM, as well as what they are holding back on us.

Peace to all!!