User:JasonCarswell/Wikipedia Draft:Truther (article)

Not to be confused with truther (disambiguation) or 9/11 Truth movement.

Draft general goals:

• To provide a better over-arching definition to encompass and better list those variations of truthers, movements, events, and other related criteria.
• To illustrate that truthers embrace their identity and alleged ability to see through media manipulation, propaganda, and lies.
• To expand the comprehension of what a truther may be without necessarily attaching stigmas of "9-11" or "conspiracy" or "corrupt media".
• To define distinctions between "truthers" (usually about alleged official government or mainstream media accounts, particularly of politically rewarding events), "skeptics" (of beliefs in all religions, ghosts, bigfoot, UFOs, otherworldly, etc (needs better wording)), and "conspiracies" of "conspiracy theorists" which often carries worse pejorative connotations and/or weight of unprovable "theories" are less reliable or credible, and "disinformation" conspiracy theories (UFOs, lizard people, etc) and government campaigns to disinfo and discredit.
• To find strong citations of support this article with neutrality.

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"Truther" may refer to:

1. A person with questions, small or grand, about official and mainstream media accounts, usually of tragic events affecting policies that shape our lives.

• This person may, or may not, be a self-proclaimed "truther" or "Truther".
• This person may, or may not, be called a "truther" or "Truther" by another person or people.
• This person may, or may not, have the "truther" or "Truther" label applied but simply questions (seeking the truth).

1. A person with questions and/or skepticism about official and mainstream media accounts, who desires and/or seeks information and truth through transparency and accountability.
2. A "Truther" (capitalized) is someone in, or someone who identifies with, at least one Truth community. (ie. 9/11 Truth movement)
3. A "truther" may be someone who seeks and analyses contextual understanding of the secret corporatocracy government deep state Washington consensus and covert operations by dissecting mainstream media propaganda, deconstructing deception, following hierarchies and finances, historical president, compiling evidence, independent journalism, and other means.
4. "Truther" can be a synonym for conspiracy theorist which may relate pejorative connotations, and/or, may relate pride that one has awakened to corporate-media/government deceptions.

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• "It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority." ~ Benjamin Franklin
• "I am a firm believer in the people... If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meed any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts." ~ Abraham Lincoln
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• History written by the victors/powerful + Howard Zinn underdog perspective.
• ""Truthiness" is believing something that feels true even if it isn't supported by fact." Stephen Colbert who coined the term in 2005 (2016-07-18, talking about "Trumpiness") on @23m23s CBS's The Late Show.
• authentic, accurate, context dissonance
• Looking at what we've been told, using logic we may not know what happened but we can know what didn't happen, and then the official story falls apart raising more questions about the authenticity of the entire story.
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• Every tragedy does not have government conspiracy elements, only those that do which usually become quickly apparent. Because mainstream media is failing to effectively investigate, civilians must be skeptical. The lowest hanging fruit of obvious clues are:
  • Drills - whether or not nearby government drills of similar events are taking place at those times.
  • Actors - Suspicion arises if involved citizens and witnesses are either government agents, assets, and/or actors who may appear repeatedly at various tragedies, in various capacities, and/or in various identities.
  • Characters - Listed deceased, witnesses, or other persons with little or no other records beyond the event raises questions of their existence.
  • Fixed Stories - The official story that comes out fast, heavy, and with repetition far sooner than a naturally unfolding story might, with formerly unknown characters and scenarios already well researched and accounted for ready for mainstream media to publish. It's also notable if the official narrative does not change or evolve despite new evidence, perspectives, contexts, and policies.
  • Pre-dating - The internet doesn't forget, and some errors may occur, but statistical anomalies of many dated records and/or activity before any event draws suspicion.
  • Motive & Outcomes - There's always some people who will exploit any good or bad event (disaster capitalism), so motives and outcomes must be watched but are not nearly as definitive. In a sense, the case must be built.
  • Warnings - If officials warn you not to believe counter accounts, then it may be time to investigate further in an age lacking transparency.
  • Disinfo - There may seem to be a campaign of disinformation and extremely implausible accounts to purposely obfuscate clarity, impede investigation, and cast doubt about contrary accounts.
  • Simplicity - If the official line is too simple, two dimensional, too often echoed, too much like talking points, it may be to drive home the message to most civilians.
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Truther's dilemma

It's easy to:

• be fooled
• be called a conspiracy theorist
• see God doesn't exist
• see secret societies, agencies, militaries, think tanks, and private contractors are secret
• see governments are corrupt, lie, manipulate, extort, exploit, mass murder (war)
• see mass media sells out, lies, distorts, dogmatizes, propagandizes,

It's not easy to:

• sift through layers of deception everywhere
• convince a fool he's been fooled
• convince the world they're legit
• battle social norms of manufactured consent
• battle social norms of government monopoly of violence
• battle giant corporate interests and media
• battle the Establishment systems of hierarchical exploitation

Understanding manipulation

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"Because I'm frustrated with all of this right now, so I now say, "Truthful, not neutral." There's a difference. Truthful is bringing the truth. Neutral can be creating a false equivalence," said The Daily Show guest Christiane Amanpour, CNN's Chief International Correspondent, as on July 20, 2016.

Understanding government interests

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Understanding government secrets

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Understanding corporate mainstream media interests

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Understanding corporate interests

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Understanding elite interests

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Understanding "national" interests

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Understanding media theory

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Understanding propaganda

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Understanding mind control

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• It's easier to fool someone than to convince them they've been fooled.
• Cognitive dissonance is when the official story and other sources do not match which leads to confusion, insecurity, vulnerability, fear, anxiety, denial, and unfounded faith.
• Exceptionalism is a lack of humility, that it could happen in other countries but not here, is excessive pride, unable to see our dark side or weaknesses.
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Understanding manufactured consent

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Historical background

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Learning from history

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List of pre-9/11 controversial alternative history

These are some of the pre-9/11 events, false flag events, secret government projects and covert operations, evidence of malevolent machinations, and other notable examples with skeptics that dispute the government and mainstream media accounts that Wikipedia policy considers "fringe".

• List of non-state terrorist incidents from 1865 to 1970 with links to annual and biannual lists and by country.
• The 1898 Spanish–American War began in the propaganda and aftermath of the internal explosion of the USS Maine (ACR-1) in Havana harbor leading to American intervention in the Cuban War of Independence.
  • [[USS Maine (ACR-1)#False flag conspiracy theories|USS Maine (ACR-1) # False flag conspiracy theories
• 1933 The Reichstag fire was an arson attack on the Reichstag building in Berlin on 27 February 1933, blamed on a communist.
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• 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor
  • Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge conspiracy theory
• 1941-1945 The Holocaust
  • Holocaust denial is skepticism of exaggerated numbers, spin, and/or revisionism often lumped into Antisemitism)
    • "Demystifying World War Two" is a preferable title without the emotionally loaded name of Holocaust.

~ YouTube videoID# o2kNfbquPpc "Academic Freedom Conference Holocaust, JFK, 9-11 -- Nicholas Kollerstrom" (2014-07-24) {Academic Freedom Conference 9-11, JFK and the Holocaust}

• 1956-1990 Operation Gladio, a clandestine NATO "stay-behind" operation in Europe during the Cold War in which the CIA's roles and relationships to terrorist attacks are debated.
• 1962 Operation Northwoods, a proposed false flag operation against the Cuban government, originated within the U.S. DoD and JCoS
• 1963 Assassination of John F. Kennedy
  • John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories
• 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident
  • Gulf of Tonkin incident # Distortion of the event
• 1968 Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. # Conspiracy theories
    • 1956-1971? FBI's COINTELPROgram targeted groups and individuals they deemed subversive.
• 1968 Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
  • Robert F. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories
• 1968+ War on Drugs was for the Nixon campaign to vilify and target the antiwar left (hippies) and black people.
• 1993 World Trade Center bombing
• 1995 Oklahoma City bombing
  • Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy theories
• 1999 Russian apartment bombings
  • Russian apartment bombings # Theory of Russian government conspiracy

List of catalyzing events with "fringe" dispute and skepticism

• 2001 September 11 attacks
  • September 11 attacks advance-knowledge conspiracy theories
  • 9/11 conspiracy theories
  • 9/11 Truth movement
• 2004 Madrid train bombings
  • 2004 Madrid train bombings controversies
• 2005 7-7 London July bombings
  • 2005 7-7 London July bombings # Conspiracy theories
• 2012 Aurora shooting, allegedly by James Eagan Holmes who may have been under mind control, and assisted by at least one other.
• 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, missing from Terrorism_in_the_United_States
  • Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories, a FEMA drill promoting gun control and mental health restrictions
• 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, a FEMA drill
  • 2013 Boston Marathon bombing # Conflicting reports, a FEMA and urban martial law drill
• 2015 November Paris attacks,
  • 2015 November Paris attacks,
• 2015 Brussels lockdown, "unprecedented" urban martial law
• 2016 Brussels bombings
  • Reactions to the 2016 Brussels bombings#Criticism of coverage
• 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, a FEMA drill for gun control and mental health restrictions
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• Operation Gladio B
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• Chemtrail conspiracy theory, geoengineering, and secret military weather manipulation and/or "weaponization".
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• Among the Truthers, a 2011 book about conspiracy theories
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• Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, also known as "birthers"
• Osama bin Laden death conspiracy theories, also known as "deathers"
• Vaccine controversies, also known as "vaccers/vaxers"
• Climate change denial, also known as "deniers"
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• Lionel (radio personality) said "Gore Vidal said don't be a conspiracy theorist, be a conspiracy analyst."
• James Fetzer said, "I tend to think of myself really as a conspiracy analyst or as a conspiracy realist."
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• are "charity foundations" with secret or ulterior motives under a "false flag"?
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• rigged pols and elections?
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Drills, patterns, and differences

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Political and policy drifts

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Truther conclusions and predictions

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Lists of truthers

• 9/11 Truth movement
  • List of 9/11 Truth websites
  • List of 9/11 Truth conferences
• Lists of truthers
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Truther criticisms beyond pejorative and conspiracy theorist stereotypes

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"Truther" as used in mainstream media

• In the July 30, 2009 BBC's The Conspiracy Files, episode "7-7", the female narrator states, "There are others who doubt the official account. Bristol, one Saturday in July last year, around 60 people have come to a meeting arranged by the local branch of Britain's self-styled Truth Movement. ... For many here suspicion 7-7 could have been an inside job has been fueled by doubts about the 9/11 attacks."

Truther sentiments in mainstream media

• On the July 20, 2016 episode (4m20s) of the TV game show @midnight, to the question, "What's another thing Jeb Bush would change about his life if he could go back in time?" Chris D'Elia answered, "I'd go back to September 10th to take a picture in front of those buildings before my brother blew them up."

See also

• List of lists of lists
• Lists of atheists
• Lists of people by belief (including non-beliefs)