Welcome to this week’s ‘I Call Bullshit’, a weekly look at the strange twists and turns of the human mind.
It’s not surprising at all that conspiracy theories have shrouded Osama bin Laden’s death. Before the dust had settled from September 11 crackpot ideas started surfacing, the most persistent of which is that it was an ‘inside job’ carried out to trigger the war on terror. People love to doubt the official line.
And it took mere cyber seconds – in this crazy interweb-connected world of ours – for people to start speculating that Osama was not dead at all, the whole extravaganza just concocted to boost Obama’s election chances. Or an alien plot. Or something.
Conspiracy theories are fascinating little critters, partly because they reflect a deep cynicism towards the powers-that-be (an often deserved cynicism, it has to be said). Also because sometimes there’s a kernel of truth to the theory, as though the tinfoil hat wearers have subconsciously realised there’s more information ‘out there’ but just got the details wrong.
They’re also fascinating because you can never, ever, dissuade a conspiracy theorist – and the mere act of trying can actually shore up their belief.
So, for example, I’m calling bullshit on the popular idea that Osama was not killed this week in Pakistan. But I reckon that’ll just ‘prove’ to those who think there is a vast plot that the Murdoch press is in on the con.
For any conspiracy theory – Roswell, the grassy knoll, you name it – there is evidence. It’s just a matter of interpretation and if your brain has already set off down a particular path, all evidence points the same way.
With Osama’s death there’s a whole stack of ‘reasons’ people might think it’s not true.
1. Osama’s been believed dead before, only to spring forth like a deluded, bearded jack in the box with another chilling video. He’s this elusive enemy who’s been the subject of rumours for years. For some, it must be hard to believe he’s really gone.
2. The US been happy to work with people who have subsequently been declared enemies. Their hands are not clean. And their reasons for going to war were not pure.
3. The Whitehouse has confused their narrative by backtracking, changing details, adding new information, altering the story. That OBL was unarmed when he was shot was just one example.
4. They buried him quickly and quietly at sea, ostensibly so his body would not provide a focus for propaganda, or violence, or… something. They got rid of the corpse with undue haste.
5. They’ve declared they won’t release the pictures of dead Osama – even to reassure skeptics that he really is dead. They say it will inflame tensions – as though killing him didn’t already. However, Reuters has published photos of the blood-spattered bodies of the others. The reasons the Whitehouse are giving don’t quite add up.
There are plenty more where those came from. But mostly, people just don’t trust the word of the US Government, or our government, and they sure as shit don’t trust the media.
So they piece together their own story.
Despite all of that, I reckon he’s dead. Because ultimately you have to make a choice, and the more extraordinary claim, as they say, needs the more extraordinary evidence.
The official story makes more sense than the conspiracy. The idea that they could keep Osama alive somewhere and for no one to find out; or that they never even caught him and he’s still out there somewhere taping his next message on an iPhone, means you have to believe that they were willing to lie to the world and risk getting caught.
It meant they – all the people involved in the operation – were willing to risk fatal retaliation just to boost their President’s popularity. You need some pretty good evidence for deception on such a grand scale.
The releasing of the pictures have become the focus of this specific conspiracy theory. But if he wasn’t dead, they could mock up the best darn fake death pics the world has ever seen, couldn’t they?
So I reckon he’s dead. But something’s a little fishy here. I’m prepared to have ‘bullshit’ called on my ICB, and I’m pretty sure you’ll oblige.
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