The website of Associate Professor of Philosophy M R. X. Dentith
One of the worst opinion piece writers in Aotearoa me Te Wai Pounamu is Shelley Bridgeman, whose opinion pieces show a shallow understanding of the way the world works combined with a love of name-dropping. Her work is so astoundingly banal and predictable that there is now a bit of a game going on at the Dim Post to emulate the “heights” of her writing with respect to classic New Zealand novels.
However, nothing bets the real thing, and Bridgeman’s latest piece is terrible to behold, for she has found out about HAARP and chemtrails, and is asking the hard questions:
Unlike aircraft condensation trails, these lines didn’t dissipate and disappear. They seemed to be almost permanent fixtures – not moving, changing or fading in any way. My mind went back to when I first became aware of claims that chemtrails with a purpose were being laid across our skies.
and:
It’s been difficult separating fact from fiction on this issue but here’s my best attempt. HAARP? It does exist. Can it trigger earthquakes? I have no idea but it has inspired a couple of great titles: specifically an article called Is baked Alaska half-baked? and a book entitled Angels Don’t Play this HAARP.
I don’t really have anything to say: I just want to note that, yes, I’m aware that the largest newspaper in the country has published an opinion piece about chemtrails and that, yes, it seems to be endorsing, rather than critiquing, the notion that someone, somewhere, is up to evil weather manipulation. We are, I think, doing quite well at the moment, as a nation, in the “Being stupid” stakes.
You can read more of Bridgeman’s wisdom here.
Between 2008 and 2010, Matthew Dentith first joined 95bFM’s Simon Pound, then José Barbosa, on Sunday mornings to talk about conspiracy theories. Listen, as they say, again!
Another fortnight, another Conspiracy Theory. This week we discussed Chemtrails. Next time; (hopefully) the Masonic Plot to take over the Auckland region.
And a reminder that I’m still seeking a kindly soul to invest me with a copy of ‘Absolute Power.’
The part of the show where we get elbows deep into the most sub-marine areas of the human mind; Matthew Dentith looks at conspiracy theories and how they work.
This week Mathew looks at chem trails … is the government plotting to keep us docile and calm by using chemicals in the air? Are they? ARE THEY?
Now, to my mind, chemtrails are examples of contrails…
However, some people claim that they don’t look nor act like contrails. They don’t seem subject to wind like clouds. They persist for long periods of time and they seemingly are formed in unusual ways.
What might they be for?
Secret weapons?
Sophisticated radar systems?
Drawing a pattern of arcane symbols across the sky for nefarious, occult purposes (and some people believe that…)
Mind control agents?
Now, agents introduced into the atmosphere at that height (30,000 feet or so) would be dispersed to what would seem to be too diluted amounts. Even if these chemical agents made it to sea level (at suitably active doses) everyone would be affected by them. This suggests an even larger Conspiracy Theory that includes the conspirators having filters or antidotes to the chemical agents in their houses, their cars et al.
(This is a lot like the claims as to why we have fluoride in our water system.)
How are these trails formed? Usually by planes, although some people claim they are produced by either anomalously small craft or, in some cases, by no obvious means at all.
In re being formed by planes, a lot of Conspiracy Theorists argue that the nature and number of chemtrails has changed in the last few years, but some of that might be to do with memory not being entirely a reliable source of past experience and changes in aviation. Advances in commercial aviation have lead both to more civil craft flying the skies and such craft employing better and more efficient engines, mostly moving from turbojets to turbofans, which are more likely to produce contrails-cum-chemtrails.
Chemtrails persist because they aren’t (necessarily) at the same altitude as the cloud layer; because they move at a different rate to clouds they look to be immobile and persistent. This is largely illusionary [this should read ‘illusory’]. In part this is because we aren’t particularly aware just how complex the wind patterns are. A thought experiment should suffice here; clouds move at a faster rate than the wind feels to us at ground level. This is because we have different weather conditions at sea level to that at cloud level.
A positive (benign?) Conspiracy Theory; chemtrails are a secret weapon against climate change.
Response: maybe the New World Order is combating climate change and making the population docile at the same time. Neither plans are mutually exclusive.
A common problem for Conspiracy Theories of this ‘size’ (i.e. malevolent global conspiracies orchestrated by our governments or the One World Government) is that we should expect giant leaks. A common response to 9/11 conspiracies is the money factor. To keep 9/11 quiet (which is a small Conspiracy Theory in regards to Chemtrails) you would, presumably, need to bribe an awful lot of people, and the question is, given the media interest in what happened on that fateful day, why hasn’t someone come for for obvious financial reward. For them not to have done so probably means that they’ve been paid to keep quiet, and paid sufficiently enough to that they can’t be persuaded to speak out. When you multiply out these payments to the group you are looking at a huge amount that should be obvious in the operating accounts of the USA (which it isn’t; we’re also assuming that people would speak out for money; the lack of public spirited aides who haven’t spoken out for the sake of the truth is another matter entirely). If Conspiracy Theories about 9/11 suffer this problem then Conspiracy Theories about Chemtrails would be even more subject to it.