I will be the first to admit that I love a good, wild story. Sasquatch, the Loch Ness Monster, dogmen, ancient aliens, secret alien bases — I love 'em all. For me, those subjects offer a good way to give my mind a rest from contemplating the evolving hellscape that is America and, for that matter, the world.
Whether or not they are true is not the issue. They make for a nice opportunity to unwind and put my brain in neutral. I never missed an episode of "Monsterquest," in which a team of experts gloriously wasted an hour of my time every week by demonstrating how not to find a monster. There is only one YouTube channel I regularly frequent: The Why Files.
This is not to say that I am a complete non-believer. In my travels, I have had a few experiences for which I had trouble finding logical explanations.
That said, I've never been a fan of conspiracy theories like HAARP, the Illuminati, the Rothschilds, etc. And I cannot wrap my head around the Flat Earth Theory (pun intended). I've always subscribed to the idea that the people ruining the world are members of a group of like-minded individuals who recognize a fellow traveler when they see one. But as the internet has become as common as running water (and probably more common than running water in some areas of the world), conspiracy theories have become ubiquitous.
For Our VIPs: Florida Man Friday: Lieutenant Dan Is the Man
With Hurricane Milton following so closely on the heels of Helene, a few stories have popped up around the web claiming that these events were the result of weather manipulation by a shadowy cabal of people with ill intent or even our own government. Some meteorologists have been feeling the wrath of these theorists when they try to debunk the idea, to the point that some have received death threats.
The New York Post reports on several meteorologists who have been intimidated and threatened for trying to explain that the hurricanes were not due to weather manipulation technology. This X post came from a meteorologist in Michigan:
Alabama meteorologist James Spann has gotten messages such as: “Stop lying about the government controlling the weather or else.”
The Post also noted:
Meanwhile, Washington, DC-based meteorologist Matthew Cappucci said he has received hundreds of messages from people accusing him of modifying the weather to create hurricanes with space lasers. “For me to post a hurricane forecast and for people to accuse me of creating the hurricane by working for some secret Illuminati entity is disappointing and distressing — and it’s resulting in a decrease in public trust,” Cappucci told Rolling Stone.
And then there was this from Marjorie Taylor Greene:
Conspiracy theorists have been around for ages, and Cappucci makes an interesting point about the decline in public trust. But we must ask how we got here.
Well, stress in these United States is at an all-time high due in no small part to our media, both mainstream and social. I predict a national nervous breakdown sometime around November 1. On top of that, if we are honest, our government does not have a great track record when it comes to telling us the truth. There was the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop story and increasing evidence that the people in power were not above board with us when it came to COVID-19 and the vaccines.
Is the climate changing? Yes. Has human activity caused any of it? Possibly. Be that as it may, climate change promoters ignore the fact that swings in global temperature have been the norm since the planet was formed. They also ignore evidence that anthropogenic climate change may not be as drastic as they would like us to believe. And it is hard to take an administration seriously on the matter when it has given contracts to campaign donors to put wind and solar power projects in marine life sanctuaries and fragile desert ecosystems while ignoring carbon emissions from places like China.
No one ever thought there would be efforts to outlaw silent prayer in the UK or that "60 Minutes" would blatantly doctor an interview with a presidential candidate. No one ever thought that federal enforcement would launch investigations into or raid the homes of people who were vocal about their dissenting opinions on school curricula or abortion.
Depending on who you are, you may confidently look yourself in the mirror and know that you are not a racist. Still, an entire group of people, including the outgoing president, have said that you are racist and constitute a threat. Our leaders have not given us many reasons to put our faith in them. And I've only touched on a few highlights.
Flashback: Meteorologist Receives Death Threats After Interrupting the Masters for Tornado Warnings
Does the technology exist to create hurricanes? I doubt it, but I'll be the first to admit I don't know. Do I think that if such technology does exist, there are people who would use it? Yes, because humans can be that awful. However, even in the unlikely event that such a scenario is true, it is not the fault of your local meteorologist, who is just trying to do his or her job. They don't need or deserve death threats.
In his poem "If," Rudyard Kipling talks about the marks of a man. It opens with this stanza:
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
One of the great tragedies of our era is the way our media and our politicians have filled us with a sense of suspicion and distrust. Not that those things aren't warranted, but if we let them rule our lives, we risk becoming the people that those in power want us to be: scared, angry, and malleable.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member