A recently released Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) document titled “Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide”* links common protest symbols to “terrorism” — another marker in a common theme of conflating militant protest for social justice with deadly terrorist violence within the United States. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Brennan Center have raised warnings about such documents, citing inadequate protections for people’s constitutional rights.

  • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    See I believe that for 20th century conspiracy theorists. I fully suspect there was an effort to combine aliens, government mind control (and what would eventually be revealed as MK ULTRA), the remnants of the protocols of the elders of Zion and other similar conspiracy theories, COINTELPRO, and other things all together by the FBI. It’s part of COINTELPRO style tactics. Make them sound ridiculous and drive them so far to the extreme they’re hard to listen to.

    That said Alex Jones seems pretty much an unintended consequence of all the conspiratorial milieu

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      The alien thing is especially bad.

      This guy - Paul Bennewitz - was a radio operator in WWII and opened a radio repair shop near an Air Force base. He picked up some encrypted signals from the base and went public with them, claiming they were from aliens.

      The Air Force decided this was a great cover story, and teased him with information including sending “Men in Black” to look for him, until he was convinced. He got so convinced he became a paranoid schizophrenic, and died in a mental institution not tool long ago.

      All of that alien sci fi stuff has its origin with this poor man. The X Files, two Will Smith movies, and everything in that oeuvre including the excellent Resident Alien, all have their roots in the mental abuse my government perpetrated on this poor, curious man.