It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane…It’s a Conspiracy!

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???????????????????????????The disappearance of the Malaysian airplane keeps the world in suspense, and with it has come a gaggle of conspiracy theories. The fact that the plane has yet to be located simply adds to the whirligig of paranoiac thought that surrounds it.

Personally, I think Flight 370 pulled a “Lost,” as in the series by that name, the one about the fictitious Oceanic Air jet that crashed on a remote, mysterious island and kept viewers enthralled for six years. The good thing about that  airplane was that nearly all the passengers survived. At least that’s what we initially thought.

Of course, the possibilities of what did or didn’t happen are endless. There’s the UFO theory. Were the passengers whisked away by aliens and if so, why? Or perhaps it was highjacked. Could there have been a bomb on board or a fire in the galley?  Could it have safely landed somewhere in the middle of a jungle?

Though we just can’t find the people that were on the plane, or get in contact with them, we want to believe that they are alive and well.

This is because, as humans often do in times like these, we grasp on to and believe anything that keeps hope alive.  Think how many times you’ve heard it said, “There’s always hope.”

Thanks to conspiracy theories, there still is hope for the Malaysian flight. And as long as those in charge of the search have no concrete answers, the families of those on board will continue to clinging to hope. After all, consider the alternative.

This isn’t the first event to have its share of conspiracy theories and it certainly won’t be the last. But before I go any further let me clarify by saying that, by nature, I am not a nut, a loon or what have you.

I am not a conspiracy theorist.

I believe in Oswald being the lone gunman and that Princess Diana really died in an unfortunate car crash, and not something choreographed by the British government. I do not believe that Elvis is still alive or that if you play a certain record backwards, you will hear someone say, “Paul is dead.”

And yet…and yet sometimes I wonder. What if any or all of the conspiracies out there are true and we who boast about having common sense, are wrong?

A couple of days ago, as I pondered the mystery of the Malaysian flight with Gina, a fellow blogger from Australia, we got to the topic of conspiracies surrounding the plane, and our discussion reminded me of the film, “Zeitgeist.” It’s been a while since I’ve seen this film, but it left its imprint on me, and the memory of it has haunted me ever since.

Mind you, it’s not a high quality film but rather, a low-budget one.  “Zeitgeist,” presents a number of conspiracy theory-based ideas but does so in a manner that over-dramatizes at times, and is confusing, particularly at the beginning. But peel away at the dissonance,  and you’ll find that at the crux of the film there are kernels of truth.

It is a fascinating, two-hour documentary that makes a compelling case on religion and the economic foundation of our society. It lost me a little when it focused on September 11th, but, overall, it is chock-full of information that will have you doing double takes, and maybe, just maybe, after you’ve seen “Zeitgeist,” it will have you start questioning everything.

Which is something we ought to be doing anyway, but don’t. As a society we are too distracted in our everyday lives by, of all things, pop culture. Consider me among them. We follow the exploits of the Kardashians, Justin Bieber’s troubles with the law, and who we want “The Bachelor” to choose next. Given the choice of hours of entertainment, or getting up to speed on the news, we tend to pick the former. After all, it’s so much more fun to be entertained.

Or maybe there’s a greater force at play. Something or someone that wants us to be distracted from whatever is going on in the world, so that they can do what they want without our intervention. Conspiracy? Watch “Zeitgeist,” which you’ll find below, and then get back to me. Trust me, no matter where you stand on the subject, it’ll be two hours well spent.

To believe in all conspiracies may seem foolish and a waste of time. But, on the other hand, to refuse to believe that any exist, is rather like being an ostrich with your head in the sand.

Frankly, it kind of boggles the mind.

So tell me, what are your thoughts on conspiracies? And what do you think happened to the Malaysian flight?

32 thoughts on “It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane…It’s a Conspiracy!”

  1. I think it was cloaked, bc major people with that techology were on the plane. But that’s crazy to have them surviving somewhere, because does that mean they are not eating?

  2. I want, want, want so badly for all of those people from flight 370 to be alive and drinking margaritas someplace warm. I want them to meet their families and laugh about being lost. “It was all a joke.” I want them to be on a reality show with huge ratings like Gilligan’s’ Island.

    But I know none of this is true.

    XXXXXXXX LOVE to you, dear Monica.

    PS and I WANT Elvis, Diana, & JFK to be there, too.

  3. Looks like we kinda know now. However, the current question is why. I can’t imagine how devastating this has been for families. Seems like, unless there are huge clues like a diary of some sort, we’ll have to live with our speculations or what the news tells us to believe.

    • It is awful. I heard some of the families are already planning to sue, but I was surprised to hear who is being sued. Boeing. Was the plane at fault? We don’t know anything yet so how can it be the plane? Feels a little bit like jumping the gun.

      • It’s a hard reality to accept so I can see the family would want to blame company. I suppose once one family heads in that direction, so goes some others. It’s a head shaker for sure.

  4. Theories don’t work without some grain of ‘believable truth’ to capture the imagination. Personally, my favorite theory on this one is space debris hit the window depressurizing the cabin and killing the those on board, the plane continued flying on automatic until it ran out of fuel over the Indian Ocean where it fell in.

    But that is simply the most plausible I have heard. I saw Zeitgeist a few years back, interesting and sometimes disturbing. You are right, we should question everything.

  5. We followed the story from Day 1 at my sister’s house in DC reading the Washington Post and watching TV. My sister was very concerned as it all coincided with armed guards on the subways going in to the city. What did they know, that we didn’t? Were the guns on the subway somehow connected to a level Orange threat? It’s the not knowing and the stories not covered, like guns on the subway that we were witnessing but sure made us wonder if there was a connection. Although the Malaysian prime minister spoke yesterday, many of us are in denial hoping for a trace. Interesting post. I wondered how many were interested in the story. My thoughts will continue to be with my sister who flies to Asia often.

    • Were you able to figure out what the armed guards were about? This whole airplane tragedy has made me think twice about flying, at least flying overseas. When I heard that air traffic control loses communication with a plane once it’s 120 miles from shore and it’s not regained until it’s 120 miles from the destination’s shore, well, I can’t think of anything scarier. My heart goes out to those on board and their families and loved ones. So, so sad and perplexing.

  6. We just love our conspiracy theories – from wireless printer preprogramming to taking planes out of the atmosphere. Where is that darn plane? I hope it’s a conspiracy and all those souls are on Gilligan’s Island just waiting to be found.

    • I love that the folks on Gilligan’s Island were supposed to be on a three-hour tour and ended up shipwrecked for several seasons. I mean how far could they have been from civilization? If only they had cell phones. And why Gilligan’s Island? Why not the Professor’s or Ginger’s Island? I’m just saying.

  7. You certainly have me curious about “Zeitgeist.” As for my feelings re: conspiracy theories — I think they speak to a mistrust of the information we’re first given when something calamitous happens. We want to know the ‘truth,’ and how can we help but feel a little manipulated sometimes by the news we’re fed? When a beloved president is assassinated, or an airplane mysteriously disappears, it makes us feel especially vulnerable and we need to make sense of it, in whatever ways we can.

    • You are so right, Deborah. When we don’t get the answers we need, we become suspicious of authority. But even if they told us the truth, there’s such a history of lies, who knows what is real and what’s not? I suppose conspiracy theories help us cope.

  8. I don’t see how anyone can lose an entire plane full of people! If anyone managed to survive, surely someone would’ve talked by now. After all, there must be a million writers willing to ghostwrite a phenomenal story like this — and the movies would pay a small fortune for the chance to tell the real story!
    You’re right, though. As humans, we so want this thing to end well.

    • Debbie, if any are alive, they’re in a place where they cannot communicate. No phone service. They may be able to start a fire and create smoke signals but if that were true, it should’ve been seen by now. Capt. Sulley and his safe landing was a very rare occurrence, indeed.

  9. Monica, I am all over this. With almost 26 countries now searching for this plane, I can’t help myself. I thought of ‘ Lost’ immediately. I watched that show and when they couldn’t find this massive plane( how can you miss it unless it is deep down in the ocean, but, don’t we have sophisticated sonar equipment that would pick it up) I thought it disappeared into some electromagnetic field and someone is holding it hostage on a remote island.
    Then I thought it was high jacked… I am all out of ideas.

    Now I don’t know what to think… I will be traveling in June to South East Asia, you can be sure, I will be scanning the pilots. Checking dilated pupils in case they are inebriated and even talking to the crew – well, they might kick me off the plane for asking so many questions… But if I am sitting for 16 hours, I need to know everything.

    • It’s so tragic. Doesn’t make me want to fly overseas again. But now are you watching the mudslide tragedy in Washington? I was so hoping that 2014 would be rather mundane compared to past years. I really wanted nothing of major consequence to occur. Sigh. And it only March.

      • I am watching the mudslide tragedy Monica, I am so sad. I put on the news and none of it is good. I saw toys and parts of a house from the mudslide, it struck me so hard.
        I just saw on the news, that a Thai satellite has picked up quite a few bits and pieces which they are assuming is more than enough debris, to prove the plane went down in the Indian Ocean.
        You’re so right, It is only March. How much more does the world have to endure?

      • I saw the interview with a young mother whose four-month old baby and whose mother are both missing. Today they found the baby’s body. Still no word on her mother. To lose both at once is truly a tragedy. And then word comes that the town was warned by geologists who wrote a report on the area just a couple of years ago, yet nobody seemed to know? Which is why, here in California, I don’t care how beautiful the view, you will never find me living on the hillside looking over the ocean or the town dump. Give me level ground any day. Worrying about earthquakes is bad enough without throwing all the other stuff that happens up on those hills. Sigh.

  10. I’m with you… I tend to find conspiracy theories unbelievable, but you’re absolutely right about the reason we’re clinging to them in this case. We always hope that somehow those people stand a chance at survival. I’m still hoping no matter how unrealistic it is.

    • I know! Some people keep having Elvis sightings. Yes, it would be nice if he was still alive, but after all this time, wouldn’t he have made himself known by now? Sigh. Where would we be without our conspiracies.

  11. At this stage of the game I vote for aliens, mostly because it keeps hope alive. When you think about it of course there are conspiracies. Someone with enough resources wants something bad enough to arrange to make it happen. How extensive these can get? That’s really the question isn’t it.

  12. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, myself, but I am fascinated by this mystery. It drives Sara crazy that I keep watching (in my case, actually, listening on radio) CNN’s coverage. Gonna come back and watch the video later. Thanks for sharing the link. Sounds fascinating.

    Hugs from Ecuador,
    Kathy

  13. Hi Monica.

    The theories have certainly been flying regarding the disappearance of the aircraft.

    Until it or parts of it are found then the theories will continue, we as humans like a good story and the more unlikely it is the more we seem to like it.

    If you grab your iPad and download the free app flightradar24 you will see just how crowded the skies are overland, but you will also see how empty they can be over the oceans, even the transatlantic route between US & Europe has big gaps at certain times of day.

    With the Malayan flight there are three possibilities, one is that it landed and is held somewhere and the second is it’s deep at the bottom of the ocean and the third is that it crashed somewhere on land, if it’s the second then we may never know why. The lack of debris or a complete aircraft don’t swing the possibility either way.

    I don’t have a theory that I favour to be honest, I will just sit back and follow developments.

    • Love your pun re the theories have been “flying.” I should say so! Do you think they’ll find parts? I’d be thrilled for them to find the black box. We’ll speculate forever unless we know what actually happened. I’ll look for that app. Thanks!

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