人兽性交

鈥淭here is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than to know little.鈥� FRANCIS BACON, Of Suspicion, 1625

America, as the historian Richard Hofstadter famously noted in 1964, is a place peculiarly given to 鈥渢he paranoid style鈥� of politics 鈥� the idea that history is no accident, but rather the outcome of a series of conspiracies. The surface of events is never what it appears, but instead hides deep, dark and destructive forces.

What Hofstadter called 鈥渕ovements of suspicious discontent鈥� have targeted imaginary threats ranging from the Illuminati, Freemasons and Jesuits of long ago all the way to the Communist infiltration alleged by Joseph McCarthy and the John Birch Society in the mid-20th century. And since Hofstadter鈥檚 seminal essay, the list of alleged evildoers has kept on growing, especially on the far right, where global elites are today seen as secretly laboring to build a totalitarian 鈥淣ew World Order.鈥�

Although it is difficult to make valid historical comparisons, it is hard to avoid feeling that our country is drowning in an even larger ocean of conspiracy theories now than in decades or centuries past: President Obama is a Kenyan and a Marxist bent on seizing the weapons of all Americans; Common Core educational standards are part of a plot to impose communism on the U.S.; military exercises in Texas this summer are actually a first step toward martial law; and on and on and on.

One factor fertilizing such beliefs is the proliferation of alternative forms of media, from cable television and talk radio to social media and a seemingly endless number of websites. Almost any belief that a person has, no matter how far out or disconnected from the facts, has some kind of 鈥渘ews鈥� source to back it up.

But what may be even more important in the highly polarized political environment of the United States in recent years has been the willingness of large numbers of politicians 鈥� either because they really believe or because they are willing to pander shamelessly to the extremists in their bases 鈥� to legitimize the fairy tales. Whether or not Texas Gov. Greg Abbott truly believes that a military exercise this summer was a prelude to martial law, he acted as if he might.

These kinds of words have consequences. When Sarah Palin accused the president of organizing 鈥渄eath panels鈥� as part of his health care plan, the debate veered from the serious to the ridiculous. When hundreds of thousands of Americans swallowed the claim that Mexican, U.S. and Canadian elites were secretly planning to merge the three countries, it helped to derail any hope for enacting comprehensive immigration reform. When politicians allege a global conspiracy behind a United Nations sustainability plan, preserving the planet becomes even harder.

Conspiracy theories, in other words, are destructive to democracy; they substitute ignorance and suspicion for knowledge and reason, and make it that much harder to deal with the many problems before us. As Francis Bacon suggested almost four centuries ago, conspiracy theories are a way for weak minds to deal with a complex world 鈥� and to wreck any chance for finding real solutions.

What follows are 10 key conspiracy theories that have made their way from the margins of our society to often shocking levels of acceptance in the political mainstream. In addition to describing the theories, their origins and the reality of the situation, we take on some of the chief enablers of these destructive tall tales.

1.听Common Core - The Plot Against Our Children听

Ever since the Supreme Court ruled in 1948 that outside groups like churches couldn鈥檛 provide religious instruction in public schools 鈥� the first of a series of court decisions meant to ensure such schools would be genuinely secular 鈥� far-right forces in America have increasingly rejected the very notion of public education, attacking it as part of an anti-God, socialistic plot to poison our children鈥檚 minds.

The latest and most virulent example of that is the rapidly spreading idea that the Common Core State Standards, an ambitious effort to lift student achievement across the country, is actually a dangerous conspiracy to indoctrinate young people into 鈥渢he homosexual lifestyle,鈥� communism and globalist ideology, all the while collecting detailed and highly personal information about millions of citizens.

In actuality, the Common Core is a set of standards for math and language arts/literacy developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers and released in 2010. It does not mandate any particular curriculum or readings, although it does offer 鈥渆xemplar鈥� texts as examples of the books students should be able to understand at various grade levels. Although tests are not mandated by the Common Core, two federally funded consortia have been developing examinations that could ensure the standards have been met.

At their most benign, attacks on the Common Core have portrayed the standards as either a key step in a federal takeover of public education or yet another reform attempt that overemphasizes testing and standardization. But in the hands of radical groups like the John Birch Society and a whole array of far-right groups and politicians, the proposed program has morphed into what former Fox News host Glenn Beck characterized as 鈥淐ommunism. We are dealing with evil.鈥�

Forty-five states adopted the initially uncontroversial standards in a bid to improve the competitiveness of the American work force. But the brouhaha has had consequences: Indiana, Oklahoma and South Carolina have withdrawn from the standards, and at least a dozen other states have seen similar legislation introduced.

Virtually all the radical claims about the standards are false. They do not mandate any particular texts 鈥� other than the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and Lincoln鈥檚 Second Inaugural Address. They do not promote homosexuality. They are not critical of Christianity, nor do they promote Islam. They do not require the collection of individual data that will then be sold to private interests. They don鈥檛 push the idea of global warming or hector students about 鈥渟ocial justice鈥� or being good 鈥済lobal citizens.鈥� They are not part of a plot to impose a global government known as the 鈥淣ew World Order.鈥�

Although more and more outlandish conspiracy theories are part of mainstream American political culture, wildly untrue claims about the Common Core have far more 鈥渕ainstream鈥� proponents than most. Politicians from around the country and all levels of government, pundits, a large number of Christian Right and anti-LGBT groups, and many others are part of the paranoid chorus.

David Barton, a discredited Christian 鈥渉istorian,鈥� claimed the Common Core 鈥渋s not education, it鈥檚 political indoctrination.鈥� Troy Towns, the minority outreach director for the Alabama Republican Party, said, 鈥淲hen I heard the word 鈥榗ommon,鈥� the first thing I thought of was communism.鈥� He described the standards as helping the government 鈥渢ak[e] over everything, contro[l] the way you think, what you do, education, health care.鈥� Phyllis Schlafly, founder of the right-wing Eagle Forum, decried the Common Core鈥檚 鈥渁ctive promotion of gay marriage.鈥� Another Eagle Forum leader, Christina Michas of Palm Springs, Fla., linked it to Nazism and the 鈥渦ltimate goal鈥� of setting up 鈥渋nternment or reeducation camps.鈥�

A senior fellow at the American Principles Project, founded by Christian Right thinker and law professor Robert George, said that the standards are part of 鈥渦topian, grandiose planning for a managed global economy鈥� sought by 鈥渟ocialists.鈥� Jane Robbins added that they 鈥渁dvance the model of a command economy.鈥�

Right-wing commentator Michelle Malkin denounced 鈥渃ollectivist agitators鈥� who have 鈥渃hipped away at academic excellence in the name of fairness, diversity and social justice鈥� and claimed that through Common Core, 鈥淲ashington meddlers鈥� are gathering data on children that the government will sell to 鈥渢he highest bidders.鈥� Never one to mince words, Glenn Beck headlined one recent piece 鈥淐ommon Core: A Lesson Plan for Raising Up Compliant, Non-Thinking Citizens.鈥�

And the politicians have chimed in, too. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) called the standards a 鈥渄angerous new curriculum鈥� and joined with seven others to sponsor legislation banning any federal funding for them. U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) said they are 鈥渕uch like socialism.鈥� Wrapping it all up, Tea Party activist Terry Bratton last year told an Alabama Senate committee that the Common Core standards are simply 鈥渁nti-Christian, anti-Catholic and anti-American.鈥�

2.听Military Exercises - Prelude To Martial Law

When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott this summer ordered the Texas State Guard to 鈥渃ontinuously monitor鈥� the Jade Helm 15 U.S. military training exercise for possible violations of civil liberties or other rights, he was roundly criticized for legitimizing baseless fears that the exercise was really a first step in imposing martial law.

And rightly so. As one Republican veteran of the Texas Legislature said, Abbott either 鈥渁ctually believes this stuff鈥� or was willing to 鈥減ander to idiots鈥� as a matter of political opportunism. 鈥淚s there anybody who is going to stand up to this radical nonsense that is a cancer on our state and our party?鈥� Todd Smith asked.

But there is a real seed from which martial law conspiracy theories, common to both some segments of the far left and especially to the radical right, have grown. Martial law has been declared in the United States about a dozen times, the most recent after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. More to the point, frightening contingency plans for imposing martial law really have been drawn up.

The first public notice of these plans appeared in 1984 in, of all places, The Spotlight, a now defunct anti-Semitic tabloid, under the headline 鈥淩eagan Orders Concentration Camps.鈥� The story, which turned out to be substantially accurate, focused on another military drill, Readiness Exercise 1984, 鈥渨hich postulated a scenario of massive civil unrest and the need to round up and detain large numbers of demonstrators and dissidents,鈥� according to Political Research Associates.

In 1987, a far more complete account of plans drawn up under the Reagan Administration appeared in The Miami Herald. The story reported that Lt. Col. Oliver North, then embroiled in the Iran-Contra scandal, had prepared a plan to suspend the Constitution in the event of crises including 鈥渨idespread internal dissent or national opposition to a U.S. military invasion abroad.鈥� A collaborator, then-Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Louis Guiffrida, had years earlier discussed in a paper how, in the event of an uprising by black militants, martial law might be declared and some 21 million 鈥淎merican Negroes鈥� interned.

Since then, fears of martial law have metastasized on the far right. In 1996, for example, Soldier of Fortune magazine ran a breathless story about the Army鈥檚 Delta Force carrying out a nighttime exercise in Houston. By that time, the idea that the government intended to impose martial law at any moment had become a core theory of the antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥� movement. And it still is today.

But the claims about Jade Helm are absurd.

The exercise was not part of a plot by the White House and the Pentagon to impose martial law. Closed Walmarts in the seven Southwestern states where it is occurred are not connected by secret tunnels and won鈥檛 be used to intern dissidents. New dome-shaped facilities built by the Federal Emergency Management Agency as storm shelters are not 鈥淒eath Domes鈥� where insurrectionists will be housed. Blue Bell Ice Cream trucks are not being converted to portable mortuaries.

Although some criticism of the military and the militarization of police in the United States may well be legitimate, Jade Helm 15 is just what officials say it is: An exercise by about 1,200 Special Operations troops that ran between July 15 and Sept. 15, mostly on private land, to prepare for fighting overseas.

The idea that Jade Helm 15 is really a nefarious government plot apparently originated with Alex Jones, the hyperventilating conspiracy theorist who broadcasts from Austin, Texas, six days a week. In March, according to The Boston Globe, Jones told some 1 million listeners he had 鈥渉uge breaking news.鈥� He had obtained a map showing where the operation would take place 鈥� and showing that Texas and Utah were designated 鈥渉ostile鈥� territories on that map. 鈥淭his is going to be hellish,鈥� he said. 鈥淸T]his is just a cover for deploying the military on the streets.鈥�

From there, it raced across the radical right at something close to the speed of light. Militia members, other 鈥淧atriots,鈥� and thousands of posts and comments on websites and forums echoed Jones鈥� alarm, all the time adding new details.

But the surprise wasn鈥檛 that so many Internet sleuths had conspiratorial ideas; it was that those ideas were more or less endorsed by many politicians. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, naturally, was the most notorious. But U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) chimed in, saying some were 鈥渃oncerned that the U.S. Army is preparing for modern-day martial law鈥� and adding that 鈥減atriotic Americans have reason to be concerned.鈥� U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said he would be asking tough questions of the military. And Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he would look into the matter.

3.听Agenda 21 - Conspiracy Of The Greens

Agenda 21 is a nonbinding, essentially toothless United Nations natural resources sustainability plan for our increasingly crowded planet. It鈥檚 a wish list, not a must-do-or-else list. The plan was signed in 1992 at the Rio Earth Summit by the leaders of 178 countries, including President George H.W. Bush, who is no sane person鈥檚 idea of a wild-eyed, tree-hugging, anti-development environmentalist more concerned with woodpeckers than people.

But when it comes to Agenda 21, there are not enough tinfoil party hats to go around. Ever since the plan was announced 23 years ago, groups like the John Birch Society (JBS) have been doing their best to transform Agenda 21 in the American public mind into a secret plot to impose a totalitarian world government, a nefarious effort to crush freedom and American sovereignty in the name of environmentalism.

It鈥檚 not just extremists singing this looney tune. In January 2012, the Republican National Committee bought into the propaganda, denouncing Agenda 21 in a resolution as a 鈥渄estructive and insidious scheme鈥� that is meant to impose a 鈥渟ocialist/communist redistribution of wealth.鈥�

To listen 鈥� if you can stand it 鈥� to the rants of the Birch Society and its many allies on the radical right, Agenda 21 will lead to a 鈥渘ew Dark Ages of pain and misery yet unknown to mankind.鈥� It is 鈥渁 comprehensive plan of utopian environmentalism, social engineering, and global political control,鈥� the 鈥渕ost dangerous threat to American sovereignty鈥� yet.

Agenda 21, they say, will 鈥渕ake our nation a vassal鈥� of the UN, result in the 鈥渄estruction of our lives,鈥� force rural areas鈥� population to be 鈥渄ecimated,鈥� and lead to having 鈥�90% of the population murdered.鈥�

The truth is Agenda 21 is not a treaty. It has no force of law, no enforcement mechanisms, no penalties, and no significant funding. Yet fear, lies and talk of flocks of black helicopters blocking out the sun and smashing freedom when they land are winning in too many places. Alabama, for instance, has passed a law meant to outlaw any effect of the plan. Earlier, in that state鈥檚 Baldwin County, all nine members of the Planning and Zoning Commission quit in disgust after the County Commission killed their local development plan 鈥渙n a pretext so devoid of relevance and merit as, in our opinion, to elicit only ridicule,鈥� they wrote in their resignation letter.

After the County Commission acted, the audience cheered and sang 鈥淕od Bless America.鈥�

Name a right-wing conspiracy theory of the last 60 years and chances are the John Birch Society was sitting near the front of the bandwagon.

The assault on Agenda 21 is no different. Although the Birch Society has been gunning for the UN since the early 1960s, it did not fully commit to the anti-Agenda 21 crusade until 2011, when it began devoting resources and foot soldiers to it. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in a fight to save our country,鈥� the group鈥檚 CEO, Arthur R. Thompson, said of that battle in 2013. 鈥淲e鈥檙e in a fight to save the people who are unwilling to bend their knee to a totalitarian state.鈥�

Before JBS joined the fray, Tom DeWeese, founder of the American Policy Center, which focuses on 鈥渆nvironmental policy and its effect on private property,鈥� had been waging an almost one-man anti-Agenda 21 campaign. 鈥淚t sounds so friendly. So meaningful. So urgent,鈥� DeWeese wrote in 2009. 鈥淏ut the devastation to our liberty and way of life is the same as if Lenin ordered it.鈥�

DeWeese was soon joined by a number of far-right groups, including the Constitution Party, which was founded in 1992 and says its goal 鈥渋s to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries.鈥� The party鈥檚 Florida chairman, Bernie De Castro, put it like this: 鈥淎genda 21 is the most dangerous threat to America鈥檚 sovereignty that is coming at us like a whirlwind and yet so few Americans are aware of this diabolical threat to them and their families.鈥�

In an alarming 2012 fundraising letter, three-time presidential candidate and former U.S. Foreign Service officer Alan Keyes, a prot茅g茅 of President Ronald Reagan, said: 鈥淓nemies who hate America, despise liberty, and want the United States transformed 鈥� into 鈥� a global, socialist state 鈥� are relentlessly advancing a seditious new plan 鈥� Agenda 21 鈥� to make our nation a vassal of the United Nations.鈥�

Prominent politicians like former House SpeakerNewt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Sen.Ted Cruz (R-Texas) have also contributed to this agenda of fear and silliness as they denounce the plan that Cruz has claimed would 鈥渁bolish鈥� golf courses and paved roads.

4.听North American Union - U.S Sovereignty On The Bank

On March 23, 2005 鈥� a date which will live in infamy, if you listen to the conspiracy conjurers of the American right 鈥� President George W. Bush, his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin met in Waco, Texas, and signed the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).

To most observers, SPP was a benign, slow-moving attempt to coordinate technical trade and security policies among the three countries. But to right-wing conspiracy theorists, the agreement was the beginning of the end of American sovereignty, the first official steps down a dark road jammed with brown-skinned people and leading to the so-called North American Union, or NAU.

There is, of course, no such union or plan to merge the three nations into a borderless mass that uses a single currency, the 鈥淎mero.鈥� American sovereignty is safe. Yet, that hasn鈥檛 stopped the NAU bogeyman from becoming the dominant conspiracy theory animating the anti-immigration movement for the last 10 years. (A related theory, which emerged from the American Border Patrol hate group, says that Mexico has a secret 鈥淧lan de Aztlan鈥� to reconquer the American Southwest.)

In 2007, The Boston Globe described the NAU as perhaps 鈥渢he quintessential conspiracy theory for our time,鈥� one that 鈥渆legantly weaves old fears and new realities into one coherent and all-encompassing鈥� kooky package.

In a nutshell 鈥� emphasis on nut 鈥� the theorists say the NAU is a plot by elitists in the government and on college campuses that will result in Mexico sending millions more of its citizens to the United States, 鈥渦sing bilingualism to subvert America,鈥� as Daneen G. Peterson puts it. Peterson researches the perils of the 鈥淥ne World Order鈥� and runs stopthenorthamericanunion.com, a website devoted to unmasking the 鈥済lobalists鈥� behind the NAU.

On her site, Peterson calls Bush, Fox and Martin 鈥淭he Treasonous Triumvirate鈥� for signing SPP and clearing the way for the NAU with their 鈥渕ultiple acts of treason鈥� and 鈥渄eceptive double-speak.鈥�

In the United States, Peterson claims, there is 鈥渁 government cabal bent on destroying our sovereignty,鈥� while the Mexican 鈥渋nvasion of America鈥� continues with 鈥淗ispanics who balkanize our cities and towns and arrogantly corrupt our unifying national language.鈥�

The seditious cabal is said to also include the Council on Foreign Relations and the alleged Dr. Frankenstein of the NAU, the late American University professor Robert Pastor.

In other words, as Peterson says on her website, 鈥淭reason Abounds.鈥�

Lest you think the NAU conspiracy theory is only being pushed by one unwound webmistress, think again. The John Birch Society 鈥� whose founder once called President Dwight D. Eisenhower a communist agent 鈥� has been pushing NAU fears for years. And it also has made its way into the mainstream.

In 2006, four congressmen 鈥� U.S. Reps. Virgil Goode (R-Va.), Ron Paul (R-Texas), Walter Jones (R-N.C.) and Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) 鈥� sponsored a resolution opposing a 鈥淣AFTA superhighway鈥� that conspiracy theorists believe is connected to the NAU. In 2007, Tancredo demanded an end to the SPP and insisted that belief in the NAU theory was not limited to 鈥渞ight-wing kooks.鈥�

A somewhat less mainstream group, the Coalition to Block the North American Union, was formed in 2006 by the late Howard Phillips, three-time presidential candidate for the theocratic Constitution Party and founder of The Conservative Caucus. Phillips鈥� co-founders in the coalition were the Eagle Forum鈥檚 Phyllis Schlafly and Jerome Corsi, author of the notorious 鈥淪wift Boat鈥� book attacking and distorting 2004 presidential candidate John Kerry鈥檚 Vietnam service. Corsi accused President Bush of having a 鈥渟ecret agenda鈥� and warned that 鈥渁n executive branch coup d鈥檈tat may be under way.鈥�

The coalition had almost 70 members, many of them members of the Constitution Party. Others included Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center; Bay Buchanan of Team America; Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center; Joan Hueter of the American Council for Immigration Reform; the Rev. William Owens of the Coalition of African American Pastors; Ronald D. Ray of the Coalition of American Veterans; Chris Simcox of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps; Elizabeth Ridenour of the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools; and several leaders of the American Independent Party.

5.听Shariah Law - Coming To A Courtroom Near You听

For more than six years, much of the American right has been afflicted with a feverish brain disorder that writer Adam Serwer calls 鈥渟haria panic.鈥�

The fever shows no signs of breaking any time soon.

The disorder is a delusional and apparently highly contagious conspiracy theory that contends American Muslims are trying to undermine the U.S. Constitution and maybe even overthrow the government someday by implementing Shariah religious law in legal proceedings across the country.

The truth is that Shariah is essentially a code of ethics, or, as The New York Times put it, 鈥淚slam鈥檚 road map for living morally and achieving salvation.鈥� In some Islamic countries, it forms the basis of an often harsh legal code that governs crime, public morality and other matters. It is occasionally used in other countries in private civil contracts between individuals (such as agreements between spouses to abide by its precepts in any future divorce), just as Christians or Jews will sometimes draw up private contracts about similar matters based on their own religions.

But it cannot, under the Constitution, supersede American law.

Nevertheless, to a growing number of mostly Republican legislators from Vermont to Alabama, Shariah has become 鈥� particularly around election time 鈥� a blueprint for world domination. So to thwart the sneaky Muslims 鈥� and pick up a few more votes 鈥� politicians have introduced bills in almost three dozen states in recent years, seeking to ban Shariah law in U.S. courts. In the last five years, eight states have actually passed such needless measures.

鈥淎ll of this in spite of the fact that no instance of sharia law superseding U.S. Constitutional law exists,鈥� Todd Green, author of The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West, wrote in the Huffington Post this spring. In any case, he added, 鈥渁t one percent of the population, Muslims are not in the position to impose any kind of law on any state.鈥�

The bills are essentially the same across the country. They are modeled after legislation written by a 59-year-old Hasidic Jew, David Yerushalmi, a lawyer who is widely considered to be the driving force behind the anti-Shariah movement. He is also, according to the Anti-Defamation League, a man 鈥渨ith a record of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry.鈥� One of Yerushalmi鈥檚 clients and close allies is Pamela Geller, perhaps the best-known and most unhinged anti-Muslim ideologue in the United States.

Yerushalmi began writing his model statute 鈥� 鈥淎merican Laws for American Courts鈥� 鈥� in 2009. The statute, according to the Times, 鈥渨ould prevent state judges from considering foreign laws or rulings that violate constitutional rights in the United States.鈥� Yerushalmi admitted later that his purpose was not so much to ban the imposition of Islamic religious law 鈥� already impossible under the Constitution 鈥� but 鈥渢o get people asking this question, 鈥榃hat is Shariah?鈥欌��

In 2010, backed by a $60,000 campaign funded by the Muslim-bashing group ACT! for America, the bill was passed in Oklahoma with 70% of the vote. But the Oklahoma law explicitly targeted Shariah and was later struck down by a federal court. After that, the anti-Shariah movement wised up and watered down its bigotry, shifting its focus and language onto banning all foreign laws.

But 鈥渁s these restrictions pile up,鈥� according to an article in 2014 on the website of the Brennan Center for 人兽性交 at New York University School of Law, 鈥渢he bans come full circle and reveal their true purpose: to demonize the Islamic faith.鈥�

While conceding that Shariah was 鈥渘ot an imminent threat in Oklahoma yet,鈥� Republican then-state Rep.Rex Duncan, a chief sponsor of that state鈥檚 anti-Shariah bill, told ABC News in 2010 that 鈥淸i]t鈥檚 a storm on the horizon in other states,鈥� adding, 鈥淭he only entities that could oppose this measure are those that admittedly support applying international law and sharia law in American courts.鈥�

Cathie Adams, the former chairwoman of the Texas Republican Party and current leader of the Texas chapter of Phyllis Schlafly鈥檚 Eagle Forum, has said that immigration reform is a 鈥渢ool of Satan that will lead to the enactment of Sharia law and usher in the End Times.鈥�

The anti-Shariah movement is not confined to statehouses across the country. It has national allies as well. In a speech to the American Enterprise Institute in 2010, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, 鈥淚 believe Shariah is a mortal threat to the survival of freedom in the United States and in the world as we know it.鈥� In 2011, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told ThinkProgress that he would not appoint a Muslim to his administration or as a federal judge because there is 鈥渢his creeping attempt, there is this attempt to gradually ease Sharia law and the Muslim faith into our government.鈥� In 2012, as a candidate for the U.S. Senate from Texas, Ted Cruz described Shariah as 鈥渁n enormous problem.鈥�

6.听Gun Grab - The Coming Seizure Of Americans' Firearms

For at least the last half century, many Americans, goaded by groups like the John Birch Society and more recently the National Rifle Association, have believed that a government 鈥済un grab鈥� is just around the corner. Despite living under what are among the most relaxed gun ownership laws in the industrialized world, huge numbers think that this seizure is planned as a first step toward dictatorship.

These fears are now a core theory of the antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥� movement, which believes that various elites are about to impose martial law, seize all civilian arms, and toss any who resist into secret, government-run concentration camps. That, in turn, is seen as the prelude to the imposition of global government.

For many on the far right, the 1993 federal raid on religious cultists in Waco, Texas, proved the point. The Branch Davidians were manufacturing and selling weapons, and that, to the extremists, is why the government initiated the bloody siege. Guns mixed with heterodox ideology would not be permitted.

When Barack Obama appeared on the national political scene in 2008 as the Democratic candidate for president, the conspiracy theorists went into overdrive.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) spent a whopping $15 million on a national campaign 鈥� bearing the scare slogan 鈥淧repare for the Storm in 2008鈥� 鈥� that, according to Factcheck.org, made 鈥渦nsubstantiated claims that Obama plans to ban use of firearms for home defense, ban possession and manufacture of handguns, close 90 percent of gun shops and ban hunting ammunition.鈥�

All of these claims, of course, were false.

But they persist to this day, with almost every new mass shooting described by conspiracy theorists as a 鈥渇alse flag鈥� operation designed to terrify Americans into accepting draconian gun control measures. In the first years of Obama鈥檚 presidency, such fears drove a massive surge in gun and ammunition sales. At the same time, the NRA and other far-right activists have claimed that a United Nations treaty meant to regulate international arms trafficking is aimed at taking away Americans鈥� guns 鈥� a complete falsehood, as it would apply to no country鈥檚 internal gun laws.

A key claim made by the fear-mongers, based on a couple of fabricated quotes, is that Hitler imposed gun control as a first step in his dictatorship and genocide of the Jews. In fact, as numerous scholars have conclusively demonstrated, Hitler鈥檚 1938 German Weapons Act actually dramatically loosened a gun control regime forced on the country after Versailles 鈥� except for Jews. And, as historians point out, even if the Jews had been armed, they would have been no remote match for a military apparatus that was able, for a time, to take on much of the world.

In recent times, the NRA, and particularly its executive vice president, Wayne LaPierre, has been the lead purveyor of the gun seizure myth, helped along mightily by radical antigovernment groups and conspiracy-mongers like Alex Jones.

But he鈥檚 gotten plenty of other help as well.

Shortly after Obama was elected in 2008, Milwaukee radio host Mark Belling told his audience that 鈥淸e]verybody鈥檚 buying guns before Obama comes in and outlaws them all.鈥� A few days later, G. Gordon Liddy, the convicted Watergate felon and radio host, warned that people should not register their weapons no matter what the law said. In early 2009, far-right ideologue Ann Coulter warned that 鈥淏ig Brother [is] coming in and taking our guns and schools and doctors.鈥�

Then-Fox News host Glenn Beck sounded similar that year, saying Obama 鈥渨ill slowly but surely take away your gun or take away your ability to shoot a gun, carry a gun. He will make them more expensive, he鈥檒l tax them out of existence.鈥� In the same way, in his 2012 propaganda tome Here Come the Black Helicopters!, Fox News contributor Dick Morris devoted a chapter to the bogus claim that the proposed UN treaty regulating international gun sales would allow the Obama Administration to 鈥淸c]onfiscate and destroy all 鈥榰nauthorized鈥� civilian firearms.鈥�

And in 2013, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) warned that Obama was working with 鈥渁nti-American globalists鈥� at the UN 鈥� which he said was controlled by 鈥減etty dictators and one-world socialists鈥� 鈥� to plot a major U.S. gun confiscation. Then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) joined in, telling supporters in an E-mail that they were 鈥渓iterally surrounded. The gun-grabbers in the Senate are about to launch an all-out assault on the Second Amendment.鈥� He was wrong.

7.听FEMA - America's Secret Concentration Camps

For decades, as the stubborn conspiracy theory goes, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been secretly building 600 to 800 concentration camps on American soil, some equipped with gas chambers. The empty camps are scattered across the country, waiting to swing into action once the oligarchs in D.C. declare martial law on behalf of their buddies at the United Nations.

Railroad boxcars and cheap coffins are also ready to ship unruly American citizens away 鈥� to either the camps or, if the people resist too much, to mass graves.

It鈥檚 such an outlandishly grim fairy tale that even ultraconservative commentator Glenn Beck, himself a conspiracy theory promoter (see Agenda 21) who initially said of the FEMA theory that he 鈥渨anted to debunk it鈥� but couldn鈥檛, spent two nights in April 2009 doing just that.

鈥淚鈥檓 sick of seeing the E-mails about FEMA camps,鈥� Beck declared on his now-defunct Fox News show. 鈥淟ook, let鈥檚 just stick to the facts. There is enough truth out there that pisses people off. We don鈥檛 need all the lies.鈥�

Beck said that, along with the 鈥�9/11 truthers,鈥� the 鈥渆vil concentration camps鈥� claim is 鈥渙ne of the most pervasive conspiracy theories on the Internet because it comes with supposed video鈥� with 鈥渨ell over a million views on YouTube.鈥�

Beck鈥檚 guest for the debunking was James Meigs, then editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, which did an even more detailed debunking of its own. (The same magazine in 2005 had published an important knockdown of 9/11 conspiracy theories.) For example, pictures of a 鈥渃onfirmed concentration camp built on American soil in rural Wyoming鈥� were actually images of forced-labor camps and prisons 鈥� in North Korea.

The images, according to Popular Mechanics, were taken from a Washington D.C.-based human rights group鈥檚 report exposing North Korea鈥檚 hidden prison camps.

On the show, Beck asked Meigs about a video showing a small building, purportedly the entrance, equipped with motion-activated detectors and electronic turnstiles, to an American concentration camp, surrounded by a fence.

It was portrayed as some kind of American Auschwitz, Meigs said.

But researchers from Popular Mechanics visited the site and found, according to Meigs, 鈥渁n Amtrak repair facility in Beach Grove, Indiana.鈥�

鈥淲ell,鈥� Beck said, 鈥淎uschwitz had trains. I鈥檓 just saying.鈥�

鈥淏ut once you go down that road,鈥� Meigs replied, 鈥渋f somebody wants to be convinced of that, they can鈥檛 really debunk that.鈥�

Beck pointed out that the videos were not new and even predated all the Obama-did-it conspiracy theories.

鈥淭his video,鈥� Meigs said, 鈥渁ctually dates from about 1995. But like so many of these conspiracy theories, it gets re-cut and re-edited and circulated around the Internet.鈥�

And so, the concentration camp conspiracy theory marches on.

Recently, fuel was added to that fire by an unlikely source, retired general and former Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark. In an interview on MSNBC in July, Clark called for World War II-style internment camps to be revived to combat Muslim extremism.

鈥淚f these people are radicalized,鈥� Clark said, 鈥渁nd they don鈥檛 support the United States and they鈥檙e disloyal to the United States as a matter of principle, fine, that鈥檚 their right. It鈥檚 our right and our obligation to segregate them from the normal community for the duration of the conflict.鈥�

In some basement somewhere in America, a new video is hurriedly being edited.

One of the earliest mentions of the FEMA theory came in 1982, in a newsletter of the extreme-right, anti-Semitic Posse Comitatus warning 鈥渉ardcore Patriots鈥� would be interned in FEMA-run detention camps. It picked up speed with the 1987 revelation that then-FEMA director Louis Guiffrida had collaborated with Lt. Col. Oliver North on a secret plan to suspend the Constitution in case of widespread internal dissent or other crises (see Military Exercises).

Linda Thompson, an Indianapolis lawyer and militia enthusiast, in 1994 produced her third conspiracist video, 鈥淎merica Under Siege,鈥� alleging FEMA was building a system of concentration camps. One of the places she named as such a camp turned out to be the Amtrak repair facility in Indiana.

In 2009, Stewart Rhodes formed a radical-right group called the Oath Keepers, composed largely of current and former members of the military and law enforcement, that listed the 10 鈥淥rders We Will Not Obey,鈥� which included any command to herd Americans into concentration camps. (Rhodes did not mention FEMA by name.) Around the same time, William Lewis Films and Gary Franchi Productions released a film, 鈥淐amp FEMA: American Lockdown.鈥�

The following year, conspiracy-monger Alex Jones produced and directed 鈥淧olice State 4: The Rise of FEMA,鈥� a similar film that he boasted 鈥渃onclusively proves the existence of a secret network of FEMA camps鈥� . The military-industrial complex is transforming our once free nation into a giant prison camp.鈥�

On his Facebook page in 2012, Jones linked to a story from Disclose TV, 鈥淟ist of All FEMA Concentration Camps in America Revealed.鈥� Jones鈥� Infowars.com website is littered with similar stories with headlines such as 鈥淓xclusive: Government Activating FEMA Camps Across US,鈥� 鈥淪ecretive FEMA Camp Drill Running in Iowa鈥� and 鈥淏ombshell: FEMA Camps Confirmed.鈥�

8.听Money Manipulators - How The Bankers Keep Us Down

The fear that regular people are being ruthlessly exploited by financial elites 鈥� bankers, major business interests and other players in high finance 鈥� goes back almost to the first days of our nation. And while it is certainly true that moneyed interests have long taken advantage of the financially vulnerable, the American far right has specialized in conspiratorial explanations with no basis in reality.

As early as the 1790s, many people suspected that Freemasons 鈥� a fraternal group whose sometimes secretive practices engendered many specious conspiracy theories 鈥� were covertly controlling U.S. government policies through financial and other manipulations. This ultimately fed into a national debate a full century later over banking, credit, money and the use of gold and silver.

Such theories gained a particularly nasty twist with the publication in the very early 1900s of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forgery alleging a Jewish plot to take over the world and, through control of the banks, all its wealth. Although the book attacked Jews for financial troubles in Russia, it reached American automaker Henry Ford, who popularized the idea of Jews sabotaging the U.S. economy.

Suspicions about elite financial plots heated up in 1910, when a group of bank moguls and U.S. senators gathered at Georgia鈥檚 Jekyll Island resort to plan what would become, in 1913, the Federal Reserve, the system that today regulates the money supply in America. Later conspiracy theorists, like G. Edward Griffin, author of the 1994 book The Creature From Jekyll Island, see this as the beginning of a massive rip-off of the American people. Today鈥檚 antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥� movement despises the Fed, which it wrongly claims is controlled by 鈥渋nternational bankers鈥� (often described as Jewish bankers) who manipulate the system to their own advantage. Patriots say that paper money, or 鈥淔ederal Reserve Notes,鈥� is not real money like gold.

Another landmark event in this world of conspiracy theories is President Franklin D. Roosevelt鈥檚 1933 dropping of the gold standard, which meant that the government no longer promised to redeem paper money for gold. At around the same time, Father Charles Coughlin, an infamous anti-Semitic radio broadcaster, popularized the term 鈥渂anksters,鈥� by which he meant Jewish bankers.

In contemporary times, a whole array of malefactors have been identified by the radical right as manipulating American finance at the expense of the rest of us: the Rothschilds, Roosevelts and Rockefellers, the British royal family, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg banking summits. For neo-Nazis, naturally, the enemy is always the Jews.

Of course, there is nothing whatever to any of these theories. Indisputably, banking and other financial interests have sometimes worked to profit unfairly at the expense of others. But the idea that there is an elaborate plot by an identifiable group of conspirators to defraud America and its citizens is entirely false.

Through the centuries, a huge number of people, some of them powerful men like Henry Ford, Father Charles Coughlin and Adolf Hitler, have promoted various false conspiracy theories about financial manipulation, in the case of those three blaming the Jews. They are far too numerous to list.

Dennis Fahey, an anti-Semitic Catholic writer, was one who wrote of 鈥渕oney manipulations鈥� during the 1940s. In 1971, another virulent Jew-hater, the late Eustace Mullins, began writing about similar plots, ultimately influencing many neo-Nazis and others on the radical right. G. Edward Griffin, who in 1994 wrote The Creature From Jekyll Island about the alleged evils of the Federal Reserve, has denied being an anti-Semite, but a number of his critics disagree.

For decades, the John Birch Society (JBS) has played a primary role in promoting a series of similar conspiracy theories, although they do not point to Jewish evildoers. JBS pamphlets in recent years have pushed gold in place of paper money and said the Fed has put Americans at 鈥渢he mercy of booms and busts unleashed by the mandarins of high finance to serve their own political ends.鈥�

In his 1991 book The New World Order, Pat Robertson, chair of the Christian Broadcasting Network and host of 鈥淭he 700 Club,鈥� talks about secret forces whose 鈥減rincipal goal is the establishment of a one-world government where the control of money is in the hands of one or more privately owned but government-chartered central banks.鈥� He identifies evildoers who include the Illuminati, the Council on Foreign Relations, Freemasons and certain Jewish banking families.

More recently, both former congressman Ron Paul and his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), have attacked the Fed and paper money, while the elder Paul has tirelessly promoted a return to the gold standard. And an endless list of companies selling gold and silver have sought to take advantage of the conspiratorial beliefs of many on the far right by urging them to buy metal instead of saving dollars.

9.听Secret Muslim Training Camps - The 听Enemy Within听

Pushers of the conspiracist canard that there are between 22 and 35 secret Muslim terrorist training camps hidden in plain sight in rural areas scattered across the country have a simple explanation for why the authorities have not cracked down to save America from the peril of homegrown jihad.

Local police and sheriff鈥檚 departments, not to mention the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, have their heads in the sand, probably because of too darn much political correctness.

鈥淲e toured a lot of these camps and by and large all the camps have a pretty good working relationship with the police department or the sheriff that is in the immediate area,鈥� Martin Mawyer, head of the Christian Action Network, which is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, complained to the far-right online 鈥渘ews鈥� outlet WorldNetDaily this January. 鈥淲henever we鈥檝e tried to meet with any of these police agencies and present our findings they won鈥檛 let us in to show any of the evidence. Maybe it鈥檚 just to keep their heads buried in the sand because they certainly don鈥檛 approach this group with any degree of seriousness.鈥�

Despite the dismissive reception from law enforcement, the campinistas have been pushing the conspiracy theory hard for years, compiling lists of the suspected terrorist compounds and making videos about them. One of those is 鈥淗omegrown Jihad: The Terrorist Camps Around U.S.,鈥� which was produced by Mawyer鈥檚 group and since 2012 has had nearly 400,000 views on YouTube.

Islamberg, one of the alleged 鈥渢errorist training camps鈥� in upstate New York, is a popular target of the conspiracy theorists 鈥� figuratively and, earlier this year, literally.

In actuality, Islamberg, located about 110 miles northwest of New York City near the town of Hancock, is home to a small community of mostly African-American Muslims. It is one of at least a dozen similar enclaves around the country. A Reuters story about Islamberg this June ran with a headline describing it as 鈥渁 tranquil Muslim hamlet in the Catskills.鈥� Six months earlier, a local sheriff鈥檚 office spokesman told a radio show host that he knew Islamberg well and was 鈥減erplexed鈥� by the idea that it posed a threat. Asked about a grainy video made by the Islam-bashing Clarion Project claiming to show women engaged in paramilitary training there, he said that 鈥渘othing we have developed or had contact with has made us believe there is any credit to those videos.鈥�

But to an 鈥渁rray of far-right organizations,鈥� as Reuters put it, Islamberg is a terrorist training camp, featured in the 鈥淗omegrown Jihad鈥� video and endless Internet rants. And a 63-year-old former congressional candidate from Tennessee, Robert Doggart, was apparently inspired by the training camp hysteria. In July, a federal grand jury indicted Doggart for allegedly soliciting others to burn down the mosque at Islamberg.

Another location that often appears on the lists of training camps is the Alabama town of Marion, population 3,686.

On July 25, 2002, less than a year after the horror and mass murder of the 9/11 attacks, ABC News published a story about a possible terrorist training camp linked to Muslim extremists, operating just outside of Marion. The camp was called 鈥淕round Zero.鈥�

The report talked provocatively about 鈥淸b]ullet-riddled police cars and a school bus with mannequin targets鈥� scattered across the property and, inside a huge shed, 鈥渁n equally macabre scene: shot-up mannequins, male and female, in domestic settings, some with red, blood-like stains on them.鈥�

鈥淭he looming question for law enforcement,鈥� ABC said, 鈥渋s whether there is a connection between the camp and the al Qaeda terror network.鈥�

ABC did acknowledge that the British man who owned the compound 鈥� described as probably an 鈥渦nwitting accomplice鈥� 鈥� said it was a legal training facility for law enforcement that provided world-class training in automatic weapons, urban warfare and other tactics, 鈥渟upposedly to fight terror attacks.鈥�

The day after the ABC report, The Associated Press reported that that was, in fact, precisely what the camp was 鈥� a training facility for law enforcement. The police chief of Marion, saying he鈥檇 been misquoted by ABC, explained that the camp was used by police officers from Alabama and Louisiana. An FBI spokesman in Birmingham told the AP that his agency鈥檚 probe found no link to any terrorist or other unlawful activity. The state鈥檚 Department of Public Safety agreed.

And yet, 13 years later, Marion still shows up on Internet lists as one of the 22 secret Muslim terrorist training camps that the police just won鈥檛 do anything about.

Although Martin Mawyer appears to be the principal promoter of the Muslim training camp myth, no anti-Muslim conspiracy theory would be complete without the input of Pamela Geller. Geller has been on the trail of the fictional camps since 2007 and says the authorities have not raided them 鈥渂ecause there is a great reluctance among government and law enforcement agencies across the board, no matter who is president, to appear to be anti-Muslim.鈥�

Patti Pierucci is another promulgator of the canard. She and Mawyer are co-authors of Twilight in America: The Untold Story of Islamic Training Camps Inside America. People who purchase the book on Amazon frequently also buy another page-turner, How Obama Embraces Islam鈥檚 Sharia Agenda by Andrew C. McCarthy.

Sean Hannity, along with a number of other Fox News hosts, has also tried to spread the word. In 2009, he devoted a segment of his program to the subject. His 鈥渆xpert鈥� guest was Mawyer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a frightening thought,鈥� Hannity said. 鈥淚slamic terrorist training camps right here in America, in our backyards.鈥�

10.听The Homosexual Agenda - The End Of Civilization

The idea that there is a 鈥渉omosexual agenda鈥� 鈥� a concrete plan, worked out with Machiavellian cunning and aimed at convincing straight Americans to accept the unacceptable 鈥� dates to the early 1980s, when the gay rights movement was for the first time ever beginning to gain a little bit of real political traction.

Perhaps the first important book to suggest a program of devious infiltration was Enrique Rueda鈥檚 1982 tome, The Homosexual Network, which expanded more soberly on David Noebel鈥檚 The Homosexual Revolution: End Time Abomination, a crude 1977 book that savaged homosexuality. A tsunami of similar publications, increasingly pointing to a detailed and secret gay agenda, soon followed. Beverly LaHaye鈥檚 1991 booklet, The Hidden Homosexual Agenda, was typical.

There is some argument on the religious right as to just how the 鈥渁genda鈥� came to be. Some locate the beginning in early demands for gay rights like Carl Wittman鈥檚 1970 article, 鈥淩efugees from Amerika: A Gay Manifesto,鈥� which called for making alliances with other progressive movements and appealing to younger people. Later, a large number of anti-gay activists claimed it started with a 1990 book, After the Ball: How America Will Conquer Its Fear and Hatred of Gays in the 90鈥檚, by psychologist Marshall Kirk and advertising expert Hunter Madsen.

That book proposed a straightforward campaign 鈥� tactics such as speaking openly about homosexuality, portraying gays as victims and their enemies as bullies, and seeking sympathetic allies 鈥� but it was painted as an evil conspiracy.

Amusingly, other anti-gay forces mistook a 1987 satire in a Boston gay newspaper for a real plan. Among its most famous lines: 鈥淲e shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lives.鈥� It ended with this: 鈥淭remble, hetero swine, when we appear before you without our masks.鈥� It was even entered into the Congressional record 鈥� minus its first line, saying it was 鈥渁 tragic, cruel fantasy, an eruption of inner rage,鈥� a parody.

Over the years, the religious anti-gay right has added ever more florid descriptions of the alleged homosexual agenda. Anti-gay groups have repeatedly claimed, falsely, that the gay rights movement seeks to abolish all sexual age-of-consent laws. Many asserted that the American Psychiatric Association鈥檚 1973 declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder was merely appeasement of gay activists. Efforts to prevent bullying of LGBT students in lower schools were depicted as cynical attempts to 鈥渞ecruit鈥� children into the 鈥渉omosexual lifestyle鈥�

The truth is that there is no 鈥渉omosexual agenda鈥� beyond the decades-long attempt by LGBT people to win equal rights 鈥� to be safe in their homes and on the streets, to be able to marry the people they love, to not be discriminated against in housing, jobs and so on. But there most certainly is an anti-gay agenda, and it is one that often will stop at almost nothing in its efforts to smear LGBT people.

The history of those who work to isolate and defame LGBT people, in particular with respect to the alleged 鈥渉omosexual agenda,鈥� is a long one. But it has gotten even worse as gay people have come closer and closer to real equality.

Janet Porter, president and founder of Faith2Action, said in an anti-gay documentary released earlier this year that 鈥淕od and his commandments were kicked out of the classroom鈥� and replaced with 鈥渁 dark agenda that robs children of their innocence and puts their life at risk.鈥� Appearing with her in the film, 鈥淟ight Wins,鈥� was Scott Lively, who claims that gay men orchestrated the Holocaust, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

John Stemberger, who heads Trail Life USA and opposed the Boy Scouts decision to allow gay Scouts, said that if the Scouts went further and allowed gay Scouting leaders, it would endanger 鈥渢he safety and security鈥� of the boys in the group and allow 鈥渢he homosexual agenda to infiltrate the church.鈥�

Also this year, Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson told a viewer of his TV show, 鈥淭he 700 Club,鈥� that 鈥渢he gays want to control everything鈥� and warned that 鈥淸t]his is part of the left-wing agenda to do away with Christian values.鈥�

Countless others have chimed in on a variety of mythological plans attributed to the gay agenda, all of them baseless 鈥� that hate crime laws will be used to send pastors to prison if they publicly disagree with homosexuality, that speech will soon be curtailed to disallow any negative comments about LGBT people, that the legalization of same-sex marriage will destroy heterosexual marriage and so on.

In the words of Janet Mefferd, a far-right syndicated radio host, the country may be moving 鈥渢oward a day when every Christian who supports real marriage might be made to wear a yellow patch on the sleeve 鈥� to identify us as 鈥榓nti-gay haters.鈥欌�� She didn鈥檛 mention that the idea is ridiculous on its face and, in any case, would be entirely impossible under a constitutional system.听