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posted by CoolHand on Saturday May 09 2015, @06:02PM   Printer-friendly
from the paranoid-much? dept.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-07/jade-helm-15-prompts-texas-takeover-conspiracy/6452810

A paper published last year found that around half of the American public consistently endorses at least one conspiracy theory, and that many popular conspiracy theories are differentiated along ideological dimensions. Having said that, their research was pre-Snowden revelations, so many of the conspiracy theories may have been well founded.

Even so, the hysteria surrounding Operation Jade Helm 15 seems unusually shrill, with Chuck Norris (ex fake Texas Ranger) urging Texans not to believe government reassurances that it is just an exercise, and Governor Greg Abbott ordering the National Guard to monitor the US military's activities.

So what do Soylentils think? Will conservative Texas, in the words of Freedom Fighter 2127 on YouTube be, "The first state, according to our military source, these are not just drills. Texas will be the first state to be under martial law"?

There are plenty of people willing to point out the lunacy of the conspiracy theorists. Of course, Jon Stewart is one:

"There is no Texas takeover," Stewart said. "The United States government already controls Texas — since like the 1840s. And you left and then you came back. Just borrow a textbook from a neighboring state. It's all in there.

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @12:27AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 10 2015, @12:27AM (#180922)

    Um, buddy? Got a minute? Can we talk?
    This thing you said,

    labeling Texas, Utah, and the southern tip of California as "hostile" was an extremely inflammatory message to send to the American people.

    seems to not to under stand that the plans for Jesse Helms 15 were not for public release, it was for the purposes of the exercise, and that means fictional. Not really a statement about anybody that lives in the areas artificially labeled "hostile". But if you take it that way, maybe it is true. I, for one, will support the troops, as they invade Texas, Utah, and the southern tip of California! Bastards deserve it. Oh, and stop listening to Alex Jones and Infowars, certifiably insane!

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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by TheRaven on Sunday May 10 2015, @09:15AM

    by TheRaven (270) on Sunday May 10 2015, @09:15AM (#181038) Journal
    And this is a fairly standard thing for a military to do. You try really hard to avoid using real potential enemies in your exercise plans, because if plans for an exercise to repel a Chinese invasion come out then there's the potential for a diplomatic incident. Even during the cold war, most exercises were the 'red team' against the 'blue team', with the tacit understanding that the red team probably represented the Soviets, but without explicitly stating it. Texas here is likely a proxy for some unspecified middle eastern country, but you don't want to say (for example) Iran on the exercise plan, as that will make people in Tehran jumpy.
    --
    sudo mod me up
  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday May 10 2015, @02:18PM

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Sunday May 10 2015, @02:18PM (#181084) Homepage

    Look, I am neither conservative nor a Christian. And the point I was trying to make was the impression the Jade Helm participants are giving a lot of people here. Congressional approval ratings are in the single-digits and America is now more bitterly divided than ever. Consider all that, and ask yourself if it was really a smart move to label certain specific regions of one overwhelmingly demographic political slant.

    What I think about or read both have nothing to do with that. I read a variety of left and right-leaning news sources. My personal opinion of the matter is that labeling things they way they did was unnecessarily inflammatory.

    And yes, I did see the map suggesting that California represented Israel, the hostile Southern tip of California representing Palestine, hostile Utah Representing Syria, and hostile Texas representing Iran.

    Why is there so much talk about all this if it's "just nothing" as some are trying to say?

    • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday May 10 2015, @08:35PM

      by aristarchus (2645) on Sunday May 10 2015, @08:35PM (#181168) Journal

      Eth, often I have been perturbed by your contributions here, especially the racism, sexism, and overall bad taste. But when you have lowered yourself to be serious, I usually found you to be a rather reasonable Soylentil. Until now.

      Why is there so much talk about all this if it's "just nothing" as some are trying to say?

      Yes, very good question! Why is there so much talk about it? Maybe the Government doesn't want us talking about the sekrit plan to invaidulate Texas! See, right there is the crazy. The reason there is so much talk about this is that there is so much talk about this, by crazy people! As AC pointed out earlier, this is a training exercise, not a public relations campaign by the US Military. As such, they are saying nothing with the pretend designation of enemy territory, because it is not for public consumption. But then the crazies found out, and they started talking about it. Why are you siding with crazies, Eth? Go back to just being crude, rude, and socially unacceptable.

      Second reason there is so much talk about this. Governor of Texas is a crazy! If this had been the usually conspiracy theory, it would have been limited to the usual tin-foil wearers. But once Rand Paul, Chuck Norris and Gov. Abbott step into the ring, the rest of us have to ask: "How stupid can Republicans be? Is the crazy contaigious?" And now I fear that Ethanol-fueled is among the victims. Mostly, however, the talking about this is mostly sane people (you know, SJWs, liberals, people with educations) making fun of anyone gullible to fall for this crap! So come back, Eth, step away from the crazy. Don't make us have to send you to rehab.