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Health & Fitness

A View From the Deck: Can you Hear the Rotor Slap?

In this installment of 'A View From the Deck', local author J. Wiley Dumas takes a look at some of the conspiracy theories prevalant in our culture.

Note to the reader: This article is OPINION. As such, it is a Point of View, that being the author's and his alone.

Webster’s Dictionary defines Conspiracy Theory as: “a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot usually by powerful conspirators.”

My definition is ‘Rotor Slap.’

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Anyone who has served in the military, or is familiar with helicopters, knows what rotor slap is. The Bell UH-1 ‘Huey’ helicopter had the most distinctive rotor slap ever, being heard from miles away and drowning out one’s voice as it got closer. Conspiracy Theorists often check the skies for the ‘Black Helicopters’ hovering over them, and the rotor slap from those drowns out all rational thought.

And that’s what conspiracy theories do. They get louder and louder and eventually they become all that is being heard, despite facts to the contrary.

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For my age group, the list of conspiracy theories would include, but not be limited to, the following:

UFO Wreckage and alien bodies at Area 51

President Kennedy’s Assassination

Robert Kennedy’s Assassination

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination

The Apollo 11 moon landing

Paul McCartney of the Beatles was killed and replaced by a double

Elvis is alive

Technology exists to have a gasoline engine that gets super high mileage but the oil companies have hidden the technology

The September 11th, 2001 Attack (‘Truthers’)

The legitimacy of President Obama’s Birth Certificate (‘Birthers’)

And perhaps the most heinous of all Conspiracy Theories to come about in recent weeks:

The Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting (Yes, there are those that believe it was a hoax)

As I mentioned, this list is not ‘all-inclusive’, rather, it is some of those that are the most talked about in our culture. I’m certain that each reader has their own that could be added to this list.

Conspiracy theories all have certain things in common. One is that they are carried out by ‘Them’ to fulfill ‘Their’ agenda. ‘They’ are shadowy groups of people in positions of power and influence who dictate our daily lives by manipulating events. Another is that all conspiracy theories contain just enough FACT to convince the average person that they are ‘Truth.’

Let’s take a couple of examples from the list above.

SOMETHING crashed in the desert outside of Roswell, New Mexico back in 1947. Exactly what it was, the public may never know. I don’t really think it was an alien spacecraft or a weather balloon. More likely, it was captured German technology being tested at what is now White Sands, and was ‘hushed-up’ to avoid a public panic over the level of advancement Germany had made in rocketry, aviation, and nuclear technology during World War 2.

And yes, ‘Area-51’ exists, but it is one of the most secure R&D facilities in the world. It’s called Groom Lake.

President John F. Kennedy’s assassination shocked this country. I was a small child at the time, but I can remember the horror my parents and others felt. Unwilling to believe that a single person, a ‘lone nut’ could carry out such a heinous, horrifying act on the leader of our great nation, people began to look for a ‘second gunman,’ usually on the infamous ‘Grassy knoll.’ Now I can’t speak about other issues of this event, and if this was a conspiracy or not, but if there had been a second shooter on that knoll, and had taken that shot, looking at the trajectory, it becomes clear that the bullet would have passed through and also killed Jackie.

Internal-combustion gasoline engines have been created that deliver as much as 60 mpg. The problem is that the fuel is high-octane, contains lead, and has no other additives such as ethanol. Also, EPA regulations concerning emissions cut back on the ability of the engine to perform to its maximum capability.

I’m a born skeptic. I take very little that I see, read, or hear as ‘fact,’ until I research it. And while there certainly exists plenty of unanswered questions in many of the above examples, there are also plenty of substantiated facts as to rule many of them as nothing more than ‘Rotor Slap.’

The ‘Truthers’ see a giant military-industrial complex-created conspiracy in the September 11th attacks. The ‘Birthers’ see our president as foreign-born, ineligible to hold the Office of President of the United States. The ‘Sandy Hook Hoax’ crowd sees this horrid event as a carefully-orchestrated action to attack the 2nd Amendment. There has even been some ‘Rotor Slap’ over the past few days regarding the recent release of thousands of illegal immigrant detainees. The Conspiracy Theorists say that this has been done to have these people commit ‘gun crimes,’ and strengthen the attack on the 2nd Amendment.

Rotor Slap? You decide.

In all of these, there are just enough facts to get one to listen and consider the possibility that there just might be some ‘truth’ behind this. Remember, not all conspiracy theories are theories (Rendition comes to mind).

Whether you believe in them or not, the fact is that conspiracy theories are part of our culture. And, in a way, that’s a good thing. It shows that we do question, that we don’t take anything as ‘truth,’ until we have looked into the issue, and then made an informed opinion on the matter.

There’s little doubt that things go on that are kept from the general public. In some cases, these things concern National Security, and should never see the light of day. Other things are so old that the people truly deserve the facts.

But for myself, I have to go and find out the ‘truth’ behind ‘Pop Rocks.’

I hear Elvis and the Men in Black arriving in the black helicopter now.

Sic vis Pacem, Parabellum,

J. Wiley Dumas

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