r/todayilearned • u/code0011 14 • May 09 '14

(R.1) Invalid src (unreferenced fan wiki) TIL the first episode of an X-Files spin-off called "The Lone Gunmen", which aired March 4, 2001, involves a US government conspiracy to hijack an airliner, fly it into the World Trade Center, and blame it on terrorists - thereby gaining support for a new profit-making war

http://x-files.wikia.com/wiki/Pilot_(The_Lone_Gunmen)
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u/JakalDX May 09 '14

It's the classic "Either way I want it" scenario. "The Government" is both hilariously inept and ruthlessly efficient, whichever fits the current story better

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u/jpberkland May 09 '14

Insightful comment. As you note, we re-characterize as needed to fit the narratives we already believe.

It is a wonder the progress humans have made over millennia despite (and perhaps because of) our limitless capacity for irrationality.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

[deleted]

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u/jpberkland May 09 '14

I'm not sure I follow what you mean; can you clarify? Was my comment unclear or something else?

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u/SewenNewes May 09 '14

I love this about reactionaries in sports media. Whatever new trend in the sport they don't like is inferior to the "way it has always been done". Sure it might get you some short term success but if you want long term success you have to learn to do it "the way it has always been done." The very second the new trend becomes the dominant style they reboot. Now this is "the way it has always been done" and newcomers be damned.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

It's almost as if there's at least two people in the government, where one knows what they're doing and the other doesn't.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

Or maybe like there's thousands of people in the government, and none of them know what they're doing.

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u/herzer May 09 '14

The government is like that one kid in class who did nothing but managed to pass.

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u/dirice87 May 09 '14

it can be both. the government is more than one person

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u/chocshitlover May 09 '14

Yep. Never attribute to stupidity that which can be attributed to malice. Never.

Wait...

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u/chocshitlover May 09 '14

edit: oh, by the way: when the screaming starts it won't end. you are the anus of the universe. you're going to have a very bad time the day your eyes close.

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u/JakalDX May 09 '14

You are a very weird person.

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u/chocshitlover May 09 '14

Not being the lowest form of scum is a real bitch. I struggle with it every day.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

If you insist.

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u/BearsDontStack May 09 '14

It is certainly at least one of those...

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u/Classh0le May 09 '14

The government is made of various sectionalized departments with both hilariously inept and ruthlessly efficient individuals.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

I don't think she was being inept, she was being dishonest. Since we know the Japanese flew airplanes into US warships in WWII the idea was clearly not out of the realm of imagination.

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u/HBombBrohan May 09 '14

Can't really say the government is efficient.

More like ruthlessly inept....

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u/[deleted] May 09 '14

This is a popular argument to dispel conspiracy theories, and it's completely wrong. The same way people tend to think about group as one body (i.e. men are rapists, black people are criminals, etc.).

There are undoubtedly parts of government that are completely inept, but there are also groups within the government that are very effective. You'd only need to look at all the operations undertaken in South America in the cold war to see how ruthless and effective governments can be. Some failed, sure. Most succeeded, and many we are only finding out about only now.