NBC's Audry Washington Sandy Hook Tweet Conspiracy Evidence is Smoke and Mirrors

Audry Washington's tweet as seen without logging into Twitter.

While not a usual post for the Grail Seekers blog, this screen shot of a tweet by NBC's Audry Washington is making the social media rounds. One can view the original tweet at this link: https://twitter.com/AudreyNBC/status/279626037783060482. If you're not logged into your Twitter account, you should see an image much like the one to the left with a time stamp of 8:36 AM on the morning of 14 Dec 2012. How can that be? The tragic shootings at Sandy Hook began an hour later at approximately 9:30 AM EST. This must mean that the whole event is a scam put on by the government to grab our guns! Or at least that's what is being bandied about...

As much as I do love seemingly damning evidence in a purported conspiracy, this piece of "evidence" is smoke and mirrors. Now try logging into your Twitter account and then viewing the link. Unless you're in the Pacific Time Zone, the time stamp on the tweet will change. What magic is this? The elves at Twitter show the time of tweets relative to the time zone you set in your preferences. I happen to live in the Central Time Zone and the second screen grab is what I saw after logging into my Twitter account. The time as changed to 10:36 AM. Since Central Time is one hour behind Eastern Time, this was tweeted at 11:36 AM. For those keeping score, that's a little less than two hours after the shootings began.

Audry Washington's tweet after logging into Twitter.

I'm no proponent of the Sandy Hook conspiracy and feel a mentally ill young man undertook an course of action that is nearly inconceivable to the vast majority of Americans. I can't even begin to imagine what the parents of those children are going through and I can only believe that twaddle like this increases their pain. Possibly in posting a little truth to dispel a Sandy Hook myth will give a tiny fraction of the infinitely needed solace to those touched by this tragedy.

The other reason for this posting is for those of us out there who do question officially stamped news stories and the approved version of history fed to us by the powers that be. When someone in our community posts something like Audry Washington's Sandy Hook tweet, it is generally accepted as Gospel truth and blindly shared on Twitter or Facebook. The myth spreads like the Spanish Flu until the question of truth or validity is no longer asked. We are quick to discount anything an authority figure or government official says out of hand, but embrace a community member's slick You Tube video or Facebook post without an ounce of inspection. Can someone remind me of the definition of "sheeple" again?

Those with alternative views on history and current events have to be held to a higher standard. If we are to convince anyone our point of view is valid, beyond stating that point of view is speculation, we must examine each piece of evidence from within the community as we examine discrepancies in officially sanctioned stories. Only then will the mainstream forget about tin foil hats and begin to form legitimate questions of their own.

The Disclose TV Hoax and Critical Thinking

Disclose TV's Home Page on 14 April 2012

Yesterday I became fascinated with the reports of Disclose TV's apparent demise. Facebook posts and tweeters were blowing up the streams with cries of the conspiracy themed website being taken down as part of a joint operation between the "United States Department of Internet Security Terrorism Task Force" and "European Allied Command Operations".  Among those crying foul were those claiming to be former government employees and "insiders" who had pipelines into the very heart of Washington DC. To read some of the posts, one would have thought the shut down of any alternative news source was just hours away.

As it turns out, the blackout of Disclose TV's web site was basically a publicity stunt. Why were thousands of people duped with a PT Barnum stunt? The answer is simple to describe, but difficult to stomach. No matter how suspicious and careful a human is, emotions will almost always trump intellect. Disclose TV's "seizure" was an assault on free speech and a dig at an organization whose goal is to pierce the veil of government coverups.The incident should be a wake up call to everyone in the conspiracy, paranormal, or esoteric community. As much as anyone in these communities would wish he/she was above tactics aimed at "sheeple", realize that you are not.

The previous statement is not designed to be an indictment of anyone in particular, but a lesson that needs to be learned if alternative thought folks are to be taken seriously by the mainstream. Co-author of Holy Blood, Holy Grail Henry Lincoln summed up my thoughts in a 28 March 2012 interview quite succinctly, "Don't believe anything that I or anyone else says." Lincoln then urged everyone to do their own homework and come to their own conclusions. We cannot rely on anyone to do our thinking for us.

Had one done just a few minutes of Googling yesterday, the Disclose TV "seizure" would have been an apparent scam. None of the government agencies listed on the seizure notice exist and the USC cited on the notice is a highway bill. I was lucky enough to do some background research on the seizure notice, but I have been duped in the past... To help combat the ever present BS in our universe, I try to go back to some steps in critical thinking. There are tons of critical thinking guides on the web, but this one comes from the Leadership Vibe site and applies quite well to those in "alternative thought".

• What is the current problem? Make sure to identify what the current problem really is, not the emotional connection to the problem?

• What are the symptoms of the problem? Identifying the symptoms will help you stay on course with the true problem and identify people or processes that are fueling the problem.

• What assumptions are being made? Know fact versus assumptions, two very different realities.

• Is the evidence reliable? To what degree? Make sure what evidence you are supplied with can be corroborated.

• Is there critical information missing? Crucial for framing the entire picture.

• Other explanations for problem? Step outside of the problem and try to identify other possibilities of cause.

Let Disclose TV be a cautionary tale for all of us and let the inscription on the Smoking Man's Zippo be ever close to the front of our minds... Trust No One.