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Osama Fakery: The Boogieman Rises, a Skeptic Winces

If the wingnuts of the world can manufacture something like the Birther “debate” and serve it to a willing mainstream media, then expect due credence to be given to the Osama-bin-already-dead conspiracy or the Osama-bin-an-agent-of-the-U.S.-government...

If the wingnuts of the world can manufacture something like the Birther "debate" and serve it to a willing mainstream media, then expect due credence to be given to the Osama-bin-already-dead conspiracy or the Osama-bin-an-agent-of-the-U.S.-government, which ultimately planned the 9/11 attacks and used bin Laden for a puppet conspiracy. In that one, even after he died, which was some time ago, he was used as a "boogieman" to keep people scared, and Sunday was simply the U.S. government getting rid of an "asset."

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See, Bin Laden-the-agent personally engineered a potent anti-Western movement within Islam—on behalf of the U.S. We know this because we know that Osama has been aided by U.S. intelligence in the past. Past collusion is evidence of present collusion, in other words, according to James Corbett, of the Corbett Report.

I love that they call Corbett an "analyst" in the interview. It’s a role that implies objectivity and our friend here has little. A decent test for conspiracy theories is looking at who the conspiracy benefits more: the conspiracy theorist or the alleged puppet-master. A quick look over the Corbett Report tells me that Corbett has more or less staked his livelihood on conspiracy and paranoia. (Which is quite a bit different than staking it on truth.) There’s a big difference between being a rational skeptic and making up stories to boost a website.

And the sort of paranoia heard above in the interview is brilliant because he knows what he’s saying can never be disproven. Meanwhile, on the other side find a magnificent double standard. There is almost certainty nothing that could ever provide sufficient proof for Corbett, nothing that could make him think that, yes, Osama was alive until Sunday, when he was killed in a covert raid by Navy SEALS.

DNA, perhaps? Well, the CIA certainly has a whole bank of Osama DNA samples to plant. He was working for them after all. Photos of a body? Seriously? Just look how easy it is to doctor a photo. Yesterday, an old image fake of a dead Osama took over nearly every news site in England.

Of course, the extreme lack of skepticism by most newspapers only feeds people like Corbett. Neither the mainstream media nor the wingnuts are in the clear. And between the two, we’re gradually just going to forget what healthy skepticism is.

Connected:
Inside the Pakistani Street Market Where the Taliban Buys Homemade Machine Guns
Where in the World Has Osama Bin Hiding
How to Prove You Killed Osama bin Laden: a Brain Sample in Boston

Reach this writer at michaelb@motherboard.tv.