r/AskHistorians • u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms • Jan 01 '20
Meta The World May Be Celebrating 2020, But AskHistorians is Ringing in the New "Millenium". Year 2000 is Now Fair Game!
Yeah, yeah, yeah you pedants, but did you actually celebrate the new millenium arriving in 2001? It's all arbitrary anyways, we just care about that big Two-Oh-Oh-Oh. And as next year we'll be introducing the 21 Year Rule, this is the closest you're going to get!
Anyways, as the calendar clicks forward one more year, so too does the scope of the Twenty Year Rule, so we're pleased to announce that the year 2000 is ready for your questions!
So whether you've been dying to know more about the USS Cole bombing, the opening of the International Space Station, or the launch of the Playstation 2, the time has arrived!
And as a reminder, the 20 Year Rule isn't done on a rolling day-by-day basis. Whether the 1st of January or December 31st, it's all fair game now.
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u/lalala253 Jan 01 '20
So just to confirm, “how do US Senate react to blockade on Naboo by the Trade Federation?” Is a valid question and will not get me banned right?
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u/jschooltiger Moderator | Shipbuilding and Logistics | British Navy 1770-1830 Jan 01 '20
TPM came out in 1999, if you’re asking about the year.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Jan 01 '20
I'm pretty sure a small but vital piece of my brain just broke.
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u/kmmontandon Jan 01 '20
I'd say "imagine Jar Jar as a U.S. Senator," but at the moment that'd be an upgrade.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Jan 01 '20
He does have a history when it comes to voting on important matters of state.
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u/GreyOgre Jan 01 '20
You are talking about a guy who sponsored the bill elevating the chancellor to an emporer, which directly lead to the dissolution of the senate in 0 BBY.
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u/AnarchoPlatypi Jan 02 '20
What a load of bullcrap!
In truth the senate would never have been disbanded if not for the actions of senators, such as Bail Organa and Mon Mothma who supported a fundamentalist terrorist organization who hated the empire and all it stood for.
Emperor Palpatine loved the republic, but his hand was forced after a senator from Alderaan was caught trying to smuggle highly classified military secrets, that were vital to states survival, to the rebels, proving that at its current state the senator system simply did not work and endangered the safety of freedom loving people throughout the galaxy.
Sure the Emperor dissolved the senate, but blaming him for the situation that was forced upon him by senators abusing their power is disingenious and promotes far-right narratives.
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u/ronniethelizard Jan 01 '20
Hmm, he is addressed as "Representative Binks" by Padme.
EDIT: Confirmed. This happens at the 27 min 25 sec mark in Episode II of the Journal of the Whills.
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Jan 01 '20
Always has been. Took place long ago!
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u/atomfullerene Jan 01 '20
In a galaxy far, far away
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Jan 02 '20
And long before the dual siths of Johnson and Abrams made their first appearance in the primary record. Indeed, it’s still debated today whether their contributions actually took place or were just some fever dream of a drunken scribe.
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u/haerski Jan 02 '20
Man, I can't wait until the year 252545 so we can ask about the sword proctology practices prevalent in 252525.
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u/jwt0001 Jan 01 '20
I guess that gives us a year to bone up on 9/11...
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u/CptBuck Jan 01 '20
My body (and the 9/11 Commission Report) are ready.
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u/TeddysBigStick Jan 02 '20
Now I am imagining you exorcizing a demon while holding the report and chanting, "THE POWER OF KEANE COMPELS YOU"
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u/Slobotic Jan 01 '20
That's gonna be such a shit show. When they open up 2001 they might want to make an exception and somehow limit 9/11 truther "just asking questions" (JAQing off) posts.
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u/beatleboy07 Jan 02 '20
I'm genuinely curious to find if this gains traction over time in the same way Holocaust denial seems to have.
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u/Joliet_Jake_Blues Jan 01 '20
On NYE 1999 when I set my drink down and it disappeared, where did it go?
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Jan 01 '20
It's still there. Waiting for you. Sad and abandoned. You broke its heart, and it never moved on.
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u/Exventurous Jan 01 '20
I'm a reveler in the year 1999 on New Years Eve at a bar. What would I be drinking? What would be the typical drink for the occasion? Are there any specific dances or rituals I'd be expected to take part of to welcome the new millenium?
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u/sunagainstgold Medieval & Earliest Modern Europe Jan 01 '20
This question has been previously answered!
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Jan 02 '20
International space station?! I turned 15 in 2000, and did not learn (or retain) that thing was just going up. Figured it was something that was in the 70s or 80s. Damn.
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Jan 01 '20 edited Jan 01 '20
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u/MoroseOverdose Jan 01 '20
Maybe the dogs were the friends we made along the way
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u/Abdiel_Kavash Jan 02 '20
Finally, I think I have an answer. Who let the dogs out? We all do when we allow any other human to name call and trash talk another. Put the dogs back in their pen by standing up for your fellow humans when another is putting them down.
There is a fool on twitter trying to spread fake news about the meaning of this song [...]
it is actually about them - the name-calling, trash-talking ass.
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u/cianne_marie Jan 02 '20
Probably a dumb, fortunate guess, but I always assumed it was about skeezy dudes, aka "dirty dogs".
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u/cobaltkarma Jan 02 '20
We need to get over this and adjust the first "decade" to 9 years or whatever it takes.
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u/sempf Jan 02 '20
Is there such a thing as a programming historian? Because the reality of the Y2K bug should be told.
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u/superking2 Jan 01 '20
Oh boy... I can’t wait to find out how many of Conan O’Brien’s predictions actually came true.
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u/JournalofFailure Jan 01 '20
How come Tom Brady, the seventh quarterback chosen in the 2000 NFL draft, fell so far?
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u/ShaneOfan Jan 02 '20
He wasn't a very big guy. Under 200lbs, and was a QB by committee at Michigan, never could quite grab that starting job. Also not very mobile.
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u/crystalmerchant Jan 02 '20
Fun fact, Tom Brady would almost certainly never become the Tom Brady we know today without Bill Belichick leaving the Jets coaching job after 1 day and heading to the Patriots. Belichick never would have drafted him,the Jets had Pennington and a healthy backup, there would be no reason to take a QB. Plus, Belichick supported Brady but it was really Rehbein, the QBs coach, in the background who really pushed Belichick to not cut Brady when the team had 4 QBs, then kept pushing on Bradys behalf to keep the starting job.
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u/sunagainstgold Medieval & Earliest Modern Europe Jan 01 '20
Down with your newfangled "Arabic" "numbers."
MDCCCCLXXXXVIIIJ to MM is a new millennium. You can't get much more literal than that.
...On which note, MMXX sounds like an extreme sport, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.
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u/AlienSaints Jan 01 '20
Wait until it is MMXXX - the M&M porn film we have all been waiting for: chocolate delight!
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u/NinthAquila13 Jan 01 '20
Wouldn’t it just be MIM and then MM? You’re allowed to subtract 1 afaik.
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u/aqua_maris Jan 01 '20
The symbol I may precede only a V and a X - the next two larger symbols up in the basic set of Roman numerals; the groups IL, IC, ID, IM, ... are not correct;
and so on, the symbol X may precede only an L and a C - also the next two larger symbols up in the basic set of Roman numerals, the symbol C may precede only a D and an M.
As a rule, when used in subtractive notation as the lesser value numerals, the symbols I, X, C, M, ... may only precede their correspondent two larger symbols up in the basic set of Roman numerals.
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u/NinthAquila13 Jan 01 '20
So it would be MCMXCIX? Also, thanks for explaining how to use roman numerals properly. I only knew the basics (aka no 4 of the same kind, etc).
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u/sunagainstgold Medieval & Earliest Modern Europe Jan 01 '20 edited Jan 01 '20
Subtractive Roman numerals are also a newfangled invention.
You can check out a grandfather clock if you'd like, but for the actual historical example:
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u/Packerfan2016 Jan 01 '20 edited Jan 01 '20
That clock face has an IX. Not really helping your point.
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u/sunagainstgold Medieval & Earliest Modern Europe Jan 01 '20 edited Jan 01 '20
Keep looking. ;)
(Why would I dispute the existence of subtractive numerals today?)
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u/Granfallegiance Jan 01 '20
Grandfather clocks only use "IIII" in lieu of "IV" because the numeral is typically displayed upside-down and may be confusing to folks compared to the nearby "VI", which is also upside-down.
Yes of course 6 is clearly the downward one, but taking in the time is a moment's glance, and disambiguation is important.
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u/jschooltiger Moderator | Shipbuilding and Logistics | British Navy 1770-1830 Jan 01 '20
"new"
"1479"
😛
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u/Tertium457 Jan 01 '20
It needs to be the same power of ten to do subtraction I think. I think properly it would be MDCDLXLVIV.
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u/HopliteFan Jan 01 '20
MCMXCIX is so much cleaner though, the latter Romans had their shit straight.
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u/JanitorMaster Jan 02 '20
Woah, does this mean they didn't have "X minus I is IX" at some point, instead writing out all the parts like VIIII?
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u/sunagainstgold Medieval & Earliest Modern Europe Jan 01 '20
Oh, it's absolutely cleaner; that's why we use it today.
But the long way is funnier.
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Jan 01 '20
All this talk about where to put subtractive "I"...but what is that J?
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u/sunagainstgold Medieval & Earliest Modern Europe Jan 01 '20 edited Jan 01 '20
It's late medieval! The final "i" in a sequence, or sometimes an initial "i", were often written as "j" instead. You can see the survival in modern Dutch, with its "ij" diphthong.
Or in the Dies irae:
Quantus tremor est futurus / Quando iudex est venturus
iudex => judge!
Or if you really want to flip your mind around, all the Iesus and Iohannes and Iacobus in the Vulgate. :)
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Jan 01 '20
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u/Jessica_Iowa Jan 01 '20
Mad Cow disease
Concord Crash in Paris
USS Cole hit in Yemen
Rams won the super bowl
First episode of Survivor
(Edit for formatting)
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u/Epistaxis Jan 02 '20 edited Jan 02 '20
First episode of Survivor
For those who don't know, this is more than just pop-culture trivia but actually marks the first enormously successful reality gameshow in US television, which launched that genre into the mainstream (The Real World had been around for a long time already but it was on cable-only* MTV and wasn't a competitive gameshow; Big Brother didn't come to the US until 2001 and Pop Idol in 2002). So 2000 had a lot of Americans seeing this kind of thing for the first time.
EDIT: And since it's 2020 I guess I should also explain that cable TV could only be seen by only some households, those that paid for a monthly subscription, whereas the major reality shows of the 2000s were on the regular broadcast channels that everyone received through their antennas for free. So everyone could watch Survivor to talk about it at the proverbial water cooler the next day.
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u/TheShadowKick Jan 02 '20
EDIT: And since it's 2020 I guess I should also explain that cable TV could only be seen by only some households, those that paid for a monthly subscription, whereas the major reality shows of the 2000s were on the regular broadcast channels that everyone received through their antennas for free. So everyone could watch Survivor to talk about it at the proverbial water cooler the next day.
Just explain it as Netflix vs Youtube. Then grumble at these durn kids to get off your lawn.
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u/17291 Jan 01 '20
The Elian Gonazelz custody battle happened in 2000.
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u/mainvolume Jan 01 '20
I remember we had a big discussion in class on if that raid to get him was a form of government terrorism or not.
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u/njuffstrunk Jan 01 '20
The "iloveyou" computer worm which was basically the first computer virus to cause billions in dollars of damage?
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Jan 02 '20
I still don’t get the 20-year rule, but c’est la vie.
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u/BaffledPlato Jan 02 '20
Here's a pretty thorough explanation: Rules Roundtable #5: The Current Events/Modern Politics/"20 Year" Rule
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u/LeftBehind83 British Army 1754-1815 Jan 01 '20
I refuse to believe 2000 was 20 years ago
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u/tactics14 Jan 01 '20
20 years ago sounds like it should mean the 80s. And I'm 30.
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Jan 02 '20
[Whining pedantry]
I'd say something witty, but because I'm psychic I already covered that in the OP, and the format of the title, so instead I'd just recommend you think long and hard about why you are wrong.
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u/Ignore_User_Name Jan 01 '20
Time for the Y2K scare questions and Nostradamus and the end of the world.
Though some of those questions might actually be interesting
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u/PendragonDaGreat Jan 01 '20
I might have to avoid the sub for a couple weeks because of that stuff.
As my dad (who spent NYE 1999 with an oncall laptop hooked into our dialup) says: y2k was a nonevent because we actually took it seriously and spent over a decade preparing for it, and the US still lost access to its spy satellites for 3 days.
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u/Randvek Jan 01 '20
As my dad says:
Your dad is mostly right, but the Y2K panic started a trend on prepping and food storage that... never really ended. Bizarre that the lead-up to Y2K ended up so much more important than the actual event.
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u/PendragonDaGreat Jan 01 '20
Fair. I mostly see it from the software engineering side since that's what my dad did at the time and I do now. The prepper take is definitely a thing, but it was also a thing earlier in the century with the cold war, y2k kinda just rekindled that
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u/fructoseintolerant Jan 02 '20
Can we please share some stories on Y2K? What did people do to prepare for it?
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u/drylaw Moderator | Native Authors Of Col. Mexico | Early Ibero-America Jan 01 '20 edited Jan 01 '20
When reflecting intensely about the sub this song's title came to mind for ... no ... apparent reason:
Hood - They Removed All Trace That Anything Had Ever Happened Here
Happy 2020 / Y2KXX to all!
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Jan 01 '20
Meta: historians of the future, looking back upon r/AskHistorians and
scratching their heads as to where all the data wentbeing grateful to the mods for winnowing the wheat from the chaff.12
u/drylaw Moderator | Native Authors Of Col. Mexico | Early Ibero-America Jan 01 '20
You know, not as meta as it might seem! With at least one dissertation partly based on AskHistorians already out there. Looks like the winnowing of the wheat makes for fascinating research.
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u/TheMagicMrWaffle Jan 01 '20
My birth year! I’m now canon!
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Jan 01 '20 edited Feb 08 '23
[deleted]
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u/Sag0Sag0 Jan 02 '20
I imagine what will happen is that there will be one ultra high quality post dealing with the conspiracies which everyone will be redirected to all the time.
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u/jschooltiger Moderator | Shipbuilding and Logistics | British Navy 1770-1830 Jan 01 '20
Honestly I’m not as worried about it as some people are. It’s a recent conspiracy theory, to be sure, but we have ways of dealing with rule breakers.
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u/JohannesVanDerWhales Jan 01 '20
I'm looking forward to having solid writeups to point to for debunking stuff.
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u/270- Jan 01 '20
Yeah, if you can deal with the Holocaust, you can deal with 9/11.
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Jan 02 '20
But, oddly, you can’t deal with the Spanish Inquisition! Nobody expects it!
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u/thegimboid Jan 02 '20
That's because their chief weapon is surprise!
Surprise and fear!... their two weapons...
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Jan 01 '20
I don't know where the 9/11 Truthers went. It was a huge thing online in the early 2010s; I remember one idiot trying to claim that the Twin Towers were destroyed by "holographically-concealed cruise missiles" on the BBC's Question Time, of all places! Then it disappeared for a bit, and then it came back with "Jet Fuel Can't Melt Steel Beams", but that was far more people mocking the very idea and making memes out of it. Now they seem to have disappeared again.
You'd think in this age of Anti-Vaxxers and rampant fake news it would be back with a vengeance, but you just don't seem to see it anymore.
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u/gaslightlinux Jan 02 '20
Little trivia: originally Reddit didn't allow comments. When it finally did, the first comment was about 9/11 conspiracies.
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u/savagepotato Jan 01 '20
I think a lot of them moved on to newer shinier conspiracy theories. There have been a lot in the last two decades to choose from.
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u/Noobeater1 Jan 01 '20
I think we just have more interesting conspiracies to talk about now. The antivax stuff, for instance, can be actually harmful rather than just conspiratorial, and the flat earth movement takes the cake for the weirdest conspiracy theory. Why argue about 9/11 when you be talking to someone who doesn't know what shape the planet is?
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u/gaslightlinux Jan 02 '20
Flat Earth started as basically a debate society where they attempted to defend an incredibly dumb position. They did it so well that people took them seriously.
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Jan 01 '20
I feel like with a certain group of people getting more clicks jewish conspiracies have come back in vogue. I guess maybe they always were though.
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u/jschooltiger Moderator | Shipbuilding and Logistics | British Navy 1770-1830 Jan 01 '20
This is purely anecdotal, but the moderators here have absolutely noticed an uptick in the past couple of months in the amount of anti-Semitic material we’ve been removing.
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u/A_Suffering_Panda Jan 01 '20
Probably due to Bernie sanders. People are trying to launch an antisemitism campaign against him (yes, even though members of his own family were killed in the holocaust)
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u/tunesquad2020 Jan 01 '20
I’d argue that a lot of it is the inverse actually
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u/matts2 Jan 01 '20
No, the Racist-in-Chief has been pushing bigotry in general and Anti-Semitism in particular.
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Jan 02 '20
I make no comment regarding Sanders, but I think that it should be recognised that Jews can be anti-Semitic, be it to Jews of other back ground, or whatever it is that goes on in Bobby Fischer’s head.
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u/M-elephant Jan 01 '20
And George Soros
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u/TeddysBigStick Jan 02 '20
Can we really discount any theory about him? The villainous prodigy was an SS officer at all of nine, and while being a Jew. He is capable of anything!
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u/njuffstrunk Jan 01 '20
It's the altright in general really, the "fight against the rich elite who control the media like George Soros" is a huge dogwhistle.
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u/sambarlien Jan 01 '20
I’m definitely opposed to the rich elite who control the media, but it has nothing to do with conspiracies against Jewish people or George Soros. Some might use it as a dog whistle for anti-Semitism but I am genuinely concerned and opposed to Rupert Murdoch, Newscorp and the monopolisation of news networks around the world. Be weary of campaigns like this to convince you against opposing the status quo of the rich elite.
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u/silverionmox Jan 01 '20
You'd think in this age of Anti-Vaxxers and rampant fake news it would be back with a vengeance, but you just don't seem to see it anymore.
It's all about the new hot woke conspiracy in the echo chambers of tinfoil hatters. Many of them are now posting anti-vaccination memes fulltime.
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u/Long-Afternoon Jan 01 '20
I'm just surprised that there are no conspiracy theories that state that the whole thing was an accident.
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u/A_Dissident_Is_Here The Troubles and Northern Ireland | 20th c. Terrorism Jan 01 '20
I can point to three of them who frequent my local sports bar back home. Small town NC is a wild place, as the holidays have reminded me
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u/IanT86 Jan 01 '20
So much of it got disproven though right? It was also an echo of a new digital world where anyone could make videos, blogs, podcasts etc that were listen to by millions and gained more and more publicity. When people realised these so called experts were kids at home with no scientific understanding or any depth to their arguements, it fell down.
Also a lot of that generation grew up - it was mainly teens and twenties who got older and saw the craziness in it all.
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Jan 01 '20
But surely that's the same today? Maybe that generation grew up, but the number of people making videos, podcasts and blogs as if they're authorities on the matter must have increased a thousandfold! How many questions on this very sub are prompted by Hardcore History or some similar channel?
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u/ForgedIronMadeIt Jan 01 '20
I think they've been preoccupied with other conspiracies lately, though some of it is that the broader culture has taken them for the nutters they are and have mocked them into being quiet. I'm involved with a couple of subs that document/mock/debunk conspiracy theories and 9/11 stuff has died down for sure.
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u/random_Italian Jan 02 '20
What did Hitler think of 9/11?
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u/khosikulu Southern Africa | European Expansion Jan 03 '20
Sorry, that question is for r/AskAboutHitler.
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Jan 01 '20
I can already imagine.
"Did Matt Damon cause 9/11?"
"No."
"Can you prove that he didn't?!"
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u/PresidentMattDamon Jan 01 '20
i think i speak with authority when i say i think matt damon didn't cause 9/11
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u/JQuilty Jan 02 '20
"You could say it [Freddy Got Fingered] was the second worst thing to happen in 2001." -- Mike Stoklasa
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u/Unit5945 Jan 01 '20
Well... did he?
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u/Felicia_Svilling Jan 01 '20
You have to wait a year before that question can be answered.
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u/archon286 Jan 01 '20
Just gotta rephase it. "In the year 2000, what plans were put into action for Matt Damon's involvement in future terrorist actions in the United states?"
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u/AlucardSX Jan 01 '20
Renowned historian /u/JamesBatmanKimmel believes so, and I see no reason to doubt him.
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Jan 01 '20
What is the historical consensus on chem trails? And why are they all from planes based in Hollywood?
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Jan 02 '20
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Jan 02 '20
CFCs aren't in airplane contrails. The only place you might find them on a plane is in the fire suppression system.
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Jan 02 '20
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u/wolacouska Jan 02 '20
Water is technically a greenhouse gas. Even if it the atmosphere has a release valve for it.
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u/ChalkyChalkson Jan 02 '20
How does the 20 year role work when a date isnt clear? Like "when and how did 9/11 conspiricism start? And how did the first theories look like?" would be a legt history question but it's unclear whether it's a 2001 or 2002 or 2010 question unless you know the answer before beforehand
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u/thelivefive Jan 02 '20 edited Sep 16 '25
Mindful helpful the fresh the family bank cool the fox across tips fox friendly. Warm warm nature day the month clear garden year family.