From: lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU (Speaker-to-Minerals)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: Franken-StM?
Date: 17 Nov 1992 04:35:12 GMT
Organization: HST Wide Field/Planetary Camera
Reply-To: lydick@SOL1.GPS.CALTECH.EDU
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol1.gps.caltech.edu

StM walks up to the bar and says to Mike, "Rye.  Neat.  Double.  Please."
Mike serves him and StM walks to the line.  "To urban folklore!"  <CRASH>

"There is a small chance," says StM, "that in the coming few weeks or months
yet another rumor about the source of AIDS will start making the rounds.  If
this particular rumor DOES get started, it will involve the Nazi death camps
and the sealing of the records of the medical research that went on in those
camps.  If you should happen to hear such a rumor, DON'T BELIEVE IT.  The story
was an intellectual exercise; a demonstration of how to fabricate a conspiracy
theory that might stand up to scrutiny.  I should know.  I'm the one who
fabricated the story."

StM walks to the bar and orders another round of the same.  "You see, there's
been a thread going on in sci.skeptic the last few weeks involving the origin
of AIDS.  Prominent in this thread were a couple of people promoting a couple
of different conspiracy theories to explain the origin of the disease.  Several
people knowledgable in the field of microbiology and in the history of AIDS
repeatedly pointed out problems with these conspiracy theories.  Some of the
problems pointed out were that the technology to create the disease in a
laboratory didn't exist at the time of the first known case of AIDS, the fact
that neither HIV-1 nor HIV-2 bears any particular resemblence to the viruses
from which HIV was allegedly constructed in one of these conspiracy theories,
the fact that a sample of the smallpox vaccine which was allegedly contaminated
still exists and shows no indications of being contaminated, and so forth."

StM sips his drink.  "Still the conspiracy theorists persisted.  Finally one of
the biologists (a fellow by the name of Dan Ashlock who happens to be a former
Caltech student) asked
	Goddamnit could one of the SKEPTICS please construct and [sic]
	AIDS-was-caused-by-the-govenment theory?  Then it won't be quite so
	silly.

"Well, my next post to sci.skeptic started with the words,
	OK, I'll have a go at it:
and ended with the words:
	There.  How's that?

"In between was the best conspiracy theory I could dream up on 10 minutes'
notice.  It was certainly better than the ones that were being pushed by the
conspiracy theorists, but I figured it wouldn't stand up under close scrutiny.
Well, it's been a day an a half since I posted the conspiracy theory.  Several
people have responded.  The concensus seems to be that I've come up with a
pretty bullet-proof conspiracy theory.  The biologists admit that it COULD have
happened as my conspiracy describes it.  The strongest criticisms thus far are:
	1)  There's no direct evidence for it.
	2)  It doesn't make the U.S. government look evil enough.  Just
	    incompetent (I *TOLD* you my conspiracy theory was plausible).
Well, of course there's no direct evidence for it.  Otherwise it wouldn't be a
proper conspiracy theory.  And of course it makes the U.S. government look
incompetent.  Assuming competence on the part of the U.S. govenment has been
the downfall of too many conspiracy theories for me to fall into that trap."

StM finishs this drink and buys another one.  "So far, there's no big problem. 
I set out to create a plausible conspiracy theory and succeeded.  It was a bit
more plausible than I'd given myself credit for, but I could live with that. 
However, things are turning a bit ugly.  Someone familiar with the history of
AIDS has sent in a followup post detailing some little-known information about
the history of AIDS.  Information of which I'd never heard and which had never 
been posted to sci.skeptic.  Information which tends to corroborate my
conspiracy theory.

"My intellectual exercise is showing the first signs of becoming a bit of urban
folklore.  I hope it doesn't make it fully into that category.  My only
consolation if it does catch on will be that I'll have had the dubious honor of
starting a bit of urban folklore with a post to alt.folklore.urban.  That
newsgroup's supposed to debunk urban folklore, though, not create it.  In case
my conspiracy theory does catch on though, I'm reposting the original article
here.  I'd appreciate it if some of you would keep copies of it so that you'll
be able to provide details of the origin of this particular conspiracy theory
if it does catch on.  If that happens, perhaps you'll be able to persuade some
people that it's not true.  Anyway, here's the original article:
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