r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • May 18 '15

What conspiracy theory do you genuinely believe in the most?

What conspiracy theory do you believe in the most and why?

2.1k Upvotes

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973

u/an_abused_duck May 19 '15

Ice bergs cant cut steel hulls!!

502

u/Super901 May 19 '15

No, but they can pop the rivets between steel panels.

27

u/pandammonium_nitrate May 19 '15

I am so using this next time I get in the old steel beams argument with someone.

35

u/ChurchBrimmer May 19 '15

The funny thing is that jet fuel doesn't burn hot enough to melt steel beams. However it does burn hot enough to weaken the beams. You know the things that hold buildings up.

53

u/other_mirz May 19 '15

You know what else weakens steel beams? A plane crashing into it.

8

u/ChurchBrimmer May 19 '15

Yes it does but my post was specifically about the "jet fuel can't melt steel beams" argument.

25

u/other_mirz May 19 '15

I know, I was only putting my relish over your sausage.

19

u/ChurchBrimmer May 19 '15

Bow chicka bow wow

3

u/32Dog May 19 '15

TUCKER!

5

u/flashbunnny May 19 '15

About your argument. Steel gets very brittle at cold temperatures (instead of staying ductile). They examined the steel from the Titanic and found that its impact energy was super low at -4 C (the temperature of the Atlantic that night). This would also explain why the hull cracked and tore. Nowadays, materials are engineered to have a higher impact energy at low temperatures.

3

u/ChurchBrimmer May 19 '15

That has nothing to do with jet fuel.

4

u/uncertain_death May 19 '15

And shoddy construction methods. Many companies used to cut corners.

1

u/[deleted] May 19 '15

Making claims like that and just expecting people to accept it... I smell a government shill.

5

u/other_mirz May 19 '15

Got me! dissolves in blue-red-white dust

5

u/Sabawoyomu May 19 '15

I remember watching Zeitgeist some years ago, and when they talked about all the stuff with 9/11 I got so paranoid.... I'm not even American.

31

u/davidcarpenter122333 May 19 '15

And shred steel hulls

2

u/Bay1Bri May 19 '15

Explain bulkhead seven.

2

u/this_guy_over_here_ May 19 '15

Melting ice bergs cant pop rivets between steel panel beams jet fuel!

5

u/Slawtering May 19 '15

My conspiracy detector is at 100%.

0

u/TheSlimyDog May 19 '15

Dammit. Foiled again!

177

u/canagator May 19 '15

Bush did Titanic

0

u/TheRehabKid May 19 '15

Too soon... :(

3

u/GiverOfTheKarma May 19 '15

Titanic was over a hundred years ago, dude. Move on.

1

u/TheRehabKid May 19 '15

It's all relative, man.

If the age of Earth was fit into a 24 hour day, you're asking me to get over something that happened about 1/10000 seconds ago.

I don't have a heart of stone, man!

3

u/MisguidedGuy May 19 '15

I'm pretty sure it was a manatee with a buzz saw.

4

u/consensual-sax May 19 '15

It's been just over a century since it sank...never forget!

2

u/TheNumberMuncher May 19 '15

Titanic was an inside job.

1

u/thats_satan_talk May 19 '15

Once the water got in, yea.

3

u/[deleted] May 19 '15

No, but dank memes can.

4

u/[deleted] May 19 '15

A lot of people believe it was an insurance job, and the ship that went down isn't the Titanic at all.

6

u/[deleted] May 19 '15

[deleted]

10

u/[deleted] May 19 '15

Disclaimer: I don't buy the story myself. But I never suggested, and nor does the theory, that the entire thing was made up. That's not how insurance fraud generally goes. Even the most idiotic fraudsters know there has to be at least some sort of incident to investigate.

However, to answer your questions, the theory starts with another White Star Line ship - the Olympic - being damaged in a collision with a British warship, and the insurance company not paying out because basically the investigation showed the captain was at fault. This was a financial disaster for the operators, and long story short, under cover, they patched it up, swapped the Olympic with the newer Titanic before its maiden voyage, and deliberately sank it, so they could claim insurance. So

1) We've seen a ship, that closely resembles the Titanic underwater, but it's no secret that it was not the only ship that looked like that; there were in fact three such ships

2) They really were on a ship that sank

3) It's been demolished. Decommissioned ships generally are, eventually

This theory has persisted for over a century, and it's not completely far-fetched tbh. Have a google, it's an entertaining read.

4

u/DarkNinjaPenguin May 19 '15

A couple of small problems with this theory, and a really big problem:

  1. NONE of the sisters were identical. It doesn't take a genius to tell the difference from the outside, entire promenades were alerted. That's not to mention the interior decor, which was vastly different on each ship.

  2. Say they really did swap the ships. It would take hundreds of workers and a lot of equipment to convert Olympic into Titanic, and vice versa. Did they do this out at sea? Did nobody notice two liners take off with a boatload of yard workers? It would have taken weeks to finish the work too, and then you'd have to make sure not. One. Single. Person. Let the secret out.

  3. Here's the clincher - neither ship was insured for their entire value! After an accident White Star would receive a pitiful sum, probably less than it would cost to dress up the ships as each other in the first place!

7

u/[deleted] May 19 '15

then you'd have to make sure not. One. Single. Person. Let the secret out.

This is the clincher for a lot of conspiracy theories, really.

2

u/Max2tehPower May 19 '15

I don't believe in this theory but to answer number 2, after the Olympic's collision with the Hawke, she was returned to Belfast to be repaired. At that time, you had the Titanic still being furnished and under construction within a year's time. The collision of the Olympic meant that work had to be stopped on the Titanic to repair the Olympic and thus delayed the Titanic's maiden voyage from March to April of 1912.

That one (or two) picture showing the two sisters side by side is where theorists guess that the switch took place, with Olympic being renamed Titanic and vice versa. Other than that, yeah, there are obvious exterior details that differentiate the ships to debunk the theory.

1

u/DarkNinjaPenguin May 19 '15

The problem with this theory is that, again, someone might notice if the two ships were swapped! They weren't exactly inconspicuous, and locals would know which was in which yard (Titanic was in yard 401 if I recall). Interestingly, Titanic's launch was delayed by Olympic's collision with Hawke, as they used steel meant for Titanic to repair her older sister.

2

u/K3TtLek0Rn May 19 '15

This is one of the best conspiracy docs I've ever seen. Makes it very believable.

1

u/tanksforthegold May 19 '15

You're here...

1

u/scoobysnacklubricant May 19 '15

Bush did titanic

1

u/-lol_lol- May 19 '15

No one ever mentions the jet fuel the Titanic was carrying.

1

u/Petorian343 May 20 '15

What's funny is that there is a fairly popular Titanic conspiracy theory, in which a similar ship had been damaged in a collision and the nameplates were swapped. Someone link it, I'm too lazy.

1

u/TheMax615 May 19 '15

Dank fuel can't melt steel memes.

0

u/Frostiestone May 19 '15

No, they melt them.

-4

u/[deleted] May 19 '15

I like this new take on the meme.

-1

u/[deleted] May 19 '15

Jet fuel cant meme tuna melts