I guess I have a bee in my bonnet about conspiracy theories. I find them funny and those who chose to believe in them interesting. Today, the buzz on the net is all about the sudden and abrupt closing of 5 or 6 Wal-Mart stores across the southern US. The excuse used in all cases is plumbing problems and closed for 6-months. Well, Wal-Mart is the corporate Scrooge of all time and there is no way plumbing problems would close any of their stores – nope. Wal-Mart would do anything to keep its stores open. All of that is true. But what has this set of closings triggered? Well – here is a short list,
1. There is going to be a military exercise in the US in July or September codenamed Jade Helm. People are already making this out to be President Obama declaring martial law and there are all kinds of weirdness being spouted on the net about it. It’s to take away American’s guns is the favored one. I will bet it turns out to be just a military exercise but don’t quote me…. Now, FEMA or some other part of the Government, in cahoots with Wal-Mart, is going to use those stores to hold political prisoners and pro gun US citizens will be held there…
2. A meteorite is going to strike the north of the US and so the Government is moving south and will use these stores for some re-staging capabilities (and multiple variations),
3. There will be a massive eruption on the NW coast and ditto as above.
The list is actually endless but those are my favorite three.
Apparently these Wal-Marts were closed down even filled with stock and staff fired with 5-hours notice. Sound like typical Wal-Mart behaviour to me…
The thing about conspiracy theorists is that they develop a theory and then look for the evidence… Wal-Mart’s actions are being seized on by hundreds if not thousands of conspiracy theorists who see in it something sinister. It never actually seems to enter their heads that any of the above could be true and yet completely unrelated to Wal-Mart closures or any other event they ‘collect’ as evidence. There is no correlation either way and certainly no proof of anything except perhaps that Wal-Mart is under severe pressure to close some stores from Wall St. Late last year, analysts pointed out that Wal-Marts increasingly poor financial performance was probably due in part, to the fact that it keeps opening larger and larger stores but never shuts its smaller ones. Analysts are expecting Wal-Mart to close 100 under performing stores not just the 6 closures ‘for plumbing reasons’ that has caused this conspiracy storm……
The mind of a conspiracy theorist is a beautifully bizarre thing isn’t it? Total fixation on a particular theory to the point that any event can be deemed to support their view of the world.
But let’s be honest with ourselves. Don’t we all engage in such thinking at times in our lives? Don’t we convince ourselves that fate is against us that we are unlucky or whatever and then search for the evidence to support it? Don’t we pile misery upon misery seeing insult and injustice were there was none just because we expect to? It’s a thought isn’t it.
I certainly do do that at times and I am determined to eliminate my conspiracy thinking issues by not judging but by expecting the very best, visualizing the very best and staying positive.
That way, I create a better reality.