Conspiracy theory

Conspiracy theory
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For other uses, see Conspiracy theory (disambiguation).

For a list of conspiracy theories see: List of conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theory is a term that originally was a neutral descriptor for any claim of civil, criminal, or political conspiracy. However, it has become largely pejorative and used almost exclusively to refer to any fringe theory which explains an historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by conspirators of almost superhuman power and cunning.

Conspiracy theories are viewed with skepticism by scholars because they are rarely supported by any conclusive evidence and contrast with institutional analysis, which focuses on people's collective behavior in publicly known institutions, as recorded in scholarly material and mainstream media reports, to explain historical or current events, rather than speculate on the motives and actions of secretive coalitions of individuals.

The term is therefore often used dismissively in an attempt to characterize a belief as outlandishly false and held by a person judged to be a crank or a group confined to the lunatic fringe. Such characterization is often the subject of dispute due to its possible unfairness and inaccuracy.

According to political scientist Michael Barkun, conspiracy theories once limited to fringe audiences have become commonplace in mass media. He argues that this has contributed to conspiracism emerging as a cultural phenomenon in the United States of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and the possible replacement of democracy by conspiracy as the dominant paradigm of political action in the public mind. According to anthropologists Todd Sanders and Harry G. West, "evidence suggests that a broad cross section of Americans today…gives credence to at least some conspiracy theories." Belief in conspiracy theories has therefore become a topic of interest for sociologists, psychologists and experts in folklore.

Terminology

The term "conspiracy theory" may be a neutral descriptor for any legitimate or illegitimate claim of civil, criminal or political conspiracy. To conspire means "to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or to use such means to accomplish a lawful end." However, conspiracy theory is also used to indicate a narrative genre that includes a broad selection of (not necessarily related) arguments for the existence of grand conspiracies.

The word "theory" is, in this usage, sometimes considered to be more informal as in "speculation" or "hypothesis" rather than mainstream scientific theory. Also, the term conspiracy is typically used to indicate powerful figures, often of the Establishment, who are believed to be deceiving the population at large, as in political corruption. Although some conspiracies are not actually theories, they are often labeled as such by the general populace.

The first recorded use of the phrase "conspiracy theory" dates from 1909. Originally it was a neutral term but during the political upheaval of the 1960s it acquired its current derogatory sense. It entered the supplement to the Oxford English Dictionary as late as 1997.

The term "conspiracy theory" is frequently used by scholars and in popular culture to identify secret military, banking, or political actions aimed at "stealing" power, money, or freedom, from "the people". Less illustrious uses refer to folklore and urban legend and a variety of explanatory narratives which are constructed with methodological flaws. The term is also used in a pejorative sense to automatically dismiss claims that are deemed ridiculous, misconceived, paranoid, unfounded, outlandish or irrational. For example, the term "Watergate conspiracy theory" does not refer to the generally accepted version in which several participants actually were convicted of conspiracy, and others pardoned before any charges were filed, but to alternative and additional theories such as claims that that the source(s) of information called "Deep Throat" was a fabrication.

Daniel Pipes, in an early essay "adapted from a study prepared for the CIA", attempted to define which beliefs distinguish 'the conspiracy mentality' from 'more conventional patterns of thought'. He defined them as: appearances deceive; conspiracies drive history; nothing is haphazard; the enemy always gains power, fame, money, and sex.

According to West and Sanders, when talking about conspiracies in the Vietnam era, Pipes includes within the fringe element anyone who entertains the thought that conspiracies played a role in the major political scandals and assassinations that rocked American politics in the Vietnam era. "He sees the paranoid style in almost any critical historical or social-scientific analysis of oppression."

Types

Political scientist Michael Barkun has categorized, in ascending order of breadth, the types of conspiracy theories as follows:

* Event conspiracy theories. The conspiracy is held to be responsible for a limited, discrete event or set of events. The conspiratorial forces are alleged to have focused their energies on a limited, well-defined objective. The best-known example in the recent past is the Kennedy assassination conspiracy literature.
* Systemic conspiracy theories. The conspiracy is believed to have broad goals, usually conceived as securing control of a country, a region, or even the entire world. While the goals are sweeping, the conspiratorial machinery is generally simple: a single, evil organization implements a plan to infiltrate and subvert existing institutions. This is a common scenario in conspiracy theories that focus on the alleged machinations of Jews, Freemasons, and the Illuminati, as well as theories centered on international communism or international capitalists.
* Superconspiracy theories. Conspiratorial constructs in which multiple conspiracies are believed to be linked together hierarchically. Event and systemic are joined in complex ways, so that conspiracies come to be nested together. At the summit of the conspiratorial hierarchy is a distant but all-powerful evil force manipulating lesser conspiratorial actors. Superconspiracy theories have enjoyed particular growth since the 1980s, in the work of authors such as Jim Marrs, David Icke, and Milton William Cooper.

Conspiracism

A world view that centrally places conspiracy theories in the unfolding of history is sometimes termed "conspiracism". The historian Richard Hofstadter addressed the role of paranoia and conspiracism throughout American history in his essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, published in 1964. Bernard Bailyn's classic The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967) notes that a similar phenomenon could be found in America during the time preceding the American Revolution. Conspiracism then labels people's attitudes as well as the type of conspiracy theories that are more global and historical in proportion. The term conspiracism was popularized by academic Frank P. Mintz in the 1980s. Academic work in conspiracy theories and conspiracism presents a range of hypotheses as a basis of studying the genre. Among the leading scholars of conspiracism are: Hofstadter, Karl Popper, Michael Barkun, Robert Alan Goldberg, Daniel Pipes, Mark Fenster, Mintz, Carl Sagan, George Johnson, and Gerald Posner.

According to Mintz, conspiracism denotes: "belief in the primacy of conspiracies in the unfolding of history":

"Conspiracism serves the needs of diverse political and social groups in America and elsewhere. It identifies elites, blames them for economic and social catastrophes, and assumes that things will be better once popular action can remove them from positions of power. As such, conspiracy theories do not typify a particular epoch or ideology".

Throughout human history, political and economic leaders genuinely have been the cause of enormous amounts of death and misery, and they sometimes have engaged in conspiracies while at the same time promoting conspiracy theories about their targets. Hitler and Stalin would be merely the most prominent examples; there have been numerous others. In some cases there have been claims dismissed as conspiracy theories that later proved to be true. The idea that history itself is controlled by large long-standing conspiracies is rejected by historian Bruce Cumings:

"But if conspiracies exist, they rarely move history; they make a difference at the margins from time to time, but with the unforeseen consequences of a logic outside the control of their authors: and this is what is wrong with 'conspiracy theory.' History is moved by the broad forces and large structures of human collectivities."

The term conspiracism is used in the work of Michael Kelly, Chip Berlet, and Matthew N. Lyons.

According to Berlet and Lyons, "Conspiracism is a particular narrative form of scapegoating that frames demonized enemies as part of a vast insidious plot against the common good, while it valorizes the scapegoater as a hero for sounding the alarm".

Criticism

Conspiracy theories are the subject of broad critique by academics, politicians, and the media.

Perhaps the most contentious aspect of a conspiracy theory is the problem of settling a particular theory's truth to the satisfaction of both its proponents and its opponents. Particular accusations of conspiracy vary widely in their plausibility, but some common standards for assessing their likely truth value may be applied in each case:

* Occam's razor - does the alternative story explain more of the evidence than the mainstream story, or is it just a more complicated and therefore less useful explanation of the same evidence?
* Logic - do the proofs offered follow the rules of logic, or do they employ fallacies of logic?
* Methodology - are the proofs offered for the argument well constructed, i.e., using sound methodology? Is there any clear standard to determine what evidence would prove or disprove the theory?
* Whistleblowers - how many people – and what kind – have to be loyal conspirators? The more wide-ranging and pervasive the conspiracy is alleged to be, the greater the number of people would have to be involved in perpetrating it - is it credible that nobody involved has brought the affair to light?
* Falsifiability - is it possible to demonstrate that specific claims of the theory are false, or are they "unfalsifiable"?

Noam Chomsky, an academic critical of the United States establishment, contrasts conspiracy theory as more or less the opposite of institutional analysis, which focuses mostly on the public, long-term behaviour of publicly known institutions, as recorded in, e.g. scholarly documents or mainstream media reports, rather than secretive coalitions of individuals.

Controversy

Aside from controversies over the merits of particular conspiratorial claims, the general discussion of conspiracy theory is itself a matter of some public contention.

The term "conspiracy theory" is considered by different observers to be a neutral description for a conspiracy claim, a pejorative term used to dismiss such a claim without examination, and a term that can be positively embraced by proponents of such a claim. The term may be used by some for arguments they might not wholly believe but consider radical and exciting. The most widely accepted sense of the term is that which popular culture and academic usage share, certainly having negative implications for a narrative's probable truth value.

Conspiracy theorists on the internet are often dismissed as a "fringe" group, but evidence suggests that a broad cross section of Americans today—traversing ethnic, gender, education, occupation, and other divides—gives credence to at least some conspiracy theories.

Given this popular understanding of the term, it can also be used illegitimately and inappropriately, as a means to dismiss what are in fact substantial and well-evidenced accusations. The legitimacy of each such usage will therefore be a matter of some controversy. Michael Parenti, in his 1996 essay which examines the role of progressive media in the use of the term, "The JFK Assassination II: Conspiracy Phobia On The Left", states,

"It is an either-or world for those on the Left who harbor an aversion for any kind of conspiracy investigation: either you are a structuralist in your approach to politics or a 'conspiracist' who reduces historical developments to the machinations of secret cabals, thereby causing us to lose sight of the larger systemic forces."

Structuralist or institutional analysis shows that the term is misused when it is applied to institutions acting in pursuit of their acknowledged goals, e.g. when a group of corporations engage in price-fixing to increase profits.

Complications occurs for terms such as UFO, which literally means "unidentified flying object" but connotes alien spacecraft, a concept also associated with some conspiracy theories, and thus possessing a certain social stigma. Michael Parenti gives an example of the use of the term which underscores the conflict in its use. He states,

"In most of its operations, the CIA is by definition a conspiracy, using covert actions and secret plans, many of which are of the most unsavory kind. What are covert operations if not conspiracies? At the same time, the CIA is an institution, a structural part of the national security state. In sum, the agency is an institutionalized conspiracy."

The term "conspiracy theory" is itself the object of a type of conspiracy theory, which argues that those using the term are manipulating their audience to disregard the topic under discussion, either in a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth, or as dupes of more deliberate conspirators.[citation needed]

When conspiracy theories are offered as official claims (e.g. originating from a governmental authority, such as an intelligence agency) they are not usually considered as conspiracy theories. For example, certain activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee may be considered to have been an official attempt to promote a conspiracy theory, yet its claims are seldom referred to as such.[citation needed]

Further difficulties arise from ambiguity regarding the term theory. In popular usage, this term is often used to refer to unfounded or weakly-based speculation, leading to the idea that "It's not a conspiracy theory if it's actually true".
Study of conspiracism

In 1936 American commentator H. L. Mencken wrote:

The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts. He ascribes all his failure to get on in the world, all of his congenital incapacity and damfoolishness, to the machinations of werewolves assembled in Wall Street, or some other such den of infamy.

Belief in conspiracy theories has become a topic of interest for sociologists, psychologists and experts in folklore since at least the 1960s, when the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy eventually provoked an unprecedented public response directed against the official version of the case as expounded in the Report of the Warren Commission.

Psychological origins

According to some psychologists, a person who believes in one conspiracy theory tends to believe in others; a person who does not believe in one conspiracy theory tends not to believe another.[25] This may be caused by differences in the information upon which parties rely in formulating their conclusions.

Psychologists believe that the search for meaning is common in conspiracism and the development of conspiracy theories, and may be powerful enough alone to lead to the first formulating of the idea. Once cognized, confirmation bias and avoidance of cognitive dissonance may reinforce the belief. In a context where a conspiracy theory has become popular within a social group, communal reinforcement may equally play a part. Some research carried out at the University of Kent, UK suggests people may be influenced by conspiracy theories without being aware that their attitudes have changed. After reading popular conspiracy theories about the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, participants in this study correctly estimated how much their peers' attitudes had changed, but significantly underestimated how much their own attitudes had changed to become more in favor of the conspiracy theories. The authors conclude that conspiracy theories may therefore have a 'hidden power' to influence people's beliefs.

Humanistic psychologists argue that even if the cabal behind the conspiracy is almost always perceived as hostile there is, often, still an element of reassurance in it, for conspiracy theorists, in part because it is more consoling to think that complications and upheavals in human affairs, at least, are created by human beings rather than factors beyond human control. Belief in such a cabal is a device for reassuring oneself that certain occurrences are not random, but ordered by a human intelligence. This renders such occurrences comprehensible and potentially controllable. If a cabal can be implicated in a sequence of events, there is always the hope, however tenuous, of being able to break the cabal's power - or joining it and exercising some of that power oneself. Finally, belief in the power of such a cabal is an implicit assertion of human dignity - an often unconscious but necessary affirmation that man is not totally helpless, but is responsible, at least in some measure, for his own destiny.

Projection

Some historians have argued that there is an element of psychological projection in conspiracism. This projection, according to the argument, is manifested in the form of attribution of undesirable characteristics of the self to the conspirators. Richard Hofstadter, in his essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, stated that:

...it is hard to resist the conclusion that this enemy is on many counts the projection of the self; both the ideal and the unacceptable aspects of the self are attributed to him. The enemy may be the cosmopolitan intellectual, but the paranoid will outdo him in the apparatus of scholarship... the Ku Klux Klan imitated Catholicism to the point of donning priestly vestments, developing an elaborate ritual and an equally elaborate hierarchy. The John Birch Society emulates Communist cells and quasi-secret operation through "front" groups, and preaches a ruthless prosecution of the ideological war along lines very similar to those it finds in the Communist enemy. Spokesmen of the various fundamentalist anti-Communist "crusades" openly express their admiration for the dedication and discipline the Communist cause calls forth.

Hofstadter also noted that "sexual freedom" is a vice frequently attributed to the conspiracist's target group, noting that "very often the fantasies of true believers reveal strong sadomasochistic outlets, vividly expressed, for example, in the delight of anti-Masons with the cruelty of Masonic punishments."

Epistemic bias

“ Conspiracy theories are popular because no matter what they posit, they are all actually comforting, because they all are models of radical simplicity. ”

—Novelist William Gibson, October 2007.[29]

It is possible that certain basic human epistemic biases are projected onto the material under scrutiny. According to one study humans apply a 'rule of thumb' by which we expect a significant event to have a significant cause.[30] The study offered subjects four versions of events, in which a foreign president was (a) successfully assassinated, (b) wounded but survived, (c) survived with wounds but died of a heart attack at a later date, and (d) was unharmed. Subjects were significantly more likely to suspect conspiracy in the case of the 'major events' — in which the president died — than in the other cases, despite all other evidence available to them being equal.

Another epistemic 'rule of thumb' that can be misapplied to a mystery involving other humans is cui bono? (who stands to gain?). This sensitivity to the hidden motives of other people may be an evolved and universal feature of human consciousness. However, this is also a valid rule of thumb for detectives to use when generating a list of suspects to investigate. Used in this way "Who had the motive, means and opportunity?" is a perfectly valid use of this rule of thumb.[citation needed]

Clinical psychology

For some individuals, an obsessive compulsion to believe, prove or re-tell a conspiracy theory may indicate one or more of several well-understood psychological conditions, and other hypothetical ones: paranoia, denial, schizophrenia, mean world syndrome.

Socio-political origins

Christopher Hitchens represents conspiracy theories as the 'exhaust fumes of democracy'[citation needed], the unavoidable result of a large amount of information circulating among a large number of people. Other[who?] social commentators and sociologists argue that conspiracy theories are produced according to variables that may change within a democratic (or other type of) society.

Conspiratorial accounts can be emotionally satisfying when they place events in a readily-understandable, moral context. The subscriber to the theory is able to assign moral responsibility for an emotionally troubling event or situation to a clearly-conceived group of individuals. Crucially, that group does not include the believer. The believer may then feel excused of any moral or political responsibility for remedying whatever institutional or societal flaw might be the actual source of the dissonance.

Where responsible behavior is prevented by social conditions, or is simply beyond the ability of an individual, the conspiracy theory facilitates the emotional discharge or closure that such emotional challenges (after Erving Goffman)[citation needed] require. Like moral panics, conspiracy theories thus occur more frequently within communities that are experiencing social isolation or political dis-empowerment.

Mark Fenster argues that "just because overarching conspiracy theories are wrong does not mean they are not on to something. Specifically, they ideologically address real structural inequities, and constitute a response to a withering civil society and the concentration of the ownership of the means of production, which together leave the political subject without the ability to be recognized or to signify in the public realm" (1999: 67).

Sociological historian Holger Herwig found in studying German explanations for the origins of World War I:

Those events that are most important are hardest to understand, because they attract the greatest attention from myth makers and charlatans.[citation needed]

This normal process could be diverted by a number of influences. At the level of the individual, pressing psychological needs may influence the process, and certain of our universal mental tools may impose epistemic 'blind spots'. At the group or sociological level, historic factors may make the process of assigning satisfactory meanings more or less problematic.

Alternatively, conspiracy theories may arise when evidence available in the public record does not correspond with the common or official version of events. In this regard, conspiracy theories may sometimes serve to highlight 'blind spots' in the common or official interpretations of events (Fenster, 1999).

Media tropes

Media commentators regularly note a tendency in news media and wider culture to understand events through the prism of individual agents, as opposed to more complex structural or institutional accounts.[33] If this is a true observation, it may be expected that the audience which both demands and consumes this emphasis itself is more receptive to personalized, dramatic accounts of social phenomena.

A second, perhaps related, media trope is the effort to allocate individual responsibility for negative events. The media have a tendency to start to seek culprits if an event occurs that is of such significance that it does not drop off the news agenda within a few days. Of this trend, it has been said that the concept of a pure accident is no longer permitted in a news item.[34] Again, if this is a true observation, it may reflect a real change in how the media consumer perceives negative events.

Hollywood motion pictures and television shows perpetuate and enlarge belief in conspiracy as a standard functioning of corporations and governments. Feature films such as Enemy of the State and Shooter, among scores of others, propound conspiracies as a normal state of affairs, having dropped the idea of questioning conspiracies typical of movies of eras prior to about 1970. Shooter even contains the line, "that is how conspiracies work" in reference to the JFK murder. Interestingly, movies and television shows do the same as the news media in regard to personalizing and dramatizing issues which are easy to involve in conspiracy theories. Coming Home converts the huge problem of the returning injured Vietnam War soldier into the chance that the injured soldier will fall in love, and when he does, the strong implication is that the larger problem is also solved. This factor is a natural outcome of Hollywood script development which wishes to highlight one or two major characters which can be played by major stars, and thus a good way of marketing the movie is established but that rings false upon examination. Further, the necessity to serve up a dubiously justified happy ending, although expected by audiences, actually has another effect of heightening the sense of falseness and contrived stories, underpinning the public's loss of belief in virtually anything any mass media says. Into the vacuum of that loss of belief falls explanation by conspiracy theory.

Too, the act of dramatizing real or fictional events injects a degree of falseness or contrived efforts which media savvy people today can identify easily. "News" today is virtually always dramatized, at least by pitting "one side" against another in the fictional journalistic concept that all stories must contain "both sides" (as though reality could be reduced to two sides) or by using more intensive dramatic developments similar to feature movies. That is, by obvious dramatizing, the media reinforces the idea that all things are contrived for someone's gain which could be another definition of, at least, political conspiracies theories. --Dr. Charles Harpole in "History of American Cinema" Scribner/U. Calif Press.

Fusion paranoia

Michael Kelly, a Washington Post journalist and critic of anti-war movements on both the left and right, coined the term "fusion paranoia" to refer to a political convergence of left-wing and right-wing activists around anti-war issues and civil liberties, which he claimed were motivated by a shared belief in conspiracism or anti-government views.

Social critics have adopted this term to refer to how the synthesis of paranoid conspiracy theories, which were once limited to American fringe audiences, has given them mass appeal and enabled them to become commonplace in mass media, thereby inaugurating an unrivaled period of people actively preparing for apocalyptic millenarian scenarios in the United States of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They warn that this development may not only fuel lone wolf terrorism but have devastating effects on American political life, such as the rise of a revolutionary right-wing populist movement capable of subverting the established political powers.

Daniel Pipes wrote in a 2004 Jerusalem Post article titled Fusion Paranoia:

Fears of a petty conspiracy – a political rival or business competitor plotting to do you harm – are as old as the human psyche. But fears of a grand conspiracy – that the Illuminati or Jews plan to take over the world – go back only 900 years and have been operational for just two centuries, since the French Revolution. Conspiracy theories grew in importance from then until World War II, when two arch-conspiracy theorists, Hitler and Stalin, faced off against each other, causing the greatest blood-letting in human history. This hideous spectacle sobered Americans, who in subsequent decades relegated conspiracy theories to the fringe, where mainly two groups promoted such ideas.

The politically disaffected: Blacks (Louis Farrakhan, Cynthia McKinney), the hard Right (John Birch Society, Pat Buchanan), and other alienated elements (Ross Perot, Lyndon LaRouche). Their theories imply a political agenda, but lack much of a following.

The culturally suspicious: These include "Kennedy assassinologists," "ufologists," and those who believe a reptilian race runs the earth and alien installations exist under the earth's surface. Such themes enjoy enormous popularity (a year 2000 poll found 43 percent of Americans believing in UFOs), but carry no political agenda.

The major new development, reports Barkun, professor of political science in the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, is not just an erosion in the divisions between these two groups, but their joining forces with occultists, persons bored by rationalism. Occultists are drawn to what Barkun calls the "cultural dumping ground of the heretical, the scandalous, the unfashionable, and the dangerous" – such as spiritualism, Theosophy, alternative medicine, alchemy, and astrology. Thus, the author who worries about the Secret Service taking orders from the Bavarian Illuminati is old school; the one who worries about a "joint Reptilian-Bavarian Illuminati" takeover is at the cutting edge of the new synthesis. These bizarre notions constitute what Michael Kelly termed "fusion paranoia," a promiscuous absorption of fears from any source whatsoever.

Political use

Conspiracy theories exist in the realm of myth, where imaginations run wild, fears trump facts, and evidence is ignored. As a superpower, the United States is often cast as a villain in these dramas.
America.gov

In his two volume work The Open Society and Its Enemies Popper used the term "conspiracy theory" to criticize the ideologies driving fascism, nazism, and communism[citation needed]. Popper argued that totalitarianism was founded on "conspiracy theories" which drew on imaginary plots driven by paranoid scenarios predicated on tribalism, chauvinism, or racism. Popper did not argue against the existence of everyday conspiracies (as incorrectly suggested in much of the later literature). Popper even uses the term "conspiracy" to describe ordinary political activity in the classical Athens of Plato (who was the principal target of his attack in The Open Society & Its Enemies).

In his critique of the twentieth century totalitarians, Popper wrote, "I do not wish to imply that conspiracies never happen. On the contrary, they are typical social phenomena."

He reiterated his point, "Conspiracies occur, it must be admitted. But the striking fact which, in spite of their occurrence, disproved the conspiracy theory is that few of these conspiracies are ultimately successful. Conspirators rarely consummate their conspiracy."

Fiction

Main article: Conspiracy fiction

Because of their dramatic potential, conspiracies are a popular theme in thrillers and science fiction. Complex history is recast as a morality play in which bad people cause bad events, and good people identify and defeat them. Fictional conspiracy theories offer neat, intuitive narratives, in which the conspirators' plot fits closely the dramatic needs of the story's plot. As mentioned above, the cui bono? aspect of conspiracy theories resembles one element of mystery stories: the search for a possibly hidden motive.

Dr. Strangelove was a 1964 comedy about modern nuclear warfare. The end of the world is precipitated by the delusions of General Jack D. Ripper who happens to be in control of a SAC nuclear air wing. General Ripper believes there is a Communist conspiracy which threatens to "sap and impurify" the "precious bodily fluids" of the American people with fluoridated water.

Conspiracy Theory is a 1997 thriller about a taxi driver (played by Mel Gibson) who publishes a newsletter in which he discusses what he suspects are government conspiracies, and it turns out that one or more of them are true.

The X-Files was a popular television show during the 1990s and early 2000s, which primarily followed the investigations of two FBI agents, Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, who were sometimes helped by a group of conspiracy theorists known as The Lone Gunmen. Many of the episodes dealt with a plot for alien invasion overseen by elements of the U.S. government, led by an individual known only as the Cigarette Smoking Man and an even more mysterious international "Syndicate". The famous tag line of the series, "The Truth Is Out There", can be interpreted as reference to the meaning-seeking nature of the genre discussed above.

Umberto Eco's novel Foucault's Pendulum is a broad satire on conspiracism in which the characters attempt to construct an all-embracing conspiracy theory starting with the Templars and including the Bavarian Illuminati, the Rosicrucians, hollow Earth enthusiasts, the Cathars, and the Jesuits.

The three-part novel Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson (published in 1975) is a highly satirical, psychedelic novel dealing with complex, Byzantine conspiracies nested within other larger conspiracies—with the scale of the plots and the audacity of their plotters expanding to enfold more and more minds as the story progresses, evolving to wrap itself around many extant conspiracy theories such as the ones revolving around the Bavarian Illuminati, the Masons, the Vatican, the Mafia, governments large and small, and fringe groups of both left and right-wing persuasions. Their plottings merge with the overarching plans of several fictitious organizations—and also an actual "religion" which conceives of itself as a joke (the Discordians.) In an ironic twist of fate, Illuminatus! may have even caused the development of a real-world Discordian society (which manifests in loose clusters of affiliation, rather than as any formalized group) when the novel's cult success as a countercultural mainstay brought the "holy writ" of the Discordians, the Principia Discordia, out of obscurity over the final three decades of the twentieth century. Shea and Wilson used witty quotes drawn from this comedic pamphlet glorifying Eris, the Greek goddess of chaos and discord, as opening lines for chapters of the Illuminatus! books.

Conspiracy theories have even influenced video games. The critically acclaimed RPG/shooter Deus Ex, and its sequel (albeit to a lesser degree), Deus Ex: Invisible War, draw upon current-day conspiracy theories such as Majestic 12, Area 51, and the Illuminati.

Other novels, such as Dan Brown's 2000 controversial book "Angels and Demons" have also popularized the idea of conspiracy theories. The book surrounds the quest of Robert Langdon, a fictional Harvard University symbologist who is bent on uncovering the mysteries of a secret society known as the Illuminati. Brown's novel, and others alike, harp on the ideas of the unknown, a life source for conspiracy theorists.

Michael Barkun, a political scientist specializing in the study of conspiracism in American culture, notes that a vast popular audience has been introduced by the 1997 film Conspiracy Theory to the notion that the U.S. government is controlled by a secret team in black helicopters - a view once confined to right-wing extremists

Mutiara kata by Kahlil Gibran

"...pabila cinta memanggilmu... ikutilah dia walau jalannya berliku-liku... Dan, pabila sayapnya merangkummu... pasrahlah serta menyerah, walau pedang tersembunyi di sela sayap itu melukaimu..." (Kahlil Gibran)

"...kuhancurkan tulang-tulangku, tetapi aku tidak membuangnya sampai aku mendengar suara cinta memanggilku dan melihat jiwaku siap untuk berpetualang" (Kahlil Gibran)

"Tubuh mempunyai keinginan yang tidak kita ketahui. Mereka dipisahkan karena alasan duniawi dan dipisahkan di ujung bumi. Namun jiwa tetap ada di tangan cinta... terus hidup... sampai kematian datang dan menyeret mereka kepada Tuhan..." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Jangan menangis, Kekasihku... Janganlah menangis dan berbahagialah, karena kita diikat bersama dalam cinta. Hanya dengan cinta yang indah... kita dapat bertahan terhadap derita kemiskinan, pahitnya kesedihan, dan duka perpisahan" (Kahlil Gibran)

"Aku ingin mencintaimu dengan sederhana... seperti kata yang tak sempat diucapkan kayu kepada api yang menjadikannya abu... Aku ingin mencintaimu dengan sederhana... seperti isyarat yang tak sempat dikirimkan awan kepada hujan yang menjadikannya tiada..." (Kahlil Gibran)

"Jika cinta tidak dapat mengembalikan engkau kepadaku dalam kehidupan ini... pastilah cinta akan menyatukan kita dalam kehidupan yang akan datang" (Kahlil Gibran)

"Apa yang telah kucintai laksana seorang anak kini tak henti-hentinya aku mencintai... Dan, apa yang kucintai kini... akan kucintai sampai akhir hidupku, karena cinta ialah semua yang dapat kucapai... dan tak ada yang akan mencabut diriku dari padanya" (Kahlil Gibran)

"Kemarin aku sendirian di dunia ini, kekasih; dan kesendirianku... sebengis kematian... Kemarin diriku adalah sepatah kata yang tak bersuara..., di dalam pikiran malam. Hari ini... aku menjelma menjadi sebuah nyanyian menyenangkan di atas lidah hari. Dan, ini berlangsung dalam semenit dari sang waktu yang melahirkan sekilasan pandang, sepatah kata, sebuah desakan dan... sekecup ciuman" (Kahlil Gibran)

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Khalil Gibran

Born Gibran Khalil Gibran bin Mikhael bin Saâd
January 6, 1883 (1883-01-06)
Bsharri, Lebanon
Died April 10, 1931 (aged 48)
New York City, United States
Occupation Poet, Painter, Sculptor, Writer, Philosopher, Theologian, Visual Artist
Nationality Lebanese
Genres Poetry, Parable, Short Story
Literary movement Mahjar, New York Pen League
Notable work(s) The Prophet

Khalil Gibran (full name Gibran Khalil Gibran bin Mikhael bin Saâd, Arabic: جبران خليل جبران بن ميخائيل بن سعد, Syriac: ܟ݂ܠܝܠ ܔܒܪܢ) (born January 6, 1883 in Bsharri, Lebanon; died April 10, 1931 in New York City, United States) was a Lebanese American artist, poet, writer, philosopher and theologian. He was born in Lebanon (at the time the Mount Lebanon sub-district in the Ottoman province of Syria) and spent most of his life in the United States. He is the third bestselling poet in history after William Shakespeare and Lao Tse.[1]

Youth

In Lebanon

Gibran was born in the Christian Maronite town of Bsharri in today's northern Lebanon - at the time, part of the Ottoman Empire. He grew up in the region of Bsharri. His maternal grandfather was a Maronite Catholic priest[2]. His mother Kamila was thirty when Gibran was born; his father, also named Khalil, was her third husband.[3] As a result of his family's poverty, Gibran did not receive any formal schooling during his youth in Lebanon. However, priests visited him regularly and taught him about the Bible, as well as the Syriac and Arabic languages.

After Gibran's father, a tax collector, went to prison for alleged embezzlement,[1] Ottoman authorities confiscated his family's property. Authorities released Gibran's father in 1894, but the family had by then lost their home. Gibran's mother decided to follow her brother, Gibran's uncle, and emigrated to the United States. Gibran's father remained in Lebanon. Gibran's mother, along with Khalil, his younger sisters Mariana and Sultana, and his half-brother Peter left for New York on June 25, 1895.

In the United States
Khalil Gibran, Photograph by Fred Holland Day, c. 1898Enlarge picture
Khalil Gibran, Photograph by Fred Holland Day, c. 1898

The Gibrans settled in Boston's South End, at the time the second largest Lebanese-American community in the United States. His mother began working as a pack peddler, selling lace and linens that she carried from door to door. Gibran started school on September 30, 1895. He had had no formal schooling in Lebanon, and school officials placed him in a special class for immigrants to learn English. Gibran's English teacher suggested that he Anglicise the spelling of his name in order to make it more acceptable to American society. Kahlil Gibran was the result.

Gibran also enrolled in an art school at a nearby settlement house. Through his teachers there, he was introduced to the avant-garde Boston artist, photographer, and publisher Fred Holland Day,[1] who encouraged and supported Gibran in his creative endeavors. A publisher used some of Gibran's drawings for book covers in 1898.

At 15, Gibran went back to Lebanon to study at a Maronite-run preparatory school and higher-education institute in Beirut. He started a student literary magazine with a classmate, and was elected "college poet". He stayed there for several years before returning to Boston in 1902. Two weeks before he got back, his sister, Sultana, age 14, died of tuberculosis. The next year, his brother Bhutros died of the same disease, and his mother died of cancer. His sister Marianna then supported Gibran and herself, working at a dressmaker's shop.[1]

Art and poetry

Gibran held his first art exhibition, of drawings, in 1904 in Boston, at Day's studio.[1] During this exhibition, Gibran met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, a respected headmistress ten years his senior. The two formed an important friendship that lasted the rest of Gibran's life. Though publicly discreet, their correspondence reveals an exalted intimacy. Haskell influenced not only Gibran's personal life, but also his career. In 1908, Gibran went to study art with Auguste Rodin in Paris for two years. This is where he met his art study partner and lifelong friend Youssef Howayek. He later studied art in Boston.

While most of Gibran's early writings were in Arabic, most of his work published after 1918 was in English. His first book for the publishing company Alfred Knopf, in 1918, was The Madman, a slim volume of aphorisms and parables written in biblical cadence somewhere between poetry and prose. Gibran also took part in the New York Pen League, also known as the "immigrant poets" (al-mahjar), alongside important Lebanese American authors such as Ameen Rihani ("the father of Lebanese American literature"), Elia Abu Madi and Mikhail Naimy, a close friend and distinguished master of Arabic literature, whose descendants Gibran declared to be his own children, and whose nephew, Samir, is a godson of Gibran.

Much of Gibran's writings deal with Christianity, especially on the topic of spiritual love. His poetry is notable for its use of formal language, as well as insights on topics of life using spiritual terms. Gibran's best-known work is The Prophet, a book composed of 26 poetic essays. This, the author's magnum opus, became especially popular during the 1960s with the American counterculture and New Age movements. Since it was first published in 1923, The Prophet has never been out of print and remains world-renowned to this day. Having been translated into more than 20 languages, it was the bestselling book of the twentieth century in the United States, second only to the Bible.

One of his most notable lines of poetry in the English speaking world is from 'Sand and Foam' (1926), which reads : 'Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you'. This was taken by John Lennon and placed, though in a slightly altered form, into the song Julia from The Beatles' 1968 album The Beatles (a.k.a. The White Album).

Juliet Thompson, one of Khalil Gibran's acquaintances, said that Gibran told her that he thought of `Abdu'l-Bahá, the leader of the Bahá'í Faith in his lifetime, all the way through writing The Prophet. `Abdu'l-Bahá's personage also influenced Jesus, The Son of Man, another book by Gibran. It is certain that Gibran did two portraits of him during this period.[4]

Political Thought

Gibran was a prominent Syrian nationalist. In a political statement he drafted in 1911,[5] he expresses his loyality to Greater Syria and to the safeguarding of Syria's national territorial integrity. He also calls for the adoption of Arabic as a national language of Syria and the application of Arabic at all school levels.

When the Ottomans were finally driven out of Syria during the first world war, Gibran's exhilaration was manifested in a delightful sketch called "Free Syria" which appeared on the front page of al-Sa'ih's special "victory" edition. Moreover, in a draft of a play, still kept among his papers, Gibran expressed great hope for national independence and progress. This play, according to Kahlil Hawi,[6] "defines Gibran's belief in Syrian nationalism with great clarity, distinguishing it from both Lebanese and Arab nationalism, and showing us that nationalism lived in his mind, even at this late stage, side with side with internationalism."[7]

Death and legacy
Khalil Gibran memorial in Washington, D.C.Enlarge picture
Khalil Gibran memorial in Washington, D.C.
The Gibran Museum and Gibran's final resting place, located in Bsharri, LebanonEnlarge picture
The Gibran Museum and Gibran's final resting place, located in Bsharri, Lebanon

Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931: the cause was determined to be cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis. Before his death, Gibran expressed the wish that he be buried in Lebanon. This wish was fulfilled in 1932, when Mary Haskell and his sister Mariana purchased the Mar Sarkis Monastery in Lebanon.

Gibran willed the contents of his studio to Mary Haskell. There she discovered her letters to him spanning 23 years. She initially agreed to burn them because of their intimacy, but recognizing their historical value she saved them. She gave them, along with his letters to her which she had also saved, to the University of North Carolina Library before she died in 1964. Excerpts of the over six hundred letters were published in "Beloved Prophet" in 1972.

Mary Haskell Minis (she wed Jacob Florance Minis after moving to Savannah, Georgia in 1923) donated her personal collection of nearly one hundred original works of art by Gibran to the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah in 1950. Haskell had been thinking of placing her collection at the Telfair as early as 1914. In a letter to Gibran, she explained, "...I am thinking of other museums...the unique little Telfair Gallery in Savannah, Ga., that Gari Melchers chooses pictures for. There when I was a visiting child, form burst upon my astonished little soul." Haskell's extraordinary gift to the Telfair is the largest public collection of Kahlil Gibran’s visual art in the country, consisting of five oils and numerous works on paper rendered in the artist’s lyrical style, which reflects the influence of symbolism. The future American royalties to his books were willed to his hometown of Bsharri, to be "used for good causes", however, this led to years of controversy and violence over the distribution of the money[8]; eventually, the Lebanese government became the overseer.

Works

In Arabic:

* Nubthah fi Fan Al-Musiqa (1905)
* Ara'is al-Muruj (Nymphs of the Valley, also translated as Spirit Brides, 1906)
* al-Arwah al-Mutamarrida (Spirits Rebellious, 1908)
* al-Ajniha al-Mutakassira (Broken Wings, 1912)
* Dam'a wa Ibtisama (A Tear and A Smile, 1914)
* al-Mawakib (The Processions, 1919)
* al-‘Awāsif (The Tempests, 1920)
* al-Bada'i' waal-Tara'if (The New and the Marvellous,1923)

In English, prior to his death:

* The Madman (1918) (downloadable free version)
* Twenty Drawings (1919)
* The Forerunner (1920)
* The Prophet, (1923)
* Sand and Foam (1926)
* Kingdom Of The Imagination (1927)
* Jesus, The Son of Man (1928)
* The Earth Gods (1931)

Posthumous, in English:

* The Wanderer (1932)
* The Garden of the Prophet(1933)
* Lazarus and his Beloved (1933)
* Prose and Poems (1934)
* A Self-Portrait (1959)
* Thought and Meditations (1960)
* Spiritual sayings (1962)
* Voice of the master (1963)
* Mirrors of the Soul (1965)
* Death Of The Prophet (1979)
* The Vision (1994)
* Eye of the Prophet (1995)

Other:

* Beloved Prophet, The love letters of Kahlil Gibran and Mary Haskell, and her private journal (1972, edited by Virginia Hilu)

Memorials and honors

* Gibran Khalil Gibran Garden, Beirut, Lebanon
* Gibran Khalil Gibran Skiing Piste, The Cedars Ski Resort, Lebanon
* Kahlil Gibran Memorial Garden in Washington, D.C.[9], dedicated in 1990[10]
* Gibran Memorial Plaque in Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts
* Khalil Gibran International Academy, a public high school in Brooklyn, NY
* Khalil Gibran Park (Parcul Khalil Gibran) in Bucharest, Romania

Mentions in popular culture

Movies

* The Prophet is seen in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line when June Carter hands it to J.R to read in the motel.

Music

* Jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean's "Kahlil the Prophet" is on his album Destination...Out! (1963) (Blue Note BLP 4165)
* Jason Mraz's song "God moves through you" on the album Selections For Friends features words from the poem "The Prophet"
* The lyrics to David Bowie's "The Width of a Circle", off his album The Man Who Sold the World (1970), relates a surrealist scene in which the narrator and his doppelgänger seek the help of a blackbird, who just "laughed insane and quipped 'Kahlil Gibran'".
* Michigan experimental screamo outfit Men As Trees quote Gibran in the liner notes to their 2008 album, Weltschmerz: "We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset has left us."
* Tyrannosaurus Rex's second album, Prophets, Seers & Sages – The Angels of the Ages, released in October 1968, was dedicated in Gibran's memory.

Other

* In the popular video game Deus Ex, one of the three possible ending quotes is Gibran's quote: "Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth..." The western spelling of his name, Kahlil Gibran, was used to credit him.
* Khalil Gibran is referenced briefly in the episode Wingmen of the show The Boondocks. When Huey (the central character) is asked by his grandfather to say something "deep", he recites part of the poem "On Pain" from The Prophet.
* In the hit TV show "One Tree Hill", Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) quotes Gibran.

References

1. ^ a b c d e Acocella, Joan. "Prophet Motive", The New Yorker, January 7, 2008
2. ^ Jagadisan, S. "Called by Life", The Hindu, January 5, 2003, accessed July 11, 2007
3. ^ "Khalil Gibran (1883-1931)", biography at Cornell University library on-line site, retrieved February 4, 2008
4. ^ "Khalil Gibran and the Bahá'í Faith", excerpts from World Order, A Baha'i Magazine, Vol. 12, Number 4, Summer, 1978, pages 29-31
5. ^ Hawi, Kahlil Gibran: His Background, Character and Works, 1972, p155
6. ^ Hawi, Kahlil Gibran: His Background, Character and Works, 1972, p219
7. ^ Gibran and the national idea
8. ^ [1]
9. ^ Gibran Memorial in Washington, DC
10. ^ Elmaz Abinader, Children of Al-Mahjar: Arab American Literature Spans a Century", U.S. Society & Values, February 2000

External links

* Comprehensive Gibran Site (All his works, photos, artwork, bio, downloads etc)
* The Gibran Archive: Biography, Timeline, Drawings/Paintings and many Full Text books
* Online copies of texts by Gibran
* "Kahil Gibran -- a retrospective (video), documentary, May 31, 2007
* Works by Khalil Gibran
* Gibran paintings and love letters

January 6

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Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry.

Etymology

From the ancient greek : ποιέω, poieō
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Sculpture

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Parable

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Mahjar

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The Prophet (book)

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Bahaya Merokok

Dampak Rokok
Ada berbagai hal yang menjadi latar belakang seseorang menjadi perokok. Awalnya mungkin hanya rasa penasaran dan sekedar ingin mencoba. Namun efek adiksi yang ditimbulkan oleh nikotin membuat sebagian besar orang terbawa ke dalam ketergantungan seumur hidup terhadap tembakau.
Data dari Badan Kesehatan Dunia (WHO) menyebutkan 1 dari 10 kematian pada orang dewasa disebabkan oleh penggunaan tembakau. Pada tahun 2005, penggunaan tembakau menyebabkan 5,4 juta kematian atau rata-rata satu kematian setiap 6 detik. Bahkan pada tahun 2030 diperkirakan jumlah kematian mencapai angka 8 juta.
Saat sebatang rokok disulut dan asapnya mulai diisap, sejumlah bahan kimia akan beredar ke berbagai organ vital dalam tubuh, yakni paru-paru, jantung dan pembuluh darah. Tubuh akan terkontaminasi dengan bahan kimia yang dapat menyebabkan kanker dan kecanduan.
Asap rokok mengeluarkan lebih dari 40 bahan kimia penyebab kanker, juga sejumlah kecil racun lainnya seperti arsen dan sianida serta lebih dari 4000 bahan kimia lainnya.
Salah satu bahan kimia dalam rokok adalah nikotin. Nikotin akan membuat anda ketagihan rokok dan membuat kecanduan. Nikotin akan meningkatkan zat kimia otak yang disebut dopamin, yang akan membuat anda merasa senang. Dopamin inilah yang mengakibatkan proses kecanduan tersebut.
Karbonmonoksida yang anda hirup dari asap rokok menggantikan oksigen di sel-sel darah dan mengambil zat makanan dari jantung, otak dan organ tubuh lainnya. Merokok juga mematikan indra pengecap dan penciuman sehingga makanan tidak lagi selezat biasanya.
Efek langsung yang dialami oleh orang yang merokok misalnya: aktivitas otak dan sistem saraf yang mula-mula meningkat lalu kemudian menurun, perasaan euforia ringan, merasa relaks, meningkatnya tekanan darah dan denyut jantung, menurunnya aliran darah ke anggota badan seperti jari-jari tangan dan kaki, pusing, mual, mata berair, asam lambung meningkat, menurunnya nafsu makan, dan berkurangnya indera pengecap dan pembau.
Sementara efek jangka panjang dari penggunaan tembakau adalah timbulnya berbagai penyakit, antara lain:
• Kecanduan nikotin
• Berbagai macam kanker, terutama kanker paru, ginjal, tenggorokan, leher, payu dara, kandung kemih, pankreas dan lambung. Satu dari enam pria perokok akan menderita kanker paru.
• Penyakit jantung dan pembuluh darah: stroke dan penyakit pembuluh darah tepi.
• Penyakit saluran pernapasan: flu, radang saluran pernapasan (bronkhitis), penyakit paru obstruktif kronis.
• Cacat bawaan pada bayi dari ibu yang merokok selama kehamilan.
• Penyakit Buerger
• Katarak
• Gangguan kognitif (daya pikir): lebih rentan terhadap Penyakit Alzheimer (pikun), penyusutan otak.
• Impotensi
Survey tahun 1981-1997 pada kelompok masyarakat berpenghasilan rendah, sedang, dan tinggi, menunjukkan bahwa pada kelompok ekonomi masyarakat berpenghasilan rendah, pengeluaran untuk merokok naik 227 persen, yaitu dari Rp. 343 per orang per hari menjadi Rp. 779 per orang per hari. Saat ini diperkirakan lebih besar lagi seiring dengan kenaikan harga barang. Perokok harus disadarkan begitu besar biaya yang harus dikeluarkan dari merokok.
Ini merupakan suatu beban ekonomi yang berat mengingat lebih dari separuh pengeluaran digunakan untuk pemenuhan kebutuhan makan. Jelas terlihat dampak merokok terhadap proses pemiskinan. Pengeluaran untuk rokok sebenarnya dapat digunakan untuk memenuhi kebutuhan gizi keluarga (anak balita), khususnya pada keluarga miskin.
Seorang ahli ekonomi kesehatan Soewarta Kosen menyatakan total biaya konsumsi tembakau adalah Rp. 127,4 triliun yang digunakan untuk belanja tembakau, biaya pengobatan akibat sakit mengkonsumsi tembakau, kecacatan dan kematian dini. Jumlah tersebut setara dengan 7,5 kali lipat penerimaan cukai tembakau pada tahun yang sama yaitu Rp 16,5 triliun. Jadi sebenarnya tidak ada keuntungan yang diperoleh negara dari tembakau. Fenomena seperti ini juga terjadi di semua negara.


Beragam Penyakit Mengancam Kehidupan Manusia Akibat Merokok
Dampak positif dari merokok belum ditemukan di dalam sebuah artikel atau opini publik kecuali keuntungan bagi produsen dan pedagangnya. Yang ada adalah himbauan dan seruan dari berbagai pihak untuk menghindari yang namanya rokok. Namun demikian, sampai hari ini, meskipun sudah banyak himbauan dan peringatan akan bahaya merokok, tetapi tetap saja banyak orang di muka bumi ini yang merokok.
Padahal, semua orang tahu bahwa dampak negatif dari merokok sangat banyak dan beragam bagi kesehatan tubuh manusia. Seperti kandungan tar, nikotin, zat, dan gas kimia dalam rokok sudah menjadi rahasia umum berpotensi membenihkan sekian penyakit. Di bungkusnya saja sudah ada peringatan.
Di pasaran saat ini banyak juga ditemui rokok yang mengklaim produknya memiliki kandungan tar dan nikotin lebih rendah. Tetapi tetap saja gas yang ditimbulkan sebagai efek samping merokok berpotensi membahayakan bagi si perokok (aktif) dan bagi orang di sekitarnya (pasif).
Menurut penelitian ada 10 tipe kanker yang disebabkan oleh rokok. Selain itu disebutkan juga bahwa pria perokok akan meninggal 13,2 tahun lebih muda dibandingkan yang bukan perokok sedangkan wanita perokok meninggal 14,5 tahun lebih muda.
Merokok dapat menyebabkan kanker mulut, pita suara, dan esofagus. Wanita perokok memiliki kemungkinan 13 kali lebih tinggi kena kanker paru paru dibanding yang tidak merokok. Sedangkan pria perokok 23 kali lebih tinggi terkena kanker paru paru dibanding yang tidak merokok.
Kanker perut dan lambung, kanker ginjal, kanker pankreas, bila fatal dapat menyebabkan diabetes mellitus, kencing manis, kanker leher rahim, kanker darah atau leukemia.
Perokok berisiko 3 kali lebih tinggi menderita katarak yang dapat menyebabkan kebutaan. Rokok dapat menjadi penyebab utama terjadinya stroke dan kerusakan otak. Perokok berisiko 10 kali lebih tinggi menderita periodontitis (gusi terbakar yang mengarah ke infeksi) sehingga dapat merusak jaringan halus dari tulang.
Dampak lainnya dapat terjadi pneumonia, bronchitis, asma, batuk kronis, gagal jantung, serangan jantung, hipertensi, dan stroke. Kemandulan, bayi lahir prematur, bayi lahir berat badan kurang (BBLR), dan gangguan pernapasan.
Untuk mencegah dampak buruk dari masuk dan tertimbunnya bahan berbahaya rokok ke dalam saluran pernapasan, sebaiknya perokok mengonsumsi sumber-sumber klorofil dan antioksidan secara teratur. Tidak lupa tentunya saran yang paling tepat adalah mulai berubah, mengurangi, dan menghilangkan kebiasaan hidup yang kurang baik seperti merokok.
Selain perokok, di negeri kita tercinta ini jumlah perokok pasif ternyata sangat banyak. Survei sosial ekonomi nasional tahun 2001 menunjukkan, 91,8 persen penduduk mengaku merokok di rumah ketika sedang bersama keluarganya. Akibatnya, 97,5 juta orang dengan mudah mengisap asap rokok di rumah. Dari jumlah itu, 43 juta diantaranya adalah bayi hingga anak-anak berusia 14 tahun.
Merokok merupakan perilaku adiksi yang telah mewabah secara global dan endemis di Indonesia. Ini menjadikan masalah bersama yang perlu ditanggulangi.
Sebagian besar keluarga di Indonesia mempunyai anggota keluarga yang pernah atau sedang menjadi perokok aktif. Bila perilaku merokok menjadi adiktif pada salah satu anggota keluarga, maka anggota keluarga yang lain akan terkena dampak buruknya, termasuk janin yang masih di dalam kandungan.
Karena itu, jika Anda seorang perokok, maka berhenti merokok merupakan langkah yang sangat terpuji. Ini artinya, Anda tak hanya menyayangi diri Anda sendiri, tapi juga menyayangi sesama. Memang, tidak mudah bagi orang yang sudah kecanduan rokok untuk menghentikan kebiasaan buruk ini. Banyak kalangan sampai hari ini tidak pernah patah arang untuk mengingatkan orang agar menghindari rokok.


Berhenti Merokok
Merasa sulit berhenti merokok, banyak perokok yang berusaha mengurangi bahaya rokok dengan beralih ke rokok rendah tar. Mereka menganggap, rokok jenis ini memiliki risiko yang lebih ringan terhadap kesehatan, atau dengan kata lain, rokok rendah tar merupakan rokok yang ‘ramah’ terhadap kesehatan. Tapi benarkah rokok rendah tar lebih aman? Sejauh ini, belum ada bukti ilmiah yang menyatakan bahwa rokok rendah tar menurunkan risiko gangguan terhadap kesehatan.
Jadi, apa yang sebaiknya dilakukan? Rasanya, tak ada pilihan yang lebih baik kecuali berhenti merokok. Karena, banyak manfaat yang akan Anda peroleh jika berhenti merokok. Salah satunya, kualitas dan kuantitas hidup Anda akan meningkat. Begitu pun kualitas dan kuantitas hidup orang-orang yang tinggal bersama Anda, akan meningkat pula. Ini bisa dipahami karena mereka yang selama ini terpaksa ikut mengisap asap rokok dari Anda, kini terbebas dari asap berbahaya itu.
Bagi masyarakat, hal itu akan mengurangi pengeluaran biaya pengobatan penyakit akibat rokok, serta mengurangi mangkir karena sakit akibat rokok.
Diantara zat kimia itu yang terpenting dan sudah ada kaitannya dengan penyakit adalah tar, nikotin, dan karbon monoksida.
Tar sebagai getah tembakau adalah zat berwarna coklat berisi berbagai jenis hidrokarbon aromatik polisiklik, amin aromatik, dan N-nitrosamine. Tar yang dihasilkan asap rokok akan menimbulkan iritasi pada saluran napas, menyebabkan bronchitis, kanker nasofaring, dan kanker paru.
Kanker
Nikotin adalah bahan alkaloid toksik yang merupakan senyawa amin tersier, bersifat basa lemah dengan pH 8,0. Pada pH fisiologis, sebanyak 31% nikotin berbentuk bukan ion dan dapat melalui membran sel. Asap rokok pada umumnya bersifat asam (pH 5,5). Pada pH ini nikotin berada dalam bentuk ion dan tidak dapat melewati membran secara cepat sehingga di mukosa pipi hanya terjadi sedikit absorpsi nikotin dari asap rokok.
Pada perokok yang menggunakan pipa, cerutu dan berbagai macam sigaret Eropa, asap rokok bersifat basa dengan pH 8,5 dan nikotin pada umumnya tidak dalam bentuk ion dan dapat diabsorpsi dengan baik melalui mulut.
Nikotin juga berpengaruh terhadap pembuluh darah yakni merusak endotel pembuluh darah dan terhadap trombosit dengan meningkatkan agregasi trombosit. Nikotin diduga sebagai penyebab ketagihan merokok.
Karbon monoksida (CO) adalah gas beracun yang mempunyai afinitas kuat terhadap hemoglobin pada sel darah merah, sehingga membentuk karboksi hemoglobin mencapai tingkat tertentu akan dapat menyebabkan kematian.
Akibat buruk dari kebiasaan merokok bagi kesehatan menurut salah satu penelitian kohort prospektif oleh Doll & Hill di Inggris tahun 1951, yang berlangsung hingga tahun 1990-an. Penelitian melibatkan 34.439 dokter sebagai responden, sepuluh ribu responden tersebut telah meninggal dunia dalam periode 20 tahun pertama penelitian (1951-1971).
Sementara 10.000 orang lainnya meninggal dalam 20 tahun kedua (1971-1991) sejak penelitian itu sampai tahun 1990 ada sekitar 50 juta orang yang meninggal akibat kebiasaan merokok. Sedangkan dari tahun 1995 sampai tahun 2000 diperkirakan ada setidaknya 15 juta orang yang meninggal akibat kebiasaan merokok. Doll dan Hill melaporkan penyakit yang disebabkan oleh merokok, antara lain: kanker paru, kanker esofagus, kanker saluran napas lainnya, bronchitis kronik, dan emfisema, penyakit jantung paru.
Weir dan Dunn melaporkan hasil penelitian terhadap 68.153 laki-laki dan mendapatkan risiko yang lebih tinggi pada perokok untuk mendapatkan kanker paru, kanker mulut, kanker laring, kanker esophagus. Penyakit lain yang berhubungan dengan merokok ialah ulkus peptikum, emfisema, aneurisma, arteriosclerosis.
Kebiasaan merokok akan memepercepat penurunan faal paru. Penurunan volume ekspirasi paksa detik 1 (VEP 1), pertahun adalah 28,7 ml, 38,4 ml dari 41,7 ml masing-masing untuk nonperokok, bekas perokok dan perokok aktif.
Kebiasaan merokok mempengaruhi terjadinya penyakit paru akibat kerja seperti fibrosis paru akibat paparan aluminium, paparan radon, polimer FUME fever. Pengaruh asap rokok dapat lebih besar daripada pengaruh debu tambang. Penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pengaruh buruk debu hanya sekitar sepertiga dari pengaruh buruk rokok.
Sumber: dikutip dari harian analisa (analisadaily.com)

Bahaya Merokok bagi Kesehatan
Merokok dapat menyebabkan perubahan struktur dan fungsi saluran napas dan jaringan paru-paru. Pada saluran napas besar, sel mukosa membesar (hipertrofi) dan kelenjar mucus bertambah banyak (hiperplasia). Pada saluran napas kecil, terjadi radang ringan hingga penyempitan akibat bertambahnya sel dan penumpukan lendir. Pada jaringan paru-paru, terjadi peningkatan jumlah sel radang dan kerusakan alveoli.
Bahaya merokok terhadap kesehatan tubuh telah diteliti dan dibuktikan oleh banyak orang. Efek-efek yang merugikan akibat merokok pun sudah diketahui dengan jelas. Banyak penelitian membuktikan bahwa kebiasaan merokok meningkatkan risiko timbulnya berbagai penyakit. Seperti penyakit jantung dan gangguan pembuluh darah, kanker paru-paru, kanker rongga mulut, kanker laring, kanker osefagus, bronkhitis, tekanan darah tinggi, impotensi, serta gangguan kehamilan dan cacat pada janin.
Penelitian terbaru juga menunjukkan adanya bahaya dari secondhand-smoke, yaitu asap rokok yang terhirup oleh orang-orang bukan perokok karena berada di sekitar perokok, atau biasa disebut juga dengan perokok pasif.
ZAT KIMIA
Komponen gas asap rokok adalah karbon monoksida, amoniak, asam hidrosianat, nitrogen oksida, dan formaldehid. Partikelnya berupa tar, indol, nikotin, karbarzol, dan kresol. Zat-zat ini beracun, mengiritasi, dan menimbulkan kanker (karsinogen).
NIKOTIN
Dapat meracuni saraf tubuh, meningkatkan tekanan darah, menimbulkan penyempitan pembuluh darah tepi, dan menyebabkan ketagihan dan ketergantungan pada pemakainya. Kadar nikotin 4-6 mg yang diisap oleh orang dewasa setiap hari sudah bisa membuat seseorang ketagihan.
TIMAH HITAM (Pb)
Timah hitam yang dihasilkan oleh sebatang rokok sebanyak 0,5 ug. Sebungkus rokok (isi 20 batang) yang habis diisap dalam satu hari akan menghasilkan 10 ug. Sementara ambang batas bahaya timah hitam yang masuk ke dalam tubuh adalah 20 ug per hari. Bisa dibayangkan, bila seorang perokok berat menghisap rata-rata 2 bungkus rokok per hari, berapa banyak zat berbahaya ini masuk ke dalam tubuh!
GAS KARBONMONOKSIDA (CO)
Memiliki kecenderungan yang kuat untuk berikatan dengan hemoglobin dalam sel-sel darah merah. Kadar gas CO dalam darah bukan perokok kurang dari 1 persen, sementara dalam darah perokok mencapai 4 – 15 persen. Berlipat-lipat!
TAR
Tar adalah kumpulan dari beribu-ribu bahan kimia dalam komponen padat asap rokok, dan bersifat karsinogen. Pada saat rokok dihisap, tar masuk ke dalam rongga mulut sebagai uap padat.
DAMPAK PARU-PARU
Merokok dapat menyebabkan perubahan struktur dan fungsi saluran napas dan jaringan paru-paruAkibat perubahan anatomi saluran napas, pada perokok akan timbul perubahan pada fungsi paru-paru dengan segala macam gejala klinisnya. Hal ini menjadi dasar utama terjadinya penyakit obstruksi paru menahun (PPOM. Partikel asap rokok, seperti benzopiren, dibenzopiren, dan uretan, dikenal sebagai bahan karsinogen. Juga tar berhubungan dengan risiko terjadinya kanker.
DAMPAK TERHADAP JANTUNG
Merokok menjadi faktor utama penyebab penyakit pembuluh darah jantung tersebut. Bukan hanya menyebabkan penyakit jantung koroner, merokok juga berakibat buruk bagi pembuluh darah otak dan perifer.
PENYAKIT JANTUNG KORONER
Merokok terbukti merupakan faktor risiko terbesar untuk mati mendadak. Perlu diketahui bahwa risiko kematian akibat penyakit jantung koroner berkurang dengan 50 persen pada tahun pertama sesudah rokok dihentikan. Akibat penggumpalan (trombosis) dan pengapuran (aterosklerosis) dinding pembuluh darah, merokok jelas akan merusak pembuluh darah perifer.
PENYAKIT (STROKE)
Penyumbatan pembuluh darah otak yang bersifat mendadak atau stroke banyak dikaitkan dengan merokok. Risiko stroke dan risiko kematian lebih tinggi pada perokok dibandingkan dengan bukan perokok.
TIGA HAL UTAMA
Melihat bahaya-bahaya yang dapat ditimbulkan rokok, kiranya diantara kita perlu bahu-membahu berbuat tiga hal utama :
Komunikasi dan informasi tentang bahaya merokok, baik bagi si perokok langsung maupun perokok pasif.
Menyediakan tempat-tempat khusus bagi orang yang merokok agar yang bukan perokok tidak terkena dampak negatifnya.
Jangan merasa segan untuk menegur perokok, jika anda merasa terganggu.
STRATEGI BERHENTI MEROKOK
Berikut ini strategi-strategi yang dapat anda gunakan untuk berhenti merokok:
1. Rencanakan waktu berhenti
2. Obat-obatan
3. Bantu diri anda sendiri
4. Kelompok pendukung
5. Konseling
6. Cold turkey
7. Olahraga
8. Ajak Sahabat/Keluarga Anda
9. Terapi alternatif
APA YANG HARUS ANDA LAKUKAN?
Bila anda seorang perokok dan berencana ingin memiliki anak, berhentilah merokok sekarang juga! (Para ahli merekomendasikan setidaknya anda berhenti merokok sebulan sebelum terjadinya pembuahan). Berkonsultasilah dengan dokter atau tenaga kesehatan lainnya untuk membantu menghilangkan kebiasaan merokok anda. Banyak sekali tehnik yang ditawarkan, carilah yang paling cocok untuk dilakukan.
7 cara berhenti merokok yang kami anjurkan:
1. Bersihkan dan buang. Bersihkan dan buang semua rokok yang anda miliki.
2. Buat catatan dan peringatan. Tulis catatan seperti “Anda sekarang bukan perokok”
3. Lakukan terus-menerus. Tetaplah berhenti merokok pada hari yang telah anda tentukan untuk berbuat demikian
4. Pusatkan perhatian pada pekerjaan sehari-hari untuk mengalihkan keinginan merokok.
5. Berpikir positif.
6. Mintalah dukungan
7. Melawan keinginan untuk merokok
http://community.gunadarma.ac.id/blog/view/id_7441/title_bahaya-merokok-bagi-kesehatan-manusia/

sniper-sniper handal

1.Simo Hy
Mungkin inilah sniper yang paling terkenal di dunia karena membukukan rekor kill hit paling tinggi, yaitu membunuh sekitar 542 prajurit Rusia dalam periode Winter War(1939-1940). Julukan bagi si Simo Hy ini adalah "White Dead" karena tentara Finlandia ini selalu menggunakan baju berwarna putih sebagai kamuflase karena medan pertempurannya di area bersalju. Yang sungguh luar biasa adalah Simo Hy hanya menggunakan senjata bold action standar tanpa menggunakan teleskop, cukup dengan iron sight ato pisir besi biasa! Bagi Simo, penggunaan teleskop pada area bersalju justru akan merugikan karena akan memantulkan cahaya dan persembunyian si sniper akan mudah diketahui.
[Gambar: 46a7c534d0e47&filename=5_sniper_...ayha_1.jpg]

2.Lyudmila Pavlichenko
Kalo soal emansipasi wanita, AS harusnya banyak belajar dari seteru abadinya, Rusia. Ketika wanita AS masih berkutat pada hal-hal dapur dan sejenisnya, wanita Rusia sudah punya pahlawan. Lyudmila Pavlichenko adalah salah satu dari sekian tentara merah wanita Rusia yang bertempur pada era perang dunia kedua. Yang membuat dia sangat luar biasa adalah kemampuan menembaknya sangat luar biasa, dimana pada masa itu Lyudmila membukukan kill hit sebanyak 309 jiwa, termasuk 36 sniper NAZI Jerman namun sayang, dia terkena serangan mortar dan harus ditarik dari medan pertempuran. Setelah sembuh pun Lyudmila tidak diterjunkan di medan pertempuran lagi, hanya dijadikan instruktur untuk sekolah sniper, hingga perang usai. Ia dianugrahi medali Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union dan wajahnya dijadikan stampel prangko.
[Gambar: pavli.jpg]

3.Vasily Zaytsev
Vasily dianggap sebagai sniper paling berbahaya bukan karena jumlah kill hit yang mencapai 149 kills dan 400 yang belum bisa dikonfirmasi, tapi karena duel mautnya dengan sniper top dari Jerman, yaitu Heinz Thorvald. Duel antar sniper ini kerap kali terjadi di Stalingrad, dimana para sniper ini kerap harus berpindah tempat dari puing satu ke puing yang lain dan kadang harus menggali agar tidak diketahui musuh, yang sangat dikenal dengan sebutan War of the Rats. Dan pada akhirnya duel sniper ini dimenangkan oleh Vasily Zaytsev dengan tembakan jitu di kepala Heinz Thorvald setelah berhasil memperdaya sniper top Jerman tersebut
[Gambar: zaitsev.jpg]
[Gambar: 491202b0cd2a459db262704c4ce8398e0863c13f_full.jpg]

4.Francis Pegahmagabow
Pegahmagabow adalah salah satu sniper hebat yang dimiliki oleh Kanada. Pada perang dunia 1, Pegahmagabow yang keturunan aborigin ini mencatatkan kill hit sebanyak 378 kills dan dianggap sebagai salah satu sniper yang paling berbahaya pada masa perang dunia 1.
[Gambar: pegahmagabow130f91evt8.jpg]

5.Chuck Mawhinney
Pada perang Vietnam, ada dua nama sniper AS yang sangat terkenal, yaitu Carlos Hathcock dan Chuck Mawhinney. Nama Chuck mungkin tidak seterkenal Carlos Hathcock yang mampu membunuh seorang jenderal Vietnam Utara di sarangnya. Tapi bila dilihat dari jumlah kill hit yang dikumpulkan, Hathcock harus angkat topi kepada Mawhinney dengan membukukan rekor 103 kills sedangkan Hathcock hanya membukukan 93 kills. Namun demikian, si Mawhinney tidak ingin terlalu mengekspose hal tersebut dan lebih memilih hidup tenang dan melupkan semua kenangan tentang Vietnam.
[Gambar: 8-mawhinney-625x450.jpg]

6.Carlos Hathcock
Kehebatan dan bakat alamnya sangat mengagumkan. Biasanya bila seorang sniper selalu ditemani oleh satu orang spotter yang bertugas sebagai asisten dan pengukur jarak tembak bagi sniper. Namun Hathcock mampu bekerja sendirian ketika mendapat tugas untuk membunuh seorang jenderal Vietnam Utara sendirian di sarang musuh! Selain itu, Hathcock mempelopori penggunaan senapan kaliber 0.5 inchi sebagai senjata sniper jarak jauh. Yaitu dengan memodifikasi .50-caliber M2 Browning Machine Gun sebagai senjata sniper dengan menempatkan teleskop di atasnya, dan memecahkan rekor menembak mati seorang vietkong sejauh 2.500 yards ato sekitar 2.275 meter! Dari sinilah muncul pemikiran untuk melahirkan senapan kelas berat (heavy sniper rifle) untuk jarak yang sangat jauh maupun untuk menembak obyek berat seperti ranpur (kendaraan tempur).
[Gambar: a0hzcm.jpg]
kl si carlos ntar ane bikin post khusus buat nyeritain waktu dia ngebunuh jendral musuh di sarangnya gan

7.Rob Furlong
Setelah berpuluh2 tahun rekor menembak jauh Hathcock tidak tergoyahkan, akhirnya rekor lama ini dipecahkan oleh seorang Sniper dari Kanada, Rob Furlong, ketika dia dan bersama rekannya di medan ganas Afghanistan pada operasi berjuluk Anaconda pada tahun 2000. Tepatnya di lembah Shah-i-Kot, Furlong berhasil merubuhkan seorang pengamat mortir Al-Qaeda dari jarak yang sangat jauh, yaitu 2.430 meter (2.657 yd / 1.509 miles)!
kl yang ini gambarnya yg agak susah gan maklum masih aktif kyknya

misteri yang belum terpecahkan

10 Keanehan Yang Belum Terpecahkan di dunia

Dulu saya pernah membaca suatu buku yang kalau tidak salah bersampul merah dan berisi tentang keanehan dan misteri yang ada di dunia ini. Mulai dari segitiga bermuda, monster Loch Ness dan lain-lain. Nah kemarin sewaktu saya muter-muter alias blogwalking ada suatu artikel dari tymask.ono yang mengingatkan saya kembali dengan buku itu. Sayangnya buku itu milik teman saya dan katanya hilang entah kemana. Ingin tau apa isi artikel itu. Simak kutipannya dibawah ini.

1. PENCIPTAAN MANUSIA :
Dari manakah manusia berasal? Jika menilik dari Injil dan Kitab Suci, memang sangat jelas dikatakan bahwa Tuhanlah pencipta manusia (Kitab Kejadian Pasal 1). Tapi bagaimana proses penciptaan itu sebenarnya?
Charles Darwin pernah menawarkan teori bahwa manusia adalah hasil evolusi dari kera. Jika demikian halnya, maka “seharusnya” manusia akan terus berevolusi menjadi mahluk yang lebih baik. Namun faktanya, sudah lebih dari 2000 tahun, tidak ada perubahan pada manusia. Apakah itu berarti evolusi berhenti?
Teori lain mengatakan bahwa manusia berasal dari Mahluk ruang Angkasa. Jika demikian, maka pertanyaan menjadi : dari mana mahluk itu berasal?

2. JALAN BIMINI :

Para diver (penyelam) yang tentu pernah melihat sebentuk jalan setapak di bawah laut utara Pulau Bimini di Kepulauan Bahama. Banyak orang berpendapat jalan setapak itu dibuat oleh alam. Namun penataan batu jalan itu menimbulkan pertanyaan lanjutan karena terlalu “rapi”. Beberapa ahli menduga jalan itu adalah bagian dari Kota Atlantis (seperti yang ditulis oleh Plato beberapa abad silam). Tapi hingga hari ini belum ada bukti tambahan mengenai keberadaan “kota yang hilang” itu. Dan Jalan Bimini masih menjadi pertanyaan : apakah jalan itu dibuat alam atau manusia? Siapa pembuatnya?

3. BOLA CAHAYA MARFA :

Disebut juga “Bola Cahaya Hantu”. Pertama kali terlihat tahun 1880 di sebelah barat kota Marfa, Texas. Cahaya itu dideskripsikan sebesar bola basket, melayang dengan ketinggian pundak manusia. Biasanya berwarna putih, kuning, orange, merah, dan kadang-kadang biru atau hijau. Bola-bola itu biasa terbang mengelilingi daerah tertentu, kemudian menghilang dengan sendirinya. Hingga hari ini, cahaya itu masih sering tampak. Tidak ada penjelasan, apa sebenarnya cahaya-cahaya itu.

4. MISTERI HILANGNYA JIMMY HOFFA :

Dikenal sebagai Pimpinan Buruh Amerika yang paling berpengaruh di tahun 1950 - 1960, Jimmy Hoffa adalah figur yang telah mengubah wajah dunia perburuhan Amerika. Tanggal 30 Juli 1975, Hoffa menghilang di tempat parkir Detroit dan tidak pernah ditemukan lagi. Salah satu teori yang diyakini adalah Hoffa dibunuh oleh Anthony Jack Giacalone, seorang pimpinan geng New Jersey. Mayat Hoffa disebutkan dikubur di bawah fondasi stadion The Giants, Detroit. Ketika dilakukan penggalian di fondasi stadion tersebut, mayat Hoffa tidak ditemukan.

5. MOTHMAN :


Mothman adalah salah satu urban legend yang cukup terkenal di daerah Virginia. Mothman digambarkan adalah mahluk bersayap dan setinggi manusia, bermata merah, kadang muncul tanpa kepala dan mata merahnya ada di dada. Pertama kali ditemukan di daerah perkuburan di Virginia tahun 1926. Hingga hari ini, polisi masih menerima laporan mengenai kemunculan Mothman. Siapa dia? Tidak seorang pun yang tahu. Secara umum, tidak pernah ada laporan ada orang yang diserang Mothman.

6. JACK THE RIPPER :
Terkenal sebagai pembunuh misterius di tahun 1888, identitas Jack The Ripper hingga hari ini tidak pernah terungkap. Korbannya adalah wanita tuna susila yang dibunuh dengan cara mutilasi yang cukup handal dan sempurna, membuat para polisi berpikir Jack adalah seorang dokter bedah. Walau sudah banyak buku, film, dan teori yang dipublikasikan, identitas Jack The Ripper tetap misterius dan belum ada satu pun bukti yang bisa menjelaskan jati diri sebenarnya.

7. THE BABUSHKA LADY :

Jika Anda pernah menyaksikan rekaman pembunuhan Presiden John F. Kennedy di Dallas tahun 1963, perhatikan di sudut kanan rekaman itu. Ada seorang wanita berkerudung babushka (selendang buatan Rusia) yang tampak merekam kejadian. Wanita itu diyakini sebagai orang yang punya peranan penting dalam mengungkap kasus pembunuhan John F. Kennedy karena dia berada pada posisi yang sangat dekat dengan korban saat kejadian itu terjadi. Dalam rekaman itu, terlihat wanita tersebut memegang kamera, dan merekam kejadian.
Anehnya, wanita itu tidak pernah ditemukan. Pihak FBI telah meminta wanita itu untuk menyerahkan rekaman itu demi membantu FBI menemukan pembunuh Presiden Amerika. Namun wanita itu tidak pernah muncul. Siapakah dia? Bagaimana dia bisa berdiri begitu dekat dengan mobil Presiden? Tidak ada orang yang tahu hingga hari ini.

8. ZODIAC KILLER :


Salah satu pembunuh paling cerdas yang tidak pernah tertangkap hingga hari ini adalah Zodiac Killer. Tahun 1960, Zodiac Killer melakukan usaha pembunuhan terhadap 7 orang di California Utara. Lima korbannya meninggal, dan dua terluka parah. Awalnya, polisi kesulitan mencari jati diri pembunuh. Sebulan setelah pembunuhan pertama, sang pembunuh mengirimkan surat kepada polisi dan mengklaim dirinya bernama Zodiac Killer, serta menantang polisi untuk menangkapnya.
Setelah aksi pembunuhan ke-7, Zodiac Killer tiba-tiba lenyap. Apakah dia telah terbunuh? Dan siapa dia sebenarnya? Tidak ada orang yang bisa menjelaskan.

9. OGOPOGO :

Jika mahluk Danau Loch Ness bernama Nessy sudah terbukti adalah palsu, maka lain halnya dengan Ogopogo. Mahluk yang mirip dengan Nessy (berleher panjang, bertubuh besar, dan berkepala seperti kadal) ini adalah mahluk misterius yang muncul di Sungai Okanagan, Canada. Banyak saksi yang berhasil merekam foto mahluk ini. Namun tidak seorang pun yang berhasil menangkapnya. Mahluk yang juga dikenal dengan nama Naitaka ini kini menjadi maskot Taman Kelowna, Canada. Apakah Ogopogo benar-benar ada? Benarkah dia adalah reptil purbakala yang masih hidup? Tidak ada bukti kongkret yang bisa menjelaskan keberadaannya hingga hari ini.

10. SHAG HARBOUR INCIDENT :


Adalah sebuah insiden ledakan misterius yang terjadi di Pelabuhan Shag, Nova Scotia, tanggal 4 Oktober 1967. Sebuah benda menghantam Pelabuhan Shag pukul 11.20 malam, menimbulkan ledakan hebat. Tidak ada korban jiwa. Para saksi melihat benda itu seperti “piring terbang”. Tidak lama kemudian, tempat itu segera ditutup. Pihak militer Canada segera berdatangan. Dalam waktu sekejap, tempat itu dibersihkan dan puing2 segera diangkut. Insiden itu terkesan sangat ditutup-tutupi. Apa sebenarnya yang terjadi? Benarkah piring terbang yang jatuh? Pemerintah Canada tidak pernah mengeluarkan statement apapun mengenai hal ini. Dan hingga hari ini, misteri ini tidak pernah diungkapkan

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