On Wednesday, July 17, 2013, EPIX is airing a movie called TWA Flight 800. It is a documentary about the plane that exploded off the coast of Long Island in 1996. This airing will be on the 17th anniversary of the tragedy. The documentary will focus on six former members of the team that investigated the crash. It brings to light all of the eyewitnesses who say they saw something resembling a missile going from the ground up into the sky. Eyewitnesses also discuss how they were either ignored or threatened by the FBI and the government.
When this event happened, it was really before the days of the internet. I know that technically the internet was up and running, but it was almost nothing compared to what it is today. The internet and social media were not there to spread the true news of what happened, or at least didn't happen. Unfortunately, there were also no smartphones at that time to take video and pictures. This would be a different story if it happened in 2013.
Even though this happened before social media and before the internet really took off, I still knew about the high probability that there was a cover up not long after it happened. I had heard that there were a lot of eyewitnesses who saw something resembling a missile hit the plane. The government gave some lame explanation about how it was a trick to the eye and it just appeared that way, but it was actually the plane exploding and crashing down. This happened before I was a hardcore libertarian, but even then I didn't believe the government. Unfortunately, like most other people, I didn't have any outlets to find more information or satisfy my curiosity without going to great expense. Again, there was no internet as we know it today.
The thing I find ironic about this film and what it is trying to accomplish (aside from education) is that they are promoting a petition for the government to re-open the TWA flight 800 investigation. Why would you ask the very people who committed the evil act to then investigate themselves?
If there was a major cover up, which I assume there is, then the government really had something to hide. I highly doubt that it was a terrorist attack as some people theorize. If anything, the government would promote that idea in order to gain more power.
The best case scenario, in terms of the government being evil, is that it was an accident. Perhaps the Navy accidentally thought is was something else and shot it down. Perhaps they were doing training exercises. But even if this were the case, the government could probably admit it and not suffer major repercussions. If that were the case, then the cover up is worse than the crime, because the crime was an accident.
Unfortunately, I have a feeling that the government is covering up something more than a mistake. There are a lot of theories as to why certain people in government would have wanted to take down a plane, or that plane in particular. But if that is in fact what happened, then there are a lot of evil people at the top of government. It is more than just politicians who are looking for sex and money. These people are pure evil. These were innocent people on that flight.
Even if it had been the Clintons taking out someone who "knew too much" who was on the plane, it still takes a lot more people to carry out the actual act and to cover it up. So you would think there has to be at least a couple of dozen people who know what happened and are part of the cover up.
One thought I always find fascinating about conspiracy events (not just this one) is what would happen if the full truth did come out on something and it essentially proved that certain politicians were guilty of murder and conspiracy. People would be mad. There would probably be a few fall guys who would take the blame. It would certainly help in lowering people's opinions about government as a whole.
Unfortunately though, I think the majority of Americans would continue to give their consent to the government. Sure, there are a bunch of murderers and evil people working in Washington DC, but we want our Social Security checks and our subsidized loans and our food stamps. Oh, and we also trust these same people to go ahead and fight wars overseas in the name of freedom and democracy.
So while I am fascinated with many conspiracy theories on several different historical events, I also realize that exposing the truth will not turn everyone into a libertarian overnight. The good news is that it does slowly change public opinion and make people less trustworthy of the top people in government.