Exposition

The Truth in Painting 1993: Conspiracy Theories (last edited: 2024)

Martin Lang
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The X-Files premiered in 1993. The two main characters represent diametrically opposed views on truth. Fox Mulder believes in aliens and searches for evidence to verify this belief, while Dana Scully rejects apparent evidence of alien existence that contradicts her rational beliefs, as exemplified in this exchange from the pilot episode: Mulder: When convention and science offers no answers, might we not finally turn to the fantastic as a plausibility? Scully: What I find fantastic is any notion that there are answers beyond the reason of science. The answers are there, you just have to know where to look. The fictional distrust of the government shown in The X-Files was played out in real life in 1993, in Waco, Texas. The Branch Davidians certainly had their own “truths” about government intrusion on religious rights, which they followed to the end–burning to death inside the Mount Carmel Center. They had prophesised an apocalyptic moral struggle and stockpiled weapons for coming fight. What if they were right? What if religion and morality were the first casualties in a war of capitalist greed represented by the NAFTA and EU trade deals? It is far from certain what happened during the Waco Siege and initial accusations that the Branch Davidians chose mass suicide over surrender are certainly contentious. We may never know the truth about what happened at Waco. The forensic evidence to support claims about who fired first (the Branch Davidians or the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) includes a metal door, which of course could not have burned in the fire and yet is missing. Perhaps the most enduring conspiracy theory from 1993 was the death of Vince Foster. Foster was counsel to Bill Clinton, indeed, they were childhood friends in Arkansas. Most of the conspiracy theories about the Clintons - including the infamous "Pizzagate conspiracy theory" that gave birth to QAnon - can be traced back to Foster's alleged suicide in 1993.
typeresearch exposition
date08/07/2022
last modified01/01/2024
statusin progress
share statuspublic
copyrightMartin Lang
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/2434010/2434011


Copyrights

nameMount Carmel Center on Fire (19 April 1993). 37cm x 25cm
copyrightMartin Lang
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameThe X-Files Premieres (September 10, 1993)
copyrightMartin Lang
licenseAll rights reserved
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nameDavid Koresh (1959-1993). 30cm x 41cm
copyrightMartin Lang
licenseAll rights reserved
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nameVince Foster (Landscape)
copyrightMartin Lang
licenseAll rights reserved
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