The conspiracy theorists who think the Newtown shooting never happened

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, never happened.

Yep, a lone gunman named Adam Lanza never walked into a primary school on December 14, 2012. He never shot and killed 20 children and 6 of their teachers. And those actions certainly didn’t tear apart countless lives and an entire community.

At least, that’s what a group of people in the US called ‘Truthers” want you to think.

This group reportedly believe the massacre was actually an “operation designed to open the door to the confiscation of all guns by the government”. They also believe that none of the children who died in their classrooms on December 14, 2012, actually died. Because according to the “Truthers”, the children never existed.

You can only imagine how that much feel for parents who lost a child on that horrible day; a punch in the guts, an insult to their babies’ memories.

Lynn McDonnell is the mother of Grace McDonnell, a 7-year-old girl who died on that horrible December day in Connecticut.

In the wake of Grace’s death, a playground was built in her honour in the town of Mystic, Connecticut. But in recent weeks, the park has been vandalised by the “Truthers” who think the Newtown massacre never actually happened.

This from US news outlet CBS:

Now as far as conspiracy theories go, this has to be pretty high up on the unbelievable and absurd scale, right? To think that a government would fake the death of 26 people just to start a conversation about the number of guns in the country? Let alone to then act on that conspiracy theory in a way that has further hurt already hurting families.

But as far as insane conspiracy theories go, this is actually a rather tame one.

There are a whole lot of conspiracy theories that people actually believe and they stem much further that the disappearance that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. There are those who believe that the actor Shakespeare did not write the plays, that the Holocaust never happened and that JFK was shot by the CIA. Oh and there’s also that theory that vaccines cause autism.

Mamamia has written about the top five conspiracy theories on numerous occasions. Here they are now, and given the information about, perhaps it’s time we added another few to the list?

Do you know anyone with their own conspiracy beliefs? Anyone discussing faked moon landings and such at your family reunions? What about you? Read more at http://www.mamamia.com.au/news/conspiracy-theories-and-the-wacky-folk-who-believe-them/#AhlTYv7w31IhAXXi.99

It’s fair to say that many conspiracy theories are pretty harmless. At this point, we’re willing to bet that Shakespeare won’t mind that someone’s doubting his work and any theories about the moon landing probably won’t bother Buzz Aldrin all that much.

But when non-believers direct their thoughts towards innocent people and when a mother and father are forced to relive a tragedy every time their daughter’s name is mentioned in the news – these theories have tipped over from slightly silly to downright dangerous.

Do you know anyone with their own conspiracy beliefs?

So, you thought conspiracy theorists were harmless? Think again.