EOTO: False Flag

False flag is a type of misinformation used in war. By definition, false flag is a political or military action that is made to appear to have been carried out by a group that is not actually responsible. The phrase was derived from the pirates, who would fly the flags of other countries to trick merchant ships into thinking they were safe and dealing with their own country. Now, false flag defines any action by one group thats pretending to be another. Usually, it is used to justify foreign military aggression. This means giving not only their own citizens, but the world an excuse to attack a country that most of the time doesn't actually deserve it.

A big example of this happened during World War II. The Nazis are widely believed to have been behind many false flag operations, such as storming the Gleiwitz tower in 1939 wearing Polish uniforms and leaving anti-German messages in Polish. The Nazis used this as part of the reason to justify their attack on Poland. Another famous false flag happened in 1933 called the Reichstag fire. This occurred when a communist named Marinus van de Lubbe was arrested for setting a German parliament building on fire. This gave Hitler an excuse to purge Germany of communists. However, many people think the Reichstag was burned not by communist, but by the Nazis, since it was the perfect excuse Hitler needed. 

However, Germany wasn't the only culprit when it comes to false flag. In the 60's, America committed an act of false flag. According to an article from History UK, "the destroyer USS Maddox was torpedoed and fired upon by three Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin in the South China Sea". The US lead a second false flag attack two days later, which got the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through Congress. This lead to the deployment of troops in what would later become the infamous Vietnam War. 

There are pros and cons to false flags. On one hand, it is an efficient way to get a war started. However, its dishonest, misleading, and leads to lots of confusion. False flag can affect society in negative ways because it could prompt unnecessary war. This can result in death, damage to the economy, hunger, and lots of damage to a county. War is almost never a positive thing for citizens of a county. Also, it fuels many conspiracy theorists as well. Now, conspiracy theorists can point to anything and claim it to be false flag. For example, many conspiracy theorists claim that the Sandy Hook shooting was false flag. They believe that 26 children and 6 staff members were murdered by the government for the sake of gun laws, even though there is no proof of this being true. In instances like this, false flag claims can be very dangerous and spread misinformation.

Now a days, people can find a way to twist anything into a conspiracy. Though there have been several documented cases of false flag throughout history, its important to use discernment and good judgement before chalking up every move to false flag. However, one thing is for certain- whether it be pirate ships, Nazis, or even the American government, false flags are dishonest and misleading, but efficient.