The REAL Jade Helm

The Map that launched a thousand YouTube videos.

Jade Helm is the latest buzz term amongst conspiracy theorists, or whatever they are referring to themselves as now. It’s been so pervasive it has even dislodged MakaElectric from his nigh on six year obsession with Operation Blackjack. Which, for those not in the know, was a fictional cartoon series ran by The Telegraph in 2009. Which many construed as predictive programming for an actual false flag attempt. (Maka kindly even made a lovely slideshow video, of the series, set to the best Dramatic and Exciting music I've ever heard.)

Of course, most outgrew that notion within weeks, but for some (read: Maka) it became a catch-all for all things that were fucked up or unexplainable in the world.  But of course, I digress…

To explain where the Jade Helm conspiracy theories derive from allow me to offer a short explanation. These theories are based on the eponymous United States military training exercise, scheduled to take place in multiple U.S. states from July 15 to September 15, 2015. 

“The exercise in unconventional warfare involves United States Special Operations Command (with other U.S Armed Forces units in multiple states, including Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Utah. Troops engaging in the exercise will assume the roles of either occupying or resistance forces. Most locations are in sparsely populated arid regions near small towns. Some participants will wear civilian attire and drive civilian vehicles.” Source.

The conspiracy theories seem to emanate from the map shown here from the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, that divides the region into four colours, with two "hostile" states, two "permissive" states, two states leaning one way or the other, and California divided. 

Jim Shea of the Hartford Courant writes in his article “Thank You Texas and Good Luck with the Invasion” that the conspiracy theories about Jade Helm 15 include:

“A psychological operation aimed at getting people used to seeing military forces on the streets" so they do not realize when an invasion actually takes place; an international operation aimed to seize people's guns; recently closed Walmarts used by the military to "stockpile supplies for Chinese troops who will be arriving to disarm Americans"; and a military plan to "round up political dissidents" and "remove key political figures" who may be against the imposition of martial law.” Source.

Manny Fernandez writing earlier this month (July 14) in The New York Times article “As Jade Helm 15 Military Exercise Begins, Texans Keep Watch ‘Just in Case’”  added that  theories held by some bloggers and activists include Jade Helm 15 as a

 "secret plot" to impose martial law, confiscate firearms, invade Texas, and institute "total population control." Source.

And of course Alex Jones can’t let a good fake crisis go to waste, so he added his well-known linguistic virtuosity to the whole mess of crazy announcing that the helm was an acronym for: 

"Homeland Eradication of Local Militants."

I think Alex needs to learn the difference between an acronym and a backronym. He being so learned and all, and with all the documents, I would have thought he would be familiar with the term, since he talks about its most famous example so fucking often. I, of course, am talking about the PATRIOT Act; a backronym so Orwellian that it beggars belief!

 The REAL Jade Helm

Police search Sacramento Street, near Dwight Way, for an armed robber who robbed a laundromat, in Berkeley, on Monday. Photo: David Yee

While they are being distracted by the latest something shiny, they may have missed this article from Salon about the REAL Jade Helm (in conspiracy terms, of course!)  happening in their own country right now!

The article “The real Jade Helm: Berkeley PD show citizens what police militarization looks like during manhunt for laundromat robber,” describes Emilie Raguso’s July 27 coverage 

“of a police manhunt wasn’t extraordinary because the of who the suspect was or what crime he committed — a young black male with “silver teeth” who robbed a laundromat at gunpoint — or because it ended in any particularly compelling fashion — the police never found him — it was extraordinary because of how casually Raguso reported what the accompanying images strongly suggested was a full-scale military invasion of a Berkeley, California neighbourhood”

The article continues with the following very astute observation, and one that rings very true to me:

“Everything conspiracy mongers mistakenly think is being done across seven south-western states by highly trained special forces units in Operation Jade Helm 15 is, in fact, being done — only it’s being done by poorly trained police officers dressed up like soldiers in cities across America. The situation in Berkeley on Monday is merely emblematic.” Source.

The reason this rings true to me is because it’s a variation on a theme of things I, and others have been saying for years: Conspiracy theorists can get so far down that infamous rabbit hole they always talk about, that they can truly lose sight of the actual world. Not the world cloaked in conspiracy and suspicion, where everything is connected, or a hoax, or a false flag, and where everyone who disagrees with you is merely a “paid shill.”

In other words, they get so addicted to the rush of the being on the verge of the “next big crisis” that they become in the words of an old friend of mine: Fear Junkies. 

Thank you for your time.