Conspiracy theorists think a video game proves the Paris attack was a hoax

Published November 15th, 2015 - 01:38 GMT
As can be seen in the bottom left corner of the photo, the date of the Paris mission within the game is one year exactly before the Daesh-coordinated Paris attacks on Friday, making conspiracy theorists go crazy. (Twitter)
As can be seen in the bottom left corner of the photo, the date of the Paris mission within the game is one year exactly before the Daesh-coordinated Paris attacks on Friday, making conspiracy theorists go crazy. (Twitter)

Having conspiracy theorists claim that Friday’s events in Paris were a hoax was about as inevitable as the attacks themselves. In the aftermath of most mass-casualty attacks—whether they are school shootings or radical Islamist bombings—conspiracy theorists immediately take to online forums and social media to speculate on government involvement and deny the official narrative.   

Over 120 were killed and hundreds more wounded in Paris by Daesh (ISIS) militants on Friday. While most of the world grieves this mass loss of life, others are busy blaming Israel, the French government or even “the Illuminati." So what evidence do they provide for these outlandish theories? One of the most popular starts with a video game.

"Battlefield 3" is an incredibly popular first-person shooter game which sold over 5 million copies in its first week. Now it has the fringe corners of the Internet going wild because one of the missions players must complete is set in Paris, with the objective to battle a terrorist threat in the city. There are not too many similarities with Friday’s events, apart from the date: Nov. 13 2014, exactly one year before the Paris attacks.

Conspiracy theorists have hailed this coincidence as undeniable proof that the attack was a government setup, but are not really offering any suggestions as to why the supposed masterminds behind it would leave a clue in a video game.

With any luck, this stuff would get a brief stint on social media before getting squashed out and filed away with the rest of the bad ideas on the Internet. But unfortunately, history suggests that's unlikely to happen anytime soon.

 

By Kane Hippisley-Gatherum

Tags:ParisFrench government#Paris MissionPeaches

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