The creator of the Sandy Hook "Fully Exposed" hoax viral video is finally speaking out, providing more insight and details about the motives behind the controversial "truther" conspiracy theory video, which purportedly pokes holes in the accepted narrative of the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Conn.
Corresponding with gossip/news site Gawker via email, the creator opened up about the video for the first time, while requesting to remain anonymous "due to the sensitivity of the channel and my concern for my security," and to only be known by the YouTube user name that uploaded the videos: "ThinkOutsideTheTV" (TOTV).
TOTV has created two videos so far, the first of which - "The Sandy Hook Shooting - Fully Exposed" - went as viral as the black plague in a matter of days, racking up almost 12 million views since it was posted Jan. 7. The video sparked an equally intense reaction from conspiracy theorists and those who saw the content as insensitive to the victims of the massacre. The topic continues to be among the most popular and polarizing on the Internet, with a constant flood of skeptics weighing in after any new report on the Sandy Hook school shooting.
Speaking to Gawker, the creator explained how and when conspiracy theories first piqued his interest.
"[I]t all started when me and my friends used to research 9/11 in high school. That's what really got me started when it came to researching government cover-ups ..." said TOTV. "Once I learned about all the false flag attacks in history that have been proven to be true, I knew it was only a matter of time before another came a long."
He continues, explaining just why he thought the tragedy at Sandy Hook, in which 20 children and six adults were fatally shot, seemed like a hoax.
"When Sandy Hook first happened i just had a feeling like it was all too perfect. I just had this feeling deep down that these people and the whole town had this artificial vibe about them."
Numerous conspiracy theory experts have come forward criticizing the video as merely asking questions and never unveiling a true hoax or conspiracy. However, as TOTV claims, this was never the goal: "I never intended to expose who was behind it because I dont know, and I could be wrong. But history repeats itself and i'm really glad people are waking up to it. [...] People seem to mistake my video for exploitation of victims and children and that is totally wrong."
TOTV added, "As I said in the beginning of the video, we in no way claim this shooting did not take place and our hearts go out to anyone affected by the tragedy, weather one person was responsible or another."
Assembling a random assortment of news clips, the video attempts to draw attention to the "inconsistencies" in the media's coverage of the Sandy Hook shooting, a similar line of reasoning used by Florida Atlantic University professor James Tracy in the Newtown conspiracy theory he wrote on his blog, memoryholeblog.com.
"This is a simple, logical video. No aliens, holigrams [sic], rituals or anything like that, just facts," says the video in its first seconds.
"The video begins with something that really everybody can accept -- 'We are just raising questions,'" Benjamin Radford, author of "Media Mythmakers," told The Huffington Post. "The whole subject is framed like, 'Don't look at us, we're not saying this crazy stuff, we're just asking questions.'"
Of course, that's exactly what the video is: Questions, and nothing more.
"All they offer are tantalizing 'could be's," Radford said.
"The classic conspiracy theorist sees the hidden hand in everything. Nothing is as it seems. There's something bigger that's going on. They dont know where it is, but they are willing to tantalize people and throw out any number of suggestions, which are oftentimes contradictory," he said.
There are also at least 40 other Sandy Hook conspiracy theory videos on YouTube with over 100,000 views. As Salon notes, Alex Jones' conspiracy websites, which get 11 million visitors a month, publish new theories about the Newtown shooting daily. And even seemingly credible people like Tracy are espousing "false flag" like theories.
Some of the questions raised in the video:
How did Adam Lanza's AR-15 rifle get locked in his trunk? (This was later proven by authorities to be an extra shotgun)
Were the grieving Newtown citizens really just "crisis actors"? (Some "truthers" targeted hero Gene Rosen as the prime example due to Rosen sharing a name with an actor registered with the Screen Actors Guild. Rosen is actually a 69-year-old retired psychologist; the SAG member "truthers" have mistaken him for is 62-years-old)
Why were memorial websites seemingly set up before the shooting occurred on Dec. 14? ("Google search result entries are imprecise and do not always accurately reflect the date on which the reference material first appeared on the web," notes David Mikkelson on myth debunking site Snopes).
Victims' parents didn't express the proper level of grief (Not really a question as much as it is unsubstantiated conjecture based on contextual media coverage and news editing).
"What I think we are looking at in the video is an attempt to find evidence to fit a preexisting narrative, that the government is or is quickly becoming a tyranny and that the only thing stopping the government from terrorizing the nation is that the populace is armed," Robert Blaskiewicz, writer for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, said in an email to the Huffington Post.
TOTV says the group will have another video out ASAP.
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