State Rep. Josh Shriver recently introduced a bill to ban chemtrails in the state of Michigan. Chemtrails are a controversial topic, and he was quickly denounced by many in the media as a conspiracy theorist peddling unfounded accusations.
Here’s the thing about chemtrails, and “conspiracy theories” in general—they may or may not be real, but they stem from an institutional distrust that is completely legitimate.
Theories about chemtrails are over a decade old. The basic premise: The government uses commercial jets to insert aerosols into the atmosphere for one reason or another. Weather modification, or anti-carbon initiatives meant to block sunlight and cool the earth. They point to footage of jets with long white lines spewing behind them as proof.
Chemtrail deniers claim these are simply contrails, lines of condensation that appear behind jets moving fast through the atmosphere. A perfectly normal phenomenon, easily explained by physics.
Chemtrail proponents counter that these are larger than contrails, remain longer, and vary too much to be simple condensation.
I’m not here to argue one way or another about chemtrails. My point is simple—suspicion is valid when trust has been broken.
The text of Schriver’s proposed bill reads, “A person shall not intentionally inject, release, or disperse a chemical or apparatus into the atmosphere for the purpose of affecting weather or the intensity of sunlight.”
It doesn’t use the term chemtrails specifically, or mention what they are. Ostensibly, it prohibits weather modification and chemical means of blocking sunlight. Both of which, I might add, are not beyond the pale of possibility.
Weather modification programs are real and have been publicly used in countries like China for cloud seeding, bringing rain for crops, or holding off rain for massive events like the Olympics. They’re not some sci-fi conspiracy, at least in the sense that we can, to some degree, modify the weather with technology within a limited scale.
Blocking sunlight with aerosols in order to cool the earth has been discussed by those at the far end of the green agenda. For those who believe carbon emissions are warming the earth and causing irreparable damage, the premise of blocking sunlight is one possible solution.
Neither of these measures are impossible. Chemtrails are, in fact, most certainly possible with existing technology. Canisters could indeed be fitted inside commercial jets for the emission of various chemicals which might modify the weather to some degree or emit aerosols to block out sunlight.
It COULD be happening.
The central disagreement then, between the chemtrail proponents and deniers, is trust.
Do you trust that the government isn’t doing things behind our backs?
The chemtrail crowd says, well of course they are. If the government believes in the climate-change agenda, of course they’d use any means possible, and why bother telling the general population?
The chemtrail deniers say there’s no way the government would lie to the population or do things without their knowledge.
The American citizenry has been lied to blatantly and openly by the government so many times over the last few decades that we’ve reached a generational crisis. People don’t trust the government anymore, and they don’t trust our major societal institutions either.
For good reason. Take a look across the board of American institutions and find one that’s producing good outcomes.
Americans are sicker and fatter than ever yet spending more money on healthcare per capita than anywhere else in the world. They’re more educated than they’ve ever been, in terms of degrees and diplomas, yet are shackled to enormous student debt and uncertain career outcomes anyways.
How many Americans died in Iraq and Afghanistan? These wars were fought under dubious pretenses at best and horribly mismanaged all the way through.
How many soldiers were drummed out of the service for refusing the Covid vaccine? Don’t even get me started on the preposterous hypocrisy of the pandemic.
You can’t behave like that for decades then complain that no one trusts you.
So when legislators want to ban chemtrails, and people support it, perhaps it’s a good sign, whether chemtrails are real or not. Maybe it’s the people, through their elected representative, saying, “Hey, we don’t trust you guys, and we’re holding you accountable whether you like it or not.”
Wasn’t the Revolutionary War waged on similar principles? America’s founding was built on suspicion of unchecked government authority.
A bill banning chemtrails will, I’m sure, do little in the end to assuage the chemtrail theorists, because they don’t think the government follows laws anyways. But it’s a sign that Americans have a healthy distrust of institutions that have failed them time and time again.
And who wants creeps spraying weird chemicals into the air anyways?
Bobby Mars is art director of Michigan Enjoyer. Follow him on X @bobby_on_mars.
