Conspiracy theory nuts

[mexico1970]

Control of the masses.

Well it worked, nowadays there is no excuse in the western world for someone to get involved in a cult.

 

[I'm With Stupid]

I feel sad for him, he’s ex wife is a woman, who keeps threatening to take away his visiting rights with his kid, he’s extremely intelligent, but his common sense seems to have gone down a conspiracy worm hole

They often are. That's the weird thing. I think like religion, nobody is actually coming to it logically though. They might try to find logical arguments for it later on, but that's never the reason for the beliefs in the first place (if they even really exist). When you hear about 'atheists' who 'became religious,' when you dig a little deeper, it is almost always in response to some sort of big event in their life, often tragic.

A lot of what people 'believe' is mainly just in-group, out-group social behaviour. Think about covid, for example. Why were anti-masker all right wingers? There's no logical reason why they would be. Except to define themselves in opposition to those who were pro-mask. The scientific establishment, 'the elite,' etc.

Jon Ronson has a great documentary series called Things Fell Apart that looks into this sort of thing. One of the most interesting ones is the anti-abortion movement, which was never a thing in evangelical movements, until someone was able to position it as an anti-feminist movement. They weren't anti-abortion because they had some deeply-held beliefs about the sanctity of human life or held the scientific position that life starts at conception, they were anti-abortion because they didn't like feminists and feminists were pro-choice. That's literally it. And that's literally it for so many other issues.

The anti-vax issue is the most transparent one. Because the original anti-vax concern (and I have no doubt that plenty of people had genuine concerns) was about a single, specific vaccine. When those concerns were eventually disproven, you had a number of people who had staked their entire reputation (in whatever community they happened to be in) on that position, who couldn't let it go, and so the modern anti-vaccine movement is literally about any vaccine with more and more delusional links.

And yeah, some people are just genuinely thick and get brought along for the ride, because that gives the more intelligent ones' ego a nice stroke. I doubt David Icke's crowds are likely to be knocking down the doors of Mensa any time soon, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't get a lot out of having hundreds of them hanging on his every word and treating him like a genius. He gets more for his badly-research, half-baked books than he would if he worked at a university and had to research those subjects properly. Both financially and in terms of status (within the company he keeps).

 

[Marklr]

They often are. That's the weird thing. I think like religion, nobody is actually coming to it logically though. They might try to find logical arguments for it later on, but that's never the reason for the beliefs in the first place (if they even really exist). When you hear about 'atheists' who 'became religious,' when you dig a little deeper, it is almost always in response to some sort of big event in their life, often tragic.

A lot of what people 'believe' is mainly just in-group, out-group social behaviour. Think about covid, for example. Why were anti-masker all right wingers? There's no logical reason why they would be. Except to define themselves in opposition to those who were pro-mask. The scientific establishment, 'the elite,' etc.

Jon Ronson has a great documentary series called Things Fell Apart that looks into this sort of thing. One of the most interesting ones is the anti-abortion movement, which was never a thing in evangelical movements, until someone was able to position it as an anti-feminist movement. They weren't anti-abortion because they had some deeply-held beliefs about the sanctity of human life or held the scientific position that life starts at conception, they were anti-abortion because they didn't like feminists and feminists were pro-choice. That's literally it. And that's literally it for so many other issues.

The anti-vax issue is the most transparent one. Because the original anti-vax concern (and I have no doubt that plenty of people had genuine concerns) was about a single, specific vaccine. When those concerns were eventually disproven, you had a number of people who had staked their entire reputation (in whatever community they happened to be in) on that position, who couldn't let it go, and so the modern anti-vaccine movement is literally about any vaccine with more and more delusional links.

And yeah, some people are just genuinely thick and get brought along for the ride, because that gives the more intelligent ones' ego a nice stroke. I doubt David Icke's crowds are likely to be knocking down the doors of Mensa any time soon, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't get a lot out of having hundreds of them hanging on his every word and treating him like a genius. He gets more for his badly-research, half-baked books than he would if he worked at a university and had to research those subjects properly. Both financially and in terms of status (within the company he keeps).

Brilliant post.

 

[inbetween]

They often are. That's the weird thing. I think like religion, nobody is actually coming to it logically though. They might try to find logical arguments for it later on, but that's never the reason for the beliefs in the first place (if they even really exist). When you hear about 'atheists' who 'became religious,' when you dig a little deeper, it is almost always in response to some sort of big event in their life, often tragic.

A lot of what people 'believe' is mainly just in-group, out-group social behaviour. Think about covid, for example. Why were anti-masker all right wingers? There's no logical reason why they would be. Except to define themselves in opposition to those who were pro-mask. The scientific establishment, 'the elite,' etc.

Jon Ronson has a great documentary series called Things Fell Apart that looks into this sort of thing. One of the most interesting ones is the anti-abortion movement, which was never a thing in evangelical movements, until someone was able to position it as an anti-feminist movement. They weren't anti-abortion because they had some deeply-held beliefs about the sanctity of human life or held the scientific position that life starts at conception, they were anti-abortion because they didn't like feminists and feminists were pro-choice. That's literally it. And that's literally it for so many other issues.

The anti-vax issue is the most transparent one. Because the original anti-vax concern (and I have no doubt that plenty of people had genuine concerns) was about a single, specific vaccine. When those concerns were eventually disproven, you had a number of people who had staked their entire reputation (in whatever community they happened to be in) on that position, who couldn't let it go, and so the modern anti-vaccine movement is literally about any vaccine with more and more delusional links.

And yeah, some people are just genuinely thick and get brought along for the ride, because that gives the more intelligent ones' ego a nice stroke. I doubt David Icke's crowds are likely to be knocking down the doors of Mensa any time soon, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't get a lot out of having hundreds of them hanging on his every word and treating him like a genius. He gets more for his badly-research, half-baked books than he would if he worked at a university and had to research those subjects properly. Both financially and in terms of status (within the company he keeps).

I think what's lost on the conspiracy theorists is that modern governments really aren't that clever. Most governments are not plotting world domination, instead they're spending the vast majority of their energies trying to stay in government because the fact is we'd boot them out if we had any other choice.

You only have to look at the US right now, the Democrats panicked about the electability of their president (because he was unelectable) so they have put a new candidate in. Meanwhile Trump has absolutely no idea about what he's doing, instead he's just a dickhead. Either don't really know that much about what they're doing but one thing is certain and that's they certainly aren't getting into power to put 5G chips in people's heads.

What has really happened with conspiracy theorists is they've become more mainstream thanks to the people who take advantage of them for monetisation. The likes of Andrew Tate, Russell Brand, they're all the same. They have no actual views of note, they just know how to speak to a gullible crowd and take them for every penny they have.

They're the TV evangelists of our time.

 

[Marklr]

I think what's lost on the conspiracy theorists is that modern governments really aren't that clever. Most governments are not plotting world domination, instead they're spending the vast majority of their energies trying to stay in government because the fact is we'd boot them out if we had any other choice.

You only have to look at the US right now, the Democrats panicked about the electability of their president (because he was unelectable) so they have put a new candidate in. Meanwhile Trump has absolutely no idea about what he's doing, instead he's just a dickhead. Either don't really know that much about what they're doing but one thing is certain and that's they certainly aren't getting into power to put 5G chips in people's heads.

What has really happened with conspiracy theorists is they've become more mainstream thanks to the people who take advantage of them for monetisation. The likes of Andrew Tate, Russell Brand, they're all the same. They have no actual views of note, they just know how to speak to a gullible crowd and take them for every penny they have.

They're the TV evangelists of our time.

Ian Brown always claimed that breathing in the "government" air will make you a crap singer.....and HE was right, wasn't he?

 

[Elbow beards]

Religion is mass delusion. Anyone that believes in any religion is deluded. Fucking scientology, the founder even admited the best way to make money is form a religion,but people still followed it. Fucking Mormons, marrying 14 years olds but people still follow it. Catholicism , protestisism cuntist of the highest order, but people still follow them. The greatest conspiracy thrust upon man was religion, and what a shit world it's made, flying planes into buildings, beheadings, bombings, shootings, our religion is better then yours. Fucking pathetic.

 

[PinkFinal]

I've seen people defend Savile cos he was never convicted.
His long time personal assistant still believes he is innocent despite the hundreds of accusations. This is all conspiracy adjacent rather than conspiracy theory but it seems to be part of the same mindset, just a determination to disbelieve any prevailing narrative for the hell of it or because you have a personal interest in it.
I'm all for lateral thinking and believe there are many people with power who can't be trusted and especially nowadays you must question everything.

 

[Mon Autre]

I think what's lost on the conspiracy theorists is that modern governments really aren't that clever. Most governments are not plotting world domination, instead they're spending the vast majority of their energies trying to stay in government because the fact is we'd boot them out if we had any other choice.

And then on top of that, the weirdos that they worship (Elon Musk etc) actually ARE plotting world domination

 

[KS55]

Religion is mass delusion. Anyone that believes in any religion is deluded. Fucking scientology, the founder even admited the best way to make money is form a religion,but people still followed it. Fucking Mormons, marrying 14 years olds but people still follow it. Catholicism , protestisism cuntist of the highest order, but people still follow them. The greatest conspiracy thrust upon man was religion, and what a shit world it's made, flying planes into buildings, beheadings, bombings, shootings, our religion is better then yours. Fucking pathetic.

Yes, but I worship the real god, yours is fake.

 

[BimboBob]

Yes, but I worship the real god, yours is fake.

Yankie dollar?