Conspiracy people give me a break

[mfqr]

When we discuss the feeding habits of field mice we speak about the group as a whole. If 90% of field mice display the same feeding habits and you're having an abstract-level conversation about it, you're not obligated to include the 10% exception. The same rule applies for almost all things. For some reason when we start talking about people, out of sheer self-importance, others get this impression that it's intellectually dishonest to talk in generalities. No one goes to bat for the field mice because it would be ridiculous. Somehow peoples' oversensitive egos change the rules. Well I don't go by those rules.

Similarly, if 90% of the time you walked by someone with a cane and they hit you with it, eventually you would be guarded when you walked by people with canes. That's how our brains work, and for good reason. In my life I have very, very rarely met a conspiracy theorist who wasn't a complete crack pot. That's my experience, at least 90%, just like the field mice. I have every right to lump conspiracy theorists together as crack pots. And stop with the misconstrued straw-men arguments already - it's not everyone that questions the government. That was never, and will never be, my argument. If you're going to criticize me, have the target be something I actually said. Everyone questions the government at some point, so that would mean my position is that everyone is a crackpot. I question the government. As I said - if I wasn't ready and willing to break the law I wouldn't be on this forum in the first place. If you believe in 3+ conspiracies, judging from my personal, and not limited exposure to people who believe in 3+ conspiracies, it is extremely probable that you believe in those things as an expression of escapism. You have no right to tell me I can't make judgments based on personal experience, what my personal experience was, or that it is inappropriate to share that experience with others.

My biggest question is why I feel compelled enough by this topic to waste my time writing on this thread. Maybe its a way for me to release pent up frustration, accumulated over many years, listening to people force their bullshit fantasies down my throat. Standing at the top of the World Trade Center train station with bullhorns. My next move, if I don't get the gratification I'm looking for out of this thread, is going to be equipping myself with my own bullhorn, and when I see another one of those guys I'm going to stick it in his ear and tell him to SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Yes, 90% of conspiracy theories are crack-pots, just like 90% of black people are criminals? :wtf:

Just to pose a question... about how many conspiracy theorists have you met?

And just to tell you about the getting hit with the cane thing you said. When you end up getting nervous when walking by someone with a cane, and get defensive, it's called conditioning. After awhile, you become conditioned to it. But that does not necessarily mean that every person with a cane is going to hit you. Same goes with conspiracy theorists being crackpots. Maybe you've met a lot of conspiracy theorists who are "crackpots" (at least in your mind). But that does not mean that at least 90% of conspiracy theorists are crackpots. Obviously you pulled that percentage out of your ass anyway. But the point is there... "most conspiracy theorists are crackpots." And this would also depend on how many conspiracy theorists you have met. It is entirely possible that by chance you stumbled upon these "crackpot" conspiracy theorists, and have never, or rarely, been exposed to "non-crackpot" conspiracy theorists. So before you come up with even a fake percentage, you might want to try and meet more. Maybe you could go out and find a few thousand. Then you would have at least a little bit more accuracy in your statement. Or, of course, you could go out and meet more than a few thousand. The point is, you cannot make generalizations based on your very little experience with conspiracy theorists. I'm pretty sure you haven't had much. In fact, I am 100% sure that you have not met that many. Definitely not over 100, and most likely under 70.

[pisshead]

and how many of the freedom hating terrorists commanded by the six and a half foot guy in the cave on the dialysis machine are crackpots?

[vostro]

These are all non-scientific classifications of people. It doesn't mean we don't use them, and because personal conditioning has the potential to be misrepresentative of the results that you would get from a scientific study it doesn't mean we don't use that conditioning to form opinions and conclusions. You do. If you say you don't you're lying to yourself. That's how our brains work whether you like it or not.

If you want some specific statistics I'll give you one - I've never known a single respectable, intelligent, responsible person who started pouring conspiracy fantasies down my throat. None one. If I did maybe I'd be a little more apt to listen. Your average whack job at burning man isn't the type of person I respect or look up to and those, in my experience, are the conspiracy theorists. I hear weird-sounding/far-out theories on Coast-to-Coast AM, and though the conclusions of most of the programs' guests are wild I listen to and consider them because for the most part the guests are articulate and give the impression of being knowledgeable. People who sound intelligent are more likely to be intelligent, at least that's the way it seems. It seems that way to you too, and if you lie to yourself about that fact that's not my problem.

As for the freedom hating terrorists, I think you should watch a movie called Syriana (and understand it). Not that it's an epiphany-in-a-can unto itself, but it demonstrates a very valid point. Which is that all humans, from all cultures, in all times are essentially identical. Social mores sway back and forth and surface-level cultural things change, but that bottom 95% of almost every human is the same. We all want the same things. To feel like we have a purpose, to be loved, to be respected. We all get jealous and angry, we all make mistakes, do stupid things, become confused, yatta yatta yatta. We are built in such a way that we can become mislead sometimes, and do terrible things. You are still responsible for your actions, but you are not fundamentally flawed, at least not more so than we all are. Because there is a sub-culture of people in the Middle East who have been raised in a world which paints the West as an enemy, Bin Laden included, doesn't mean they're all evil. It's extremely convenient to pigeonhole people into groups of good and evil but that rigid classification just doesn't account for the complexities of reality, and specifically not the complexities of human psychology. But I digress.

Conspiracy people, I appreciate that there are people out there looking for cover-ups so they can jump on them like white on rice. That that contingent is out there probably keeps the crooked fogies on their toes to some degree if nothing else. However, and this is a big however - KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. Keep it on your contained forum, or other conspiracy "friendlies" who you know have already bought what you're selling before you even start. If you're the bullhorn type, I will be the first one to dismantle your fantasies for what they really are because you're intruding on my peace-of-mind for ESCAPIST purposes that masquerade as an obligation to the public.

When escapism isn't involved, when you walk by a homeless person who asks for money, or you'd rather buy a new XBox game than donate to charity - where is your vigorous concern for your public then? When escapism is not a fringe benefit? No where to be found, that's where. Because it's all complete bullshit in the first place.

Don't forget - the people in this picture vote Democrat. And that's a promise.

[TallCoolOne]

Yeah, stop it conspiracy people! When has the government ever lied to us?

[psychocat]

People who don't believe that goverments are made up of elitist people held in place by corrupt and powerful families is deluding themselves.

con·spir·a·cy (kn-spîr-s)
n. pl. con·spir·a·cies
1. An agreement to perform together an illegal, wrongful, or subversive act.
2. A group of conspirators.
3. Law An agreement between two or more persons to commit a crime or accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.
4. A joining or acting together, as if by sinister design:

Tell me goverments and big business aren't guilty of this and I will answer the only way I can :: Are you fuckin' blind or just plain crazy?

[HighTillIDie]

These are all non-scientific classifications of people. It doesn't mean we don't use them, and because personal conditioning has the potential to be misrepresentative of the results that you would get from a scientific study it doesn't mean we don't use that conditioning to form opinions and conclusions. You do. If you say you don't you're lying to yourself. That's how our brains work whether you like it or not.

If you want some specific statistics I'll give you one - I've never known a single respectable, intelligent, responsible person who started pouring conspiracy fantasies down my throat. None one. If I did maybe I'd be a little more apt to listen. Your average whack job at burning man isn't the type of person I respect or look up to and those, in my experience, are the conspiracy theorists. I hear weird-sounding/far-out theories on Coast-to-Coast AM, and though the conclusions of most of the programs' guests are wild I listen to and consider them because for the most part the guests are articulate and give the impression of being knowledgeable. People who sound intelligent are more likely to be intelligent, at least that's the way it seems. It seems that way to you too, and if you lie to yourself about that fact that's not my problem.

As for the freedom hating terrorists, I think you should watch a movie called Syriana (and understand it). Not that it's an epiphany-in-a-can unto itself, but it demonstrates a very valid point. Which is that all humans, from all cultures, in all times are essentially identical. Social mores sway back and forth and surface-level cultural things change, but that bottom 95% of almost every human is the same. We all want the same things. To feel like we have a purpose, to be loved, to be respected. We all get jealous and angry, we all make mistakes, do stupid things, become confused, yatta yatta yatta. We are built in such a way that we can become mislead sometimes, and do terrible things. You are still responsible for your actions, but you are not fundamentally flawed, at least not more so than we all are. Because there is a sub-culture of people in the Middle East who have been raised in a world which paints the West as an enemy, Bin Laden included, doesn't mean they're all evil. It's extremely convenient to pigeonhole people into groups of good and evil but that rigid classification just doesn't account for the complexities of reality, and specifically not the complexities of human psychology. But I digress.

Conspiracy people, I appreciate that there are people out there looking for cover-ups so they can jump on them like white on rice. That that contingent is out there probably keeps the crooked fogies on their toes to some degree if nothing else. However, and this is a big however - KEEP IT TO YOURSELF. Keep it on your contained forum, or other conspiracy "friendlies" who you know have already bought what you're selling before you even start. If you're the bullhorn type, I will be the first one to dismantle your fantasies for what they really are because you're intruding on my peace-of-mind for ESCAPIST purposes that masquerade as an obligation to the public.

When escapism isn't involved, when you walk by a homeless person who asks for money, or you'd rather buy a new XBox game than donate to charity - where is your vigorous concern for your public then? When escapism is not a fringe benefit? No where to be found, that's where. Because it's all complete bullshit in the first place.

Don't forget - the people in this picture vote Democrat. And that's a promise.

First, who are you to tell anyone where to say anything?

Second, if you are going to attack somone for their beliefs, without due process, then you clearly have issues, that should be dealt with.

Now, i personally try not to follow any stoyline i can't prove, so while my mind may fantasy, grand scheme and plots, I cannot do anything but process ALL the information given to me. I can argue many times for both sides.

I just think it's sad, how society moves away from the greater good, and advancement

[vostro]

TallCoolOne by the breadth of your post I'd venture to guess that you didn't bother reading the thread at all, let alone invested any time into thinking about it. Of course that's your right, but I think it's good to be clear.

Who am I to tell anyone where to saying something? I'm a person that has to be there listening to it. That's who. The necessary due process was my personal experience, since this is personal opinion. I don't need a jury of peers in order to form personal conclusions if that's what you're getting at. Seems like common sense to me and nothing to do with issues.

[psychocat]

Vostro . IMO Those who don't believe in conspiracies are like ostriches : they're burying thier heads in the sand.

Not believing in conspiracies is the same as not believing that people can be corrupt.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. - Lord Acton

Roots by the River: Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

[mfqr]

I think Vostro is a disinformation agent.

[vostro]

Of course people can be corrupt. Maybe if we're playing a definition game on that level it's helpful to be clear on what is meant by conspiracy. Cooperating with someone in planning to break the law is technically conspiracy. By that definition, there are thousands of conspiracies forming and executing every hour across the world. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about GWB and Bin Laden being golf buddies because his relatives fled US public persecution after 9/11, which anyone with a preservation instinct would have done. I'm talking about people who think that Jews/Illuminati/Underground Reptilian Aliens control the Earth.

Are we all getting fucked by the international banking system? Yeah. Anybody who has bothered to look into non-secret, if sometimes technical, facts knows that. It's nothing to get all saucer-eyed about.

I got a $10 bill for whoever is reading this that before you plant yourself on your death bed you will do something that someone, somewhere would classify as corrupt. Once again, if your position really had strength your best defense wouldn't be against an argument that I never made.

As for you mfqr, you got me. The jig is up. I was really pullin the wool until you showed up.