Quote Originally Posted by vostro
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.