Monday, April 13, 2015

The Truth About Conspiracy Theorists

In being a libertarian I often run into the faux-libertarian crowd that is largely libertarian because it sounds "cool" or "fashionable."  They usually give themselves away with a few "tell tale" traits, but one of my favorite is whether they believe in "chem trails."  Once you got a true believer in "chem trails" then all sorts of fun and entertaining idiocy soon follows.

Fluoride was put in the water to make us all behave!!!
Everybody in the military are murderers!!!!
The illuminati/bilderberg!!!
9-11 was an inside job!!!

etc., etc.

However, whereas I am largely bemused with the standard fare of libertarian conspiracy theorists, their existence Venn diagrams into the world of conspiracy theorists in general.  And "conspiracy theorists in general" I believe will prove increasingly useful in the future when it comes to understanding politics, economics, and human psychology.

Understand everyone is seeking a religion.  And though I may have my disagreements with the world's established religions, at least they call it that.

Christians call themselves Christians.
Muslims identify as Muslims.
Jews claim to be Jewish.
And Buddhists claim to be Buddhists.

Even the Scientologists have the gall to call themselves Scientologists.

The same intellectual honesty cannot, however, be said for the majority of modern day Americans.  Especially, those who "doth protest too much" when they hate on religion.  Leftists, for example, provide the most numerous examples of people who "hate" Christianity, but immediately replace it with equally false religions (global warming, socialism, feminism, activism, racism, sexism, and all various forms of SJWing, etc.).  Atheists, of the quiet variety, are intellectually honest followers of their beliefs, but their closely related "Atheist-cult" cousins who pride themselves on being Atheists (and not much else) again (and quite ironically) simply substituted one religion for another.  And I have also pointed out what I believe to be the latest religion the sheeple are swallowing whole - fake mental illnesses.  According to the CDC 1 in 5 children have some form of mental illness, and according to MedCo 25% of American women are on some kind of medication or another (if you believe that).  However, which is more likely?

That high a percentage of the population REALLY has a mental problem?

Or

That high a percentage want an excuse so they don't have to try as hard in life/can excuse their failures in life?

The larger point is that I don't care what form the "religion" takes, even if its adherents swear up and down it "isn't a religion."  Everybody seeks out a religion.  For it is human nature to find some kind of meaning and purpose in life because without it, it really is hard to find some kind of incentive to live (not to mention most people are too cowardly to face the likelihood they are finite, there is no "afterlife," and they will truly cease to end).

The problem, however, with religion, is that it is always based in falsehoods, or at least unknowns.  This is what gives it its "amorphous," "intangible," "religious" qualities.  However, in not being provable, empirical, or scientific, this leaves ALL religions susceptible to misinterpretation, abuse, and, inevitably, self-servitude.

And this is where the conspiracy theorists come in.

Conspiracy theorists abuse their religion of "conspiracy theories" because they're not only too lazy to think things through, study, and prove their theories right or wrong, but because they also have a bit of an ego and want to think themselves intellectually "superior" or "fancy."  And whereas serious study of any topic, to the point one is well-versed, perhaps even an expert on the topic, will yield legitimate and valid intelligence on the topic, conspiracy theorists are too lazy and too impatient for such empircism, study, and research.  They want validation and faux-intellectual discussion NOW, and are more than happy to substitute outlandish and controversial poppycock for the truth in order to get it.  Ergo, conspiracy theorists don't really believe in their theories, they simply mentally get off on advocating them.

This results in a parallel, even some significant overlap, between conspiracy theorists and leftists in their respective religions.

Nothing has to be verified.
No logic or reason needs to be adhered to.
Reality and sanity themselves can be ignored.

Because all that matters to the conspiracy theorist is the "shock-jock-esque" controversy he or she stirs up while seeming so much more "knowledgeable" than you ignorant commoners, just as the leftist religious zealot only cares about being made out to be a victim, and thus rationalizing the theft of others (while also snidely accusing you of "ignorance" or "racism" or "sexism" because you dared to disagree with them).

Alas, why the "10 Commandments" of these religions are not just insane, but usually outright wrong, and repeated mindlessly as NOBODY ever bothered to cared to confirm their veracity:

1.  Chem trails
2.  It's the "corporations maaaan!"
3.  9-11 was an inside job
4.  The rich don't pay their fair share.
5.  The Illuminati
6.  1 in 5 women are raped
7.  The Holocaust didn't happen
8.  White/Male privilege
9.  Frankenfood
10.  Women make only 77% what men do

However, there is a price for such ignorance and ego, and that price is the cost that all religions have historically had - it forces non-believers to suffer

But whereas in the past this suffering largely manifested itself in the prevention of science and all the technological advances that it could have provided to humanity, today it is a sheer attack on sanity, logic, and economics.  And whereas human advancement was halted due to belief in a deity, an afterlife, or simple tribalism, today we are bringing our society's to a screeching halt for things as petty as the:

ego
greed
laziness
sloth, and
arrogance

of spoiled, Americans and Westerners.

Alas, whether it was the

Sultan rejecting western medical advances for his people.
Christians burning "witches" at the stake
Feminists fighting for "fat acceptance" or
Jenny McCarthy-esque parents rejecting vaccines for their children.

All their decisions and beliefs were based in lies.
These lies were forced on society through theocracy or democracy.
And humanity will pay the price of achieving nowhere near what it could have.

And that my friends, is why you enjoy the decline.

18 comments:

Cogitans Iuvenis said...

This times a thousand Cap'n. I cannot tell you how much the 9/11 conspiracy piss me off because as someone who works with high rises, and gets to speak to a whole host of very intelligent engineers, most of the conspiracy theorists gotchas are complete and utter bullshit.

"Jet fuel isn't hot enough to melt steel?" No it isn't but at the temperatures jet fuel does burn those steel beams would lose anywhere from 50 to 90% of their structural strength. Which, when you have a big gaping hole in the building that most likely includes a severely damaged structural core, means that building was going to come down, on it's own, at some point. There's so much more I could say on that matter a lone, nonewithstanding the other batshit insane conspiracy theories out there, but thank you for calling out their bullshit.

Peregrine John said...

I'm thinking you meant "fat acceptance" because feminists fighting for facts seems really stinking unlikely.

Conspiracy theorists reliably know almost nothing about humans, science, or logic. That chem trail thing is the most idiotic excuse for a conspiracy I have ever heard of. It's pretty telling when scientists make up 0% of the people who believe in it.

AuricTech said...

This xkcd comic nicely addresses both "9/11 was an inside job!" and chemtrails.

Severe Tire Damage said...

High rise buildings don't free fall after short-duration fires. WTC 7 wasn't hit and collapsed. A lot of the Truther movement is based on science and not the overtly expressed dismissiveness of high rise janitor Cogitans luvenis.
Remember when the "Conspiracists are crazy" crowd derided all the government-is-recording-our-communications stories? Yeah, there's that.
A lot of conspiracy theories are utter crap, but let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. There's way too much derision of anything called a Conspiracy Theory these days without giving it real thought.

Bernard Brandt said...

I have found, Captain, that a helpful touchstone which prevents adherence to conspiracy theories to be a maxim accredited to the Emperor Napoleon: "Never ascribe to malice what can be adequately explained by incompetence."

I will note that by that standard, nine of the ten conspiracy theories immediately fall.

The one exception to that rule is Frankenfoods, or GMOs as a possible threat.

On the plus side, GMOs permit a great deal of food to be grown, and with the Green Revolution, were the means by which Erlich's "Population Bomb" was defused.

On the minus side, these are genetically engineered organisms which compose a vast monoculture which is engineered to be sterile after one generation, and which may be able to cross-pollinate with other "wild" cultures, potentially sterilizing them as well.

I leave you with two questions:

1) what could possibly go wrong with such a set of circumstances? and

2) can you spell 'potato famine', children?

Anonymous said...

I used to think conspiracy theorists were idiots until I watched this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbCfRE3JQwA

Now I dont know either way.

grey enlightenment said...

But what about fed conspiracy theories?Those are just as dumb

TroperA said...

You might want to rethink your "Christianity Held Back Technology" stance. (Or at least, not use that one episode of "Family Guy" as a basis for evaluating unbiased religious history.) If it wasn't for Christianity and its belief in an ordered and consistent God and universe, modern science (and it's concept of linear progress) would never have arisen. We have Christian monks to thank for preserving ancient texts and there have been plenty of Christian scientists and philosophers who've helped shape Western Civilization (the parts of it that work, anyway):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christian_thinkers_in_science

I can see where confusion might creep in, since most of Christianity today has been replaced by feminist social club Churchianity. But at least let's acknowledge the men who stood firm and kept civilization running (and kept women's feral sexuality under control) for as long as they did.

Steamship Trooper said...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwUizOU8pPWXdXNniXypQEQ

Speaking of religions. I wonder who would consider these videos to be "How to-" guides.

Robert What? said...

Lord knows why Fluoride was put in the water, but there is no question it is an industrial waste product that negatively affects the brain and nervous system.

It is now known that Fluoride's primary benefit comes from topical application, not ingestion

ARYAN said...

Looking up at the skies over the CA Sierra Nevada and Central Valley for the past 15 years and Chem Trails are everywhere... no conspiracy - just plain observation.

sth_txs said...

Regarding 9/11, you really believe a bunch of 'towel heads' fooled the worlds biggest intelligence agencies and brought down the WTC?

Too many holes in the government's story. Even those who were or had relatives as victims have asked some really good questions. To deny that just shows crass stupidity. Columnar still collapses into pulverized dust and they find a passport in all that rubble? And by the way, Iraq did not have damn thing to do with 9/11.

Your government has set up a number of false flags over the years. And oh, not one damn place overseas has a thing to do with any freedoms we allegedly have, so I can understand the dislike for military misadventures. Go look up War is a Racket by Marine Colonel Smedly Butler; nothing has changed.

Yes Captain, you like to make fun, but everything you complain about (leftism, feminism, high taxes, etc.) did not happen in a vacuum.

brian said...

I love how the latest 9/11 truthers have resorted to rank racism as their justification.

"It had to be an inside job because Arabs are too stupid to do that to white people"

Meanwhile, more than half of the 9/11 hijackers had advanced degrees in medicine and engineering.

Cogitans Iuvenis said...

@ Severe Tire Damag

You sir, are an idiot if you believe the government brought down the WTC. This needs to be said because this WTC nonsense has to stop.

Unlike you I actually have been involved in the building high rises so I have been able to look into the specifics of what a building can withstand. I could relay what the iron workers who helped build our last high rise thought of 9/11 conspiracy theorists...but I can't repeat what they said in polite company.

But let me reiterate on jet fuel since it flew over your head. Jet fuel burns between 800 and 1500 degrees F. Steel melts at 2750, however, and I'm going to go slow for you, heat causes steel to lose it's strength. A major revelation I know, that heat weakens the chemical bonds of solid objects. The American Institute of Steel Construction notes that steel loses 50 percent of it's strength at 1100 F, well within the temperatures of burning jet fuel.

You also fail to into account the effects of having a fucking jet liner crash into a building at over 420 for the first plane and 537 fr the second. As someone who actually has some knowledge how buildings work, whereas you do not, I know that the world trade center was a tube framed design structure. This is a design that uses high load perimeter steel columns to allow for more open floor plans. They also share in the lateral loads that are placed on buildings via wind.

And what does this mean, that you have the SAME structural load being carried by LESS structural members that have been WEAKENED by a jet liner crashed into them and a fire.

*And just to further rain on your parade lets talk about fireproofing. You do know that fireproofing is installed on steel not because there is a fear that the steel will melt but because of the fear of aforementioned weakening. The fireproofing might have producted WTC if it weren't for the fact that is like Styrofoam, hit some fireproofing with a fire a car antenna sometime, and on jetliner impact would most assuredly blow it off all the structural members. I actually had this exact conversation with my fire roofer a few weeks ago concerning why local code now requires us to use high bond fire proofing versus standard bond (not that high bond makes fireproofing spray any stronger than standard but that's the government for you).

Cogitans Iuvenis said...

"Regarding 9/11, you really believe a bunch of 'towel heads' fooled the worlds biggest intelligence agencies and brought down the WTC? "

The same towel heads that hid Osama for a better part of a decade? The same towel heads that orchestrated the London bombings? The same towel heads that are controlling NE Syria and NW Iraq? The government cannot be both incompetent and all seeing all powerful at the same time.

For the love of god use your brain and apply occam's razor.

sth_txs said...

Hey Cogitans, spare the condescending BS.

So heat weakens steel. Not a news flash for me here. I guess we can ignore the explosions heard by some before the collapse.

Since you claim structural knowledge, why did the building pancake upon itself very similar to a controlled demolition? Why didn't the government do a proper investigation instead of hauling the material off for scrap immediately?

But more importantly how were these hijackers able to get so far? Did they really have enough training to fly them into the building? And the lack of those big plane engines at the Pentagon site? Is it really a happy coincidence that a simulation was being carried out that same day by NORAD and it was just a mix up and they could not do anything? Is Sibel Edmonds lying to us?

Big topic here, but lots of holes in the government's story.

I for one don't put any trust in the CIA or FBI. Yes, government can be incompetent but we don't know the whole story. CIA and other agencies have a long history of black ops and coups across the world. We don't really know what those agencies do. Look how much material has been covered up about the Kennedy assassination.

El Buggo said...

Re: 7.

All you have to do that will change your perception of this REPORTED event is to watch David Cole in Auschwitz:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHzWo79dCHs

and read

The Gas Chamber of Sherlock Holmes, by Samuel Crowell

http://www.samuelcrowell.com/?smd_process_download=1&download_id=44

Typhus explains a lot, among other things.

As usual, if you want to understand anything, investigate how it begun, and how it developed.

I'll eat my keyboard if you can create the slightest doubt in my mind that this gas chamber massacre was anything else then utter and pure fiction. The only reason you can believe this was a real historical event, is that you were born into it, and you haven't checked the story yourself the slightest. It only takes some scratching on the surface to see this obvious fakery.

Good look with gaining a new world view.

Dave said...

Are our decision-makers incompetent or evil? I don't know, but if I were a member of the oligarchy, I'd want you peons to think I was evil incarnate, to better inspire fear and obedience.

http://www.staresattheworld.com/2014/03/psychopaths-the-illuminati-video/

Funny how the Truthers never seem worried that a government which murdered 3000 of its own people in cold blood would not hesitate to do the same to them.