Why spreading conspiracy theories is dangerous

Discussion in 'Off Topic Area' started by Dead_pool, Oct 25, 2017.

  1. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

  2. Smitfire

    Smitfire Cactus Schlong

    That's what a pawn of the lizard overlord illuminati would say.*

    *Not wishing to make light of the murder. Just the ridiculousness of most conspiracy theories.
     
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  3. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Theres quite a few American bjj guys who are into mad conspiracy theories, but there's also loads who think George soros is evil incarnate, for just being a liberal billionaire.

    My theory is that too much mat time = not enough school time, plus getting used to people hanging off your every word, means you forget it's only bjj you actually know anything about.

    For proof See Eddie bravo and or kron
     
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  4. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    I was reading a book by Peter Pomerantsev called Nothing is True and Everything is Possible - I think conspiracy theories are a mainstay of the new authoritarianism. Everyone takes for granted that the government lies, that the mechanisms of government are beyond the control of ordinary people, that there is a secret side to every story that is manufactured and nefarious, and you wind up getting very apathetic people who are disenchanted with the effort of leading a political life. It's an annihilation of the public sphere. Why bother protesting, voting, organizing, who ever winds up on top will be corrupt anyway. And to some extent this is true - we know that backroom deals and privacy for our politicians are critical for their ability to do their job. But these efforts are then used to disguise the big lies, the really nefarious stuff that goes on. Both sides are the same. Everyone does it. "What about...?" I'm not sure what the answer is, but with every big event, even those that are mindbogglingly simple, elements of secret plots and conspiracies begin to infiltrate. This urge seems completely mainstream now - just as an anecdotal sort of measure (really no measure at all), I can recall the horror my facebook feed expressed when tea partiers started doubting the Sandy Hook story, insinuating that it was a false flag designed to remove guns, that there were second and third shooters, etc. With the most recent Las Vegas shooting, well, a lot of those same people were posting youtube videos purporting to demonstrate that there was a second shooter there.
     
  5. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

  6. Van Zandt

    Van Zandt Mr. High Kick

    Conspiracy theories are stupid and in bad taste.
     
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  7. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    I think politicians are merely leveraging it. I don't think they're responsible for it.

    I think it's far more sad and mundane - it gets hits, so it makes ad revenue. Ad revenue makes the world go round these days.
     
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  8. pgsmith

    pgsmith Valued dismemberer

    Exactly this! So much garbage is floating around the internet these days simply to generate clicks. There are a great many people that unfortunately aren't innately intelligent enough to figure out truth from fiction. They are angry about their lives, and are willing to believe just about anything that they read that gives them a focus for their anger.

    This anger is what the politicians are taking advantage of, to the detriment of society in my opinion.
     
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  9. Jaydub

    Jaydub Valued Member

  10. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    By the same token... we just saw an election occur in the US with unquestionable Russian interference, the DNC acted against Bernie Sanders, etc. It's hard not to become paranoid.

    I don't know about that. There are deliberate efforts on the part of politicians to stoke paranoia and make use of these conspiracy theories. Trump started his political career by engaging in the Birther conspiracy. Russian mass media has spread false reports of refugees raping women in Germany. In their campaigns within the US, they stoked racial resentments. Hell, the Russian Duna speaker announced a terrorist attack in Russia three days before it happened. The resentments that these politicians are capitalizing on certainly existed before they took action, but to some extent, yes, our political class is responsible for it.
     
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  11. Knee Rider

    Knee Rider Valued Member Supporter

    If government/corporate conspiracies were always just theories then we wouldn't need credible investigative journalism. I'm certain the world is not governed by a shady cabal of ancient reptilian space lizards and that reality is a hologram, however corruption does exist and conspiracies are real things that have occurred through the history.

    It's unfortunate that the fundamental insanity and intellectual laziness of both those who we would label conspiracy theorists and the majority of their theories make it easy for people to be dismissive and derisive of any argument that things might not be quite as they seem.
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2017
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  12. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    12 Actual Conspiracies That Conspiracy Theorists Ignore

    Indeed there are actual conspiracies out there that are true, and I actually find these the most disturbing because nothing ever gets said about them, (especially. The 1933 attempted racist coup in the states. )

    But it does seem the more unlikely it is, the more popular it is, I'm not sure why, but the following video makes a good argument.




    Edit, ignore the clickbait titles, generally cracked is pretty dead on factual wise. A
     
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  13. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    Sure, that's what I meant by leveraging. They didn't come up with the social media market model that has, I believe inadvertently, made the conspiracy theory market explode, but they sure are trying to exploit it.
     
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  14. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    Well, the Illuminati did exist: Adam Weishaupt - Wikipedia

    It's just that a lot of modern conspiracy fare is based on works of fiction, such as Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson's Illuminatus! trilogy of novels, where they imagine a world where every conspiracy theory is true. Or people like Pierre Plantard, who created the Priory of Sion as a dada art hoax.
     
  15. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

  16. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    Yeah, it's really interesting, to me at least, how works of satire have filtered down to become believed as fact by the credulous.

    Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum explores these kind of themes. It's one of my favourite novels.

    - Foucault's Pendulum - Wikipedia

    Illuminatus! is a fun romp, sprinkled with genuine esoteric insights, but it is also a handy collection of the ideas that started out as a bit of fun in the 70's, but have since become the foundation for genuine paranoia.
     
  17. pgsmith

    pgsmith Valued dismemberer

    There's a blast from the past ... credible investigative journalism. :)

    Unfortunately, it doesn't generate much in the way of clicks or advertising dollars, so investigative journalism is almost obsolete these days.
     
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  18. El Medico

    El Medico Valued Member

    Problem with the term "Conspiracy Theory" is that its common usage is to denigrate certain ideas one objects to, so that terming something a "conspiracy theory" means its automatically horse manure.It became a totally dismissive term.Which is sometimes off base.

    Y'know,like how for years in spite of witnesses on the streets of Dallas being told by the Commission they hadn't seen/heard what they said they did-and this included various individuals with badges,and all the verdicts the Commission handed down in spite of many questions and holes. Yet in the late 1970s the Congressional committee stated based on evidence -(that SOMEHOW the Warren Commission missed,ignored,or were they just too dull????)- it was obvious that there had been a conspiracy,Oswald did not act alone,organized crime had advance knowledge,etc.

    I prefer to just call garbage garbage.Like pizza joints covering for child abuse centers.Not a "conspiracy theory",just,well we can't use such language here,can we?

    Does every lie and ridiculous assertion need to be honored with such a formal designation?
     
  19. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    I get your point, but I think the horse has bolted on that one.
     
  20. philosoraptor

    philosoraptor carnivore in a top hat Supporter

    Interestingly, there's a conspiracy theory that the term conspiracy theory was cooked up by the CIA to discredit conspiracy theorists. There's an alternate conspiracy theory that says the conspiracy theory that the the term conspiracy theory was cooked up by the CIA to discredit conspiracy theorists is a conspiracy theory. As far as I can tell it's conspiracy theories all the way down.
     
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