Conspiracy Theorists and Other Nut Jobs

[monadnocky]

Conspiracy exist because someone found a way to make money off it.
That's why you have so many conspiracies now, business is better at monetizing it.

I am confident with big data (internet footprint), I can craft a tailored made conspiracy theory which is just right for each of you and then target you with email. Check your inbox after reading this.

That's actually a very interesting premise. I'd bet with a modicum of information mined off the Internets, you really could tailor-make a conspiracy theory for almost anyone and they would most likely believe it 100%.
I believe we have the beginnings of a social psychology dissertation.

[Christian Fox]

Advocating warming up your car is a conspiracy?

[false_aesthetic]

I am confident with big data (internet footprint), I can craft a tailored made conspiracy theory which is just right for each of you and then target you with email. Check your inbox after reading this.

IF:
Spotify just advertised Iggy Azalea to me after I listened to Ride the Lightning, Facebook likes to tell me that I need to visit Busch Gardens because it's so close to my location, and Gmail saw emails to my photography students and figured out that I need a deal on digital photography classes.

Cannot wait to see tailored conspiracy theories!

[vertical_doug]

IF:
Spotify just advertised Iggy Azalea to me after I listened to Ride the Lightning, Facebook likes to tell me that I need to visit Busch Gardens because it's so close to my location, and Gmail saw emails to my photography students and figured out that I need a deal on digital photography classes.

Cannot wait to see tailored conspiracy theories!

Internet companies are just fronts for the NSA data collection center in UTAH

[steve garro]

Dude…………I live by Sedona…………

Do have any idea the about the amount of wack that snake oil salesmen can shill a bunch of the super rich looking for the secret of life?

- Garro.

[monadnocky]

Dude…………I live by Sedona…………

Do have any idea the about the amount of wack that snake oil salesmen can shill a bunch of the super rich looking for the secret of life?

- Garro.

So what is it? Gonna keep it from us eh?

[Wisco]

I recently read an article describing research that suggested that people's brains are wired differently and that correlates with their description of being a liberal or conservative.

Conservative and liberal brains may be wired differently - The Washington Post

Like Saab, I don't want to make this a discussion about anyone's politics. The point is that there may be real differences between people that at least partially explain why one person is like the Golgi-studying senior professor monadnocky describes vs. the folks Saab or Peter Polack describe. As my old Ph.D. advisor once said, "Data is data. The difference is how you interpret the data."

[steve garro]

So what is it? Gonna keep it from us eh?

Nope.

I'll share the true secret of eternal happiness here & now for all, and here it is:

Low Expectations

- Garro.

[chasea]

How is any of this different than religion?

Long time listener, first time caller. I'll hang up for you reply.

[Philster]

How is any of this different than religion?

Long time listener, first time caller. I'll hang up for you reply.

I was thinking the same thing. Especially the case where someone is dealing with pain or loss and looking for answers. If it helps and doesn't hurt anyone else, I'm all for either one.

[monadnocky]

How is any of this different than religion?

Long time listener, first time caller. I'll hang up for you reply.

The Dawkins book that I was referencing above was, indeed, "The God Delusion."
I'm gonna choose to stay away from the topic.

[Mike Mcdermid]

Thanks Monadnocky.....i just now resolved your name man am i dense. I was not wrong, just unaware ;)

Please do not dissuade conspiracy theorists please! They are highly entertaining and much better than network TV.

Any opinions if tinfoil under my hat should be shiny side out?

Best website ever has to be that area 51 one .....hold on whilst i google

Above top secret, i sit on there for like sixty seconds then im sucked in for hours

[jitahs]

Conspiracy exist because someone found a way to make money off it.
That's why you have so many conspiracies now, business is better at monetizing it.

I am confident with big data (internet footprint), I can craft a tailored made conspiracy theory which is just right for each of you and then target you with email. Check your inbox after reading this.

Please do. I'm interested in your finely-crafted argument on why global warming does not exist. Might have something to do with: there's snow on the ground.

[j44ke]

Way back when, the cycle of light and darkness had no known cause. The sun comes up in the morning - why? And will it come up tomorrow? Night created a whole heck of a lot of anxiety, not just because you might get eaten but because it represented both how much you did not know and how much appeared to be unknowable. The whole idea of an underworld as being where the dead went is because caves are deep and dark, especially when your torch burns out, so anything that can function beyond that point must be dead or at least inhuman. Back on the surface, everyone performed rituals to ensure that the sun did indeed come up the next morning (later to be turned into the canonical hours by the Christian church) that the rain came down at the right time and in the right quantities, that animals and people were fertile, that the land was fertile, etc. etc. etc. Nothing was certain, so these rituals functioned both as alligator repellant (why do you have that stick? Alligator repellant. There are no alligators around here! See, it is working.) and as Xanax. If I perform the ritual and sacrifice this goat, things will be okay and I can get some sleep at night, even though it is dark and wide and unknown.

For a lot of people in the United States right now, there are a lot of deep caves with deep darkness all around them. The whole system of go to school graduate from high school get a job in a factory marry your sweetheart have 2.5 kids get a car get a house work 30-40 years punching "Chevrolet" into hubcaps marry your kids off retire have a heart attack while chasing grandkids or fishing is broken. Nothing is guaranteed any longer, and no one knows if the sun is going to come up tomorrow, and none of the old rituals (Puritan work ethic etc.) are working to re-establish the balance and allay the communal anxiety, so everyone is looking around for a sacrificial goat to put on the altar and test driving new mythologies in the attempt to create some space where they can lie down and get some sleep at night even though it is dark and wide and unknown.

Those conspiracy theories are the early moments of new mythologies. When those people say those things, they are looking for communities within which they can find themselves. It makes them feel less anxious to know that forces beyond their control are holding up the curtains of the world with magic powers. It means they aren't lost in a cave without a torch. Conspiracy theories are their Xanax.

[Mabouya]

How is any of this different than religion?

Long time listener, first time caller. I'll hang up for you reply.

Just pray to Saint Christopher (Hitchens).

[Ignignokt]

Theres all manner of theories and suspicions in different degrees of plausibility...there have been instances on things very close to conspiracy theory or out right that turned out to be true or at least have some merit. I do see this kind of attitude growing of dismissal that has been moving farther away from 'tinfoil protects my brainwaves from the lizard people' to 'the twin towers were knocked down by holograms' to starting being more critical of people questioning or just musing about more fundamental things in stuff like politics, foreign policy, economy.

[Scott G.]

Just pray to Saint Christopher (Hitchens).

I have it on good authority that St. Hitchens made it to heaven,
Robert Johnson told me so.

"It’s a great life here in heaven
It’s better than the Bible said
It’s a great life here in heaven
It’s a great life when you’re dead

And me, I couldn’t be happier
The service here is fine
They’ve got dinner ready at half-past nine
And I’m going steady with Patsy Cline
And just last night in a bar room
I bought Robert Johnson a beer
Yeah, I know, everybody’s always surprised to find him here "

By Mark Erelli

[vertical_doug]

Please do. I'm interested in your finely-crafted argument on why global warming does not exist. Might have something to do with: there's snow on the ground.

Global Warming/Climate Change does exist. The conspiracy is in giving people false hope in we can stop it. (how's that curve ball)

[Mabouya]

I have it on good authority that St. Hitchens made it to heaven,

Thereby infuriating both sides of the argument.

[j44ke]

Global Warming/Climate Change does exist. The conspiracy is in giving people false hope in we can stop it. (how's that curve ball)

That is an excellent comment, I must say. Nail hit square on the head. It would be an interesting statement for public policy makers to seriously consider as they develop coherent strategies for the future. I have a feeling that most feel if they don't promise vanquishing global warming, they won't get anyone to do anything productive towards managing the situation.