What is it that attracts people

[I_UndergroundPanther]

To conspiratorial thinking?

What is the motivator? Fear? Want of control? Powerlessness ? A way to free the world?

My friend has gone in it deep she's into David Icke now.
She says it's because she has an open mind and wants to know the truth. I went through a conspirasy phase myself. I think some things are true but others I think are horseshit. Because I discriminate in my sources of information . But she can't imagine conspirasy people might be manipulating thier audiences.
She thinks utube censorship of Icke
For example,and this London guy is proof of the truthfulness of thier conspirasy theories.

She listens to all kinds of stuff on utube and she avoids tv because it manipulates people.
Yes there is tv manipulations ,look at faux nooze but for me I am over the fact they are there manipulations done by people and
I am aware of it and consiously give myself permission to realize it's happening when it is. I don't get manipulated because I psychologically protect myself from it by being aware of it.

She thinks the winger magat assholes protesting the lockdowns were fighting for thier rights to survive. She's beginning to believe people aren't being honest about covid numbers. And yes Florida's governer for example is fudging them. She's not pushing luck with covid herself she's still wearing a mask ect. Thankfully

She seems pretty intolerant that I don't believe in everything she does. It's like everytime we talk she wants to convince me to believe what she does. And some of what she believes is true and some is right-wing conspirasy. She calls herself an independent,does shit like bothsiderism which is annoying. She is intolerant of me having different beliefs yet she projects and says I am intolerant.

What scares me is where this sort of thing will lead her. I've been down that path before.

She's no longer as fun to talk to like she was before she got into this crap. She says history backs her beliefs up.

But honestly I think she's losing it and her pressure when she wants me to agree with what she's saying pushes me away. She does not trust trump,in fact she hates him now,as much as I do. But for awhile made excuses for him and tried to get me to believe that excuse when my entire mind was calling bullshit.

I am getting sick of the crap.

[jberryhill]

1. Get away

You aren’t going to help her, and she’s just going to be more of a drain on you.

[guillaumeb]

2. Of course YOU wouldd say that.

I read that report linking you to the whole thing.

Warning: the above response is intended as sarcasm.


Or is it?

[mr_lebowski]

6. Small hint: sarcastic jokes are funnier when you don't spell out that you're joking ...

Esp. when you're dealing with a bona-fide smartass like JBH.

He's not going to miss the joke, like, ever.

Trust me

[guillaumeb]

9. It was not intended for JBH.

[Newest Reality]

8. What I want to know...

Is who is behind this thread really?

That's the kind of stuff they WANT you to believe and so they say, "sarcasm".

I won't say sarcasm, though, even though I just said it.

Delete this Illuminati thread now. The author is a shill.

[guillaumeb]

12. Indeed.

And what was YOUR contribution in this matter?

Denial is futile.

[Newest Reality]

15. Well,

Actually I did offer a personal anecdote and link below.

However, that's that mind control thing. I can't stop it. Rays!

[guillaumeb]

17. Now you understand why tin foil is so necessary.

And a suitable hardened bunker, of course.

[Newest Reality]

18. Yes, I do!

Thanks. I am on that.

Don't forget a farady cage, BTW. The rays and beams are increasing in magnitude due to the secrete Omega-G cell system.

[guillaumeb]

19. I recently read that the proposed vaccine will contain a mind control component

so Bill Gates can take over.

[Newest Reality]

20. You is woke, for sure!

Unlike the sheeple reading these deep revelations of the very true, true truth.

[guillaumeb]

23. At first, I thought the poster was joking.

So I responded by building what I thought was an even more ridiculous conspiracy.

But the poster was serious.

[Newest Reality]

25. Oh,

Well, I have known people who the OP is referring to, so yeah, it's serious.

On the other hand, the CT-spectrum can be seriously delusional with an almost religious devotion and it seems to be becoming more prevalent as people get more confused and frightened.

I am not closed minded and I do think there are real conspiracies and, "things in Heaven and on Earth that are not dreamed of" in our philosophies, but when it goes from mere speculation and "what if" to a serious world view, well, we see how that goes.

I am concerned about potential violence and the danger of taking them to far. My metaphor is that that that kind of thinking that divorces itself from the consensus and is unable to even maintain a relevance between alternates and conventional is only a few steps away from, let's burn the witches.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

16. I think you're right

I hardly ever call her. She calls me.
She,like me don't have many friends.
I've known her like 10 years she started getting into this shit like 2 years ago. She has gotten worse.
I'm concerned for her. But her intensity regarding her pressure I must believe in what she does is really pushing me away.

She talks over me, I end up talking over her and she cannot tolerate being shown she's wrong.

So I end up in arguments and the pressure to confirm to her beliefs is really intolerant and she projects on me that Im intolerant.
She uses stuff like saying I am insulting her intelligence to shut
me down,for example,and I am beginning to think the freindship is dying.

[grumpyduck]

3. I've had this idea for a long time

that some people just have a need to be angry and will find anything they can to help them be angry.

[mr_lebowski]

4. Isn't David Icke the 'all our leaders are actually alien lizard-beings' dude?

Or am I confusing him w/somebody else?

[I_UndergroundPanther]

7. Yep the lizard dude.

[Newest Reality]

5. Back in the day...

They were amusing what ifs and asides. You know, curiosities mostly, at least for me.

Now, they are far too mainstream and being utilized as a propaganda tool, (Russian and other countries feed them into various kinds of social media and reinforce certain ones).

There are real conspiracies, but the difference is that they leave a trail of evidence that can be investigated to some degree. Many of the current "speculations", (a term I prefer because theory is incorrect) are just flimsy, paranoid, "sounds right to me" content. Their popularity can also make them dangerous now when people act on them as if they are true and real.

I lost a friend to that not long ago. He is anti-science, believes most of what he hears from conspiracy buffs, buys into the 5G conspiracy, is anti-science and not really able to understand it well enough, and on and on. It came to the point that I had to leave it be because the more I presented any facts, evidence, data, etc., the more he dug his heels in and it basically comes down to, "That's what THEY want you to believe." even though the "they" is an abstract, vague notion often with no referent. Currently, the conspiracy theories ARE the conspiracy because they are being used to manipulate the people who believe them without any criteria or substantial evidence.

I have found articles on studies of why people believe them to be interesting and helpful. In fact, it makes more sense to me and I understand what may be behind it. I think it has a religious connotation for some, even without the usual dogma, beliefs and icons, at least, they are rather devoted to such a world view with confirmation biases that filter it in a rather narrow, distorted way.

https://psychcentral.com/blog/the-psychology-of-conspiracy-theories-why-do-people-believe-them/

[rampartc]

10. i started with the gateway ct :jfk

jfk conspiracies still fascinate me.

i also think that ufos exist, but refuse to speculate on their origin.

the official story of 9/11 is bogus. you can not dismiss all "truthers" as inside job mihoppers. i think the planes were allowed to crash due more to incompetence than planning. i think united flt 93 was shot down (there was no "lets roll&quot i think that saudis were involved.

the trump/alt right conspiracies are ridiculous. Q anon, pizzagate, give me a break. mrs clinton and mrs weiner do not eat slices off of living babies.,

the "deep state?" if trump wants to see a deep state "coup" he needs to watch the zapruder film.

[tulipsandroses]

11. Trying to reason with people that believe conspiracy theories is like trying to convince religious

people that God does not exist. Its not going to happen. If you think its possible to salvage the friendship, then insist that you will not engage in discussions re: politics or other hot button topics.

I've had to do that myself with a friend. It does not always work, every now and then he goes off on a tangent. My response is no response and then change the subject or tell him I'm not going down the rabbit hole with him. Stick to other things you have in common.

[lunasun]

13. I have a friend that was just complaining about a coworker he sometimes hangs with at work

He is with a bunch of weirdos at his work place so this guy is only the least of the strange at his work and so sometimes they will hang by default as slim pickings for coworker bonding there

He said the coworker is getting more CT cray every day .
They went to walk at work for lunch together for a hot dog or something and as expected everyone was standing apart and so they were apart too from each other
This meant the guy had to talk louder so my friend could hear him while waiting in line
All of a sudden he started on CT stuff and other people standing in line could hear

My friend was so embarrassed, and the worst he said was the guy started going off about the virus was really from a China lab trying to spread it intentionally, and the people in the line in front of them were Asian.
He said he wanted to scream at the guy to shut up you stupid fuck nut 😳

[Victor_c3]

14. There's a good line from a Nirvana song about this

“Just because you’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t after you”

[KentuckyWoman]

21. My otherwise intelligent brother is convinced Nancy Pelosi is somehow behind the virus.

I am not joking.

I just shake my head and change the subject. Like your friend, he's taking precautions. He believes the virus is real but somehow it got released in the US on purpose for the soul reason to destroy DJT and kill off Republicans.

He reads and listens to a lot of crap online believing it to be "real" news while media is just cover up.

[Karadeniz]

22. Fear. Studies show that conservatives are more fearful than others. Fear begets suspicions,.

Defensiveness, unwillingness to change, intolerance of those who are different.

As I always say, at the heart of most things is Mind. We know Mind is not brain, because Mind can have out of body experiences, convey its person's knowledge after that person's death, produce results from its thoughts, lots that a computer tied to your body can't do.

Based on my own experience, I assign the extracorporeal abilities to Soul. In short, Mind has two generators, brain and Soul. Brain being physical, it's primary purpose is survival of its person. It's personcentric, so it's also egocentric and everything that follows from that, greed, a preoccupation with material or carnal sensation, a willingness to sacrifice others for oneself...none of what we generally consider virtues.

Soul has to come from somewhere, but for that knowledge most people rely on spiritual writings or an experience they trust. I experienced it in a reality centered on a Source. At some distant past, all souls orginate with this Source. This is the only time I know of when "all men are created equal," but that's actually not true. All souls are created equal...add the physical elements and equality is impossible.

This is getting too involved, so I'm skipping ahead. By the time any of us are on earth, having lived many lives before, our Souls were designed to have developed with experience, so some people have souls with more influence on the brain than others. Soul has the nature of the Source and does not fear. It knows it survives death. Its nature is giving, it knows we are ultimately all related, wants to help others, is generous, compassionate and willing to sacrifice it's human existence to help others. All heroism is Soul expression.

A person can be highly intelligent, but bigoted, selfish, all ego. Ego expresses itself politically as conservatism with all the characteristics mentioned initially. Liberals are influenced by Soul, so we want to help others, have laws and processes that protect others and we do not identify other souls by their earthly skin color, religion, status, education, physical disabilities, gender, sexual preferences.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

26. This person claims she's spiritual

But she ties her spirit to quantum physics and has positivity that borders on toxic.

Me, I am between a bit of healthy fear at times and awareness,for stuff like covid. I hope for the best but understand it can get worse.
I am not a positive thinker all the time. Negativity has space to be in my thoughts like positivity.

My friend however has toxic positivity and really that shit is not spirituality,and she is too stubborn insecure and defensive to let another perspective in.

It breaks my heart.

She also wants to be seen as unique above most things,she wants to appear intelligent and spiritual. But her behavior makes me doubt she is what she wants to be to some extent. She wants to be like rarified air. A kind of spiritual arrogance she has that she can't see and it too breaks my heart.

[Karadeniz]

33. "Spiritual arrogance." One or the other, not both. Your friend cannot have it both ways.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

24. I suspect that some of them want to feel "special".

They feel like they’re privy to information that most people don’t know.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

27. Yes I think that is part of what motivates her

Along with a fear and a lack of introspection and defensiveness that she can't let go of. She's been manipulated and will not let her guard down enough to see it.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

30. I wish more of them would devote time...

... to science. There’s plenty of WEIRD phenomena to study, like quantum physics.

Speaking of quantum physics, one of the greatest physicists in that field of study explained his thoughts about flying saucers:

[I_UndergroundPanther]

31. She thinks positive thoughts

Control what manifests on Earth via quantum physics.

Positive thoughts create positive manifestations

So if you have negative thoughts you might ruin the world

It looks to me like a rehashing of homeopathy ideas like attracts like crap projected upon the mind and physical reality. It does not make sense to me.

I have had both positive and negative thoughts because I am human. I have emotions about things that are happening in reality. My thoughts do not manifest as I want or don't want why because I hate trump and he hasn't been kicked out of the Whitehouse and Nancy Pelosi isn't president.

It's always about how your thoughts create badness when despite all the positive think going on we get shit like covid 19,that shows thoughts in one person's head does not override the mixed nature of reality no matter how much we want Change to be another way.

She won't even hear that point.

I agree conspirasy is like religion

[Buckeye_Democrat]

32. Ugh. Yeah, seems like she's another example...

... of a person believing what he/she WANTS to believe to make themselves feel better.

I tend to distrust the truth of an idea if it’s something that I’d really LIKE to be true. (Sometimes there’s alignment between them.)

Rational thinking starts with questioning ourselves, I think. Acceptance of our limitations is another factor.

[2naSalit]

29. That's it. They want you to think they have

an inside source of info and they are smarter because of it.

[Wounded Bear]

28. Probably the same thing that attracts them to religion...

Everybody needs to believe in something, I guess.