Scientists Show Conspiracy Theorists Will Believe Anything

[FLPanhandle]

Italian researchers demonstrated this by looking at thousands of users who interacted with either science news pages or conspiracy theory pages on Facebook, finding that the vast majority of the people commenting on conspiracy theory pages never actually interacted with any other kind of page. So: echo chamber.

The fun part came next, when the scientists posted nearly 5,000 troll comments on the conspiracy and science news pages, sharing ridiculous unsubstantiated rumors like how someone completed a chemical composition of chemtrails, those clouds that form behind airplanes that are commonly and sanely known as contrails, and found that they contained viagra. That’s right, the government is dosing us with boner pills blasted into the atmosphere.

The researchers found that the conspiracy theorists were much, much more likely to share and like these comments.

In other words, the conspiracy theorists couldn’t differentiate between sarcasm and legitimately held conspiracy theories.


Link:
http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118093


Which is why I don't bother debating Conspiracy Theorists here, you can't logically debate them

[Gidney N Cloyd]

1. Ever since I finally decided to believe the official 911 explanation I've been much happier.

[Fumesucker]

3. +9/11

[malokvale77]

44. Duzy

Because we all know there has never been any conspiracy ever.

[longship]

75. Straw man (Google it)

It is one of the many fallacies that conspiracy theorists use to prop up their lame idiotic narratives, which are many and mutually contradictory.

I apologize if you were merely trying to be satirical.

[malokvale77]

104. I will leave you to decide what I intended...

seeing as you deemed it necessary to educate me.

[Jackpine Radical]

100. .818181818181818181818…(=9/11)

[Jesus Malverde]

121. Thread win.

[anti partisan]

131. Great. Let's start believing in stuff cause it makes us happy.

I'm not specifically talking about 911 but that attitude can get you in a lot of trouble.

[Octafish]

147. Like when Bush and Cheney got to tell their ''stories'' together behind closed doors?

You know, even though they weren't even under oath, they have a long record of service.

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Yeah, first of all, look, I mean, if we had something to hide, we wouldn’t have met with them in the first place. I came away good about the session, because I wanted them to know, you know, how I set strategy, how we run the White House, how we deal with threats.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house-jan-june04-9-11_4-29/

Service, as in helping themselves to as much as they can grab, as quick as they can grab, for as long as they can grab, until there's nothing left for anyone else.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

169. Let me clarify my post a bit:

[treestar]

140. It was an Al qaeda conspiracy

Which the right wing saw the value of and used to get what they want. They realized it was their "New Pearl Harbor" and jumped right on it.

some people seem to think that is not bad enough, so they have to find a way to tie the right wing into causing it. They don't have to have caused it or let it happen to be evil. They are evil using it as they did.

[MrScorpio]

189. Bingo!

Which is why I have no patience with MIHOO 9/11 truthers.

[closeupready]

2. Because the mafia was just a figment of our imaginations.

[treestar]

141. Who has ever said that?

No one.

[ProfessorGAC]

156. J Edgar Hoover, For One

BTW: I'm siding with you. Having Hoover on one's side isn't a ringing endorsement.

[NuclearDem]

4. Debating conspiracy theorists is like debating fundamentalist Christians.

They're never wrong because:

1) If something happens in the world that doesn't have a solid explanation, Goddidit/CIAdidit

2) Any evidence that runs against their preconceptions was planted there by Satan/Them to test them or dupe the unfaithful/sheeple.

3) If they're being laughed at or mocked, it's not because they're laughably wrong, it's because they're obviously right and they're just being persecuted.

[LanternWaste]

5. Especially when they bring up conspiracies like the Dreyfus Affair or Iran-Contra.

Especially when they bring up conspiracies like the Dreyfus Affair or Iran-Contra. Nutty-buckets, the lot of 'em.

[hack89]

6. Equating contrails, FEMA camps, holographic 9/11 planes with Iran-Contra

or the Dreyfus Affair is not a particularly strong argument. Basic common sense and logic should allow one to figure out what is plausible from what is pure lunacy.

[FLPanhandle]

8. That's the point of the study: Conspiracy Theorists CAN't distinguish

Therefore, one logical conspiracy is proof of any and all conspiracy theories

[hack89]

9. I understand that

the poster I am replying to doesn't.

[FLPanhandle]

12. He is a good example of the study. nt

[hifiguy]

36. indeed. There is a certain mindset that is not evidence-based,

but wholly paranoia-based. See my post downthread.

The people who can't distinguish between the two are called kooks, and rightfully so.

Though in Foucault's Pendulum, ALL the conspiracies were TRUE!!

[WinkyDink]

61. Nor can conspiracy-deniers. To them, a proven conspiracy is always a one-off.

[Rex]

90. Both groups see in black and white and both are instantly defensive when called on it.

As is an example in this thread. A proven CT was dismissed and now the deniers are thick as thieves in here.

[treestar]

144. It's likely rarer than not

Not really equivalent.

[Quackers]

118. Holographic planes?

That's a new one to me. Where can I get projectors like that for a home theater setup?

[hack89]

136. Holographic planes, mini-nukes, even space based particle weapons

have all vigorously defended as bringing down the WTC towers on 9/11. Go browse through the old DU2 911 forum.

[treestar]

143. Yes, it sure sounds like that other poster

thinks all or nothing. Either it's all a conspiracy or it never is. No opportunity to decide on each one.

[hack89]

164. I guess the key issue is how one defines Conspiracy Theory

I will agree that there is a lot of grey area on certain subjects like 911 or the JFK conspiracy where one can sit back and think "ok, that's plausible".

For example, while I think the evidence is pretty clear that Arab terrorists were solely responsible for 9/11, I remain open minded that elements of the US government could have been involved. But only in the context that "they" provided information on the weakness of airline security and did their best to disrupt any investigation that might reveal the conspirators. That is a plausible scenario, that if presented with some hard evidence, would make me reconsider. But there are some 9/11 arguments that defy logic and science - the no plane theory, mini-nukes, controlled demolition with thermate, etc etc that I don't feel I have to seriously consider. Those are the kind of things I lump into "conspiracy theory" and I think that is the kind of stuff the OP is talking about.

[Rex]

15. People that believe everything is a CS are just as sad as people that refuse to believe

in conspiracies. IMO. Both groups are a danger to themselves and others around them.

[Major Nikon]

48. UFOs, vacinnes causing autism, crop circles, chemtrails, communist flouridation plots...

New World Order, 9/11 death rays, electromagnetic pulse weapons bringing down small aircraft, the Illuminati, etc.

Those are EXACTLY like the Dreyfus Affair or Iran-Contra, so long as you don't concern yourself with the world most call reality.

[WinkyDink]

64. 1. Crop circles exist. "Dave and Dave" aren't the creators. 2. GHWB mentioned "The New World Order."

3. The Bilderburgers exist, and still meet. 4. YOU explain the symbols on the dollar bill, the pyramid at the Louvre, etc.

[NuclearDem]

111. 1) Crop circles as extraterrestrial creations have been debunked countless times.

2) He mentioned a new world order, a term that had been used at various points in history for almost a century before he said it. It's referred to the League of Nations, the UN and Bretton Woods system, and the post-Cold War balance of power between Russia and the US.

3) Don't care. Yes, they do, and I don't care.

4) The Eye of Providence has been a part of Christian iconography for centuries, and was part of Egyptian iconography before that.

Point number 3 comes into effect in 3...2...1...

[Major Nikon]

116. #3 is actually pretty damn funny

The Bilderberg group conspiracy nuttery originated with none other than crème-de-la-far-right-wing-nutbag Phyllis Schlafly.

Ironically given the anti-Communist intent of the original meetings, the annual Bilderberg conferences were since seized upon by conspiracy theorists as another arm of the "conspiracy," and secretly working to promote socialism, European unification, or a world government. An early critic was none other than Phyllis Schlafly who, in her 1964 book A Choice, Not An Echo, claimed a liberal conspiracy of "kingmakers" led by the Bilderberg group had control over the Republican Party presidential nominating process and kept "real" conservatives from getting the nomination; her book was written in part to promote the 1964 campaign of Barry Goldwater, seen (by Schlafly) as a candidate free of Bilderberg influence. Another U.S. group, the wingnut Liberty Lobby (founded c.1955 by Willis Carto) took it upon themselves to send reporter James Tucker every year to "infiltrate" the Bilderberg conferences and report on their nefarious activities.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Bilderberg_Group

[treestar]

150. At least the people who stop real progressives from getting the Democratic

nomination don't boldly meet to do it - or they are smart enough not to get caught! They are merely "the corporatists." No one knows who they are!

[Major Nikon]

160. I know exactly who they are

They are the people who vote in the Democratic Party primaries.

[WinkyDink]

183. 1. Did I mention aliens? 2. Your point's being? 3. My point was that plenty of smug people denied

this. 4. It is exactly the Egyptian connection I refer to. Duh.

Do you think you are clever with your final "3...2...1...?"

[NuclearDem]

188. 1. You didn't, so were you instead suggesting "They" made crop circles?

2. That the capital letter New World Order conspiracy is complete nonsense developed by idiots who can't interpret history.

3. Still don't care about the Bildebergs.

4. So what's your point? Almost half of modern Christian practices are appropriations of other religions' traditions--Communion is Passover, Christmas is Saturnalia, Easter was a fertility celebration, and on and on. That Christians adopted the eye of Horus as well is evidence more of religious plagiarism than a one world government conspiracy.

[Major Nikon]

115. I love this sort of thing

Soon there won't be a dry eye in the house.

Please don't stop.

[nationalize the fed]

108. Biden said:“The affirmative task we have now is to actually create a new world order.”

Does that make HIM a conspiracy theorist?

First example on the video: “The affirmative task we have now is to actually create a new world order.” — Vice President Joe Biden, April 5, 2013. Are all those other people - including Clinton- "Conspiracy Theorists"?

Here is Biden again in 2014

"...Lead and shape a New World Order"- Joe Biden

[Major Nikon]

117. No, just the people who try to connect those dots to the NWO conspriacy theory

Not sayin' you, but you know just sayin'.

And BTW, you might want to read this...

Don't go overboard with the crazy talk.

Democratic Underground is not intended to be a platform for kooks and crackpots peddling paranoid fantasies with little or no basis in fact. To accommodate our more imaginative members we tolerate some limited discussion of so-called "conspiracy theories" under the following circumstances: First, those discussions are not permitted in our heavily-trafficked Main forums; and second, those discussions cannot stray too far into Crazyland (eg: chemtrails, black helicopters, 9/11 death rays or holograms, the "New World Order," the Bilderbergers, the Illuminati, the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons, alien abduction, Bigfoot, and the like). In addition, please be aware that many conspiracy theories have roots in racism and anti-semitism, and Democratic Underground has zero tolerance for bigoted hate speech. In short, you take your chances.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=termsofservice

[WinkyDink]

184. I don't know; does it?

[NuclearDem]

190. NWO for victory!

[Scootaloo]

53. With conspiracy theory, the lack of evidence is itself evidence. It's self-reaffirming

The worst thing is? There really are lots of conspiracies going on. And most of them are right in front of our faces. not secret lizardmen meeting in a bavarian boardroom.

All those banks being fined for currency manipulation today - all you have to do is turn on the TV, the real conspiracies are right there.

[treestar]

142. +1

All of that is true.

Reminds me of Colonel Flagg on MASH, who when it became obvious the great conspiracy was only a poker game, yelled, "This is bigger than all of you!"

[tammywammy]

7. ....

[zappaman]

52. That's awes-hey, wait a second...

[tammywammy]

114. I totally stole it off one of your posts

It's awesome.

[Dont call me Shirley]

180. I love his hair!

[MohRokTah]

192. Thread win! eom

[Politicalboi]

10. LOL!

[NightWatcher]

11. I was there when we landed on the Moon, in a studio in Kentucky in June

I was flying on UA 93
That shadow in the footage, it was probably me
I'm the rumour, I'm the doubt, I'm the lie
But you wouldn't stand near me if you didn't want to die

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

I was there when they landed on the moon
In a studio in Kentucky in June
I've got Kennedy's brain in a jar
If you knew what I knew, you wouldn't laugh so hard

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

In the canteen down at Columbine with the bags they never found
Striking matches up at Waco when they burned it to the ground
Without me Oklahoma wasn't possible at all
See my silhouette in the Super 8, around the grassy knoll

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a verse missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
There's a missing out of this song (misinformation)
Everything you know is wrong (misinformation)
Wrong wrong, wrong wrong

Roger flight, we're go, he's got some, uh, nice elevated rings, which we expected, and, uh, he's really speeded it up but he looks great, let's go

Wrong wrong
Wrong wrong
Wrong wrong

I was in Paris in the underpass (wrong wrong)
I'm the FO sponsored super-grass (wrong wrong)
I'm Charlie Thrush in Minnesota (wrong wrong)
And I smuggled hep across the border (wrong wrong)
Stole Danny Casolaro's memoirs (wrong wrong)
Out the acid in the reservoirs (wrong wrong)
I'm Ron Brown's body on a T-43 (wrong wrong)
And I hid those missing WMDs (wrong wrong)

What did the president know, when did he know it?

Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know
Everything you know is, everything you know

[NightWatcher]

13. The reason they put the wacky CT's out there is to throw people off the trail of the legit ones...

Alex Jones works for the CIA. Seriously, I heard it on a weekly midnight shortwave show from a shrimp boat floating in the Gulf Of...I've said too much.

[hifiguy]

30. Was that the numbers station?

[zappaman]

54. I love the numbers station!

Used to hear those on my dad's radio when tuning.
I find it very soothing.
Did you know there is a 5 cd set of these?
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conet_Project

[Rex]

14. It is scary that there are people out there that believe that a conspiracy is impossible.

Just as sad as those the believe everything is a conspiracy. Flip side of the same pathetic coin imo.

[FLPanhandle]

16. I've never seen anyone say conspiracies are impossible

It's that CT people are unable evaluate the probability of any one conspiracy or apply Occam's Razor.

For example it's pretty simple to discount the 9/11 CTs, but the study shows some people lack the ability to distinguish "shit from shinola"

[Rex]

17. I've seen plenty of people scoff at proven CT here on DU.

So yeah...sad black and white thinkers are just alike in that manner. They can't tell the difference between a real conspiracy and a fake one (because they don't know how to be wrong) and hardcore CTers never ever admit to being wrong about their pet conspiracies. Even when shown overwhelming proof they are wrong. Seen it here year after year after year.

Coincidence? Nope, just how the mind works imo.

[FLPanhandle]

18. So, give me an example of a "proven CT" that is scoffed at?

I've been here and never seen it. Sorry.

[Rex]

20. It happened in this very thread.

Well I guess you just never noticed before.

[Humanist_Activist]

24. Which one is a proven one that was scoffed at?

There are several examples that were posted, most of them crazy, others proven(but not scoffed at), so which were proven and not scoffed at?

[Rex]

25. I'm going to let you find it, since it is obvious.

Use those critical thinking skills.

[FLPanhandle]

45. In other words...

You don't have a clue.

[Major Nikon]

49. It's the fake moon landing!

It's SO obvious you'd have to be fucking blind not to see it!

[Rex]

63. LOL!

You can't find it in your own thread? How special.

[zappaman]

78. yeah, he can't link cuz he made it up.

kinda sad.

[Rex]

84. Nonsense it is in this very thread, I guess you just don't have the ability to notice

or think critically. Not by problem. Also, I know none of you really care at all and just want to stir stir stir.

[zappaman]

87. Riiiight.

Sure Rex.

[Rex]

88. Thanks.

[zappaman]

91. Any time.

I love to point out when posters make things up, so you made me happy!!!
I owe you the thanks my friend!

[Rex]

94. Nah you are mad and all defensive cause you THINK I called you out.

So sad, but IF you think I made you happy...please keep on thinking that.

[Major Nikon]

122. You are confusing anger with hysterical laughter over your magnificent faceplant

[zappaman]

128. A beautiful face plant.

But gotta love the insults and the diversions!

[zappaman]

127. Lol!

[Major Nikon]

123. Sad in a completely hilarious kinda way

[zappaman]

57. What proven CTs have been scoffed at on DU?

Honestly don't think I've seen that so a link would be helpful!

[Rex]

65. zappaman...

[zappaman]

68. I take that to mean you can't link to any?

That's a shame.

Rex.

[Rex]

72. LOL! Like you care!

[zappaman]

76. Doubling down on your made up assertion?

Now that's funny!

[Rex]

81. Not at all, I just know you don't care one bit.

[zappaman]

85. Wouldn't it be easier to say you just made it up?

Kinda pathetic at this point.
I feel bad for you.

[FLPanhandle]

92. He is making a fool of himself

All he can do is post laughing smilies which shows he has nothing of substance to post.

He proves the study.

[Rex]

95. You are a funny one to talk.

You got all defensive when I brought up deniers and CTers being one and the same! Sorry if the joke is on you and your special little crew here.

[FLPanhandle]

98. You haven't shown anything

and you wont' even back up your assertions.

You need to remove the Spock avatar until you learn to use logic.

[Rex]

93. Nah I want you to find it in this thread, you cannot because it is beyond your denying heart.

And your projection is funny! You are so obvious.

[FLPanhandle]

101. In other words

You've got nothing.

Just like a CT loon.

[Springslips]

181. He has nothing.

Period.

[zappaman]

182. You noticed?

[FLPanhandle]

71. Don't expect a straight answer

That would require thinking and logic, not something CT fans are known for.

[Rex]

73. Awww...I am not a CT fan, nice try and keep ignoring the obvious.

I like watching you do that it is funny!

[treestar]

152. There is pretty good evidence the US interfered

in the governments of Chile or Iran. Long ago.

But that does not make it follow that all national disturbances are US caused. CT loves to think that any time there is a government overthrow the US and CIA must be behind it. It's like it can no longer just happen. Has to be the US. They will look for anything to "prove" it.

[Motown_Johnny]

19. Another attempt to discredit those who know the truth.

[hifiguy]

21. We DID land on the moon.

The FBI and the CIA are not beaming messages into our fillings or brains.
The likelihood that something like the Illuminati exists is a vanishingly low non-zero probability.
There are no dead aliens on ice in Area 54 and aliens did not build the pyramids of Egypt or Mesoamerica.
Bat Boy has never visited the White House and Elvis is still deader than a doornail.

There are some very interesting unanswered questions about 9/11 that may or may not ever be answered, most involving Little Boots, PNAC and the Saudis.

That said,
Some part of the CIA had a hand in killing JFK and probably RFK as well, possibly with Mob assistance/involvement.
The FBI was almost certainly involved in the death of MLK and probably Malcolm, too.
The banksters and billionaires are in fact greedier, more conspiratorial and crazier than we can even begin to comprehend and are, and fundamentally fascist at their rotten cores.

Beyond that I refuse to go,

[Rex]

22. So you refuse to believe everything happens in a vacuum, yet everything is also not a CT?

I knew there was a reason I liked ya!

[hifiguy]

27. I follow where the documented evidence leads

and make up my mind based on it. The "Ancient Aliens" guy is not documented, but may be certifiable.

[Rex]

29. I love the Ancient Aliens guy, he is the reason clouds look like dragons at times.

I hope he never shuts up, the hair product price alone to keep that hair up...must cost a zillion dollars! I bet he literally heard the sound of $KA-CHING$ in his mind, when he came up with Ancient Aliens.

[hifiguy]

31. At least he's harmless and somewhat entertaining.

I think the only people who believe him are the same kinds of kooks who will tell you that their Uncle Louie rubbed out Jimmy Hoffa.

One of my guiding rules in life is: Do not ascribe to malevolence that which is more readily explained by stupidity and incompetence.

[Rex]

37. Yeah totally agree with the stupidity and incompetence part.

When I was younger, I did think it was very conspiratorial. Now that I am older, I notice that was just me being idealistic and thinking very few were that stupid or incompetent. How could they rise to such positions of power then? Oh...no...okay they really are that big a moron. It is almost a letdown to find out it is due to a gaggle of idiots and not some evil brilliant masterminds. The brain doesn't want to process such distasteful information. We want to think that we are all smart, because all humans are smart. No. Not really.

[hifiguy]

38. Frank Zappa explained it well

"Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that iT is the basic building block of the universe."

Frank Zappa

[Rex]

39. NEW CT - stupidity is dark matter.

Frank Zappa is a very smart man.

[hifiguy]

40. Okay that one made me laff big time

I am a serious theoretical physics and cosmology buff.

[Rex]

41. Well it has to BE somewhere!!!

Or are we just too stupid to find it?!



I LOVE cosmology. That's why the Ancient Aliens guy always cracks me up so much!

[hifiguy]

42. Yup.

BTW, I am currently watching Alex Filippenko's Introduction to Astronomy course from the Teaching Company. Got it at the public library. Easy to see why he was voted best prof on the Cal campus more than a half-dozen times. Great watch. Some people are born to be teachers and he is one of them.

[GeorgeGist]

50. O yeah, he is excellent.

The great ones always make it seem easy.

[Quackers]

120. That's not the real Rainbow Dash!

There's no cutie mark on her flank. Where is the real Rainbow Dash? Did the aliens do this?

[awoke_in_2003]

124. No, suckage is dark matter

and it is something that Bill Paxton can tap at will. Sorry, I have an irrational hatred of BP.

[longship]

129. I prefer Douglas Adams' Dark Matter explanation.

Dark Matter is made up of all the packing materials for all the scientific equipment used to study Dark Matter.

My regards.

[reddread]

23. talk about conspiracy- Chief Gates and the LAPD

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

"Gates made substantial use of the LAPD's Public Disorder and Intelligence Division (PDID) squad, even developing an international spying operation.[7] The lawsuit CAPA v. Gates, with the Coalition Against Police Abuse (CAPA) as one of two dozen or so plaintiffs, later sued the LAPD on First Amendment grounds that exposed the unlawful harassment, surveillance, and infiltration of the progressive movement in Los Angeles by LAPD agents. The lawsuit against Gates and the LAPD proved successful. The PDID was ordered to disband, and did so in January 1983.[8] In February 1984, an out-of-court settlement awarded $1.8 million to the named plaintiffs, individuals, and organizations who had sued the City of Los Angeles [9]"

[mrdmk]

119. Here is a CT for Ya All

These two could not stand each other. But they had to share a podium with each other during the 1992 Los Angeles loot, shoot, and scout. It was fun watching them squirm being in the same room in front of the TV camera

[RKP5637]

132. +1, n/t

[freshwest]

26. CT = cult mentality in various shades for all tastes. Can't reason with a cultist. n/t

[FLPanhandle]

46. And the study confirms that. Don't even try.

They won't listen because they can't distinguish.

[freshwest]

51. Because the initial induction into the cult is praise for learning the special knowledge...

And it includes a warning that the unbelievers will try to divert them from TheTruth©. It fosters a die hard Us VS Them with a set of insults they call the unwashed under their banner.

Only the enlightened believers have TheTruth© and are smart! The rest who don't agree to join are stupid, sheeple, brainwashed and dangerous to TheTruth©.

The number of perjoratives in their quiver is vast and speaks against democracy and its imperfect processes. Meh!

[arcane1]

176. Are you talking about republicans?

[freshwest]

178. The subject was cults. There are many kinds of cults. Faux, WBC and many who refuse the label. n/t

[reddread]

28. try talking with or around a paid PR poster

those REAL folks have a message to deliver and thats all they will do.
Somehow, I dont think confused or addled folks with an eye to the skies or whatever fantasies they get hung up on are nearly the same level of problem.

Ive seen a relative of mine go on about stuff he is apparently being fed by some other concerned soul.
It serves a purpose, keeping concerned folks off balance (unbalanced as they may be) and preoccupied with
falsehoods rather than focusing on the real source of problems they cannot quite grasp the nature of.
It is hardly the buffs who are to blame here, it is an industry of illusion, fakery to poison inquisition, and
defeating discovery.

[Rex]

34. The worst CT around here is that Obama is getting ready to usurp Texas.

It has caused the preppers to buy up all the ammo or make it cost a huge amount to buy...which I find Ironic and Sad since it is that very action that causes them to turn around and blame Obama for the lack of ammo!

[Dont call me Shirley]

43. Obama has been fabulous for gun and ammo sales. The gun kooks buy buy buy when the

latest Obama conspiracy hits their inbox.

[Rex]

70. Can't do much with people that see only in black and white.

Best to just smile and move on imo. It is just sad that so many Texans fall for that CT crap.

[zappaman]

58. Ummm....that's actual true since I can provide the links that say it is.

Why do you scoff?

[Rex]

67. Aww don't take it personal, you can go on never believing a single CT like it matters.

Keep giggling about the BFEE too! It is really special when you do that.

[zappaman]

74. Really?

There are plenty of conspiracies.
In fact, if you had managed to understand the OP, which you clearly did not, you would notice the study is not about whether there are conspiracies, but how gullible people are who believe in many outlandish ones.

Sorry you couldn't back up your assertions up thread either.
Making things up is usually done by aquatic creatures with tentacles so you have learned from the best!!!

[Rex]

77. Well you would know about making up stuff far better than I.

You are the master at it!

[zappaman]

83. Wow.

You sure got me, Rex.
One day I hope to master the comeback like you.

[Rex]

86. I know I did, been doing it since I met you.

Yeah maybe one day.

[zappaman]

89. You've been making things up this whole time?

Not a surprise.

[Rex]

96. No just schooling you since I met you.

True, not a surprise.

[TexasTowelie]

103. Somebody just received a timeout. I'm juror #7.

On Thu May 21, 2015, 04:31 AM an alert was sent on the following post:

Well you would know about making up stuff far better than I.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6704163

REASON FOR ALERT

This post is disruptive, hurtful, rude, insensitive, over-the-top, or otherwise inappropriate.

ALERTER'S COMMENTS

This particular post is a personal attack. In addition, this poster is spamming the thread taunting other posters, and a hide would stop that.

You served on a randomly-selected Jury of DU members which reviewed this post. The review was completed at Thu May 21, 2015, 04:41 AM, and the Jury voted 0-7 to LEAVE IT.

Juror #1 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: I really only see Rex and Zappaman going at it. Plus this post is the one I am on a jury for, not all the posts int he thread. Sure Rex is being an ass, but so is Zappaman: Making things up is usually done by aquatic creatures with tentacles so you have learned from the best!!! http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #3 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Nuke the thread, not the post.
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: It looks like a two way spat from here Not worthy of a hide.
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: This seems pretty harmless. It might be time for the alerter to take a timeout.

Thank you very much for participating in our Jury system, and we hope you will be able to participate again in the future.

[RKP5637]

134. Yep! And the internet has provided even greater propaganda tools! n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Now you tell me to stop paying attention to those chem trails

Now on a serious note, in my back country I was told one that was beautiful and involves and underground nuclear reactor that feeds a secret military base. Now start pocking holes like oh MASSIVE amounts of water needed to keep that reactor cool and no obvious large body of water nearby... and it got even more creative.

That reminded me, do not feed the trolls.

Now I have considered using that as a basis for a short story... after patching the obvious holes or using alien technology of course.

[FLPanhandle]

47. Good point, I do give CT types credit for creativity

They can twist logic to fit their theory better than any fiction writer.

I agree, good source of fiction stories.

[RKP5637]

135. Underground nuclear reactors are causing the California drought!

Now, there is a good one!

[nadinbrzezinski]

174. Well to be honest, that would be a good explanation

since we are going though the substrate faster than... of course there are better explanations.

Now, I promise not to tell my "source." If I do, he will go scream it from the center of town!

And yes, almost every back country town has one of these guys, if not more.

[zappaman]

33. Yes, but if there is no video of a crop circle being created...

How can we explain it?

[jeff47]

80. From the video people shot creating one. (nt)

[wheniwasincongress]

145. While that is their thinking

there are lots of videos of people making crop circles, unfortunately even more videos speculating they were created by aliens!

[progressoid]

35. Dr. Happy Harry Cox "Everything You Know Is Wrong"

[stopbush]

55. JFK assassination CTs. The granddaddy of them all.

No evidence for the CTs and an ignorance of the science in the case makes for a good CT.

BTW. - there are conspiracies, of course. Lincoln's death was the result of a conspiracy. So was Anwar Sadat's. That's what the evidence shows. In the case of JFK, there is no objective evidence of a conspiracy.

[DanTex]

59. Not only is there no evidence of a JFK conspiracy, but there is a huge body of evidence

against it.

[Logical]

66. Have you been in the School Book Depository???

I have and looked out the window. It was not that difficult of a shot. TV does not show you the same perspective as actually being there does. It was not that hard. Totally plausible.

[WinkyDink]

79. Please. A cursory reading of the evidence (and viewing the Z. film) shows TREES where none now are.

"Not that difficult a shot"?! With what weapon, pray? And tell that to those who attempted to replicate it for the govt.

Moreover, the shooting, difficult or not, is not the entire story of what occurred within the TSBD re: Oswald.

Bah.

[stopbush]

113. You obviously have never read the Warren Report, because it clearly documents the fact

that the test shooters hired by the government to replicate Oswald's shots actually got the shots off faster than did Oswald, and with a high degree of accuracy. Moreover, they were able to not only replicate but better Oswald's prowess using his own rifle, misaligned site and all.

[Art_from_Ark]

125. LBJ himself had doubts about the Warren Report

[stopbush]

159. So what?

Meaningless. LBJ wasn't a scientist, nor was he a crime scene investigator, nor was he a forensics expert. He was welcome to his opinion, even if it wasn't based on evidence.

BTW - far from being a whitewash, the WCR did state that it was entirely possible that there was a conspiracy to kill JFK, but that they could find no evidence to support it. The report allowed that such evidence might be found in the future. None ever has been found.

[DanTex]

82. No, wish I had when I lived in TX.

The people I know who have been there have said the same thing as you.

[WinkyDink]

69. Well, now, see, there logically CAN'T be evidence against a conspiracy. BTW: you are simply wrong.

Even the final govt commission decided there was evidence of more than one shooter. More than one = conspiracy.

[longship]

102. All the forensic evidence led to one gun; one person.

There were three shots fired in Dallas that day. The first missed. The second hit JFK and Connely. The third hit JFK in the head, killing him nearly instantly.

The two bullets recovered matched the rifle found at the sixth floor of the a Texas Book Depository which was traceable to Oswald. He also killed a Dallas cop that afternoon, with a handgun.

The forensic evidence is overwhelming. Oswald was the shooter, the lone assassin, since the two bullets recovered at the scene came from his gun found at the scene. There might have been a hundred shooters on the grassy knoll for all anybody knows, but the two shots that hit JFK's limo were fired by Oswald from the sixth floor of the Book Depository building.

This case is long closed.

[NuclearDem]

112. Oh shit, here it comes...

Last edited Thu May 21, 2015, 09:45 AM - Edit history (1)

On edit: Yep, like fucking clockwork.

[SidDithers]

158. LOL...

Sid

[Octafish]

137. CIA memo: Concerning Criticism of the Warren Report

CIA Instructions to Media Assets

This document caused quite a stir when it was discovered in 1977. Dated 4/1/67, and marked "DESTROY WHEN NO LONGER NEEDED", this document is a stunning testimony to how concerned the CIA was over investigations into the Kennedy assassination. Emphasis has been added to facilitate scanning.

CIA Document #1035-960, marked "PSYCH" for presumably Psychological Warfare Operations, in the division "CS", the Clandestine Services, sometimes known as the "dirty tricks" department.

RE: Concerning Criticism of the Warren Report

1. Our Concern. From the day of President Kennedy's assassination on, there has been speculation about the responsibility for his murder. Although this was stemmed for a time by the Warren Commission report, (which appeared at the end of September 1964), various writers have now had time to scan the Commission's published report and documents for new pretexts for questioning, and there has been a new wave of books and articles criticizing the Commission's findings. In most cases the critics have speculated as to the existence of some kind of conspiracy, and often they have implied that the Commission itself was involved. Presumably as a result of the increasing challenge to the Warren Commission's report, a public opinion poll recently indicated that 46% of the American public did not think that Oswald acted alone, while more than half of those polled thought that the Commission had left some questions unresolved. Doubtless polls abroad would show similar, or possibly more adverse results.

2. This trend of opinion is a matter of concern to the U.S. government, including our organization. The members of the Warren Commission were naturally chosen for their integrity, experience and prominence. They represented both major parties, and they and their staff were deliberately drawn from all sections of the country. Just because of the standing of the Commissioners, efforts to impugn their rectitude and wisdom tend to cast doubt on the whole leadership of American society. Moreover, there seems to be an increasing tendency to hint that President Johnson himself, as the one person who might be said to have benefited, was in some way responsible for the assassination. Innuendo of such seriousness affects not only the individual concerned, but also the whole reputation of the American government. Our organization itself is directly involved: among other facts, we contributed information to the investigation. Conspiracy theories have frequently thrown suspicion on our organization, for example by falsely alleging that Lee Harvey Oswald worked for us. The aim of this dispatch is to provide material countering and discrediting the claims of the conspiracy theorists, so as to inhibit the circulation of such claims in other countries. Background information is supplied in a classified section and in a number of unclassified attachments.

3. Action. We do not recommend that discussion of the assassination question be initiated where it is not already taking place. Where discussion is active addresses are requested:

a. To discuss the publicity problem with and friendly elite contacts (especially politicians and editors) , pointing out that the Warren Commission made as thorough an investigation as humanly possible, that the charges of the critics are without serious foundation, and that further speculative discussion only plays into the hands of the opposition. Point out also that parts of the conspiracy talk appear to be deliberately generated by Communist propagandists. Urge them to use their influence to discourage unfounded and irresponsible speculation.

b. To employ propaganda assets to and refute the attacks of the critics. Book reviews and feature articles are particularly appropriate for this purpose. The unclassified attachments to this guidance should provide useful background material for passing to assets. Our ploy should point out, as applicable, that the critics are (I) wedded to theories adopted before the evidence was in, (II) politically interested, (III) financially interested, (IV) hasty and inaccurate in their research, or (V) infatuated with their own theories. In the course of discussions of the whole phenomenon of criticism, a useful strategy may be to single out Epstein's theory for attack, using the attached Fletcher article and Spectator piece for background. (Although Mark Lane's book is much less convincing that Epstein's and comes off badly where confronted by knowledgeable critics, it is also much more difficult to answer as a whole, as one becomes lost in a morass of unrelated details.)

4. In private to media discussions not directed at any particular writer, or in attacking publications which may be yet forthcoming, the following arguments should be useful:

a. No significant new evidence has emerged which the Commission did not consider. The assassination is sometimes compared (e.g., by Joachim Joesten and Bertrand Russell) with the Dreyfus case; however, unlike that case, the attack on the Warren Commission have produced no new evidence, no new culprits have been convincingly identified, and there is no agreement among the critics. (A better parallel, though an imperfect one, might be with the Reichstag fire of 1933, which some competent historians (Fritz Tobias, AJ.P. Taylor, D.C. Watt) now believe was set by Vander Lubbe on his own initiative, without acting for either Nazis or Communists; the Nazis tried to pin the blame on the Communists, but the latter have been more successful in convincing the world that the Nazis were to blame.)

b. Critics usually overvalue particular items and ignore others. They tend to place more emphasis on the recollections of individual witnesses (which are less reliable and more divergent--and hence offer more hand-holds for criticism) and less on ballistics, autopsy, and photographic evidence. A close examination of the Commission's records will usually show that the conflicting eyewitness accounts are quoted out of context, or were discarded by the Commission for good and sufficient reason.

c. Conspiracy on the large scale often suggested would be impossible to conceal in the United States, esp. since informants could expect to receive large royalties, etc. Note that Robert Kennedy, Attorney General at the time and John F. Kennedy's brother, would be the last man to overlook or conceal any conspiracy. And as one reviewer pointed out, Congressman Gerald R. Ford would hardly have held his tongue for the sake of the Democratic administration, and Senator Russell would have had every political interest in exposing any misdeeds on the part of Chief Justice Warren. A conspirator moreover would hardly choose a location for a shooting where so much depended on conditions beyond his control: the route, the speed of the cars, the moving target, the risk that the assassin would be discovered. A group of wealthy conspirators could have arranged much more secure conditions.

d. Critics have often been enticed by a form of intellectual pride: they light on some theory and fall in love with it; they also scoff at the Commission because it did not always answer every question with a flat decision one way or the other. Actually, the make-up of the Commission and its staff was an excellent safeguard against over-commitment to any one theory, or against the illicit transformation of probabilities into certainties.

e. Oswald would not have been any sensible person's choice for a co-conspirator. He was a "loner," mixed up, of questionable reliability and an unknown quantity to any professional intelligence service.

f. As to charges that the Commission's report was a rush job, it emerged three months after the deadline originally set. But to the degree that the Commission tried to speed up its reporting, this was largely due to the pressure of irresponsible speculation already appearing, in some cases coming from the same critics who, refusing to admit their errors, are now putting out new criticisms.

g. Such vague accusations as that "more than ten people have died mysteriously" can always be explained in some natural way e.g.: the individuals concerned have for the most part died of natural causes; the Commission staff questioned 418 witnesses (the FBI interviewed far more people, conduction 25,000 interviews and re interviews), and in such a large group, a certain number of deaths are to be expected. (When Penn Jones, one of the originators of the "ten mysterious deaths" line, appeared on television, it emerged that two of the deaths on his list were from heart attacks, one from cancer, one was from a head-on collision on a bridge, and one occurred when a driver drifted into a bridge abutment.)

5. Where possible, counter speculation by encouraging reference to the Commission's Report itself. Open-minded foreign readers should still be impressed by the care, thoroughness, objectivity and speed with which the Commission worked. Reviewers of other books might be encouraged to add to their account the idea that, checking back with the report itself, they found it far superior to the work of its critics.

Source: http://www.jfklancer.com/CIA.html

Copy of actual memo: http://www.maryferrell.org/showDoc.html?docId=24678&search=concerning_criticism+of+the+warren+report#relPageId=1&tab=page

Why I bother to post about this when so many are obviously convinced it's impossible: Because the people responsible for killing President Kennedy -- and likely his brother, Sen. Kennedy -- are still at large. One person of interest is George Herbert Walker Bush, who told the FBI he was in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. Anyone wants more examples, I'd be happy to oblige. -- Octafish

[reddread]

187. single bullet theories sure play a role

and are you saying that despite every known connection and the remarkably bizarre history of LHO,
he did it on his lonesome for some reason?
what reason would that be?
the assassination of JFK was not a conspiracy?
That is an oxymoron, and requires simultaneous belief and disbelief of official government investigations.
What a strange thing to imagine from an earnest person.
I suppose the President's brain is not the only one MIA.

[edhopper]

56. I believe these "scientists"

are conspiring to discredit conspiracies.

It's all a big conspiracy, I tell ya!

[WinkyDink]

60. Including the now-1,400 (you read that right) UK men investigated for a pedo ring, with Savile?

[Jim Lane]

62. Years ago I read a great comment about CT's

For all the various CT's to be true would require the knowledge and participation of so many people that, together, they'd constitute a majority of the U.S. population.

So, the whole thing is pretty much democratic!

[WinkyDink]

97. Do you believe J. E. Ray acted alone? Do you believe S. Sirhan fired umpteen shots when RFK wasn't

even hit from the front?

Do you think it is in the realm of coincidence that:

1. The Hinckleys are family friends of the Bushes (Neil was to dine with them the next night)?

2. The Bin Ladens are business partners of the Bushes (Poppy was in a meeting with some on 9/11/01)?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbusto_Energy

3. A "George Bush" was listed as a CIA operative in Dallas, 11/22/63, and later George Herbert Walker Bush became CIA Chief?

[Jim Lane]

172. Sorry, I'm not familiar enough with the specifics of any of these.

I'll say in general that I don't like the term "conspiracy theory" because it blurs distinctions. As to 9/11, for example, people use the phrase to dismiss LIHOP and MIHOP "inside job" theories -- but the official explanation of 9/11 is also, in the literal meaning of the term, a conspiracy theory, because it says that the attack was the result of a conspiracy.

I believe that there are real conspiracies and that there are false allegations of conspiracies. I couldn't comment on any of the specifics you raise unless I did more research than I'm willing to do.

[WinkyDink]

185. You seriously aren't "familiar enough" with the assassination of RFK?? AND choose not to do even

a cursory reading of it?

My mind is boggled. This is Democratic Underground. RFK is in the pantheon, FGS.

[Jim Lane]

194. Everyone's time is limited and we all have to make choices.

I wish I knew more about each of the topics you list, but I could easily list a few hundred more topics about which the same is true.

I wish I knew more about the history of Russia, and I happen right now to be reading a book about it. I'm up to 1861 and the emancipation of the serfs. Don't you think the emancipation of millions of Russian serfs is important?

New printed books, printed magazines and newspapers, and internet articles that would be worth my time are being published at a much faster rate than I could keep up with, even if I spent every waking hour on it.

Standing by the river of information, you and I dip our cups in at different places. That's just human nature. I'm not claiming my choice is better; in fact, I hope you find your drink refreshing.

[whatchamacallit]

99. You know what would be awesome?

If they didn't actually do this, but just claimed to have to see how many folks like you would buy it. 😝

[Initech]

105. I would love to test this theory on my Alex Jones loving friends.

[edgineered]

106. Can't find it in English, but it goes something like this (Gary Larson - The Far Side):

The lone sheep says he thinks the farmer and the dog are working together. The other sheep replies that the lone sheep thinks everything is a conspiracy.

Someone please translate!

[link:|

[bravenak]

107. The first sheep is like, it's like I told you, the dog and the man are working together.

And the group of sheep are like , yeah right, you and your conspiracies. So much nonsnse!
I have no idea why i cannot translate verbatim.
I suck at translating. But that's basically what it is.

[edgineered]

109. Thanks bravenak!

Saw this 25 years ago in English, couldn't remember the words.

[bravenak]

110. You had it remembered pretty good for 25 years.

[Kalidurga]

126. I found this

[edgineered]

146. Sweet, that's something easily understood -

right down to those two being in cohoots!

[joshcryer]

130. Jet fuel doesn't melt steel.

[NuclearDem]

154. Let me get my chicken wire and I'll prove it!

[anti partisan]

133. The broad phrase "conspiracy theorists" is constantly used to quash dissenting, PROGRESSIVE opinions

Yeah sure there's your right-wing wackos but call them what they are - wingnuts. Every time we ridicule "conspiracy theorists" we are also indirectly ridiculing those who have legitimate grievances with the government.

[Octafish]

138. Like when the CIA hired the Mafia to kill Castro in 1960, yet still blames JFK for it?

If things had gone according to plan, Nixon would've been president during the Bay of Pigs and would've sent in the Marines, along with the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, making Allen Dulles and Meyer Lansky and all their rich and corrupt friends very, very happy.

AUG 1960: Richard Bissell meets with Colonel Sheffield Edwards, director of the CIA's Office of Security, and discusses with him ways to eliminate or assassinate Fidel Castro. Edwards proposes that the job be done by assassins hand-picked by the American underworld, specifically syndicate interests who have been driven out of their Havana gambling casinos by the Castro regime. Bissell gives Edwards the go-ahead to proceed. Between August 1960, and April 1961, the CIA with the help of the Mafia pursues a series of plots to poison or shot Castro. The CIA’s own internal report on these efforts states that these plots "were viewed by at least some of the participants as being merely one aspect of the over-all active effort to overthrow the regime that culminated in the Bay of Pigs." (CIA, Inspector General's Report on Efforts to Assassinate Fidel Castro, p. 3, 14)

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html

Details on the actual sit-down:

Ever wonder about the sanity of America's leaders? Take a close look at perhaps the most bizarre plot in U.S. intelligence history

By Bryan Smith
Chicago Magazine
November 2007
(page 4 of 6)

EXCERPT...

By September 1960, the project was proceeding apace. Roselli would report directly to Maheu. The first step was a meeting in New York. There, at the Plaza Hotel, Maheu introduced Roselli to O'Connell. The agent wanted to cover up the participation of the CIA, so he pretended to be a man named Jim Olds who represented a group of wealthy industrialists eager to get rid of Castro so they could get back in business.

"We may know some people," Roselli said. Several weeks later, they all met at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. For years, the luxurious facility had served as the unofficial headquarters for Mafioso leaders seeking a base close to their gambling interests in Cuba. Now, it would be the staging area for the assassination plots.

At a meeting in one of the suites, Roselli introduced Maheu to two men: Sam Gold and a man Roselli referred to as Joe, who could serve as a courier to Cuba. By this time, Roselli was on to O'Connell. "I'm not kidding," Roselli told the agent one day. "I know who you work for. But I'm not going to ask you to confirm it."

Roselli may have figured out that he was dealing with the CIA, but neither Maheu nor O'Connell realized the rank of mobsters with whom they were dealing. That changed when Maheu picked up a copy of the Sunday newspaper supplement Parade, which carried an article laying out the FBI's ten most wanted criminals. Leading the list was Sam Giancana, a.k.a. "Mooney," a.k.a. "Momo," a.k.a. "Sam the Cigar," a Chicago godfather who was one of the most feared dons in the country—and the man who called himself Sam Gold. "Joe" was also on the list. His real name, however, was Santos Trafficante—the outfit's Florida and Cuba chieftain.

Maheu alerted O'Connell. "My God, look what we're involved with," Maheu said. O'Connell told his superiors. Questioned later before the 1975 U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (later nicknamed the Church Committee after its chairman, Frank Church, the Democratic senator from Idaho), O'Connell was asked whether there had ever been any discussion about asking two men on the FBI's most wanted list to carry out a hit on a foreign leader.

"Not with me there wasn't," O'Connell answered.

"And obviously no one said stop—and you went ahead."

"Yes."

"Did it bother you at all?"

"No," O'Connell answered, "it didn't."

CONTINUED...

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2007/How-the-CIA-Enlisted-the-Chicago-Mob-to-Put-a-Hit-on-Castro/index.php?cparticle=4&siarticle=3

Yet, the Mighty Wurlitzer plays the false tune that Kennedy was the guy who wanted Castro dead.

Spies: Ex-CIA Agent In Raleigh Says Castro Knew About JFK Assassination Ahead Of Time

Former CIA agent and author Brian Latell in Raleigh

By The Raleigh Telegram

RALEIGH – A noted former Central Intelligence Agency officer, author, and scholar who is intimately knowledgeable about Cuba and Fidel Castro, says he believes there is evidence that Castro’s government knew about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 ahead of time.

SNIP...

Robert Kennedy, as the Attorney General of the United States, was in charge of the operation, said Latell. Despite the United States’ best efforts, the operation was nonetheless penetrated by Cuban intelligence agents, said Latell.

Latell said there were two serious assassination attempts by the United States against Castro that even used members of the mafia to help, but both of them were obviously unsuccessful.

He also said that there was a plot by the United States to have Castro jabbed with a pen containing a syringe filled with a very effective poison. Latell said that he believes the experienced assassin who worked for Castro who originally agreed to the plan may have been a double agent. After meeting with a personal representative of Robert Kennedy in Paris, the man knew that the plan to assassinate Castro came from the highest levels of the government, including John F. and Robert Kennedy.

The plan was never carried out, as the man later defected to the United States, but with so many double agents working for Castro also pledging allegiance to the CIA, Latell said it was likely that the information got back to Havana that the Kennedy brothers endorsed that plot with the pen.

CONTINUED...

http://raleightelegram.com/201209123311

Which to an amateur detective interested in justice would seem like a lead worth pursuing -- even if it doesn't fit in with my preconceived world view that the government of the United States never engages in a conspiracy, besides all those times its lied the American people into war.

[treestar]

139. It is like an echo chamber. They get so certain.

And can't believe you actually believe the "official version" or don't question it all that much.

Human error occurs all the time; CTs always take it as meaning there's some plan.

[Gothmog]

148. Flat earthers are sad people

[WilliamPitt]

149. I don't believe it.

[SidDithers]

151. So many of DU's conspiracy theorists have come and gone over the years...

Look back in some of the threads in the old Dungeon, at DU2, and look at the names of the CTers that have been banned over the years. They gave us so very much comedy gold during their time here.

Thankfully, some of the biggest tin-foil loons are still with us, promoting their own special brand of cuckoo both in the new Dungeon, and in GD.



Sid

[Major Nikon]

163. Little green men have the USAF terrified!

It's twue, it's twue! The crop circles prove it!

[SidDithers]

165. My all-time favourite...

Long live spooked911!



Sid

[zappaman]

171. Many CTs are rooted in anti-semitism.

Poor Spooked went down the rabbit hole and now questions the holocaust.
I guess if you start relying and taking seriously anti-Semitic sources, you eventually end up with them.
Sad.

[Behind the Aegis]

173. Yes they are.

I noticed how many conspiracy theories tie back to the NWO and Illuminati nuttiness, both which are heavily invested in anti-Semitic pillars. The old anti-Semitic stereotypes and lies still flourish today, but are often disguised or go by another name. Some CTs are real, some are not, the intelligent will be open to discussing the ones which have at least some root in truth as opposed to the ones which are mired in fantasy and start with the answer and work backwards. Also, I think sometimes CT and cover-ups are oten confused or become blurred with mis/disinformation.

[zappaman]

175. Sad when CTers have to link to an anti-semite to help "prove" their theory.

[Behind the Aegis]

177. That's because they really are this...

[zappaman]

179. Yup.

[WinkyDink]

186. I find humor in the Coincidence Theorists, personally.

[brooklynite]

153. Well you can't trust SCIENTISTS...

...they're all part of this big conspiracy see, and.....

[Octafish]

155. Like at the FBI.

Faked an entire field of forensics.

Don't hear much about it on the tee vee, coincidentally.

[Rex]

193. Well you know...some CTs bad, some good...depends on who you talk to.

Binary thinkers abound on all sides. Notice how defensive the usual suspects get when I bring up CT deniers? How totally pathetic right? You would think I was talking about them the way they slapped their knee so hard it hurt...

[HassleCat]

157. Well, yeah

"In other words, the conspiracy theorists couldn’t differentiate between sarcasm and legitimately held conspiracy theories." That's because there is no difference.

[pintobean]

161. If contrails are in the sky for more than four hours...

...bonus.

[SidDithers]

166. Just spray 'em with vinegar...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002128567



Sid

[pintobean]

168. ...

It's a shame the meta threads related to that aren't available.

[Buzz Clik]

162. Yes, indeedy.

And some conspiracy theories sound kinda science-like, and people believe those just as passionately.

Vaccinate your kids lately?

Care to chow down on some frankenfood?

[Major Nikon]

167. Spider tomatoes!

Won't someone think of the rats!?!

[Andy823]

170. Well that explains it

I have always wondered why the anti Obama, anti Hillary, anti democratic party, doom and gloom posters received so many rec's, now I know!

[Sunlei]

191. This could be one of their 'test topic posts'