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So you are going to shut down discussion, while accusing “anti-theorists” of doing so. And you’re shutting down discussion because I’m a moral degenerate in that I work to protect powerful conspiracies. And yet your favourite examples of conspiracy theory need to be protected from challenge. Have I understood what you’re saying here? I hope you’re starting to see the problem.
Here’s one of my earliest comments on this site, from 2009 – link
And here’s me twelve years ago when I was a moderator here, exposing sock puppetry by a conspiracy theorist – link 1 – link 2
This is an influential blog, and what matters to me is that arguments and evidence presented here are robust. The mode of thought called conspiracy theory produces flimsy arguments based on the thinnest of evidence, because the sense of superiority and forbidden knowledge enjoyed by conspiracy theorists prevents them from seeing their own errors. I expect that my remarks seem patronising; I apologise for that, but there is no easy way. In the hope that it helps, I almost disappeared down the Twin Towers “controlled demolition” rabbit hole myself; it was Craig who helped pull me out by deleting a load of my nonsense and then posting on the matter himself, for which I am very grateful.
So don’t be too ashamed; put it down to experience, laugh a little at our shared human frailty, and above all keep climbing!. Conspiracy theory is a known vulnerability of human minds, we’re all susceptible, it’s an inevitability due to the interaction of healthy suspicion with one’s ego, which itself is an inevitability of mental development.
A post by Professor Tom Murphy has just helped me understand why conspiracy theorists so rarely criticise each other’s incompatible takes on the same event, preferring to join forces to attack anyone they see as promoting the non-existent monolith they all call “the official narrative”:
– “Rather than denigrating the people who subscribe to Flat-Earth beliefs, I’ll focus on observation. I’m not aiming to convince Flat-Earthers; nothing I say (as an obvious shill for the mega-conspiracy) can replace the sense of community and unconditional support they receive from their FE-family. Any of us might go to extremes of twisted and easily-refuted logic to preserve what’s most important to us. Modernity fails humans in countless ways — loss of intimate tribe being among them. We can forgive those seeking to recapture what’s been lost.”
You might enjoy the late great Patrick Moore’s book Can you speak Venusian?: A guide to the independent thinkers. It can be read on internet archive.
Thanks MJ. If I ever get time :-/
