Korean Job Discussion Forums

[regicide]

Conspiracy theories arise from evidence. After the government releases an explanation of a particular event, a conspiracy theory is only born because evidence exists to disprove their explanation, or at least call it into question. There's nothing insane about it, unless you define sanity as believing whatever the government tells you. In light of the fact that our government lies to us regularly, I would define believing everything they tell you as utter stupidity.

Everyone has heard, and has probably used the term "conspiracy theorist," and the fact of the term being in common use, also indicates that we generally agree on what it means. I saw a movie by that name, and the title character was a raving lunatic who kept his food in thermoses with combination locks to reduce his chances of being poisoned by imaginary enemies.

Regardless of how the stupid movie turned out, what's important here is the common perception people have of someone to whom that label is applied, and just as important, is who it is that applies the label. The common perception is that someone who is labeled a "conspiracy theorist" is suffering from some type of psychological disorder, and that label is usually applied to people by our government, and our news media. The next thing to consider, is that the label is applied to anyone who questions our government's version of events in any matter. Doesn't it logically follow that the media are teaching us to assume that anyone who questions the government is insane? When that label is applied to a person, doesn't it become easy to dismiss everything they say without even hearing it? How convenient for them.

I think the label first became widely used to slander people who questioned the details surrounding the JFK assassination, and forty years later, there aren't too many thinking people who still believe the Warren Commission's "lone gunman" explanation. That explanation is doubted by everyone who has taken the time to look into the details, and believed only by people who refuse to.

Now look at this: Gopher is calling us pederasts and drug abusers since we don't believe everything the government tells us. This is exactly the nonsense and closed mindedness that we need to be fearful of.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Most of the time I don't take conspiracy theorists seriously and enjoy poking fun at them. But there is a serious side to it all, especially as I'm getting the impression that there are more and more of these people.

I was reminded of the story of Chicken Little and looked it up on the internet. It's been quite a few decades since I read it and have forgotten all the details. What I came across was the Wiki article, which said something that struck me as going to the heart of the danger of conspiracy theories:

"The sky is falling," has passed into the English language as a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent... In other versions the moral is usually interpreted to mean "do not believe everything you are told". In the latter case, it could well be a cautionary political tale: Chicken Little jumps to a conclusion and whips the populace into mass hysteria, which the unscrupulous fox uses to manipulate them for his own benefit."

It's the bolded part that got me thinking: Are the numbers of conspiracy theorists so large now that they offer an unscrupulous politician an opening to do some real damage?

[loose_ends]

[bacasper]

[cbclark4]

Can we get little self moderation here.

This is not a current event.

This is an awful topic and quite redundant.

The operative word is "Current" when we speak of current event we
usually think of something that is in the news, not the most overwhelming
current flamage available.

[Pligganease]

[Dome Vans]

[loose_ends]

[deadman]

[Pligganease]

[igotthisguitar]

[JMO]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[JMO]

Its always funny that in these shows, the guy who everybody thinks is crazy is actually right..the lone nut. In real life actually most people probably agree with him, but he's wrong. Wierd contrast.