Are conspiracy theorists wrong about almost everything?

Ooh. I just posted this on another thread (on David Icke). Sorry I missed this thread because it seems to be spot on.

I'm reposting here. (Is that allowed? Apologies if not - I'm new here!) Thank you to those questioning how this podcast is going. I'm supportive. And, by the way, yes, some conspiracies are real, although not necessarily conscious. One I'd highlight is the oil companies denial of global warming throughout the 80s, 90s, and 00s, despite the fact they (in particular Exxon) absolutely knew it was real.

I’ve only just come across Skeptiko and was really enjoying some of the earlier episodes with people like Dean Radin, Rupert Sheldrake and ‘sceptics’ such as James Alcock and Stephen Novella. These interviews were really informative, insightful and constructive.

So I thought I’d look at more recent episodes and came across the one on David Icke. Where did the emphasis on peer-reviewed science and critical thinking go?! That’s the strength of parapsychology. However, well-evidenced science certainly isn’t Icke’s strong point as he seems to grab onto whatever theory might support his global conspiracy schtick even if it’s only one or two lone doctors on YouTube. As I write, the health service in the UK is at breaking point because of COVID-19. I know people who’ve been seriously ill with COVID-19, and I have relatives who work in the NHS, and this first-hand knowledge (as well as an ability for critical thinking) makes me certain that this is not made up.

I’m not in favour of banning anyone, but you don’t have to give Icke and similar airtime, particularly with such a fawning attitude and lack of critical questioning. Many of his views are harmless (some I’d even support) but when we’re dealing with a global health crisis (and indeed global warming) they are downright dangerous.

What especially concerns me is people saying in this thread that they’re not wearing masks or practising social distancing because of theories such as these. You’re welcome to hold different views (hey and don’t take the vaccine if you don’t want to), but, out of compassion, kindness, respect for those who hold differing views, and the precautionary principle, if nothing else, please help to protect others’ health by following the guidelines. Thanks for listening! Love and peace.
 
...there is an overwhelming abundance of peer-reviewed science that shows it is real.

Your trust that peer-reviewed Science cannot be fraudulent is misplaced.

It causes you to think that taxing the crap out of poor people and transfering that wealth to rich people can change the earth's climate in any significant way.
 
What especially concerns me is people saying in this thread that they’re not wearing masks or practising social distancing because of theories such as these. You’re welcome to hold different views (hey and don’t take the vaccine if you don’t want to), but, out of compassion, kindness, respect for those who hold differing views, and the precautionary principle, if nothing else, please help to protect others’ health by following the guidelines. Thanks for listening! Love and peace.


No.

Be as concerned as you like. You don't get to tell others what to do.
 
No.

Be as concerned as you like. You don't get to tell others what to do.
If their actions might be harmful to me, then I would expect laws to be passed, and adhered to. Just like someone is not allowed to hit me or shoot me or run me over, etc. So laws have been passed to keep us safe(r). I'm just asking for consideration...
 
If their actions might be harmful to me, then I would expect laws to be passed, and adhered to. Just like someone is not allowed to hit me or shoot me or run me over, etc. So laws have been passed to keep us safe(r). I'm just asking for consideration...

Laws that destroy human life, freedom and dignity. Cause increases of suicide. Ruination of economies and peoples ability to earn, and thus live.

You will get consideration no longer based on the above factors and many other tangible and not yet seen things. Your desire for safety and security at the cost of everything else, is an abomination. We are far past the point of consideration.
 
If their actions might be harmful to me, then I would expect laws to be passed, and adhered to. Just like someone is not allowed to hit me or shoot me or run me over, etc. So laws have been passed to keep us safe(r). I'm just asking for consideration...
How about idiots?

Idiots can- and do - harm others in all kinds of ways. They can - and do - cause harm when engaged in activities that non-idiots manage to execute safely.

Should idiots be made illegal? - perhaps removed to their own realm (Africa?) for the protection of others? Simply killed off?

What about dangerous ideas? They say the pen is mightier than the sword. Should ideas that might be harmful to you be made illegal?

What about idiots with pens? A double danger if there ever was one!

Your precious survival is on the line after all. Think about this carefully!
 
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Laws that destroy human life, freedom and dignity. Cause increases of suicide. Ruination of economies and peoples ability to earn, and thus live.

You will get consideration no longer based on the above factors and many other tangible and not yet seen things. Your desire for safety and security at the cost of everything else, is an abomination. We are far past the point of consideration.
Diver,
Sadly many people only look at one side of the equation. The concept of costs and benefits escapes them entirely. They are even very bad at calculating and weighing risks in their lopsided assessments. Forget about unforeseen consequences. Waaaaaaay over their heads.
 
Diver,
Sadly many people only look at one side of the equation. The concept of costs and benefits escapes them entirely. They are even very bad at calculating and weighing risks in their lopsided assessments. Forget about unforeseen consequences. Waaaaaaay over their heads.

I know Eric. I must fight however, or else I genuinely will go insane. My mental health is not great. How much longer we all can take from this, I don't know. Boris the clown has just announced a new Tier 5 with stricter restrictions.

Unfortunately these people decide that they know what's best for everyone else, when they are either educated beyond their intelligence, or are simpletons who are in denial and are partaking in a mass hysteria and stockholm syndrome. It's so bleedin' obvious.

I feel I may snap if one day I am criminalised for wanting to see my loved ones and I get arrested. How dare these middling IDIOTS take that ability away from me. You have no idea the contempt I have.

Playing. With. Fire.
 
I know Eric. I must fight however, or else I genuinely will go insane. My mental health is not great. How much longer we all can take from this, I don't know. Boris the clown has just announced a new Tier 5 with stricter restrictions.

Unfortunately these people decide that they know what's best for everyone else, when they are either educated beyond their intelligence, or are simpletons who are in denial and are partaking in a mass hysteria and stockholm syndrome. It's so bleedin' obvious.

I feel I may snap if one day I am criminalised for wanting to see my loved ones and I get arrested. How dare these middling IDIOTS take that ability away from me. You have no idea the contempt I have.

Playing. With. Fire.

Hang in there. I agree this cannot last.

Related - I was saying earlier today that the problem with idiots is that they are too stupid to know they are stupid. Thus they strut about overconfident in their "knowledge" (such that it is) and fearlessly go where intelligent people, recognizing their own limits, understanding unintended consequences and that there are a host of costs and benefits that must be assessed, are cautious and perhaps even too timid to rashly enter. While the intelligent person pauses and assesses deeply, the idiot dauntlessly hurries forth.

Then I was informed that there is something called "The Dunning Kruger Effect" that basically states what I did. Nothing new under the sun, I guess.
 
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I knew of the Dunning Kruger Effect and considered many times that it has applied to me on various occasions. However,

I feel this was sort of new information to me. This was more on point with what seems to be going on today. This educated idiot syndrome....


Prof. Edward Dutton. Fairly controversial because of many topics, on which I think he can miss the script by not integrating the emotional and spiritual, however you want to define that, but this just seemed to stick with me......


 
I knew of the Dunning Kruger Effect and considered many times that it has applied to me on various occasions. However,

I feel this was sort of new information to me. This was more on point with what seems to be going on today. This educated idiot syndrome....


Prof. Edward Dutton. Fairly controversial because of many topics, on which I think he can miss the script by not integrating the emotional and spiritual, however you want to define that, but this just seemed to stick with me......



Yeah, I've worked hard to not fall into Dunning Kruger myself. Still slip from time to time. We probably all do.

Mid-wits and and educated idiots - LOL.

Would be a good follow-on to some old researchers - they are all stupid, but what kind of stupid?

Idiot, imbecile, and moron.
By Doll, Edgar A.
Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 20(4), Aug 1936, 427-437
Abstract
A threefold criterion is necessary for diagnosis of feeble-mindedness, namely, social incompetence, intellectual incompetence, and developmental arrest. "Idiocy, imbecility, and moronity are not mere successive stages of a mental age continuum, but are different categories of a common condition differing qualitatively as well as quantitatively from each other." Analysis of the above criteria of feeble-mindedness leads to the conclusion that some confusion now existing in diagnosis of mental status will be cleared up by such an instrument as the Vineland social maturity scale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
 
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Idiot, imbecile, and moron.

When I worked for the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation in the 90's I had to process old case histories that used those technical terms.

In the 1960's they changed the Mental Retardation Scale to a more politically correct: Mild - Moderate - Severe - Profound
 
Okay. Not my effort. Stolen from another website I must admit. But it gave me a chuckle. Might b sum truth to dat!


Male midwits are more likely to get intellectually or physically pummeled for their impropriety. Low and high IQ men are more likely to engage the petty thoughts of a smug, male midwit and strike them down. The midwits, therefore, have developed a survival strategy to keep their betters in check. Relying on the strength of their NPC midwit legions for back-up, they chastise others with statements like “Of course you’d believe [Insert: Statistic], you’re white!” or “How dare you [Insert: Factual Statement], you bigot!” The midwits, dumb as they are, know that they can rely on the civility and safety of our modern era to prohibit you from knocking their teeth out, or from calling them [Insert: Locker Room Slur] because your job or girlfriend doesn’t like that word and you’ll be alone and penniless.

You cannot reason with the midwit. Their intelligence is just enough to scale the walls of the pit, but not enough to see the light above. Because of this, they are robbed of both the higher state and the foundational truths that the low IQs can feel in their genetics. “Alcohol is a disinfectant and I drink plenty of it, so why would I need some vaccine against a beer virus? My immune system works just fine” says the low IQ hayseed Chad. The midwit reacts violently to this statement because the midwit doctors on television said you have to get it, just trust the science, bro. Those higher IQ chaps, who dive into the science behind it, reach much the same conclusion (as their low IQ cousins) after their research on the dubious nature of mRNA vaccines and the overblown statistics on COVID danger. The midwit’s propensity to be led by other midwits, whom they see as authority figures, gilds the lily of their thoughts. This reinforcement only adds more blinders to their minds, directing what they should think or feel. The higher IQs understand the futility associated with convincing the midwits, and often avoid wrestling it out in the mud. The midwits, though they dominate more and more of the overall conversation, miss the forest for the trees.

Of course, there are those with higher IQs among the upper echelons pulling the strings of the midwit horde. These sociopathic, or psychopathic, puppeteers are aware of the grift and throw their resources behind it because they understand the value in doing so. By controlling the horde now, they can reign as kings on earth, damn the consequences, after all, there is no afterlife where one might burn for eternity for their sins.

In times like this, with abundant trials and tribulations for low and high IQ men to face, we must rely more and more on thinking or feeling out what is good and what is evil, while the midwits are told that everything is grey and that there are no absolutes.

We have an epidemic of Mid-Wits in the population, enabling lockdowns.
 
I just got back from a trip to Top Golf with my college/high school age kids (and my daughter's boyfriend) and a subsequent trip to a BBQ Wings joint. Everyone was wearing masks and following common sense distancing rules. When we were in our golf "bay" we dropped the masks. When we were at our table in the Wings joint we dropped our masks.

Literally, cost us nothing. No freedoms, no destruction of our lives, no nothing. Just a simple act no different than putting on a seat belt in terms of thought or inconvenience.

It seems that is what Mike Daw was suggesting.

Can we dispense with the melodramatics regarding such trivial things?
 
His objection to the practice boiled down to, and I quote: "...definitely not a fun way to live life."

Ah, well that an astute observation and probably one reason for my general aversion to conspiracy theories. The more important reason however is that I haven't found the credible in my (admittedly limited) explorations. I'm fully willing to accept whatever brute facts are on offer, I just don't see most theories (including the ones I mentioned) clearing that bar. That said, I'm open to be convinced. @Charlie Primero I'm curious, what is your favorite conspiracy theory and could you point me to references that I could consume in less than, say, a few hours?
 
I just got back from a trip to Top Golf with my college/high school age kids (and my daughter's boyfriend) and a subsequent trip to a BBQ Wings joint. Everyone was wearing masks and following common sense distancing rules. When we were in our golf "bay" we dropped the masks. When we were at our table in the Wings joint we dropped our masks.

Literally, cost us nothing. No freedoms, no destruction of our lives, no nothing. Just a simple act no different than putting on a seat belt in terms of thought or inconvenience.

It seems that is what Mike Daw was suggesting.

Can we dispense with the melodramatics regarding such trivial things?


Good for you.

And no, I will not dispense with anything. I'm living through some of the most blatant psychological abuse in modern history, and the opinion of someone who cannot, does not and will not see how millions are stuck in a purgatory of insanity, poverty and hysteria, isn't worth much to me.
 
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