Author Topic: Interesting videos  (Read 8439 times)

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Offline waldo

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #15 on: July 15, 2018, 12:04:26 pm »
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Offline SirJohn

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #16 on: July 15, 2018, 02:21:12 pm »

It might actually have some affect on the kind of dummies who would watch this hoping it was real. To be 100% honest, I watched the first few seconds, just long enough to get the name of the guy and then google it along with "cancer conspiracy theories". and then just  his name and 'cancer'.

Because anyone who has a reasonably good grip on reality would know that the idea there's a world-wide conspiracy among the medical and pharmaceautical industries to supress an easy, well-known cure for cancer is total bullshit. It makes no sense and is completely impossible. It is a sad indictment of our educational system and society that so many millions fall for this crap.

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Offline kimmy

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #17 on: July 15, 2018, 02:54:06 pm »
It might actually have some affect on the kind of dummies who would watch this hoping it was real. To be 100% honest, I watched the first few seconds, just long enough to get the name of the guy and then google it along with "cancer conspiracy theories". and then just  his name and 'cancer'.

Because anyone who has a reasonably good grip on reality would know that the idea there's a world-wide conspiracy among the medical and pharmaceautical industries to supress an easy, well-known cure for cancer is total bullshit. It makes no sense and is completely impossible. It is a sad indictment of our educational system and society that so many millions fall for this crap.

This isn't a new thing.  In days gone by some people believed there was a plot by oil companies to hide a "100 mile per gallon carburetor", or cars that could run on water, or so on, from the public. "A scientist invented it, but he mysteriously vanished, and the only prototype vanished too, and all his research notes were destroyed in a fire!" 


I have an uncle who believes in all kinds of new age mumbo-jumbo.  Over the years he's been into every kind of hokum. Once upon a time he had me demonstrate one of those magnetic bracelets that supposedly give you energy or chi or some ****.  He had me hold out my arm and pushed down on it. Then he had me wear the magnetic bracelet, and lo and behold he couldn't push my arm down anymore. Magic! It really works! Wow.  Last year when I saw him he had been reading about some blueprints for a perpetual energy machine that Nikola Tesla had invented.  Edison suppressed the design for many years, to protect his electrical business. But finally the lost blueprints have been discovered! And for just a few hundred dollars you can buy the blueprints from Some Guy On The Internet who has mysteriously come into possession of them! Wow!  This technology would revolutionize the world, but incredibly, only some random guy on the internet has the secret to it.

My uncle was, perhaps not coincidentally, one of the guys who jumped hard on the Trump bandwagon, believing El Trumpo to be a superhero fighting against a secret elite cabal who have been gaming the system against us little-people for centuries.

And that seems to be a recurring theme... whether it's "the elite cabal" or "big government" or "the Rothschilds" or "big pharma" or "big oil" or "the scientific establishment" or Thomas Edison and "big electrical", there's always an "evil enemy" that's oppressing us little-people in these theories. I feel like that's one of the key hooks that gets people to buy in. People want to feel like they're joining some kind of movement to rebel against oppression.  And I feel like another aspect is that people love to think that they've discovered something that other people don't know. People love feeling like they're in on a secret. I think that's a big part of the allure of these scams.  "Doctors don't want you to know about this one simple trick!" or similar phrases appear in so many ads.  It draws people like a magnetc... and I know my uncle is someone who likes the feeling of thinking he's discovered something the rest of us don't know.

And my uncle isn't a dumb guy, per se. He's not a drop-out, he's had successful business ventures, he's done pretty well.  I don't understand why he falls for this stuff, but I don't think it's lack of education or lack of intelligence.  Somewhere along the way he either didn't develop the ability to think critically, or whatever critical thinking he developed got overwhelmed by his enthusiasm for magical thinking.


In a similar vein to waldo's video... probably most Canadians around my age will remember seeing this on TV:



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Offline kimmy

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #18 on: July 15, 2018, 02:56:17 pm »
a superhero fighting against a secret elite cabal who have been gaming the system against us little-people for centuries.

And that seems to be a recurring theme... whether it's "the elite cabal" or "big government" or "the Rothschilds" or "big pharma" or "big oil" or "the scientific establishment" or Thomas Edison and "big electrical", there's always an "evil enemy" that's oppressing us little-people in these theories. I feel like that's one of the key hooks that gets people to buy in. People want to feel like they're joining some kind of movement to rebel against oppression.  And I feel like another aspect is that people love to think that they've discovered something that other people don't know. People love feeling like they're in on a secret.

This is basically also the pitch behind Scientology, isn't it?

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Offline wilber

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #19 on: July 15, 2018, 04:58:32 pm »
It might actually have some affect on the kind of dummies who would watch this hoping it was real. To be 100% honest, I watched the first few seconds, just long enough to get the name of the guy and then google it along with "cancer conspiracy theories". and then just  his name and 'cancer'.

Because anyone who has a reasonably good grip on reality would know that the idea there's a world-wide conspiracy among the medical and pharmaceautical industries to supress an easy, well-known cure for cancer is total bullshit. It makes no sense and is completely impossible. It is a sad indictment of our educational system and society that so many millions fall for this crap.

Like the 100 mile per gallon carburetor.
"Never trust a man without a single redeeming vice" WSC

Offline kimmy

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #20 on: July 15, 2018, 07:41:59 pm »
Like the 100 mile per gallon carburetor.

What are some other popular conspiracy theories that people used to believe in?

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Offline Omni

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #21 on: July 15, 2018, 07:48:06 pm »
George Bush blew up the WTC?

Offline Omni

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #22 on: July 15, 2018, 08:04:12 pm »
Here are a few more. Why am I not surprised that Hannity FOX Faux news are featured in this list?

http://www.****.com/pictofacts-848-dumb-conspiracy-theories-with-awful-real-world-consequences/

Offline kimmy

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #23 on: July 15, 2018, 08:20:00 pm »
George Bush blew up the WTC?

I was more interested in something that old-people would know about, the sort of stuff that people talked about before the internet.

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Offline kimmy

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #24 on: July 15, 2018, 08:26:45 pm »
Here are a few more. Why am I not surprised that Hannity FOX Faux news are featured in this list?

http://www.****.com/pictofacts-848-dumb-conspiracy-theories-with-awful-real-world-consequences/

The idea that AIDS was a plot by western governments to destroy Africa is a great one, and the Know-Nothing movement in 19th century New York believing that there was a Catholic plot to conquer America is an interesting example as well.

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Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #25 on: July 15, 2018, 09:13:02 pm »
What are some other popular conspiracy theories that people used to believe in?

 -k

The much-quoted standard on this topic is: "The Paranoid Style in American Politics By Richard Hofstadter"

Looks like an excerpt is here: https://harpers.org/archive/1964/11/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics/

One of the big ones that are now forgotten is the "Free Silver" conspiracy theory.  Somebody had the idea that the government's plan to go off the silver standard in the 19th century was a secret plot against farmers, and it became a major issue.  When you read about it, it rings true and you might think some of the arguments used back then were ripped from the internet circa 2018.

Well.... what happened ?  It faded away, because it was all bullshit.

Offline Omni

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #26 on: July 15, 2018, 09:13:14 pm »
There is a guy who shows up at table from time to time at our local who is thoroughly convinced no one was shot in Orlando, simply because he saw no photo's of dead bodies being removed. I have tried to show way out of his dungeon of dumbness, to no avail. I find that a bit scary, especially since he works at a factory that builds airplanes.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #27 on: July 15, 2018, 09:15:11 pm »
There is a guy who shows up at table from time to time at our local who is thoroughly convinced no one was shot in Orlando, simply because he saw no photo's of dead bodies being removed. I have tried to show way out of his dungeon of dumbness, to no avail. I find that a bit scary, especially since he works at a factory that builds airplanes.

I'm more and more convinced that democracy should be designed to discourage people like this from participating.  The thing is, there is no predominance of right or left in the uninformed despite what some say.  The proof is that we elect Clinton for 2 terms, then Bush for 2, then Obama.

Offline Michael Hardner

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #28 on: July 15, 2018, 09:15:26 pm »
Come to think of it, democracy sucks.

Offline TimG

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Re: Interesting videos
« Reply #29 on: July 15, 2018, 09:28:07 pm »
I'm more and more convinced that democracy should be designed to discourage people like this from participating.
And who gets to decide who is "informed" and who is not? Give government a weapon like that and it *will* be used to silence legitimate political debate.

Come to think of it, democracy sucks.
Compared to what exactly? China's police state that seems to think Orwell's 1984 was an instruction manual? Or Russia's kleptocracy where inventing creative ways to kill government critics is national sport?
« Last Edit: July 15, 2018, 09:30:17 pm by TimG »