Last year I started putting up on this page one video per week.
Now I've had a lot of videos on here that were just great, and today I've decided to have a look back at what I consider to be the five best videos of the week for 2013:
5. Alex Jones As Alien Lizard Explains Obamacare
Probably every skeptic around the world knows who Alex Jones. While many skeptic bloggers have atleast written up a couple of articles to either discredit him and/or show what kind of a fool he is, still by far the best person to discredit Alex Jones and to make him look like a fool... is Alex Jones.
This clip from Right Wing Watch's Youtube page clearly shows why that's true:
4. Debunking 9/11 conspiracy theorists part 6 of 7 - The psychology behind a 9/11 truther
From late 2012 to early 2013 Myles Power created a seven part series that is in my opinion one of the best 9/11 conspiracy theory debunking videos that I have ever seen, and the sixth video in the series, which explains the psychology and mindset of a 9/11 Truther, and infact most conspiracy theorists, could have itself been a stand alone video apart from the series.
3. Five Stupid Things About the Anti-Vax Movement
Steve Shives is one of my favorite vloggers on Youtube, and his Five Stupid Things segment is my favorite of all of his video segments, and in this video he rips the anti-vaccination movement a new one, showing not only how all of their claims are completely bogus, but also how dangerous it is not to vaccinate your child, or yourself for that matter.
2. Dumbest Anti-Gay Comments (Compilation)
How best to expose the leaders in the anti-gay movement as the homophobic bigots they really are? Actually you don't have to. They do a good enough exposing themselves by making the most vile comments about homosexuals, and do so in public for all the world to see as this clip from Secular Talk shows:
1. Psychic Char Margolis fail on WGN Morning News
I know I might sound a little bit malicious for this, but I love it when a psychic fails, and not only fails, but fails on live TV for the whole world to see! In this clip from WGN News "psychic" Char Margolis fails to make a psychic reading (or what is better known as a cold reading) and pretty much makes a fool of herself infront of the world:
Showing posts with label confirmation bias. Show all posts
Showing posts with label confirmation bias. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Is that a FEMA... truck?
Reposted from my other blog site Is that a FEMA Camp?
Recently on a Facebook skeptics group that I belong to someone posted a very "curious" looking photo, along with the commentary by the person whom posted photo the somewhere else on Facebook:
Now the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that photo was, "Wow... that trailer needs a good wash."
Now clearly the second picture is photoshopped, and to be all honest it's not even that good of a photoshop job either.
Also, there is one more thing about the photo that has lead me to believe that it is fake, and that being the comment of the person themselves.
All the evidence put together has lead me to concluded that the photo is fake, and that either it was created for the purpose of fooling conspiracy theorists and having a good laugh at their gullibility, or by a conspiracy theorist whom wished to make his or her claims about police state conspiracy theories seem more legit.
Recently on a Facebook skeptics group that I belong to someone posted a very "curious" looking photo, along with the commentary by the person whom posted photo the somewhere else on Facebook:
Now the first thing that came to my mind when I saw that photo was, "Wow... that trailer needs a good wash."
All joking aside ofcourse what really came to my mind was that the words on the truck looked like it was put on there via digital photo manipulation (i.e. photoshopped) and even if it wasn't, then so what?
Now my first argument for why it is photoshopped is because of another photo that looks almost exactly like the first one provided to me via Illuminutti.com:
Now clearly the second picture is photoshopped, and to be all honest it's not even that good of a photoshop job either.
Ofcourse just because the second photo has clearly been digitally manipulated, I have to admit that it does not mean that the first photo has been digitally manipulated as well. If you look closely at the bottom words "FEMA DISASTER RELIEF" that while the font style used for the letters are similar to the ones on the top, they are infact different.
If the first photo was photoshopped, the second photoshopped photo was probably done by someone else whom used the closest font style that they could find to the original words... unless the person whom created the original photo forgot the original font style that they used.
Now another reason why I think the photo has been digitally manipulated is because of the trailer itself.
Besides just being in need of a good wash, it is clearly a used trailer due to the fact that there is a company logo right next to "FEMA DISASTER RELIEF", as well as a logo on the truck that is pulling the trailer.
So if this photo was real, what it would tell me isn't that FEMA is planning on "something" evil, it's that they're moving a trailer from one location to another to another, probably for some bureaucratic reasons, or it's being driven around just to make sure that everything is okay with it and the truck that's pulling it (and before you point out that the person claims that it's coming from a FBI building in Virginia I should like to point out that I don't take such claims seriously unless I have more proof that it really did come from a FBI building in Virginia).
Also, if the photo is real then it tells me is that FEMA is pretty underfunded if the only big rigs they can afford to buy are used and can't be washed every so often due to funding...
Now this brings me to another reason why I'm pretty sure the photo was photoshopped, that being that the government does not buy used stuff (with the exception of law enforcement buying used vehicles for undercover purposes). Even if the government did infact buy used vehicles, they would have atleast have given it a new paint job, and have put FEMA's actual logo on it rather than in big red words "FEMA DISASTER RELIEF".
Also, there is one more thing about the photo that has lead me to believe that it is fake, and that being the comment of the person themselves.
The comment made on the photo says that it's heading north after "leaving" the FBI building in Virginia. My question which one?
The obvious answer would ofcourse be Quantico, which is the location of both the FBI Academy and the FBI Laboratory. But thing about all of this (besides the fact that the person making the comment might have been mislead about where the truck is coming from and going to, or is just outright lying) is why would the FBI employ FEMA to do something that it itself could do? More importantly if the FBI was trying to do something secretive then why wouldn't it use either a blank vehicle, or a vehicle that has a name on it other than the name of another government agency on it in such clear, bold letters?
All the evidence put together has lead me to concluded that the photo is fake, and that either it was created for the purpose of fooling conspiracy theorists and having a good laugh at their gullibility, or by a conspiracy theorist whom wished to make his or her claims about police state conspiracy theories seem more legit.
Friday, September 6, 2013
10 More Lies Truthers Tell
A few months I wrote an article about ten of the most common lies that people in the 9/11 Truth Movement (whether it be intentional or not) tend to tell.
While I did touch upon ten of what I considered to be biggest lies, I still felt there were more lies that people in the 9/11 Truth Movement promoted that still needed to be addressed.
So, I have put together another list of ten more lies that Truther tells:
10. Nothing hit World Trade Center 7.
Actually something did hit World Trade Center 7... a skyscraper.
To be more precise falling debris from World Trade Center 1 hit World Trade Center 7 and caused huge amounts of damage to the lower floors of the building. The combination of that, and the fact that the building had been on fire for hours caused the building to collapse.
9. Only two buildings were hit, but three were destroyed.
This is not true. In fact more than three building were destroyed that day. World Trade Center 3, 4, 5, and 6 were heavily damaged that day and what was left of them had to be torn down because they could not be repaired.
Also, many other buildings around the World Trade Center were damaged as well.
8. A nuclear bomb brought down the towers.
If this was true then this would be the easiest one to prove, as all you would have to do is go down to the World Trade Center site with a Geiger counter and one would easily find large amounts of radiation there.
Also, lower Manhattan would be uninhabitable right now due to that radiation, plus the destruction caused would have been far greater, and a lot more people would have died, either from the initial blast from the weapon, or from the radiation and radioactive fall out.
Plus, there would have been an obvious flash some what similar to the Sun when the device went, and there would have been no way to hide that.
7. The towers were reduced to dust and gravel.
Primarily promoted by followers of Judy Wood and those that believe in her theory that the towers were brought down high energy lasers, their claims are that the towers were reduced to dust and gravel by these alleged lasers.
While the collapse of the towers did create a lot of dust and gravel, it also left large chunks of concrete, long pieces of steel beams, and even places where pieces of the outer wall several stories high still stood.
6. Israel did it.
Besides the fact that there is no evidence what so ever that Israel did this, the fact is that Israel had no reason to do something like this.
The United States is Israel's biggest supporter, and President George W. Bush was one of Israel's strongest supporters at that.
To simply put, the people in charge of Israel would have had to have lost their minds to have done something like that. Not only would they have been risking losing support from the United States, but also risked going war with the United States in order to get more support from the United States.
5. No Jews were killed that day because they got a call from Israel to stay home.
While estimates vary on just how many Jews died that day (mostly because by Jewish tradition some people might be considered Jewish, but in reality they don't consider themselves to be Jewish) it's believed that somewhere around 270 to 400 Jews died that day, including five Israeli citizens.
Also, considering how many Jewish people actually worked at the World Trade Center, a few of them would have said by now that they had gotten a call telling them to stay home.
4. We're just asking questions.
Actually no. What truthers are really doing is making accusations while at the same time asking leading question in an attempt to influence others. When confronted about this they'll claim that they are "Just asking questions."
There is actually a term for this, it's called JAQing off.
3. Other false flag attacks help give credibility that the 9/11 attacks were false flag attacks.
There are two problems with this: the first one is that most "false flag attacks" that people in 9/11 Truth Movement claims to be false flag attacks are in fact not false flag attacks and have been proven so.
The second problem is that even if some of these alleged false flag attacks really could be proven to be false flag attacks, it still doesn't prove or give any credibility that the 9/11 attacks were false flag attacks, especially when all the claims about it have been all debunked.
2. New information is constantly coming out proving that the 9/11 attacks was committed by the US government/Israel/Illuminati.
No there isn't. There hasn't been any new information from the 9/11 Truth Movement since 2005!
Any "new" information that the 9/11 Truth Movement claims to have is just old information that's been rehashed and rearranged in an attempt to make it look new, but in reality is just the same old stuff that has dis-proven and debunked for years.
1. There is undeniable proof that the 9/11 attacks were an inside jobs.
No there isn't.
If this was true then members of the 9/11 Truth Movement should present their evidence to the NYPD and get the people arrested who they believe were the "real" perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. This is not done of course because they do not have any proof what so ever that the 9/11 attacks was an inside job, which they probably know, but don't want to admit.
Odds are that any "proof" that they have is going to be the same stuff that's been debunked for years and that no one outside of the 9/11 Truth Movement takes seriously any more.
While I did touch upon ten of what I considered to be biggest lies, I still felt there were more lies that people in the 9/11 Truth Movement promoted that still needed to be addressed.
So, I have put together another list of ten more lies that Truther tells:
10. Nothing hit World Trade Center 7.
Actually something did hit World Trade Center 7... a skyscraper.
To be more precise falling debris from World Trade Center 1 hit World Trade Center 7 and caused huge amounts of damage to the lower floors of the building. The combination of that, and the fact that the building had been on fire for hours caused the building to collapse.
9. Only two buildings were hit, but three were destroyed.
This is not true. In fact more than three building were destroyed that day. World Trade Center 3, 4, 5, and 6 were heavily damaged that day and what was left of them had to be torn down because they could not be repaired.
Also, many other buildings around the World Trade Center were damaged as well.
8. A nuclear bomb brought down the towers.
If this was true then this would be the easiest one to prove, as all you would have to do is go down to the World Trade Center site with a Geiger counter and one would easily find large amounts of radiation there.
Also, lower Manhattan would be uninhabitable right now due to that radiation, plus the destruction caused would have been far greater, and a lot more people would have died, either from the initial blast from the weapon, or from the radiation and radioactive fall out.
Plus, there would have been an obvious flash some what similar to the Sun when the device went, and there would have been no way to hide that.
7. The towers were reduced to dust and gravel.
Primarily promoted by followers of Judy Wood and those that believe in her theory that the towers were brought down high energy lasers, their claims are that the towers were reduced to dust and gravel by these alleged lasers.
While the collapse of the towers did create a lot of dust and gravel, it also left large chunks of concrete, long pieces of steel beams, and even places where pieces of the outer wall several stories high still stood.
6. Israel did it.
Besides the fact that there is no evidence what so ever that Israel did this, the fact is that Israel had no reason to do something like this.
The United States is Israel's biggest supporter, and President George W. Bush was one of Israel's strongest supporters at that.
To simply put, the people in charge of Israel would have had to have lost their minds to have done something like that. Not only would they have been risking losing support from the United States, but also risked going war with the United States in order to get more support from the United States.
5. No Jews were killed that day because they got a call from Israel to stay home.
While estimates vary on just how many Jews died that day (mostly because by Jewish tradition some people might be considered Jewish, but in reality they don't consider themselves to be Jewish) it's believed that somewhere around 270 to 400 Jews died that day, including five Israeli citizens.
Also, considering how many Jewish people actually worked at the World Trade Center, a few of them would have said by now that they had gotten a call telling them to stay home.
4. We're just asking questions.
Actually no. What truthers are really doing is making accusations while at the same time asking leading question in an attempt to influence others. When confronted about this they'll claim that they are "Just asking questions."
There is actually a term for this, it's called JAQing off.
3. Other false flag attacks help give credibility that the 9/11 attacks were false flag attacks.
There are two problems with this: the first one is that most "false flag attacks" that people in 9/11 Truth Movement claims to be false flag attacks are in fact not false flag attacks and have been proven so.
The second problem is that even if some of these alleged false flag attacks really could be proven to be false flag attacks, it still doesn't prove or give any credibility that the 9/11 attacks were false flag attacks, especially when all the claims about it have been all debunked.
2. New information is constantly coming out proving that the 9/11 attacks was committed by the US government/Israel/Illuminati.
No there isn't. There hasn't been any new information from the 9/11 Truth Movement since 2005!
Any "new" information that the 9/11 Truth Movement claims to have is just old information that's been rehashed and rearranged in an attempt to make it look new, but in reality is just the same old stuff that has dis-proven and debunked for years.
1. There is undeniable proof that the 9/11 attacks were an inside jobs.
No there isn't.
If this was true then members of the 9/11 Truth Movement should present their evidence to the NYPD and get the people arrested who they believe were the "real" perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. This is not done of course because they do not have any proof what so ever that the 9/11 attacks was an inside job, which they probably know, but don't want to admit.
Odds are that any "proof" that they have is going to be the same stuff that's been debunked for years and that no one outside of the 9/11 Truth Movement takes seriously any more.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
5 Things I've noticed about... False Flag Conspiracy Theorists
False flag conspiracy theorists are conspiracy theorist who believe that almost anytime there is some type of large attack in this country then it is most likely done by the government.
While there are a lot of things that these types of conspiracy theorists tend to do, I narrowed it down to five things.
So here are five things I've noticed about false flag conspiracy theorists:
5. They have no idea what a false flag attack really is.
Most conspiracy theorists believe that false flag attack is when a government agent disguises themselves as an enemy, and commits an attack against the public. Technically speaking this is not a false flag attack.
A false flag attack is actually a navel term for when you put up your enemy's flag on your ship in order to sneak behind them and attack them. That is what a false flag attack really is. You're not posing as your enemy in order to attack your own people, but to attack your enemy.
4. They think everything is a false flag attack.
It doesn't matter how obvious it is that an attack was done by some whack job, it doesn't matter how many people died in the attack, or even if it was someone whom killed their self and their self only, according to a conspiracy theorist, it was a false flag attack.
In fact it doesn't even matter if it was a random act of nature, or an industrial accident, or a plane crash, as long as people got killed (or even if people didn't die) according to many conspiracy theorists, they were most likely false flag attacks.
3. They think that other alleged false flag attacks prove their claims.
If you ever ask a conspiracy theorist what proof do they have that what they are claiming to be a false flag really is a false flag attack, they will usually give you a long list of other attacks that they believe to be false flag attacks.
There are two problems with this: the first one is that these other alleged false flag attacks have themselves almost always have never been proven to be false flag attack, and two, even if they could prove that any of those attacks really were false flag attacks, it's still not evidence that what they are claiming to be a false flag attack is a false flag attack.
2. They have a very low opinion of anyone who disagrees with them.
If you tell a conspiracy theorist that you believe them, or are at least willing to hear them out, then their your best friend and will treat you kindly. Disagree agree with them however, well then you should prepare yourself for a barrage of insults and allegations.
If you tell them that you don't believe their claims of a false flag attack what will usually happen is that they will call you a sheep or a sheeple. If then continue on and actually debunk their claims, then they will call you a troll, shill, and a disinfo agent (along with other less than nice words).
1. They always think it will lead to something bigger.
One of the things that conspiracy theorists claim about false flag attacks is that it will always lead to some larger attack in the near future, and eventually Martial law, the New World Order taking over, etc., etc.
The one biggest problem with this is that rarely does an attack (false flag or not) gets followed up soon after with one that is larger in scale and lose of life. In fact the largest terrorist attack ever (and one that's still claimed to be a false flag attack, despite all the evidence that says otherwise) the 9/11 attacks has never been followed up by anything bigger in the near twelve years since the attack, nor has Martial law ever been declared nation wide since the attack either.
While there are a lot of things that these types of conspiracy theorists tend to do, I narrowed it down to five things.
So here are five things I've noticed about false flag conspiracy theorists:
5. They have no idea what a false flag attack really is.
Most conspiracy theorists believe that false flag attack is when a government agent disguises themselves as an enemy, and commits an attack against the public. Technically speaking this is not a false flag attack.
A false flag attack is actually a navel term for when you put up your enemy's flag on your ship in order to sneak behind them and attack them. That is what a false flag attack really is. You're not posing as your enemy in order to attack your own people, but to attack your enemy.
4. They think everything is a false flag attack.
It doesn't matter how obvious it is that an attack was done by some whack job, it doesn't matter how many people died in the attack, or even if it was someone whom killed their self and their self only, according to a conspiracy theorist, it was a false flag attack.
In fact it doesn't even matter if it was a random act of nature, or an industrial accident, or a plane crash, as long as people got killed (or even if people didn't die) according to many conspiracy theorists, they were most likely false flag attacks.
3. They think that other alleged false flag attacks prove their claims.
If you ever ask a conspiracy theorist what proof do they have that what they are claiming to be a false flag really is a false flag attack, they will usually give you a long list of other attacks that they believe to be false flag attacks.
There are two problems with this: the first one is that these other alleged false flag attacks have themselves almost always have never been proven to be false flag attack, and two, even if they could prove that any of those attacks really were false flag attacks, it's still not evidence that what they are claiming to be a false flag attack is a false flag attack.
2. They have a very low opinion of anyone who disagrees with them.
If you tell a conspiracy theorist that you believe them, or are at least willing to hear them out, then their your best friend and will treat you kindly. Disagree agree with them however, well then you should prepare yourself for a barrage of insults and allegations.
If you tell them that you don't believe their claims of a false flag attack what will usually happen is that they will call you a sheep or a sheeple. If then continue on and actually debunk their claims, then they will call you a troll, shill, and a disinfo agent (along with other less than nice words).
1. They always think it will lead to something bigger.
One of the things that conspiracy theorists claim about false flag attacks is that it will always lead to some larger attack in the near future, and eventually Martial law, the New World Order taking over, etc., etc.
The one biggest problem with this is that rarely does an attack (false flag or not) gets followed up soon after with one that is larger in scale and lose of life. In fact the largest terrorist attack ever (and one that's still claimed to be a false flag attack, despite all the evidence that says otherwise) the 9/11 attacks has never been followed up by anything bigger in the near twelve years since the attack, nor has Martial law ever been declared nation wide since the attack either.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
5 Things I've noticed about... Conspiracy Theorists on the Internet
Ever encounter a conspiracy theorist on the internet? Most of us have, especially if you're a skeptic like myself who has their own blog about debunking. At that point they tend to come to you.
While there are a lot of things about conspiracy theorist on the internet that I've noticed they tend to do, I've narrowed it down to five main things.
So here are five things I've noticed about conspiracy theorist on the internet:
5. They love using quotes.
Be it in their signature line on an internet forum, or in their timeline on their Facebook page, conspiracy theorists love posting quotes on the internet. Usually these quotes are allegedly from some musician, or politician, or philosopher, or just some famous person whom they think would share their beliefs. Sometimes these quotes are accompanied with a picture of the person who allegedly said it.
The problem with this is that (and this is true anytime someone quotes someone) is that the quotes can be taken out of context, the quote can be mis-quoted, or it could be something that person never said at all.
There is of course one truth about these quotes: they do absolutely nothing to back up what ever conspiracy theory they are claiming to believe in.
4. They love collages.
Go to any conspiracy theorist group on Facebook or conspiracy theorist forum and you'll usually find some collages of photo-shopped pictures along with conspiracy theory claims within the collage.
These collages are often times confusing at the least, and more times than not, disturbing looking.
Many conspiracy theorists might think these collages helps get whatever point they have across, but the reality is that they are really a turn off for normal minded people and makes them all look like a bunch of wackos.
3. They don't have a sense of humor.
Conspiracy theorists (at least on the internet) take things way to seriously, and when someone makes a joke or a sarcastic remake, they tend to go ballistic, either because they don't think you should be joking about the subject at hand, or they think you're being serious.
They also can't tell when someone (or some website) is being sarcastic either. An example of this would be Skeptic Project. On the front page of the website it says "Your #1 COINTELPRO cognitive infiltration source." To most people they are clearly being sarcastic. But apparently some people in the Infowars forums thought they were actually admitting to being a COINTELPRO website.
2. They are extremely rude.
Ever try having a conversation over the internet with a conspiracy theorist about some conspiracy they believe, and you tell them that you don't believe in it, or that it isn't true, then you have most likely been on the receiving end of one of the most logical faulty and volatile rants that you will probably ever encounter.
While this behavior is nothing unexpected (be it unwelcomed) from a conspiracy theorist on the interenet, what is unexpected is that some of them make threats (which can get them in trouble), try to take down other peoples' internet pages if they don't like what is on there, troll internet pages and spam them with their conspiracy theories, and harass people who disagree with them.
1. They think everyone whom disagrees with them is a disinformation agent.
Anyone who has a blog dedicated to skepticism and debunking, or gets into an argument with a conspiracy theorist on the internet in which you present evidence debunking whatever claims they are making, will eventually get called a disinformation agent (or a sheeple at the very least).
Because conspiracy theorists so badly believe that what they believe is real, they actually can not believe that someone would honestly not believe them, so anyone who says otherwise must be a disinformation agent, thus they can disregard whatever information is posted that contradicts what they believe to be true.
Of course being called a disinformation agent really means nothing to skeptics. Some of us even consider it a kind of badge of honor.
While there are a lot of things about conspiracy theorist on the internet that I've noticed they tend to do, I've narrowed it down to five main things.
So here are five things I've noticed about conspiracy theorist on the internet:
5. They love using quotes.
Be it in their signature line on an internet forum, or in their timeline on their Facebook page, conspiracy theorists love posting quotes on the internet. Usually these quotes are allegedly from some musician, or politician, or philosopher, or just some famous person whom they think would share their beliefs. Sometimes these quotes are accompanied with a picture of the person who allegedly said it.
The problem with this is that (and this is true anytime someone quotes someone) is that the quotes can be taken out of context, the quote can be mis-quoted, or it could be something that person never said at all.
There is of course one truth about these quotes: they do absolutely nothing to back up what ever conspiracy theory they are claiming to believe in.
4. They love collages.
Go to any conspiracy theorist group on Facebook or conspiracy theorist forum and you'll usually find some collages of photo-shopped pictures along with conspiracy theory claims within the collage.
These collages are often times confusing at the least, and more times than not, disturbing looking.
Many conspiracy theorists might think these collages helps get whatever point they have across, but the reality is that they are really a turn off for normal minded people and makes them all look like a bunch of wackos.
3. They don't have a sense of humor.
Conspiracy theorists (at least on the internet) take things way to seriously, and when someone makes a joke or a sarcastic remake, they tend to go ballistic, either because they don't think you should be joking about the subject at hand, or they think you're being serious.
They also can't tell when someone (or some website) is being sarcastic either. An example of this would be Skeptic Project. On the front page of the website it says "Your #1 COINTELPRO cognitive infiltration source." To most people they are clearly being sarcastic. But apparently some people in the Infowars forums thought they were actually admitting to being a COINTELPRO website.
2. They are extremely rude.
Ever try having a conversation over the internet with a conspiracy theorist about some conspiracy they believe, and you tell them that you don't believe in it, or that it isn't true, then you have most likely been on the receiving end of one of the most logical faulty and volatile rants that you will probably ever encounter.
While this behavior is nothing unexpected (be it unwelcomed) from a conspiracy theorist on the interenet, what is unexpected is that some of them make threats (which can get them in trouble), try to take down other peoples' internet pages if they don't like what is on there, troll internet pages and spam them with their conspiracy theories, and harass people who disagree with them.
1. They think everyone whom disagrees with them is a disinformation agent.
Anyone who has a blog dedicated to skepticism and debunking, or gets into an argument with a conspiracy theorist on the internet in which you present evidence debunking whatever claims they are making, will eventually get called a disinformation agent (or a sheeple at the very least).
Because conspiracy theorists so badly believe that what they believe is real, they actually can not believe that someone would honestly not believe them, so anyone who says otherwise must be a disinformation agent, thus they can disregard whatever information is posted that contradicts what they believe to be true.
Of course being called a disinformation agent really means nothing to skeptics. Some of us even consider it a kind of badge of honor.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
How to tell a Conspiracy Theorist from a Conspiracy Believer
In a previous post I discussed how some conspiracy theorists aren't really conspiracy theorists, and that those people should instead be called "conspiracy believers".
While I did point out some basic differences between the two, I didn't really go into to much detail into what those differences really are.
Here I have put together a list of things that conspiracy theorists tend to do that sets them apart from conspiracy believers:
Terminology
Conspiracy theorists has certain words that they tend to use and is quite common for them to use in a conversation (or argument). Some of the more common words used are shill, sheeple, blue pill, red pill, and dis-info agent.
There are of course more then just that, but if you hang around enough conspiracy theorist websites (or get into an argument with a conspiracy theorist on Youtube) you'll learn more of them.
Creating conspiracy theories
One of the primary things that set conspiracy theorists apart from conspiracy believers is that conspiracy theorists actually create conspiracy theories.
Many of these conspiracy theories tend to be either expanding on a already established conspiracy theory, or a conspiracy thats directed at them. Of course, sometimes conspiracy theorists create entirely new conspiracy theories as well.
Emotional Reactions
While conspiracy believers might not become to emotional when discussing a conspiracy theory that they believe in, many conspiracy theorists on the other hand tend to become emotional when they discuss a conspiracy theory they believe. The levels of emotional reactions varies depending on how important the conspiracy theory is to that person, how much they believe the alledged conspiracy affects them, and if the person they are discussing the conspiracy theory with believes them or not.
The use of logical fallacies
While conspiracy believers try to avoid using logical fallacies, conspiracy theorists on the other hand tend to use them all the time, and appear to not even know that they are doing so.
While logical fallacies of all types tend to be used, two of the most common types used are association fallacy and emotional appeal.
Rejection of contradicting and disproving evidence
Conspiracy believers, while they many or may not stop believing in a conspiracy theory once they have been given evidence that can prove the conspiracy theory that they believe in is not true (or at least having a high probability of not being true) conspiracy theorist on the other hand tends to reject any evidence that contradicts and/or disproves what they believe, unless there is something in that evidence that they feel actually proves the conspiracy theory they believe in.
Confirmation bias
While both conspiracy believers and conspiracy theorists tend to have confirmation bias, conspiracy theorists tends to see any small piece of evidence as being absolute confirmation that the conspiracy theory they believe in is true, no matter small it is, no matter if it is taken out of context or not, and no matter if it is even real or not. Conspiracy believers at least will see evidence as just that, evidence, and is more willing to disregard such evidence if it can be proven to them that it isn't true, or taken out of context.
Inappropriate behavior
Conspiracy believers tend to be civil, and tries not to engage in behaviors that would be considered inappropriate because they tend not to get frustrated with people who don't believe them. Conspiracy theorists on the other hand tends to get frustrated pretty easily, and because of this they get angry easily and start behaving in ways that many people would consider to be inappropriate. Examples of this would be insults, threats, spamming internet threads, vileness, manipulation, personal attacks, stalking, harassment, creating inappropriate conspiracy theories, defending another person's inappropriate behavior, and engaging in behavior that most people would consider to be disturbing.
Seeing people who disagree with them as their enemy
When a conspiracy believer talks to some one who doesn't believe in the conspiracy theory that they believe in they will only think of that person as someone who simply disagrees with them. A conspiracy theorist on the other hand sees a person who disagrees with them as being their enemy that is working for whatever group that they believe is committing the conspiracy that they believe in, or at the very least someone who is less intelligent then they are, and therefore (in their minds) more prone to believing whatever they are told by said group.
Belief that what they are doing is the right thing
While both conspiracy believers and conspiracy theorists believe that believing in certain conspiracy theories is okay, conspiracy theorists tend to take it a step further by spreading these conspiracy theories and "correcting" those who disagree with them. They do this because they strongly believe to be real the conspiracy theories that they believe in, and because of that they tend to think that anything they do to promote these conspiracy theories is okay and the right thing to do.
While I did point out some basic differences between the two, I didn't really go into to much detail into what those differences really are.
Here I have put together a list of things that conspiracy theorists tend to do that sets them apart from conspiracy believers:
Terminology
Conspiracy theorists has certain words that they tend to use and is quite common for them to use in a conversation (or argument). Some of the more common words used are shill, sheeple, blue pill, red pill, and dis-info agent.
There are of course more then just that, but if you hang around enough conspiracy theorist websites (or get into an argument with a conspiracy theorist on Youtube) you'll learn more of them.
Creating conspiracy theories
One of the primary things that set conspiracy theorists apart from conspiracy believers is that conspiracy theorists actually create conspiracy theories.
Many of these conspiracy theories tend to be either expanding on a already established conspiracy theory, or a conspiracy thats directed at them. Of course, sometimes conspiracy theorists create entirely new conspiracy theories as well.
Emotional Reactions
While conspiracy believers might not become to emotional when discussing a conspiracy theory that they believe in, many conspiracy theorists on the other hand tend to become emotional when they discuss a conspiracy theory they believe. The levels of emotional reactions varies depending on how important the conspiracy theory is to that person, how much they believe the alledged conspiracy affects them, and if the person they are discussing the conspiracy theory with believes them or not.
The use of logical fallacies
While conspiracy believers try to avoid using logical fallacies, conspiracy theorists on the other hand tend to use them all the time, and appear to not even know that they are doing so.
While logical fallacies of all types tend to be used, two of the most common types used are association fallacy and emotional appeal.
Rejection of contradicting and disproving evidence
Conspiracy believers, while they many or may not stop believing in a conspiracy theory once they have been given evidence that can prove the conspiracy theory that they believe in is not true (or at least having a high probability of not being true) conspiracy theorist on the other hand tends to reject any evidence that contradicts and/or disproves what they believe, unless there is something in that evidence that they feel actually proves the conspiracy theory they believe in.
Confirmation bias
While both conspiracy believers and conspiracy theorists tend to have confirmation bias, conspiracy theorists tends to see any small piece of evidence as being absolute confirmation that the conspiracy theory they believe in is true, no matter small it is, no matter if it is taken out of context or not, and no matter if it is even real or not. Conspiracy believers at least will see evidence as just that, evidence, and is more willing to disregard such evidence if it can be proven to them that it isn't true, or taken out of context.
Inappropriate behavior
Conspiracy believers tend to be civil, and tries not to engage in behaviors that would be considered inappropriate because they tend not to get frustrated with people who don't believe them. Conspiracy theorists on the other hand tends to get frustrated pretty easily, and because of this they get angry easily and start behaving in ways that many people would consider to be inappropriate. Examples of this would be insults, threats, spamming internet threads, vileness, manipulation, personal attacks, stalking, harassment, creating inappropriate conspiracy theories, defending another person's inappropriate behavior, and engaging in behavior that most people would consider to be disturbing.
Seeing people who disagree with them as their enemy
When a conspiracy believer talks to some one who doesn't believe in the conspiracy theory that they believe in they will only think of that person as someone who simply disagrees with them. A conspiracy theorist on the other hand sees a person who disagrees with them as being their enemy that is working for whatever group that they believe is committing the conspiracy that they believe in, or at the very least someone who is less intelligent then they are, and therefore (in their minds) more prone to believing whatever they are told by said group.
Belief that what they are doing is the right thing
While both conspiracy believers and conspiracy theorists believe that believing in certain conspiracy theories is okay, conspiracy theorists tend to take it a step further by spreading these conspiracy theories and "correcting" those who disagree with them. They do this because they strongly believe to be real the conspiracy theories that they believe in, and because of that they tend to think that anything they do to promote these conspiracy theories is okay and the right thing to do.
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