Can't tell if dumb bigots... or trolling (actually, I'm pretty sure it's trolling)

A few days ago while lurking around one of several skeptic Facebook groups that I belong too I came across this article from a website called Pink News.

The article was in concern over a flyer that was being posted around Clintonville, Ohio for... well, you can see for yourself:

Weirder things have happened, i suppose. Straight White Guy Festival, anyone? http://t.co/0mQKcItnOS pic.twitter.com/kib7tlx9hz
— Lauren Bagley (@TheREDison) July 18, 2014

Yes... you're reading that right. It's a flyer for a Straight White Guy Festival.

Now, I know many of you are probably thinking "this can't be real, right"?

Well it could be real because despite our society's advances in the field of race relations, there are still racist people in this country, but I don't think it's real, and I have several reasons why I believe this is so.

Lets take a look at what is not on this flyer that most would have had.

First, there's no contact information of any kind on these flyers.

Most racist groups would have placed on such a flyer either a mailing address, or a phone number, or an e-mail address. At the very least they would have put a website name on there inorder to help promote their group if they were unwilling to place on the flyer direct contact information.

The second thing that caught my eye is that the flyer doesn't say who is putting on and sponsoring this festival.

Any racist or bigoted group that was putting on and sponsoring such an event would not have left their name off. Most hate groups want people to know that they are sponsoring such an event in hopes of recruiting people into their group.

At the very least they would have put the name of a front group on the flyer in an attempt to hide who is really organizing this so called festival, while at the same time trying to recruit new members.

Now lets take a look at what the flyer does say on it.

First is the title of this "event" Straight White Guy Festival.

The name of this alleged festival looks more like something a dumb college frat boy would have created and doesn't realize that this sort of thing is racist and bigoted as hell, rather than a person that is part of a racist and bigoted group.

Now before anyone says it I'm very well aware that bigots are not known for their intelligence, but atleast they would try to come up with something a little more creative than that.

Second thing I noticed about the flyer was that it contradicted itself.

The flyer says "Come help us celebrate our enjoyment of being straight white and male" but it also says "Everyone welcome".

If this festival is intended for straight white males then how come the flyer is also saying that anyone who is not straight, white, or male can attend?

A racist and bigoted group would never have put "Everyone welcome" on such a flyer. They either would have put nothing on there, or they would have made it very clear that only straight white males would have been allowed to attend (or atleast straight white people).

The final thing about this flyer that leads me to believe that someone is trolling in real life is that while there is a location for this "festival", a date, a time, and that beer will be available, according to WBNS-10TV no permits have been taken for such a festival, and while I'm not sure of the local laws concerning festivals at local parks, most places would make you apply for a permit to hold such an event, and to sell beer at it.

Taking all these things into consideration I can only come to the conclusion that this is some kind of joke.

I'm not sure if the person that created these flyers intended on them being racist or anti-racist, but it's still pretty offensive either way.

Ofcourse it could be real and some racist group is intending to hold a festival without getting or knowing they have to get permits first, as well as not knowing how to make a proper flyer.

If they have their festival they'll find out the hard way that you need to have the proper permits.

5 Things I've noticed about... 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

A few months ago I did one of these "5 Things I've noticed about..." articles on the people in the 9/11 Truth Movement, and it had me thinking to myself "what about the conspiracy theories that the people in the 9/11 Truth Movements promote?"

So what about those conspiracy theories, and what are some of the biggest things about them that just stand out? Well, I've noticed a lot of things about them, and I've narrowed them down to five different things.

So here are five things I've noticed about 9/11 conspiracy theories:

5. There are a lot of them.

Probably one of the biggest problems with the 9/11 conspiracy theories is that there are more than one of them, instead of just one that the people who believe in and focus on.

For some people these can be confusing not only because they are all very different, but they are mostly not even connected to one another.

Not only can they be confusing, but they are also progressively more bizarre as well.

There is the let it happen theory, the controlled demolition theory, the drone plane theory, the nuke theory, and even the no plane/space lasers (which is so bizarre a person in the 9/11 Truth Movement debunked it).

I guess you say that the 9/11 conspiracy theories are a lot like the JFK assassination conspiracy theories in that not only are there more than one theory to what happened, but also because...

4. There is apparently more than one perpetrator.

Besides there just being more than one 9/11 conspiracy theory, according to these conspiracy theories, there is no solid conclusion on who the "real" perpetrator is.

Some people claim that it was Al-Qaida, it's just that those in the government allowed them to attack. Some people say that it was a collaboration between the government and Al-Qaida. Some people believe it was just the government, or Israel, or the Illuminati, or someone else entirely.

It just seems like none of these conspiracy theorists who claim that 9/11 was an inside job can agree upon who did it, and how they did it. Of course that isn't very surprising to me, because...

3. The biggest promoters of the 9/11 conspiracy theories are kooks.

Now I'm saying that all people who believe in the 9/11 conspiracy theories are kooks, but the biggest promoters of these theories are.

There's Alex Jones, whom constantly promotes conspiracy theories on his radio program, thinks everything bad that happens is a false flag attack, and just starts yelling and making incoherent rants.

There's Mike Adams, a promoter of pseudoscience and medical quackery (especially dangerous types of medical quackery), as well as other conspiracy theories.

Finally, there's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president of Iran, whom in addition to promoting 9/11 conspiracy theories, is also a holocaust denier, and is antisemitic.

They are of course not the only one's who promote the 9/11 conspiracy theories, but they are some of the biggest ones, and many of the other promoters of the 9/11 conspiracy theories are just as nutty (or possibly fraudulent) as these guys.

2. They contain a lot of bigotry.

Many conspiracy theories contain forms of bigotry within them, and 9/11 conspiracy theories are no different.

A lot of the 9/11 conspiracy theories are antisemitic, either indirectly by blaming several prominent Jews of being involved in the attacks, or blatantly antisemitic by blaming Israel, and that all the Jewish people who worked at the World Trade Center were in on it.

Besides the antisemitism within these conspiracy theories, these conspiracy theories are also racist as well, because many conspiracy theorists try to justify their belief that someone other than some people from the middle east had to have done this because people from the middle east (and Arab people in general) are not mentally capable of planning out and doing such a thing, or if they did, then they would have had to have had help from either white people or Jews, or have been allowed to do this.

1. They've all been debunked.

Every single 9/11 conspiracy theory has been debunked. From the "let it happen" theories, to the controlled demolition theory, to the really crazy no plane theories, not a single one has ever been proven to be true, or have been shown to hold up to any sort of evidence, or even hold up to logical arguments.

In fact they have all been debunked for years now, and some skeptics no longer even debate and debunk the people who make these claims, either because they have determined that those people are either to stupid to figure out that none of these conspiracy theories are true, or that they are to self deluded to be able to see that what they believe to be true is not, or that they are mentally ill, or they are a liar with an ulterior motive.

The fact is that all of the evidence surrounding the 9/11 attacks point in only one direction: Al-Qaida and the 19 members of that terrorist group who hijacked those planes and flew them into the sides of those buildings, and no one else.

5 Things I've noticed about... the show "Ancient Aliens"

Ever watch the show "Ancient Aliens", the History Channel show that claims that humans were visited by aliens in the past? Well I have, and there are some things that I have noticed about that show.

So here are five things I've noticed about the show "Ancient Aliens".

5. Their answer for everything is "Aliens".

According to the "experts" on that show, almost everything we have built in the ancient world was built by aliens.

It doesn't matter if it is a giant structure like the Great Pyramid of Giza, or some mundane but interesting object like the Baghdad Battery, or even something that was proven to be made in modern times, such as the Crystal Skulls, according to the experts on the show, they were all either built by aliens, or their construction was guided by aliens.

Heck, even our own existence is, according to them, the result of aliens messing with our genes a long time ago.

4. The "experts" have a "pics, or it didn't happen" type mentality.

All of the "experts" on that show apparently want exact details about how a megalithic structure was built, and if they don't have those exact details, they assume that aliens built it, not humans (where as with most scientists or archaeologists, it's the other way around).

This is somewhat similar to the phrase "pics, or it didn't happen" where when someone makes a claim on the internet that they did something pretty awesome, if someone is skeptical of the claim they will sometimes say "pics, or it didn't happen". Although some might argue that this is more of a reverse of that...

3. They get their facts way wrong.

Many of the "facts" that are presented on that show are just down right wrong. A great example of this would be many of the claims they make about Pumapunku that simply aren't true.

According to the show Pumapunku is 14,000 years old, when in fact it's closer to 1,500 years old. Also, according to show, the stone blocks at the site are basalt and granite. In fact the site was constructed using andesite and red sandstone.

2. The regular "experts" on the show are not experts in science or archaeology.

The show has regular guests on that claim to be experts in the field of ancient alien or astronaut theory. The problem with this is that not only is this not a legitimate scientific field, the regular guests on the show have no degrees in either science or archaeology.

Giorgio Tsoukalos doesn't have a degree in science or archaeology. Erich von Däniken, the person whom's book Chariots of the Gods? which the show is basically base upon, doesn't have a degree in science or archaeology either (or anything for that matter).

1. The whole theory that the show is base upon is racist.

One of the biggest criticisms of the theory itself (besides being nothing more than pseudoscience) is that it is in a way, racist.

The reason why the whole theory itself is accused of being racist isn't just because it's primary focus is on none European peoples, it's also because it asserts that people who are not as advanced technologically as what we are today are not capable of constructing massive, megalithic structures, simply because we would have a hard time constructing such structures with our technology. Some people would say that's pretty racist...

What is an Embarrassing Conspiracy Theory?

For several months I've been writing a series of blog articles called Embarrassing Conspiracy Theories, which by the title alone most of you can tell are about conspiracy theories that have been dis-proven to the point where there is no reason for anyone to continue to believe in them, or just sounds insane, and thus anyone who continues to believe in these conspiracies should be embarrassed that they believe in them.

Now, I don't list all conspiracy theories as being embarrassing to continue to believe in (although many of them are). In fact I have a list of criteria that a conspiracy theory needs to meet at least 3 parts of in order to be considered an "embarrassing" conspiracy theory.

So, here is a list of what I consider to be the criteria for what a embarrassing conspiracy theory is:

1. The conspiracy theory has no evidence to back it up.

Many conspiracy theories simply have no evidence what so ever to prove that they exist, be it physical evidence (real or made-up) or eye witnesses (credible or non-credible).

2. All evidence presented has been discredited and/or dis-proven.

Many conspiracy theories are based upon evidence that, while might be accepted to many conspiracy theorists, has been either discredited and/or dis-proven through a scientific process, an independent investigation, or is shown to be a logical fallacy.

3. Some or all evidence that has been presented has proven to the fraudulent.

While some conspiracy theories are based on evidence that has been discredited and/or dis-proven, there are some conspiracy theories that are actually based on evidence that has been proven to be either fraudulent, or is at least strongly suspected of being fraudulent, or may even be a hoax that has just gotten out of hand.

4. Eye witnesses have been proven to be unreliable and/or liars.

Some conspiracy theories have eye witnesses who either claim to have witnessed certain portions of a conspiracy happening, or to have been part of the conspiracy itself. The problem with this is that many times these people either cannot back up their claims, or others have proven their claims to be false, or they constantly change their claims.

5. The conspiracy theory appears to be propaganda.

There are some conspiracy theories out there that do appear to be nothing more propaganda created to promote some sort of political or ideological agenda, or some type of pseudoscience or medical quackery.

6. The conspiracy theory has an obvious bigoted slant.

There are in fact some conspiracy theories out there that are obviously made up simply for the purpose of justifying one's continued hatred towards a certain group of people, or to continue to justify the discrimination against a certain group of people.

7. The conspiracy theory itself sounds ridiculous.

As the old saying goes "if it sounds to good to be true, then it probably is" and in a sense the same can be said for a conspiracy theory. If a conspiracy theory sounds to crazy and to illogical to be true, then it probably is not true.

Why I refuse to Debate Bigots

I'm sure we have all encountered a bigot on the internet, be it a someone who who hates black people, or Hispanic people, or Jewish people, or Muslims, or homosexuals, or just anyone who is different from them.

Recently on the Thrive Debunked blog I encountered a person who not only greatly believed in the pseudoscience of numerology (to the point where he thought that Thrive's release date of 11/11/2011 meant that the movie's creator, Foster Gamble, created the movie as part of some type of Illuminati/occult dis-information campaign), but also thought that a "Jewish-Zionist" (his words) conspiracy was responsible for the 9/11 attacks...

At that point in time I decided that I would no longer have any discussions or debates with this person.

The main reason I decided not to continue any further discussions with this person is because I know it would be pointless, because bigots and people who believe in bigoted based conspiracy theories tend to be the least reasonable people there are.

Not only do bigots like this person tend to be less intelligent than non-bigots, they also tend to be extremely stubborn, and are usually unwilling to give any ground what so ever, or even acknowledge any sort of logical or fact based argument what so ever.

Now usually it would be pointless to debate even a non-bigoted conspiracy theorist as they tend to have clouded judgement, and usually they have an unwillingness to accept reality, but at least they are not so unreasonable that they believe that certain groups of people are either beneath them, or out right evil because of a that group's religious beliefs, their race, their ethnic background, or their sexuality.

Bigoted conspiracy theorists tend to be the more hostile then your average conspiracy theorist as well. They usually descend into posting vile comments on the internet much quicker then a no-bigoted conspiracy theorist usually would, and they even sometimes post comments that would be considered threatening, or are in fact directly threatening someone, or post other types of comments that would draw the attention of law enforcement.

Bigoted conspiracy theorists will tend to sometimes believe in the more bizarre conspiracy theories that are out there, and simply put the more bizarre a conspiracy theory a person believes in, the less rational and reasonable a person tends to be, and they are usually much more paranoid then most people as well.

In addition to all of this, they also tend to post and publish information that they know is completely false in order to try to make it appear that their beliefs are justified, or at least reasonable.

Bigots usually tend to feel that any arguments made against their conspiracy theories is nothing more then dis-information, and thus "proof" that the conspiracy theories that they believe in are factual. This is the main reason why I do not debate bigots, because I do not want to fuel their belief that the conspiracy theories that they believe in are real, and that the only real way to fight them is to refuse to debate them at all. This is my way of telling a bigoted conspiracy theorist that their beliefs are so false that it will not even warrant my attention, and that hopefully isolating them and not giving them any attention will make them rethink their beliefs.