Anti Conspiracy Theories #6 wakey, wakey!

[Ellelalala]

Yeah because we don't have a thread set up purely to ridicule others posts. Yeah deny all you want it's there for everyone to see, including your post above. I find many threads on here shocking, the missing lady for one is sickening, but I don't set up a thread to ridicule.
I don't expect you to get what I am saying as there is no helping some people.
Clowns.

I thought this thread was created because dissenting or differing opinions weren't welcome in the Conspiracy Theory threads. So to be able to discuss disagreeing with, and yes, also finding some theories incredibly foolish, a separate discussion started. You all are left to yourselves in your threads instead of them being a true place of discussion and differing viewpoints. But you can't control what people are discussing elsewhere. Period. End of.

You should probably take a step back and attempt to gain some perspective here.

 

[Ensay]

I thought this thread was created because dissenting or differing opinions weren't welcome in the Conspiracy Theory threads. So to be able to discuss disagreeing with, and yes, also finding some theories incredibly foolish, a separate discussion started. You all are left to yourselves in your threads instead of them being a true place of discussion and differing viewpoints. But you can't control what people are discussing elsewhere. Period. End of.

You should probably take a step back and attempt to gain some perspective here.

That's exactly it. On several threads you'll often see people say: "if you want to discuss X go and set up your own thread for it". Most of the time the person doesn't then go and do that, but they did in this case.

As I've said lots of times before, this is a general anti conspiracy theories thread, it's not anti the Tattle CT topic.

A lot of what we discuss is taken from news articles, tweets, etc - which proves we discuss CTs through a wider lens.

 

[OwlAtTheMoon]

That’s not a conspiracy thread!

I disagree. The major subtext of that dying young/sportspeople thread is to suggest a covid vaccine link to random deaths, regardless of whether or not the poor person's cause of death has been verified, or whether they were even vaccinated...

 

[Ensay]

I disagree. The major subtext of that dying young/sportspeople thread is to suggest a covid vaccine link to random deaths, regardless of whether or not the poor person's cause of death has been verified, or whether they were even vaccinated...

Agreed. It's another one I give a wide berth to, as it's just a clone of the covid vaccine thread where no dissenting voices are welcome.

 

[monga]

I disagree. The major subtext of that dying young/sportspeople thread is to suggest a covid vaccine link to random deaths, regardless of whether or not the poor person's cause of death has been verified, or whether they were even vaccinated...

Nope it’s a very mixed thread.

 

[paulpercy666]

Nope it’s a very mixed thread.

What is your screenshot supposed to demonstrate?

 

[monga]

What is your screenshot supposed to demonstrate?

That it’s a mixed thread not a conspiracy thread as was suggested, if you actually take the time to read it you’ll see a range of opinions and not as one sided like some are making out.

 

[Doctor_Wibble]

Suppose it's easy to dismiss conspiracy theorists as at best naive, or at worst uneducated, but there's plenty of examples of professional people falling for some outlandish theories. Not that I'm sticking up for them, but even though I try to avoid generalising too much, there is something in it.

Meant to follow on from this, never got around to it! Of all things, reminded by a post on the CT thread...


Looking at the data in the report, it seems that the UK’s reading, mathematical and scientific literacy indices are in the classification of 'very good' and don't warrant the deliberately pokey headline.

Result of such headlines, a successfully triggered stronger than usual urge to find fault, nitpick, skeptically cynicise...

On the other side of the 'everything is crap when compared to the shining example' coin, it did have me looking up staff shortages in Finland (and now also demographics) so from a skeptical angle I would suggest aside from being an advertorial for his book, there may be an undercurrent 'come to Finland' message aimed towards younger professionals looking for a good place to raise a family, perhaps preferably looking for a career in geriatric care.


I'm always a bit skeptical of articles that lead with the 'thick people believe x' and for that one it's accompanied by feeling unfairly maligned by the over-inclusive headline job done there I suppose.

 

[shadowcat5]

Interesting article, especially the point about lower education and numeracy levels being a factor in people's susceptibility to fake news and conspiracy theories. Comments are worth a look too:

Why are Britons so susceptible to fake news – and what can we do about it? | Sander van der Linden

With Putin’s Russia on its doorstep, Finland began arming its people against misinformation. It worked, says Sander van der Linden, a professor of social psychology

www.theguardian.com

I do wonder if the amount of people who believe in these theories coincides with trust in the government. It would be interesting to see a graph/scale of how trusting the people of the country are of their government vs the amount of people who believe certain theories.

 

[Ensay]

I do wonder if the amount of people who believe in these theories coincides with trust in the government. It would be interesting to see a graph/scale of how trusting the people of the country are of their government vs the amount of people who believe certain theories.

I think there could be a link, but not always.

Conspiracy theorists often say that those who don't buy into CTs blindly love and trust their government. I can only speak for myself, but that's not the case for me. I'm as critical of the government as the next person (and, let's face it, the current government is easy to criticise) but I don't buy that there are these shadowy conspiracies that all governments are party to.

I mean, they often can't organise a piss up in a brewery, so I have no faith in them to concoct and maintain multiple worldwide conspiracies, especially without ever leaking anything.

 

[OwlAtTheMoon]

Meant to follow on from this, never got around to it! Of all things, reminded by a post on the CT thread...


Looking at the data in the report, it seems that the UK’s reading, mathematical and scientific literacy indices are in the classification of 'very good' and don't warrant the deliberately pokey headline.

Result of such headlines, a successfully triggered stronger than usual urge to find fault, nitpick, skeptically cynicise...

On the other side of the 'everything is crap when compared to the shining example' coin, it did have me looking up staff shortages in Finland (and now also demographics) so from a skeptical angle I would suggest aside from being an advertorial for his book, there may be an undercurrent 'come to Finland' message aimed towards younger professionals looking for a good place to raise a family, perhaps preferably looking for a career in geriatric care.


I'm always a bit skeptical of articles that lead with the 'thick people believe x' and for that one it's accompanied by feeling unfairly maligned by the over-inclusive headline job done there I suppose.

That article I linked to was headed 'Why are Britons so susceptible to fake news?' It wasn't 'thick people believe x' nor did it mention IQ yet it's being read as that. Also, why would the report's author Van der Linden's message (subtextual or overt) be that people go and live and work in Finland? He's a Dutch social scientist working at Cambridge Uni?
There was a recent Observer article suggesting that a quarter of a million schoolchildren are leaving primary school moving into secondary school each year without basic maths and English. Over and above the recent significant effects on education of the pandemic, I would say this is a massive concern, very much linked to the susceptibility to fake news this original article was talking about, as those prepubescent kids are growing up in an online world where they'll need robust skills in order not to fall for every scam/CT/fake news item going.

 

[Kim Mild]

I think a lot of people get taken in by conspiracies because the state of the world is a bit tit and things just seem to be getting worse and worse and it sort of seems like the elites and their agendas and plans is a sort of reason for it.

 

[Doctor_Wibble]

That article I linked to was headed 'Why are Britons so susceptible to fake news?' It wasn't 'thick people believe x' nor did it mention IQ yet it's being read as that.

Yes, because whilst it does not explicitly state any of that, they are only a short step the from 'easily fooled' tone of the headline.

Also, why would the report's author Van der Linden's message (subtextual or overt) be that people go and live and work in Finland? He's a Dutch social scientist working at Cambridge Uni?

Yes I did look at the references and bio before commenting but neither of those change the feeling of 'a word from our sponsor'.


The tone of the headline was the main issue, I'm not trying to argue that the UK doesn't have problems with attitudes towards education (and education system) that need fixing.

 

[Deeznutslol]

I don’t really think the article implies that British people are somehow thick. I think it implies that the standard of education in the country has fallen, which is different to saying that British people are unintelligent.

 

[L3moning]

I just want to say that I'm delighted to see the alien conspiracy back on the table

UFO Twitter has been going mad about the whole balloon thing. They seem to have, again, decided that "disclosure" is imminent.

 

[MaineCoonMama]

I'm undecided on the Alien life debate, some days I think it's possible, other days I don't.
Back in the pre-internet days I think it would be easier to cover up any evidence but if we had visitors tomorrow it would be nigh on impossible to keep it out of the news.

 

[L3moning]

It always reminds me of the music video to Granite by Pendulum.

As for aliens in general, I think they exist. Somewhere. It's just not very likely they could reach us even if they know we exist, and vice versa.

 

[CoffeeMamma]

If I was an alien I’d take one look at this planet and say “duck that tit let’s go home”

 

[Moth]

So I see that 'the 15 minute city" is the successor to the Covid / vaccine paranoia consuming CT-ists. Of course the rather mundane urban planning concept that's been knocking around for two or three years wasn't helped by being reported upon by the World Economic Forum. Inevitably it attracted the attention of a few of the big hitters (I think that's right) amongst right-wing conspiracy nuts; "Tyrannical bureaucrats" (Jordan Peterson), "Climate Change lockdown" (Nigel Farage) and "surveillance culture to make Pyongyang envious" (GB News). Last week Nick Fletcher (Tory MP for Don Valley) called it an “international socialist concept" that will "cost us our personal freedom".

Yesterday there was a protest in Oxford where it has been suggested that the concept might be applied and all the usual suspects turned up including David Kuerten, Laurence Fox and Piers Corbyn ably backed by members of The Patriotic Alternative.

There's also a group that opposes '15 minute cities' called "Not Our Future" created by David Fleming and backed by some of the above plus inevitably Gareth Icke, Right Said Fred, James Delingpole and Neil Oliver. Fleming previously founded 'Covid19 Assembly Limited', an organisation that sought “to end all Covid-related restrictions forever”, claiming they were “based on unscientific information”. 'Covid 19 Assembly Limited" definitely didn't ask for donations and definitely didn't disappear in early 2022 without filing accounts. David Fleming definitely doesn't have a history of starting companies that seem to disappear with people's money.

 

[OwlAtTheMoon]

If aliens came to earth and met a certain Raymond Briggs character... (courtesy of cartoonist Tom Gauld):