Can anything happen anymore without there being a conspiracy theory?

[–] ScorpioGlitch 6 points (+6|-0)

Are you saying that there's some kind of conspiracy to overuse conspiracy theories so that governments and groups can do things we'd otherwise protest?

[–] CDanger [OP] 3 points (+3|-0)

Who knows. I'm sure that idea has be seriously discussed by some people in government before.

[–] ScorpioGlitch 1 points (+1|-0)

It's almost like learning history isn't a waste of time.

[–] Pessimisticsteel 0 points (+0|-0)

Whose history? Isn't it written by the winner?

[–] Sarcastaway 3 points (+3|-0)

There is no nuance on the internet anymore. Between the bots and the shills, I think some websites are probably only 20-30% actual unpaid humans. The state actors are the worst. Go over to liveleak and read the comments on any random video if you don't believe me. Its always pro-US shills fighting with pro-Russian shills, all buried under a thick layer of bot spam and in-house vote manipulation.

[–] CDanger [OP] 3 points (+3|-0)

Yeah, if the internet could turn down the volume, that would be great. Maybe I just need to get some other hobbies. Any suggestions?

[–] Sarcastaway 3 points (+3|-0)

I need hobbies too. I like to garden and go on nature walks. Both are great for the head, but they're seasonal.

I'm thinking about getting into smithing/toolmaking. Maybe even engraving like this guy. I need something to do in the garage while its cold this year.

[–] CDanger [OP] 2 points (+2|-0)

I like the idea of gardening, but whenever I've tried it my plants have died. They all do that eventually anyway, so I'm not sure if I'm bad at it or that just has to be expected.

Nature walks are a safe choice though and even possible in winter so long as you're prepared.

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[–] Owlchemy 2 points (+2|-0)

You nailed it, more or less! Bots be true ... but as for the rest who are real folks ... before the internet the conspiracy theorists were out there, but considered nut jobs by most and had no platform to spread their 'brilliant insights' beyond a crazy letter to th editor. Now they have dozens of ways to spread ideas, and they find plenty more exceptionally gullible folks out there to grab on and spread the nonsense. In more ways than one, the internet has done far more to unravel society than it has to better it. A handful of fools can be openly quoted as some kind of grand authority on something, and the view of the vast majority is lost in the sauce and considered naive.

[–] Sarcastaway 2 points (+2|-0)

In more ways than one, the internet has done far more to unravel society than it has to better it.

Amen to that. Social media is killing social skills. Online sales have killed many small businesses and local economies. Porn has contributed to fucked up relationships. Online news has given people trust issues. Online advertizing has incentivized clickbait over actual content. The internet is shortening attention spans and potentially selecting against people with good memory recall, all while serving as the post powerful propaganda and spycraft tool ever conceived of.

But hey, at least we have cat videos and free music!

[–] CDanger [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

Where did we go wrong? Was it social networks? The commercialization of the internet? Anonymous profiles that have no accountability? Easy creation of troll accounts? Machines and bots that can impersonate as humans? Big data analysis to aggregate millions of humans' behavior? All of these, or something else that I missed?

I agree with this interpretation, and it is ironic that this is where we are since the promise of the internet in the 1980s and 1990s was to bring people together and achieve a sort of technological transcendence. It looks like all we've done is magnify human nature.

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[–] CDanger [OP] 2 points (+2|-0)

Gotta love all the great journalism pieces that quote random twitter users. Why should I care what these random people think? They're less likely to have decent insights than the usual talking heads--which is saying a lot.

The "establishment" (i.e. media, entertainers, government officials, etc) are all complicit in this since they benefit from ads, attention, and fear. If anything I hold it more against them than the ignorant masses banging on the keyboards since they're supposed to be leaders. Turns out if your leaders have no moral principles and will sell out for their own gain you'll get chaos and disorder.

[–] Owlchemy 1 points (+1|-0)

No question about this. The powers that be & MSM use and abuse the internet by taking the comments of a few users with questionable motives, often an organized band paid to disseminate a specific point of view, and using them as justification for whatever nonsense they want to force down the throats of everyone else. I could give a rats ass what five hundred people, outta 300 million, think about wearing a Native American costume for Halloween if you aren't the right shade of skin color ... etc. etc., etc. When government, business and the MSM cave to these crackpots, society itself suffers. Which is precisely what they wish. To force societal change down our throats too quickly, without general consensus. That's why someone like Trump wins ... the many out there who have lost their voices to this see someone finally standing up and saying enough already. Anyway ... LOL ... that's my own crackpot, guy on the internet theory.

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[–] registereduser 1 points (+1|-0)

What is a conspiracy theory proven true?

How stupid does one look when they labelled it a conspiracy theory beforehand?

IMHO, pretty fucking stupid.

[–] CDanger [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

There are definitely cases where the theories have proven true, and authorities love to dismissive critics as wackos, conspiracy theorists, paranoid, etc. This is a particularly favored tactic in authoritarian regimes.

As to whether that makes you stupid for not embracing a conspiracy theory before it is proven true, I suppose that depends on how you look at it. Most conspiracy theories probably aren't true, and lots of them are very, very stupid, so you'd also look stupid treating them all seriously.

My general policy on this is to avoid making a grand claim to truth on the matter when there is no way I could personally know, and anybody who claims one way or the other that things definitely happened one way is probably mislead; even if they are right in that particular instance, they are right for the wrong reasons.

Can anything happen anymore without there being a conspiracy theory?

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/s/Whatever