To think conspiracy theorists are an infuriating mix of arrogance, stupidity and lazy thinking

[EmperorTomatoRetchup]

Having thought I'll leave it, I'll leave it, I found myself arguing with a conspiracy theorist.

Christ alight these people are utterly lacking in any sort of critical thought. This tool was trotting out one of the most popular of the conspiracy theories - 911 as an inside job, Madelline McCann was murdered by her parents, moon landings were faked, Diana was bumped off by Mi5 etc. and they seemed to be impervious to any of the logical flaws in their argument, that researching a matter didn't mean watching YouTube videos made by fellow conspiricists spouting unsourced, unreferenced nonsense and claiming that non adherents were 'sheeple' buying 'the official line'.

To take the example jokingly referenced on another thread, the Paul McCartney is dead conspiracy theory, how many people coroners, doctors ambulance staff, Paul's family and friends, would have had to be bought off in order to allow him to be replaced by a lookalike who could be trained to speak, act, play musical instruments left handed and pass for one of the world's most famous men in the full glare of the media . In 50 years not a single person involved in this dastardly plan, not a single one of this vast army of people cooped into it has blown the whistle despite their being unparalleled financial rewards for doing so.

No musicologists have detected a change in composition or playing or singing style. No one asking what happened to the bloke who became fake Paul', might their family not be curious as to why their son/brother disappeared off the face of the earth in the late 60s.After going to such extraordinary lengths the Beatles so desperate to cover up this audacious act, left a series of clues in their songs as a signal to their fans.

AIBU to think that this combination of scepticism, lack of critical thought, logic, probability twinned with overwhelming arrogance is infuriating and wonder how I should deal with these fuckers in future? Especially when any attempts to point out the flaws in their arguments are taken as signs you are one of the sheeple or a Co conspirator.

I'll take up that theory in relation to the current president.

But not for that reason.
Everyone knows presidents are kept in the dark by government underground conspirators.

I love a good theory. But that one for that base reason was nuts.

AssignedNorthernAtBirth

The problem is that if you can take the abduction theory to the same extremes.

Kidnapped to order order by a group of people from the dark web. etc. etc.

Paul Maxwell wasn't a friend of the Mountbattens or their friends, he was a local lad hired to help on the boat.

Friend or boathand there was a legitimate reason for him to be on the boat. His family have raised no concerns. The man who alleged he had been involved in abuse at Kincora was a lunatic. Here’s an example of the allegations he made:

theneedleblog.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/robin-bryans-letter/

@HildaZelda Here's Prince Philip as a young man. Still think Harry's Hewitt's??

@Geraldine170 - Moon landings [...] There are some genuinely troubling questions about the footage.

Like what?

As Princess Diana being murdered has been mentioned what has always troubled me was the letter she wrote predicting the manner of her death and saying to look into it should she die

It would be surprising if the security service had no plans to curb Diana she was petulant, capricious and self indulgent. Not uncommon if you're royal, these things can be accommodated, but difficult to manage outside the magic garden. Her accident was no surprise to many.

'there's no evidence this didn't happen'

Ahh the conspiracy theorists favourite. But if they make extraordinarily claims, then they need to provide extraordinary evidence to back it.

what has always troubled me was the letter she wrote predicting the manner of her

If the letter was genuine (Paul Burrell is the source) she claimed the brakes were going to be cut in her car and Charles was going to marry her children's former nanny.

When she died being driven by a drunk at high speed through a city centre and was not wearing a seat belt. That an accident would occur in these circumstances is hardly unusual and could be considered a likelihood.

Stay Away From Stoopid.

Genuine Horrible Histories quote for daily use.

Absolutely if claims are made they should be backed up. But A saying MM's parents somehow killed her & then hid her has no actual merit to it in the same way B saying she was abducted has. There is no proof either side & in fact the story her parents gave has so many holes in it even the authorities got dizzy!

Ralph
Steve
Tony

Oops previous post was meant for a name my cat thread... or does it contain a secret message from the illuminati?

I like conspiracy theorists. I think it is good to challenge popular thought and I definitely don’t think we should believe everything the media tells us.

Theresa May has announced that women have penises and is changing the law to make it illegal for anyone to disagree. This is the biggest conspiracy theory around right now, that biology is optional. No longer possible to stay away from stoopid in the U.K.!

The NSA reading everyone's emails used to be a conspiracy theory...until it turned out to be true.

I find that once you follow a conspiracy theory to its conclusion it usually ends with "the Jews"

Someone mentioned that Titanic conspiracy theory earlier - it ends with the the Jews
Illuminati - the Jews infiltrated Illuminati after it was created
Princess Di - the Jews didn't want a Muslim prince
9/11 - the Jews staged it
Even MM abduction, according to one theory, was supposed to be the work of a Zionist Sex Ring. I'm not even joking.

How convenient, eh?

It's just antisemitism in another guise so I have absolutely no time for it.

It's scary when people believe in conspiracies, I think it's because when something happens outside their 'normal' they have a need to keep discussing it and can only do it by buying into the bizarre. Did it all start to go ape with JFK? Weirdly, don't most people actually believe in that CT? The only one that still screams CT to me is the murder of Jill Dando.

Isn't the theory that Jill Dando was going to expose a powerful paedophile ring (including a certain singer) and had to be silenced? Barry George just seemed to be a weirdo in the wrong place at the wrong time, though I did once work with a woman who claimed to have been stalked by him...

Still unsolved as well afaik.

I don't subscribe to any of these theories. My usual response is to say that Elvis is dead.

I wouldn't put Jill Dandos murder in conspiracy file, but another rather poor, but cannot be refuted, establishment cover up. Like Jean Charles Menendez would have been until they realised too many people had been present and the truth would have to be told. Barry George, accused, convicted and imprisoned, later released on appeal for JDs murder, has, disgracefully, never been compensated for the travesty of his conviction.

But A saying MM's parents somehow killed her & then hid her has no actual merit to it in the same way B saying she was abducted has.

The difference, of course, is that if A is wrong they're sticking the knife even further into parents who've suffered unimaginably, whereas if B is wrong, as they're naming no names then nobody suffers because of that. If you're going to make that kind of accusation accusing specific people without any proof, the onus on you to ensure you're not bullshitting is that much greater.

I'd always just assumed anything we wrote in emails could be read if anyone was interested enough to try and do it!

No chemtrails, Lizard people and every terrorist attack is a red flag? I think you’ve got off lightly!

The biggest problem is there can often be a kernel of truth to the conspiracy theory and their arguments are like well they don’t have all the links to evolution so it must be aliens/Adam and Eve/lizards whatever.

I tried to argue with a conspiracy theorist. She told me I had cognitive dissonance and I told her I had a Psychology degree. The conversation ended pretty quickly after that.

I believe that some conspiracies could be true. For one I believe that the West is controlled by the five families and they have a hand in politics and they are behind a lot of the decisions. Also they are waiting for Bush senior to die before they release the JFK files because he had something to do with it.

Personally I think most things are contrived and it's just a cover for what's really going on, I really hope I am wrong.