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ktesibios
SFN Regular
USA
505 Posts |
 Posted - 01/05/2002 : 18:50:54
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Here's the link:
http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=75&contentid=306
I don't mean that the theory itself is interesting, but I thought that the author's technique shows some well-developed hogwash-selling skillz, and I'm curious whether anyone else sees the same methods at work that I do.
I'd been thinking about asking the Skeptic Friends to grade this effort ever since I first saw it pop up on indymedia.org, your looniness home-away-from-home; what decided me was rereading Kil's "B17" article and seeing this same guy's name in there, connected with cancer quackery.
So, if this were a creative concocting exercise at Conspiracy U., what grade would you give it and why?
Boris Karloff died for your sins.
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Trish
SFN Addict
USA
2102 Posts |
 Posted - 01/05/2002 : 20:56:35 [Permalink]
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I thought they were discussing upgrading aircraft to do just this. But the primary factor was cost effectiveness, the new equipment and aircraft redsign being cost prohibitive especially with aircraft in excess of ten to fifteen years old.
Take a bit of truth, and wrap a lie around it. Isn't that the recipe for most conspiracy theories?
BTW, D-. Leaves the reader a little flat, no reason for the conspiracy.
(Edited because I can't type.)
It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. -Mark Twain
Edited by - Trish on 01/05/2002 20:57:27 |
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James
SFN Regular
USA
754 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2002 : 08:27:05 [Permalink]
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quote:
(Edited because I can't type.)
So? Neither can I. When I get going, my "the" looks like "teh". It just helps to proofread your post before posting, I know that much.
I agree with Trish: D-
The conspiracy theory came too late, IMO, to really cause anyone to change anyone's opinion. It's been, what, 4 months since the attacks? Only now is he coming up with it? Please. Also, if it were possible to "override" the controls from the ground, why didn't they just do that? Would have been much easier and they would've been able to crash more planes. But that's logic for you.
"Necessity may be the mother of invention, but laziness is usually the father." -Bailey's First Law |
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Piltdown
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2002 : 13:12:07 [Permalink]
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This one is strictly low-level stuff, with no pretense of sources or corroborating evidence. This appeals mainly to post-adolescent conspira-wackies, the ones who are only vaguely aware of things like how an airplane works, how big the government is, and the true extent of outside knowledge of advanced technology. This group, as opposed to the besieged property-owner class of conspiracy believers, are the ones most likely to believe in a complete alternate reality, one in which all media, all academic institutions, and all professional organizations are under rigidly disciplined control. This is possible because they are typically ignorant of the extent and complexity of these entities, and, in particular, of how similar entities function in the rest of the world.
Never underestimate the power of ignorance, especially when it is combined with pop-culture indoctrination. While I was working on trashing the Fox Moon Hoax last year, I happened to meet a student nurse who believed in the moon hoax. I brought up the difficulty (ie impossibility)of persuading hostile military forces to go along with it. During the conversation, it transpired that this person did not know that there is more than one military organization in the world. I swear. She had heard "the military" so often that she thought it was a single worldwide monolith. She was aware of foreign military forces, of course, but thought they were all branches of the same thing. According to her, wars were the result of "the people" (presumably another monolith) resisting "the military".
Abducting UFOs and conspiring against conspiracy theorists since 1980. |
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Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2002 : 10:01:46 [Permalink]
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The conspirawackos love people like this student nurse. They're so ignorant of the workings of the everyday world that they'll buy into anything if it sounds the least bit authoratative.
I can only hope she's not as credulous when it comes to her profession. I'd hate to go to a hospital to have my heart condition checked, only to have someone like her hand me a quartz crystal as the "cure".
Lisa
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much room. |
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Mespo_man
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2002 : 12:00:01 [Permalink]
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quote:
So, if this were a creative concocting exercise at Conspiracy U., what grade would you give it and why?
As a straight-forward article, it is well written and contains a certain logic. The letter grade I would assign it is inversely proportional to the education level of the reading audience.
A - Supermarket tabloid checkout line mindset.
B - 4th-6th grade reading and comprehension.
C - Middle School r & c.
D - High School r & c.
F - College level r & c.
The article is perfectly aimed at the vast couch potato audience that makes no effort at critical analysis nor apologises for its lack of ability to do so. (*snap* *psssst* *glug-glug* *b-u-r-r-p*)
(:raig |
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