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Rvn
New Member
USA
1 Post |
 Posted - 09/13/2009 : 19:28:21
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Hi all! I'm new to the forum, just signed up today. I don't have much to add to this thread, except this:
http://www.xkcd.net/258/
I've been around conspiracy theorists for years, and always struggled with how to communicate, briefly and simply, why their ramblings were illogical and not proof of anything. Recently I found this webcomic that manages to sum up everything I've been trying to say better than I could have. Hope you can use it; or at least get a laugh out of it. 
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 09/13/2009 : 23:42:09 [Permalink]
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Welcome to SFN, Rvn! Your struggles, and those of the XKCD protagonist, have been mirrored by many of us.
I used to struggle with my own brother over his conspiracy/woo beliefs (including both 911 and moon landings), but now avoid those while simply trying to more generally engage him, while gently exposing him to general critical thinking. It's a slow process that's probably not going to work well, but at least it maintains the family ties.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
 Posted - 09/14/2009 : 00:42:56 [Permalink]
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Welcome!
xkcd is good stuff, been reading that web comic for quite a while.
And yeah, conspiracy people are slightly retarded. They seem to be incapable of rational evaluation of facts. At least where their beliefs are concerned.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2009 : 01:57:48 [Permalink]
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| Welcome, Rvn! |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2009 : 02:03:44 [Permalink]
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Conspiracies, especially weird ones, are interesting.
I think that at least part of what attracts people like my brother to credulously believing in conspiracies is that they get a positive kick out of it. They also get this kick by thinking and talking about earth-visiting space aliens and Bigfoot, though those last two need not (but with my brother, do) involve conspiracies. The word, "credophile" can be useful here.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 09/14/2009 03:23:04 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 09/14/2009 : 03:52:25 [Permalink]
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Welcome, Rvn! Excellent comic; I might start reading that one regularly.
]8
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 09/14/2009 : 08:22:36 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
Conspiracies, especially weird ones, are interesting. |
My favourite conspiracy theory evaaaar.
Because, I ask you, if you are going to abandon critical thinking and clutch to an unsupported and very contrived version of the event, why stop half-way and not go full throttle into crazy-land? |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist
USA
4955 Posts |
Posted - 09/19/2009 : 13:47:34 [Permalink]
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Hi Rvn--
A quick look through some of the older threads in this folder will show you some of the amazing things people will bring to the table (or leave behind) when it comes to discussing conspiracies.
The 9/11 people and stuff by SFN favorite Jerome da Gnome is pretty entertaining... |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 09/20/2009 : 12:18:44 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Cuneiformist
stuff by SFN favorite Jerome da Gnome is pretty entertaining...
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Entertaining in a gory train wreck kind of way, in my personal opinion.
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Conspiracy in a Nutshell
