7 ms·

World Ice Theory and the Supernatural Imaginary of the Third Reich

39 points by Vigier 9y ago

cirgue 9y ago
>By providing all the necessary clues to convince his audience that what they saw was truly “scientific,” Hörbiger’s doctrine “produced sensations of authenticity that made the distinction between ‘serious’ scientific work, committed to objectivity and rationality, and mere dramatic banter about it almost impossible, at least for the broader public,” Did 'sensation of authenticity' leap off the page to anyone else? That is the exact phrase I would use to describe most enterprise sales decks.
- eronhp 9y ago
  And a lot of TED talks too.
- s_kilk 9y ago
  Sometimes referred to as "truthyness", where something has the texture of plausiblity or truth, and fits with the viewers biases.
api 9y ago
Interestingly the modern alt-right, which is largely a 21st century post-social-media rebranding of Nazi ideology, has its own very strange occultism: https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com/smug-pepe-sure-makes-a-lot-of-sense-now-that-trump-has-won/ https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com/smug-pepe-sure-makes-... There's a lot more. The rabbit hole goes deep and gets extremely bizarre. There's also a strong affinity between the alt-right and some of the more bizarre currents of conspiracy theory: the flat Earth movement, Apollo hoax conspiracies, weird alternative theories of history like ancient alien wars, and the absolute wackiest 9/11 conspiracy theories (e.g. controlled demolition with energy weapons from space). You can see this very clearly if you look at overlapping participation and moderation of various Reddit forums and at the similarity of jargon and propaganda. Historically it seems like totalitarian movements usually employ what we might term "radically anti-rational bullshit" as signaling. The Soviets did it too with Lysenkoism and statistical/mathematical quackery designed to bolster Lenin's theories. It seems to serve both for social signaling within the movement and as a straightforward ideological stance on the profound and radical rejection of reason.
- nerdponx 9y ago
  I would say it's the other way around, that people who are fascinated by the occult are liable to get sucked in by the alt-right. Same category of extreme paranoia.
  - alacombe 9y ago
    ... and they say that "openness" is a virtue of the left ;-)
- dguaraglia 9y ago
  Although I hate drawing the parallel (Godwin's Law and all that) but the current "conspiracy right" delves into the "occult" to a certain extent: there are myths about Democratic operatives taking part in human sacrifices or running child-sex rings, publishing lists of confirmed kills!!! by this or that person and a consistent narrative of the (((globalists))) (read: Jews) and "deep state" impeding their current Savior from achieving greatness. Some people like Alex Jones go even further into full-on crazy territory. Unfortunately it's becoming a mainstream part of politics.
  - InitialLastName 9y ago
    Speaking as a lizard person, we're not all bad.
- rch 9y ago
  The left is just as bizarre. Here in Boulder people seem to be graduating from yoga to astrology to drinking 'structured water' from bottles charged with 'orgone energy' at a surprising rate. It seems like overkill to use modern marketing techniques to twist people's cognitive facilities, ultimately just to sell more stretchy pants.
  - dguaraglia 9y ago
    The "new age" thing has been going on for a really long time. That these people happen to be "the left" is neither here nor there. The Alex Jones phenomenon of "occult forces are out to kill us all" has only become mainstream now. There's a huge difference between people drinking "magical water" and preparing for apocalypse (which they are told is coming any day now, in the hands of "the libruls") by buying racks full of guns.
clock_tower 9y ago
Someone had remarked that the SS is what you'd get if the Pentagon hired the Church of Happyology to create a new branch of the military. I thought this was hilariously on-point; but then I refreshed the page to see more discussion, and the comment was gone. Are the clam spirits angry today?

39 points by Vigier 9y ago

>By providing all the necessary clues to convince his audience that what they saw was truly “scientific,” Hörbiger’s doctrine “produced sensations of authenticity that made the distinction between ‘serious’ scientific work, committed to objectivity and rationality, and mere dramatic banter about it almost impossible, at least for the broader public,” Did 'sensation of authenticity' leap off the page to anyone else? That is the exact phrase I would use to describe most enterprise sales decks.

eronhp 9y ago
And a lot of TED talks too.
s_kilk 9y ago
Sometimes referred to as "truthyness", where something has the texture of plausiblity or truth, and fits with the viewers biases.

api 9y ago

Interestingly the modern alt-right, which is largely a 21st century post-social-media rebranding of Nazi ideology, has its own very strange occultism: https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com/smug-pepe-sure-makes-a-lot-of-sense-now-that-trump-has-won/ https://pepethefrogfaith.wordpress.com/smug-pepe-sure-makes-... There's a lot more. The rabbit hole goes deep and gets extremely bizarre. There's also a strong affinity between the alt-right and some of the more bizarre currents of conspiracy theory: the flat Earth movement, Apollo hoax conspiracies, weird alternative theories of history like ancient alien wars, and the absolute wackiest 9/11 conspiracy theories (e.g. controlled demolition with energy weapons from space). You can see this very clearly if you look at overlapping participation and moderation of various Reddit forums and at the similarity of jargon and propaganda. Historically it seems like totalitarian movements usually employ what we might term "radically anti-rational bullshit" as signaling. The Soviets did it too with Lysenkoism and statistical/mathematical quackery designed to bolster Lenin's theories. It seems to serve both for social signaling within the movement and as a straightforward ideological stance on the profound and radical rejection of reason.

nerdponx 9y ago
I would say it's the other way around, that people who are fascinated by the occult are liable to get sucked in by the alt-right. Same category of extreme paranoia.
- alacombe 9y ago
  ... and they say that "openness" is a virtue of the left ;-)
dguaraglia 9y ago
Although I hate drawing the parallel (Godwin's Law and all that) but the current "conspiracy right" delves into the "occult" to a certain extent: there are myths about Democratic operatives taking part in human sacrifices or running child-sex rings, publishing lists of confirmed kills!!! by this or that person and a consistent narrative of the (((globalists))) (read: Jews) and "deep state" impeding their current Savior from achieving greatness. Some people like Alex Jones go even further into full-on crazy territory. Unfortunately it's becoming a mainstream part of politics.
- InitialLastName 9y ago
  Speaking as a lizard person, we're not all bad.
rch 9y ago
The left is just as bizarre. Here in Boulder people seem to be graduating from yoga to astrology to drinking 'structured water' from bottles charged with 'orgone energy' at a surprising rate. It seems like overkill to use modern marketing techniques to twist people's cognitive facilities, ultimately just to sell more stretchy pants.
- dguaraglia 9y ago
  The "new age" thing has been going on for a really long time. That these people happen to be "the left" is neither here nor there. The Alex Jones phenomenon of "occult forces are out to kill us all" has only become mainstream now. There's a huge difference between people drinking "magical water" and preparing for apocalypse (which they are told is coming any day now, in the hands of "the libruls") by buying racks full of guns.

clock_tower 9y ago

Someone had remarked that the SS is what you'd get if the Pentagon hired the Church of Happyology to create a new branch of the military. I thought this was hilariously on-point; but then I refreshed the page to see more discussion, and the comment was gone. Are the clam spirits angry today?