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I see two issues with what you're saying. First, it's not just that some rich people are pedophiles. It's called a conspiracy theory for a reason - there's con

I see two issues with what you're saying. First, it's not just that some rich people are pedophiles. It's called a conspiracy theory for a reason - there's conspiring going on. The CEO of the Ritz knows that his hotels offer underage prostitutes. The personal concierge directs the CEO to club which is known to be "good for rich people." The club owner knows that the company they outsource to for renting table dancers on the weekends also has dancers doing some prostituting on the side. The other rich attendees of the club (who are not purchasing) can see that that girl is clearly not 21. There's more than just pedophilia going on here - a system of winks and nods whereby powerful people are offered the opportunity to engage in illegal behavior and make no moves against the powerful people who facilitate these opportunities. The second thing is that you're missing the point around alignment. These people DON'T align themselves with each other. They frequent the same forums as each other (e.g. 8chan) and disagree with each other on those forums. It's only in the eyes of the media and in people influenced by the media that the various flavors of conspiracy people are actually aligned. Edit: was thinking about this line. > If you had a genuine interest in an issue that you wanted to raise in public awareness or do something to combat it, the route of the conspiracy theorist is an awfully dumb way to do it. What is the right way to address e.g. the widespread availability of illegal prostitution in hotels owned by American companies in foreign countries? I saw a few news articles in the press exploring the phenomenon a few years back, but nothing changed. Am I supposed to found a non-profit? A newspaper? Do the investigation myself and publish it to LiveLeak? Write a letter to my congresswoman? I'm honestly not sure how to work that problem, other than just talking to other people about it.

klmadfejno 6y ago
> First, it's not just that some rich people are pedophiles. It's called a conspiracy theory for a reason - there's conspiring going on. The CEO of the Ritz knows that his hotels offer underage prostitutes. The personal concierge directs the CEO to club which is known to be "good for rich people." The club owner knows that the company they outsource to for renting table dancers on the weekends also has dancers doing some prostituting on the side. The other rich attendees of the club (who are not purchasing) can see that that girl is clearly not 21. There's more than just pedophilia going on here - a system of winks and nods whereby powerful people are offered the opportunity to engage in illegal behavior and make no moves against the powerful people who facilitate these opportunities. And? Is the claim made more meaningful by these specifics? > The second thing is that you're missing the point around alignment. These people DON'T align themselves with each other. They frequent the same forums as each other (e.g. 8chan) and disagree with each other on those forums. It's only in the eyes of the media and in people influenced by the media that the various flavors of conspiracy people are actually aligned. People who regularly meet and discuss things are aligned on the part that counts. They might not be organized, but they're definitely aligned
- will4274 6y ago
  > And? Is the claim made more meaningful by these specifics? Yes? It's a different claim. Somebody doing X and a culture where many people turn a blind eye to and enable X aren't the same thing. > People who regularly meet and discuss things are aligned on the part that counts. They might not be organized, but they're definitely aligned We're talking about forums on the internet. Are you an I "aligned" because we had this discussion here? Also, please do respond to my edit. I'm still pretty clueless as to the better way to work the problem of powerful people turning a blind eye to and enabling lawbreaking by other powerful people other than just talking about it.
  - klmadfejno 6y ago
    > Yes? It's a different claim. Somebody doing X and a culture where many people turn a blind eye to and enable X aren't the same thing. I don't think it makes a huge difference tbh. > We're talking about forums on the internet. Are you an I "aligned" because we had this discussion here? No. But this is a forum that generally frowns on and downvotes conspiracy theories. If you go to a forum that's primary function is discussing them, then I would say yes. > Also, please do respond to my edit. I'm still pretty clueless as to the better way to work the problem of powerful people turning a blind eye to and enabling lawbreaking by other powerful people other than just talking about it. >What is the right way to address e.g. the widespread availability of illegal prostitution in hotels owned by American companies in foreign countries? I saw a few news articles in the press exploring the phenomenon a few years back, but nothing changed. Am I supposed to found a non-profit? A newspaper? Do the investigation myself and publish it to LiveLeak? Write a letter to my congresswoman? I'm honestly not sure how to work that problem, other than just talking to other people about it. Well given that your theory could be wrong, yeah, you should probably either do the investigation yourself, fund someone else to do the investigation, or find a different problem to solve that is within your power to affect. Raising awareness of something in the form of a conspiracy theory delegitamizes it. For example, how legitamite anti human trafficking non-profits have had a harder time doing productive things due to conspiracy theory influence: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/qanons-obsession-with-savethechildren-is-making-it-harder-to-save-kids-from-traffickers/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/qanons-obsession-with-s...

klmadfejno 6y ago

> First, it's not just that some rich people are pedophiles. It's called a conspiracy theory for a reason - there's conspiring going on. The CEO of the Ritz knows that his hotels offer underage prostitutes. The personal concierge directs the CEO to club which is known to be "good for rich people." The club owner knows that the company they outsource to for renting table dancers on the weekends also has dancers doing some prostituting on the side. The other rich attendees of the club (who are not purchasing) can see that that girl is clearly not 21. There's more than just pedophilia going on here - a system of winks and nods whereby powerful people are offered the opportunity to engage in illegal behavior and make no moves against the powerful people who facilitate these opportunities. And? Is the claim made more meaningful by these specifics? > The second thing is that you're missing the point around alignment. These people DON'T align themselves with each other. They frequent the same forums as each other (e.g. 8chan) and disagree with each other on those forums. It's only in the eyes of the media and in people influenced by the media that the various flavors of conspiracy people are actually aligned. People who regularly meet and discuss things are aligned on the part that counts. They might not be organized, but they're definitely aligned

will4274 6y ago
> And? Is the claim made more meaningful by these specifics? Yes? It's a different claim. Somebody doing X and a culture where many people turn a blind eye to and enable X aren't the same thing. > People who regularly meet and discuss things are aligned on the part that counts. They might not be organized, but they're definitely aligned We're talking about forums on the internet. Are you an I "aligned" because we had this discussion here? Also, please do respond to my edit. I'm still pretty clueless as to the better way to work the problem of powerful people turning a blind eye to and enabling lawbreaking by other powerful people other than just talking about it.
- klmadfejno 6y ago
  > Yes? It's a different claim. Somebody doing X and a culture where many people turn a blind eye to and enable X aren't the same thing. I don't think it makes a huge difference tbh. > We're talking about forums on the internet. Are you an I "aligned" because we had this discussion here? No. But this is a forum that generally frowns on and downvotes conspiracy theories. If you go to a forum that's primary function is discussing them, then I would say yes. > Also, please do respond to my edit. I'm still pretty clueless as to the better way to work the problem of powerful people turning a blind eye to and enabling lawbreaking by other powerful people other than just talking about it. >What is the right way to address e.g. the widespread availability of illegal prostitution in hotels owned by American companies in foreign countries? I saw a few news articles in the press exploring the phenomenon a few years back, but nothing changed. Am I supposed to found a non-profit? A newspaper? Do the investigation myself and publish it to LiveLeak? Write a letter to my congresswoman? I'm honestly not sure how to work that problem, other than just talking to other people about it. Well given that your theory could be wrong, yeah, you should probably either do the investigation yourself, fund someone else to do the investigation, or find a different problem to solve that is within your power to affect. Raising awareness of something in the form of a conspiracy theory delegitamizes it. For example, how legitamite anti human trafficking non-profits have had a harder time doing productive things due to conspiracy theory influence: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/qanons-obsession-with-savethechildren-is-making-it-harder-to-save-kids-from-traffickers/ https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/qanons-obsession-with-s...