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His twitter is very weird - there's a bunch of Ghislaine Maxwell / Aaron Swartz conspiracy theories, which he somehow ties to GamerGate.
by Sebguer 5y ago
His twitter is very weird - there's a bunch of Ghislaine Maxwell / Aaron Swartz conspiracy theories, which he somehow ties to GamerGate.
- jamal-kumar 5y agoI was about to point out the fact that all this guy's motivations seem to be mental illness YOLO and that it seems he recently lost his job. Kind of like the movie "falling down" but even more petty somehow
- justaplebe 5y ago
- vorpalhex 5y agoMy mental model for "people who believe in conspiracy theories" has changed since I lost a few friends deep into them. I think it's a refuge for distressed people. Some belief that unconnected terrible events are somehow all controlled and "part of the plan". I still don't get it and likely never will, but it at least aligns with anecdotal cases I've experienced of seemingly normal people going a bit off.
- justaplebe 5y ago
- vorpalhex 5y ago> Downvotes in lieu of logical argument in 3...2... If you want a logical rebuttal, you have to make a logical argument, and not > At least 70-80% of 'conspiracy theories' are true. Yes, even many of the 'crazy' ones.
- rhcom2 5y agoI never understood 9/11 truthers until someone explained it that it was more comforting to at least believe someone was pulling the strings in the background because at least there was a plan, even if it was sinister, compared to accepting a militarily inferior enemy half way across the world can upend everything about your life seemingly randomly.
- justaplebe 5y ago
- ushakov 5y agoIMHO the whole point of 9/11 was to make Americans feel insecure and distrust their government
- otterley 5y agoGo pick up a copy of "Through our Enemies' Eyes." It's an account from a CIA agent who did extensive research on the events and circumstances that led up to 9/11 and the actors involved. His conclusion: It's not really about that at all; the answers are much more personal than that.
- o_m 5y agoThere was a plan, and it was by Osama Bin Laden. But he was naive. He wanted the American people to question themselves why something like this would happen to them, then find out about all the horrible things USA has done to other nations. It was never about hating freedom.
- watwut 5y agoI don't understand how the former is more comforting. Military inferior enemy with one successful attack is preferable. It is safer the sinister plan inside.
- ushakov 5y ago
- justaplebe 5y ago
- ushakov 5y ago
- onesmartmofo 5y ago
- slowmovintarget 5y agoI don't think Trump believes in conspiracies, generally speaking. I think he simply finds them useful for manipulating large groups of people. I could certainly be mistaken.
- ushakov 5y agoi don't think he does either plays along on the conspiracies as long it benefits him and shows him in good light his psychopathy is a level beyond those of conspiracy believers
- justaplebe 5y ago
- ushakov 5y ago
- vadansky 5y agoI hate this position. Imagine someone ranting about MKULTRA if the CIA never acknowledged it. Imagine it was just some papers on the internet with no providence. I like to think of it as a matter of diversity of though. We need the "crazy" people to explore the really unlikely bizarre scenarios that MIGHT be true that most mainstream people will never even humor. At the end of the day reality is stranger then fiction.
- vorpalhex 5y agoEveryone has some non-orthodox beliefs. I am sure I'm not exempt. I'm not trying to describe someone who has a few odd beliefs, especially if they know they are a bit odd and can entertain good arguments. I'm trying to describe where someone descends into the whole web of inter-related beliefs and accepts them with a religious determination, resisting even the suggestion they could be wrong.
- onesmartmofo 5y ago
- ushakov 5y agothe problem starts when you start preaching your beliefs onto others
- Shish2k 5y agoSure, 1% of conspiracy theories turn out to have some truth to them — but on the whole, if there’s no way of knowing in-advance which ones those are, I don’t know if “engage with all the conspiracy theories, spend time and energy attacking fictional problems and innocent people” is a better response than “reject all the conspiracy theories, spend time and energy on definitely-real problems, allow some dodgy organisations to get away with stuff”...
- jaywalk 5y agoYou also have the conspiracy theory that says that the most outlandish conspiracy theories are amplified much more than they naturally would be in an attempt to discredit all conspiracy theories. Which I do believe, myself.
- phkahler 5y agoObserving a schizophrenic I knew made me realize people high in "intolerance of uncertainty" can probably discard reality checking to arrive at a firm conclusion. I googled that and found a psych paper claiming schizophrenics indeed tend toward high intolerance for uncertainty. It was a relatively new finding.
- savanaly 5y agoAstral Codex Ten posited that conspiracy theories are part of the Epistemic Minor Leagues [0]. In other words a way for people to flex the part of their brain that doing real research and discovery stimulates even if they don't feel they can belong to or contribute to "regular" intellectual activity like academic research. [0] https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/epistemic-minor-leagues https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/epistemic-minor-league...