4 ms·

I used to look down on conspiracy theories, now I think many are actually true, or are mixed with truth. Its really unlikely that a theory circulates widely but

I used to look down on conspiracy theories, now I think many are actually true, or are mixed with truth. Its really unlikely that a theory circulates widely but has no basis in reality

mkoubaa 7mo ago
They're all on a spectrum between flat earth and Epstein didn't off himself, with some clustering at either end
- BatFastard 7mo ago
  Wasn't Epstein a conspiracy theory once? Epstein cover up has made me believe that cover ups DO happen, and if this one was covered up, what else has been cover up?
  - mkoubaa 7mo ago
    It still is, and it is plainly a true conspiracy. Hence its placement at the top end of the spectrum. What else has been covered up? Oh boy...
- andrewflnr 7mo ago
  I don't understand the Epstein thing. In particular, I don't know why everyone doesn't agree "Epstein had help offing himself". That's the most natural inference from the evidence I'm aware of, and also satisfies the conspiracist urge for drama. Everyone should be happy with this, but I've hardly ever heard anyone else put it forward. What am I missing?
- lp4v4n 7mo ago
  A few years ago, the "tinfoil hat crowd" had this absurd claim that Ghislaine Maxwell was a reddit powermod: https://www.vice.com/en/article/incoherent-conspiracy-suggests-ghislaine-maxwell-is-a-powerful-redditor/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/incoherent-conspiracy-sugges... The article above is from 2020, and later the FBI itself used the user maxwellhill as evidence in Ghislaine's investigation: https://www.reddit.com/r/Epstein/comments/1qsf6y6/reddit_post_by_user_maxwellhill_used_as_fbi/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Epstein/comments/1qsf6y6/reddit_pos...
  - DANmode 7mo ago
    The Overton Window shifts, no matter what the “we always believed and knew” crowd tries to say.
  - ChrisKnott 7mo ago
    This is almost certainly because a member of the public phoned the police/FBI and alleged that GM was /u/maxwellhill, not that it was part of the FBI’s case. Look at the other stuff on the list. I don’t know if the claim is “absurd” but it appears to be essentially baseless.
estearum 7mo ago
“Reality” applies pretty much zero selection pressure on ideas that are by definition non-actionable. That’s the real bread and butter of conspiracy theorizing: claims that don’t matter to anyone’s real lives whether they’re actually true or not. Therefore they propagate primarily for entertainment value and face none of the friction that you’re imagining being generated by “doesn’t actually make useful predictions about the world.”
jackmottatx 7mo ago
[dead]
heavyset_go 7mo ago
Popular conspiracy theories are psyops to either discredit people, movements or ideas The government spent a lot of time and energy pumping up UFO conspiracy theories to hide sightings of classified aircraft, and they're getting pumped up again in the age of developing cheap weaponized drones. I would not be surprised that the whole human sex trafficking and Qanon related conspiracy theories are also psyops to hide what's actually going on in plain sight. Obviously, Hillary Clinton wasn't trafficking kids in the basement of a pizza parlor, but there is literally a cabal of elite sex trafficking pedophiles that own and run everything, and one of them is the president.
- mikert89 7mo ago
  Wild to think Q anon could have been truth mixed with wild fiction to throw people off. Thats really only something I thought happened in movies, or novels. I'm willing to believe alot more than i ever thought I would
  - jibal 7mo ago
    > I'm willing to believe Well there you have it. That has nothing to do with truth, only an emotional inclination. For instance, you are strongly inclined to believe the claims in the comment you responded to, despite it being almost entirely BS.
    - Fricken 7mo ago
      Does anybody believe the lone gunman theory with JFK? Nobody buys the official narrative.
      - rocky_raccoon 7mo ago
        Plenty of people do, alongside the preponderance of evidence.
        deleted 7mo ago
        [deleted]
jibal 7mo ago
> Its really unlikely that a theory circulates widely but has no basis in reality No, this is not at all true. For example, the only "truth" of BigFoot is the hoax video that many people are emotionally inclined to think isn't a hoax. The only "truth" in Qanon is the messages that Q wrote. Pizzagate was believed by people emotionally inclined to believe that Hillary drinks children's blood. And on and on. Did the government fake the moon landing? Many people believe so, despite no "truth" to it. Is the Earth flat but NASA is conspiring to tell people it's a globe? Is evolution a hoax? There are reasons that these circulate widely despite having no truth to them.
- mikert89 7mo ago
  pizza gate was corroborated by the epstein emails. not all of it, but plenty
- jibal 7mo ago
  > pizza gate was corroborated by the epstein emails. LOL. That doesn't even warrant a response.

I used to look down on conspiracy theories, now I think many are actually true, or are mixed with truth. Its really unlikely that a theory circulates widely but has no basis in reality

mkoubaa 7mo ago

They're all on a spectrum between flat earth and Epstein didn't off himself, with some clustering at either end

BatFastard 7mo ago
Wasn't Epstein a conspiracy theory once? Epstein cover up has made me believe that cover ups DO happen, and if this one was covered up, what else has been cover up?
- mkoubaa 7mo ago
  It still is, and it is plainly a true conspiracy. Hence its placement at the top end of the spectrum. What else has been covered up? Oh boy...
andrewflnr 7mo ago
I don't understand the Epstein thing. In particular, I don't know why everyone doesn't agree "Epstein had help offing himself". That's the most natural inference from the evidence I'm aware of, and also satisfies the conspiracist urge for drama. Everyone should be happy with this, but I've hardly ever heard anyone else put it forward. What am I missing?
lp4v4n 7mo ago
A few years ago, the "tinfoil hat crowd" had this absurd claim that Ghislaine Maxwell was a reddit powermod: https://www.vice.com/en/article/incoherent-conspiracy-suggests-ghislaine-maxwell-is-a-powerful-redditor/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/incoherent-conspiracy-sugges... The article above is from 2020, and later the FBI itself used the user maxwellhill as evidence in Ghislaine's investigation: https://www.reddit.com/r/Epstein/comments/1qsf6y6/reddit_post_by_user_maxwellhill_used_as_fbi/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Epstein/comments/1qsf6y6/reddit_pos...
- DANmode 7mo ago
  The Overton Window shifts, no matter what the “we always believed and knew” crowd tries to say.
- ChrisKnott 7mo ago
  This is almost certainly because a member of the public phoned the police/FBI and alleged that GM was /u/maxwellhill, not that it was part of the FBI’s case. Look at the other stuff on the list. I don’t know if the claim is “absurd” but it appears to be essentially baseless.

estearum 7mo ago

“Reality” applies pretty much zero selection pressure on ideas that are by definition non-actionable. That’s the real bread and butter of conspiracy theorizing: claims that don’t matter to anyone’s real lives whether they’re actually true or not. Therefore they propagate primarily for entertainment value and face none of the friction that you’re imagining being generated by “doesn’t actually make useful predictions about the world.”

jackmottatx 7mo ago

[dead]

heavyset_go 7mo ago

Popular conspiracy theories are psyops to either discredit people, movements or ideas The government spent a lot of time and energy pumping up UFO conspiracy theories to hide sightings of classified aircraft, and they're getting pumped up again in the age of developing cheap weaponized drones. I would not be surprised that the whole human sex trafficking and Qanon related conspiracy theories are also psyops to hide what's actually going on in plain sight. Obviously, Hillary Clinton wasn't trafficking kids in the basement of a pizza parlor, but there is literally a cabal of elite sex trafficking pedophiles that own and run everything, and one of them is the president.

mikert89 7mo ago
Wild to think Q anon could have been truth mixed with wild fiction to throw people off. Thats really only something I thought happened in movies, or novels. I'm willing to believe alot more than i ever thought I would
- jibal 7mo ago
  > I'm willing to believe Well there you have it. That has nothing to do with truth, only an emotional inclination. For instance, you are strongly inclined to believe the claims in the comment you responded to, despite it being almost entirely BS.
  - Fricken 7mo ago
    Does anybody believe the lone gunman theory with JFK? Nobody buys the official narrative.
    - rocky_raccoon 7mo ago
      Plenty of people do, alongside the preponderance of evidence.
      - deleted 7mo ago
        [deleted]

jibal 7mo ago

> Its really unlikely that a theory circulates widely but has no basis in reality No, this is not at all true. For example, the only "truth" of BigFoot is the hoax video that many people are emotionally inclined to think isn't a hoax. The only "truth" in Qanon is the messages that Q wrote. Pizzagate was believed by people emotionally inclined to believe that Hillary drinks children's blood. And on and on. Did the government fake the moon landing? Many people believe so, despite no "truth" to it. Is the Earth flat but NASA is conspiring to tell people it's a globe? Is evolution a hoax? There are reasons that these circulate widely despite having no truth to them.

mikert89 7mo ago
pizza gate was corroborated by the epstein emails. not all of it, but plenty
jibal 7mo ago
> pizza gate was corroborated by the epstein emails. LOL. That doesn't even warrant a response.