Profiling conspiracy theorists

[seah]

Is the consensus still that conspiracy theorists are quacks or am I too deluded for even asking the question?

Well I had a little time, so I did a bit of research. What I found was numerous articles claiming that followers of conspiracy materials are not only unintelligent but actually dangerous. That is disconcerting and caused me to wonder if there could be a bigger agenda behind such claims. Of course I may just be exhibiting paranoia, one of many symptoms on the growing list of symptoms, conspiracy theorists supposedly present.

One article had this to say: “Followers of conspiracy theories tend to be people who permanently feel disadvantaged and marginalized. Searching for anonymous powers and conspirers that hold you at their mercy is a convenient way to not look at your own mistakes and omissions.
” http://www.exberliner.com/features/%E2%80%9Cconspiracy-theorists-are-dangerous%E2%80%9D/

What sent me down this road was other research I was doing on Mike Adams, the founder of Natural News, a site I often pop into to read news on what can be considered controversial topics, but certainly nothing that could label me a nut job for believing it has merit. Jim Wales of Wikipedia, calls Adams a “truther”, and regards those who believe the data about chemtrails not simply being exhaust from planes, to be “chemophobic”. Go figure.

In 2013, Public Policy Polling gathered data relating to conspiracy theorists titled “Democrats and Republicans differ on conspiracy theory beliefs”. It was found that 28% of voters believe in the ‘OWO agenda’. An article that appeared in Vanity Fair based on some the PPP findings, referred to 30 percent of American citizens, “as dumb as a bag of inbred hammers”.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2013/04/creeping-danger-conspiracy-theorists

Search engines such as Google gather every bit of information they can on all of its users. The same thing goes for social media sights such as Facebook. The list is growing on our buying habits, what we care about, our health issues, where we live, and on and on. This kind of profiling that once was mainly used by law enforcement agencies to identify criminals, is now being used to identify us, the so called “truthers” and conspiracy theorists.

Conspiracism is said to be “inherently right-wing authoritarian ideology”. A characterization of us may include, marginalized lives, unstable self-esteem, preconceived notions, distrust authority and paranoia. This is sounding like a profile of a personality disorder. Considering that multiple mental health professionals are being paid to gather data and build profiles on folks who don’t run with the pack, is the intent to make it a mental health condition in near future?

Political dissidents have been labeled by governments as mentally ill before, and locked away. I don’t feel it’s a stretch to be making these connections. I don't advocate labels, good or bad, but apparently one has been created for people such as me, and it is one that makes strong implications that we are a threat to society. As usual, they resort to delineating the very qualities that describe their insane behaviour to depict those who disagree with the program. After all if there is a break away civilization, and it seems that either there is an agenda to makes us believe there is one, or this is in fact the reality, it is those who are members of it that demonstrate inherent defective thinking, and who are dangerous to humanity.
http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/a-psychological-profile-of-conspiracy-theorists interesting read.

[Althena]

He who thinks and uses his brain is and will be branded a "conspiracy nutter".

Keep believing and keep safe.

[MorningSong]

I bring your attention to this site below...do go and look about... check out the various lists on the page (click on "see all..") ... I was flabbergasted at some of the peeps they list! Talk about knots in one's stomach... I actually felt sick.

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files

[Carmody]

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
-- Margaret Mead

[Bluegreen]

Please ...
Conspiracy factualist

:)

[iamnoone]

I've spoken about some of these points elsewhere but your post seemed an opportune time to collate all of my ideas about this topic in one spot. I have devoted many years to investigating and considering this issue in the context of the awakening process and so I think I bring a slightly different view to the table. I'm also aware that my view is quite different to others who present here.

The process of awakening has been somewhat hijacked by the Truthers. They have for the most part removed it from its original spiritual context and placed it solely within an openmindedness to conspiracy context. The problem is that openmindedness to conspiracy actually isn't a benchmark, overcoming the ego and living as your spiritual self is, and a natural consequence of that is a greater insight into the machinations of the world and understanding of human beings in general particularly those who are still 'asleep'.

Overcoming the ego and living as your spiritual self is NOT some arbitrary intellectual notion. It is a real and tangible experience. It can be FELT, not known, not thought, but felt and experienced. The awakening process means being awake to this real, tangible state which can be felt and experienced. You will be able to FEEL the chakras. You will be able to FEEL the nadis. You will be able to FEEL the energy flow, you will be able to FEEL your energy space, you will be able to FEEl the energy of the whole universe (or source or god or cosmic soup), you will be able to FEEL the energy of others. And it will be TERRIFYING, at first, primarily because being a spiritual or energetic being conflicts with our currently held views about our true natures and secondly because our energetic states are usually in such a state because they've been disregarded our entire lives as we've been acting from conditioning rather than as our actual selves.

When we completely actualise our true selves, we are free, we are safe, we are empowered. Importantly we SEE clearly and so we are a threat, to everyone. One thing you begin to discover fairly quickly is that nearly everyone has an agenda, from the 'I just want you to like me' agenda, way up to the 'I want to control the whole world' agenda. As such, we are apply our critical awareness to not just governmental, big business, or elitist agendas but also to those of the new age, truthers and alternative networks. What you discover is that these alternative networks don't want you to wake up any more than anyone else because pretty soon you will wake up to them and discover their agendas are more aligned with the powers that be than your own.

The alternative networks, by and large, use a strong, fear based paradigm. The government, big business, the elite, the illuminati, the zionists, aliens, archons, spirits, demons, the devil, scientists, are out to get you. Fear is the biggest enemy of our spiritual nature as it disrupts our base chakras. Our base chakra is the container for our fire chi. It is our fire chi which makes us feel strong, secure and empowered and enables us to act with surety and confidence. This also has the effect of us not knowing who we can trust and depend on which leads to monkey mind rumination where we try to work out what is real and true and what is not.

The alternative networks makes our enemies so big that we are virtually powerless to stop them and must instead wait for benevolent aliens, a sky god, or a magical energetic force to wipe them all out. Again, this message is disempowering in that it creates problems so big that we can never ever solve them leading to despondency and depression and also removes our own agency in addressing the issues which effect our lives.

The alternative networks create division by pitting country against country, culture against culture, gender against gender and alternative genders, political persuasion against political persuasion and so on. It creates problems which very often don't exist. It is a classic divide and conquer strategy and has been used for eons against the people to control and subjugate.

The alternative networks news and information is often so outlandish as to be unbelievable which sets their followers and proponents up for ridicule and leads to genuine concerns being ignored and dismissed. Further to this, there is so much information or misinformation, that it would take many many lifetimes to wade through it all rendering it virtually useless. The alternative networks escape persecution from this ridicule themselves because they have supportive networks and fans and followers behind them. We usually don't. We have partners and friends and family and co-workers who think we are nut jobs.

The alternative networks don't tend to provide any real or tangible solutions to the issues they've uncovered beyond 'awareness' and the magical solutions discussed earlier. The funny thing about changing the world, is that it requires actually changing the world. That means getting out at the grass roots level and doing the things that need to be done. Funny thing is, every alternative network is also presenting different problems committed by different people so even if we could get it together to do something we'd all be trying to fix different things and battling different enemies. Which all feeds back into the divide and conquer strategy.

It's also worth considering that the alternative network tells us that people that speak out end up dead or worse. And we've seen what happens to people who actually do reveal state secrets. Chelsea Manning is in gaol. Edward Snowden is in hiding. Julian Assange is stuck in the Ecuadorian prison. So why aren't any of the alternative networks under threat?

The alternative network is as falliable to human foibles as any other sector. They seek fame, fortune, glory and attention as much as anyone else and retaining the fame, fortune, glory and attention requires constant upkeep and the ability to remain relevant. They are under pressure to uncover as much as they can in order to keep themselves in the public eye and keep the public satisfied.

Further, where the alternative network has uncovered a solution to a problem, like alternative health solutions to big pharma, those industries stand to gain as much as big pharma stands to lose.

And lastly, they promote new age therapies which are hurtful, harmful and defeatist, such as manifestation, law of attraction, positive thinking and so on. Whilst many of them refer to our inherently spiritual nature, not one of them actually talks about how to awaken except in the vaguest of terms and the majority describe a process which does not match the actual experience so that those who actually are awakening think they are not since what they are experiencing is not matching what they were told to expect.

We are attracted to conspiracy theories because we do have a genuine and valid feeling that all is not right with the world and nothing is what it seems. The alternative network seeks to capitalise on that universal feeling for their own gain whether that be personal gain or as schills for the powers that be.

[Sir Eltor]

There is no consensus , for many of us who know now , or the ones that have known for decades and decades .

[KiwiElf]

I'm with Bluegreen on that label! :)

[Lifebringer]

Remember the liars always come after the truth seekers. It's their lies to power, we expose. decades and decades of lie upon lie.

[Ewan]

There's been an ongoing slur on 'conspiracy theorists' since the 60's and very effective it is too. Mention the term and as often as not you can effectively shut down a conversation. I think it was only last year Cameron, (British PM), labelled the likes of 9/11 truthers every bit as dangerous as terrorists, (which in itself is a nonsense term preying on fear and ignorance). Cameron is right though, we are dangerous, dangerous to him and all other self-serving ego-maniacs. So yes, it is in their interest to demonise, marginalise and profile us as much as possible.

The more people beging to listen, begin to think, the more shaky the ground they stand on becomes. A more appropriate term would be free-thinker, and of course they are dangerous to any establishment built on obfuscation and downright lies.

[Marikins]

I bring your attention to this site below...do go and look about... check out the various lists on the page (click on "see all..") ... I was flabbergasted at some of the peeps they list! Talk about knots in one's stomach... I actually felt sick.

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files

MorningSong, I took a look at that site and it had the identical effect on me! Truly sickening.

[Baby Steps]

32927
There's been an ongoing slur on 'conspiracy theorists' since the 60's and very effective it is too. Mention the term and as often as not you can effectively shut down a conversation. I think it was only last year Cameron, (British PM), labelled the likes of 9/11 truthers every bit as dangerous as terrorists, (which in itself is a nonsense term preying on fear and ignorance). Cameron is right though, we are dangerous, dangerous to him and all other self-serving ego-maniacs. So yes, it is in their interest to demonise, marginalise and profile us as much as possible.

The more people begin to listen, begin to think, the more shaky the ground they stand on becomes. A more appropriate term would be free-thinker, and of course they are dangerous to any establishment built on obfuscation and downright lies.

I think people into this subject may be a bit more paranoid & intelligent than the norm. They have been profiled as people who had an unhappy childhood and lost their ability to trust. For me that may be true. But it's a spectrum, and those further down the spectrum, who are the vigilant citizens that we need are the canaries in the mine shaft, they perform a vital function, they are protectors of the more gullible. I find my mind constantly speculating about sinister processes that MAY BE going on behind the events of the day. But that experience has, over time, taught me to be more rigorous about EVIDENCE, and to use whatever logic I can muster to see through all the guff.

[AriG]

"Conspiracy Theorists" (although I find that term offensive- I am not a Conspiracy Theorist, I am an engaged human on Earth seeking to expose all Occult knowledge with evil intent), exist as a natural reaction to proven offenses by those in power. I need only cite one example:

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics_in_the_United_States


The American eugenics movement received extensive funding from various corporate foundations including the Carnegie Institution, Rockefeller Foundation, and the Harriman railroad fortune.[7] In 1906 J.H. Kellogg provided funding to help found the Race Betterment Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan.[10] The Eugenics Record Office (ERO) was founded in Cold Spring Harbor, New York in 1911 by the renowned biologist Charles B. Davenport, using money from both the Harriman railroad fortune and the Carnegie Institution. As late as the 1920s, the ERO was one of the leading organizations in the American eugenics movement.[10][14] In years to come, the ERO collected a mass of family pedigrees and concluded that those who were unfit came from economically and socially poor backgrounds. Eugenicists such as Davenport, the psychologist Henry H. Goddard, Harry H. Laughlin, and the conservationist Madison Grant (all well respected in their time) began to lobby for various solutions to the problem of the "unfit". Davenport favored immigration restriction and sterilization as primary methods; Goddard favored segregation in his The Kallikak Family; Grant favored all of the above and more, even entertaining the idea of extermination.[15] The Eugenics Record Office later became the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

This is happening again, on a much larger scale. " Kooky Conspiracy Theorist " you say? " That's not happening ", " You're paranoid "???


“Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.”
― Edmund Burke


And Eugenics in a world that has realized the Georgia Guidestones, is just one example of the sins of uncontrolled power being perpetrated against the unsuspecting "normal" people.

We are not "Conspiracy Theorists", we are Watchers, and we see.

[GrnEggsNHam]

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
-- Margaret Mead

I recently listened to an interview with Richard C. Hoagland and he asserts that Margaret's philosophy is the cornerstone for the Brookings Report. He states that in one of her books, and he may have even given the title, that she describes the disclosure of an alien presence to be detrimental to the populations mental health. Basically saying that the population would lose all morale and reason to live because there would be nothing new to discover anymore.

I think this is the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hTzlnDuo8I
Richard C. Hoagland, Evidence of a Type II Civilization in our Solar System, Millions of Years Old

[seah]

I've spoken about some of these points elsewhere but your post seemed an opportune time to collate all of my ideas about this topic in one spot. I have devoted many years to investigating and considering this issue in the context of the awakening process and so I think I bring a slightly different view to the table. I'm also aware that my view is quite different to others who present here.

The process of awakening has been somewhat hijacked by the Truthers. They have for the most part removed it from its original spiritual context and placed it solely within an openmindedness to conspiracy context. The problem is that openmindedness to conspiracy actually isn't a benchmark, overcoming the ego and living as your spiritual self is, and a natural consequence of that is a greater insight into the machinations of the world and understanding of human beings in general particularly those who are still 'asleep'.

Overcoming the ego and living as your spiritual self is NOT some arbitrary intellectual notion. It is a real and tangible experience. It can be FELT, not known, not thought, but felt and experienced. The awakening process means being awake to this real, tangible state which can be felt and experienced. You will be able to FEEL the chakras. You will be able to FEEL the nadis. You will be able to FEEL the energy flow, you will be able to FEEL your energy space, you will be able to FEEl the energy of the whole universe (or source or god or cosmic soup), you will be able to FEEL the energy of others. And it will be TERRIFYING, at first, primarily because being a spiritual or energetic being conflicts with our currently held views about our true natures and secondly because our energetic states are usually in such a state because they've been disregarded our entire lives as we've been acting from conditioning rather than as our actual selves.

When we completely actualise our true selves, we are free, we are safe, we are empowered. Importantly we SEE clearly and so we are a threat, to everyone. One thing you begin to discover fairly quickly is that nearly everyone has an agenda, from the 'I just want you to like me' agenda, way up to the 'I want to control the whole world' agenda. As such, we are apply our critical awareness to not just governmental, big business, or elitist agendas but also to those of the new age, truthers and alternative networks. What you discover is that these alternative networks don't want you to wake up any more than anyone else because pretty soon you will wake up to them and discover their agendas are more aligned with the powers that be than your own.

The alternative networks, by and large, use a strong, fear based paradigm. The government, big business, the elite, the illuminati, the zionists, aliens, archons, spirits, demons, the devil, scientists, are out to get you. Fear is the biggest enemy of our spiritual nature as it disrupts our base chakras. Our base chakra is the container for our fire chi. It is our fire chi which makes us feel strong, secure and empowered and enables us to act with surety and confidence. This also has the effect of us not knowing who we can trust and depend on which leads to monkey mind rumination where we try to work out what is real and true and what is not.

The alternative networks makes our enemies so big that we are virtually powerless to stop them and must instead wait for benevolent aliens, a sky god, or a magical energetic force to wipe them all out. Again, this message is disempowering in that it creates problems so big that we can never ever solve them leading to despondency and depression and also removes our own agency in addressing the issues which effect our lives.

The alternative networks create division by pitting country against country, culture against culture, gender against gender and alternative genders, political persuasion against political persuasion and so on. It creates problems which very often don't exist. It is a classic divide and conquer strategy and has been used for eons against the people to control and subjugate.

The alternative networks news and information is often so outlandish as to be unbelievable which sets their followers and proponents up for ridicule and leads to genuine concerns being ignored and dismissed. Further to this, there is so much information or misinformation, that it would take many many lifetimes to wade through it all rendering it virtually useless. The alternative networks escape persecution from this ridicule themselves because they have supportive networks and fans and followers behind them. We usually don't. We have partners and friends and family and co-workers who think we are nut jobs.

The alternative networks don't tend to provide any real or tangible solutions to the issues they've uncovered beyond 'awareness' and the magical solutions discussed earlier. The funny thing about changing the world, is that it requires actually changing the world. That means getting out at the grass roots level and doing the things that need to be done. Funny thing is, every alternative network is also presenting different problems committed by different people so even if we could get it together to do something we'd all be trying to fix different things and battling different enemies. Which all feeds back into the divide and conquer strategy.

It's also worth considering that the alternative network tells us that people that speak out end up dead or worse. And we've seen what happens to people who actually do reveal state secrets. Chelsea Manning is in gaol. Edward Snowden is in hiding. Julian Assange is stuck in the Ecuadorian prison. So why aren't any of the alternative networks under threat?

The alternative network is as falliable to human foibles as any other sector. They seek fame, fortune, glory and attention as much as anyone else and retaining the fame, fortune, glory and attention requires constant upkeep and the ability to remain relevant. They are under pressure to uncover as much as they can in order to keep themselves in the public eye and keep the public satisfied.

Further, where the alternative network has uncovered a solution to a problem, like alternative health solutions to big pharma, those industries stand to gain as much as big pharma stands to lose.

And lastly, they promote new age therapies which are hurtful, harmful and defeatist, such as manifestation, law of attraction, positive thinking and so on. Whilst many of them refer to our inherently spiritual nature, not one of them actually talks about how to awaken except in the vaguest of terms and the majority describe a process which does not match the actual experience so that those who actually are awakening think they are not since what they are experiencing is not matching what they were told to expect.

We are attracted to conspiracy theories because we do have a genuine and valid feeling that all is not right with the world and nothing is what it seems. The alternative network seeks to capitalise on that universal feeling for their own gain whether that be personal gain or as schills for the powers that be.

you truly make some valid points, that enhance my op, iamnoone. Thank you for taking the time to express yourself so clearly.


The process of awakening has been somewhat hijacked by the Truthers. agreed. In fact, I would say the process we (you and I) call "awakening" has been hijacked, too, by the new age religion, who make it all about their spiritual beliefs and not at all about the workings of the world. As you say, our insight grows to both.

One of the reasons I love solitude is this,
One thing you begin to discover fairly quickly is that nearly everyone has an agenda,it is a tedious venture.


So why aren't any of the alternative networks under threat? I suspect the reason may be what Gordon Duff of VT comes right out and acknowledges, that a high percentage of what is printed in alternative media is bogus. They feed the machine therefore are allowed to continue.

Thanks again.

[seah]

re Margaret Mead's philosophy and Hoagland asserting that Brookings Report is based on it, there is no telling how people are going to interpret anyone's opinions, but I am reasonably sure that Mead did not have nefarious intentions in that quote of hers. I don't necessarily stand behind all of what Hoagland has to say.

[happyuk]

I've always hated the word 'conspiracist'. It implies someone with a permanent bee in his bonnet and/or axe to grind, someone harbouring sour grapes. Or even just plain idiots.

I prefer to see us as grown adults who dislike being treated as children with special needs. And maybe people that have tired of the whole shooting match of spending and consuming and keeping up with the Joneses. Or sick of knowing exactly what has been going on, and having to pretend we don't so as not to encounter scorn and ridicule ("Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."), even though the temptation to shove a little reality under noses can be great sometimes. People so shallow you could go paddling in them...

After a lifetime of absorbing whatever old bollocks they try to foist upon us, there comes a point when something has to crack. We don't need to be told the Trade Center buildings came down because of terrorists, especially when the roof has already come down on "them"...

[araucaria]

The Latin word conspiro literally means to breathe together; it is cognate with notions like inspiro (breathe in/inspire), respiro (breathe in and out) perspiro (sweat) — all natural and indeed vital functions. Hence the primary meaning of conspiratio (Oxford Latin Dictionary, Vol I, p.459) is ‘an agreeing together, harmony, concord’, which is another vital function. The nefarious connotation that has developed as a secondary meaning does not describe a vital function, but a lethal one. So there is actually an underlying agreement on both sides of this argument: conspiracy in this negative sense is lethally bad for us. The disagreement lies in what we are doing about it: do we actually deal with this major problem affecting all of us, or do we attribute it solely to evil others out there, the enemy in various guises to be destroyed?
This original, primary sense now needs an adjective to distinguish it from the overweening secondary meaning; hence it is sometimes called the ‘spiritual conspiracy’: http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?48125-The-Spiritual-Conspiracy&p=532341&viewfull=1#post532341

As examples of harmony from breathing together, you find musicians playing together sym-phonically (sounding together), or women living under the same roof synchronizing their monthly periods. Anyone living under the same roof is literally conspiring in this positive sense. When harmony disappears, someone has to move out. The undermining of family as a value is thus one form of conspiratorial anti-conspiratorial mischief.

In other words, we are all con-spiring together, whether we like it or not, living under the same celestial roof. Since we are ultimately all on the same side — all family — we may view the situation from a diametrically opposed angle. Someone has to move out in any case: no problem with that, adult children naturally need to leave home; if they don’t, harmony will surely disappear. But if they do, harmony spreads, the family grows. Growth is the key, but the only growth we ever hear about is economic growth; the providers of that commodity are beginning to realize that they can no longer deliver. The next thing they need to understand is that that is exactly not what is needed. Economic growth — the conspiracy of elite corporate wealth — is the very thing that is stifling humanity as a whole. That is the one issue that otherwise capable governments around the globe are failing to deal with.