Conspiracy Theory: The High Art of Exaggeration
Saturday, July 16th, 2011 - by Terry MelansonUpdates have been few and far between on this site for quite some time. Not because I haven’t been trying to find suitable material. Basically, the problem is this: my BS-detector has matured. Scepticism at the outset is actually a good thing.
Often I come across an article or video I would like to share; people send me stuff too, written by themselves or others. Upon closer inspection, however, errors or exaggerations abound. Many times this is due to the fact that the reporter of said material is somewhat of a newbie who has come across something that just blows their mind and feels duty-bound to inform others – immediately – never bothering to check if it is actually true or not. I used to be that way myself.
I’ve been a “conspiracy theory” consumer since the early 1990s and a “conspiracy theorist” web-writer/webmaster since the year 2000. A good chunk of what I believed in the early days of my indoctrination – let’s face it, that’s exactly what it is – has turned out to be wrong. So much so, that if I went back and re-read some of the material previously consumed, I would probably cringe in disgust every second page and not be able to finish.
The basic premise is sound, however. Conspiracy is a fact of nature. Animals and humans all conspire in some manner or other. Wolves are a good example. A raiding pack will march into another’s territory in a conspiracy to topple the alpha male, killing him and the other top dogs, to gain mating rights and larger hunting grounds. Sound familiar?
On occasion humans are more sophisticated than animals. We not only conspire, we weave incredibly detailed stories about how the other guy is conspiring against us. In an effort to persuade, data is cherry picked and fitted nicely into a plausible narrative according to a preconceived notion. As long as you have certain beliefs and dislikes in common, the story will be more believable. You’ll also be less inclined to question it.
I don’t want to make this into a long essay about the mentality of “conspiracy theorists.” The academics and the so-called “journalists” have already done it ad nauseam.
The bottom line is this: any story claims to present you with certain facts. Upon closer scrutiny, they either hold water or not. The idiom the “devil is in the details,” so sayeth Wikipedia, actually derives from an earlier one – “God is in the details”: expressing “the idea that whatever one does should be done thoroughly; i.e. details are important.”
I wholeheartedly agree with this, and try my best to incorporate it into all aspects of my life.
So should you…. And maybe these guys too. (Can you spot the BS in the details?)
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How bout this for a bonking helping of conspiratainment? Prepping up for a “Legitamate … protest [against] the Illuminazis sacrafice of children before the owl of moloch.” Pure gold
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