You are cherry picking the weakest part of conspiracies. Conspiracies are not limited to some weird paranoid ideas spouted by John Birch. Sure there is a lot of weird stuff out there. But that doesn't mean that all conspiracies are false. Be specific in what you're referring to, rather than lumping them all together and oversimplifying them.MrPeabody wrote: I revise my model of the world according to the evidence. For example, I have studied some of the conspiracy literature to the extent that I realized what a swamp it is, a swamp someone may never get out of. I also first heard of the Illuminati in the 1960s (probably before you were even born) because I grew up in a conservative small town and this theory was propagated by the John Birch Society. I listened to the 78 album set lying out the entire theory several times before I was even ten.
Have you considered that you are not really a truth seeker? I find your posts to be bombastic and using formulaic phrases and code words familiar to the conspiracy literature. I don't see anything organic or original in your writing.
Relate one real experience that you have with the subject matter, as opposed to something you have read? For example, has a member of the Illuminati every directly harmed you? Do you have any direct experience that doesn't come from a YouTube video or a website? Do you have personal knowledge of a conspiracy? Are you a direct witness to any conspiracy? Has David Rockefeller ever been rude to you? Anything?
The reason I challenge you here is because you hijacked this thread which was on a different subject. I have zero objections to people discussing theses subjects in the appropriate place of the forum. Thus, in that sense I am open-minded to the subject matter. I think people should be allowed to discuss these subjects as well as be able to discuss other subjects and not have this forced on them and told they are stupid when they complain.
I also think it is an enormous time waster and will not make people happier abroad. In fact, it will convince them they have no control of their lives and the world is an overwelmingly dangerous place - better to stay in mom's basement.
Like Momopi and wise Chinese people say, "Everything in moderation". Sure conspiracies can be a waste of time if they are all you study and you don't do anything else with your life. Anything can be a waste of time if you overdue it and don't balance it with other areas of life, such as exercise, health, learning other subjects, developing skills to become independent, etc.
But the point is, conspiracies are a REAL part of life and history and reality. So a truth seeker ought to know something about them. Truth is something each of us has to find for himself.
Yes, technically, odbo IS a truth seeker. Even if he's wrong, still, he SEEKS THE TRUTH, outside of conventional parameters, and that makes him a truth seeker, technically speaking, even if he's not right about everything. Who is?
Can you prove that your beliefs are more fact based than his?
What about the hard evidence proving conspiracies? Such as the proven connection between the CIA and drug smuggling? Or the declassified info that FDR knew about Pearl Harbor before it happened and let it happen so that the US can enter WWII? Or the fact that no one can replicate Lee Harvey Oswald's feat under the same conditions (See Jesse Ventura's Conspiracy Theory episode on JFK where Jesse attempts to replicate the feat under the same conditions and fails, even though Jesse is rated as an expert marksman). How do you explain that?
Let's DISCUSS EVIDENCE please, and not generalize all conspiracies as crazy.
What about the fact that modern photo-imaging technology has proven conclusively that SOME of the moon landing videos and photos were faked and altered? I can name several photo experts who have concluded this. It's been proven. The only question is WHY NASA would fake photos and videos of the moon missions. There are so many unanswered questions about this conspiracy subject.
How do you explain that?
The Fox TV Special "Did we land on the moon" which aired in 2001, makes a lot of compelling points and evidence suggesting that the moon missions were faked, which NASA HAS NOT explained and which Apollo defenders have muddled with pseudo-techno-babble. You can watch it here. It's only 45 minutes and is very convincing and well done. See it for yourself here.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1561633304#
I challenge you to discuss real evidence here. Please discuss SPECIFIC EVIDENCE please, and not lump all conspiracy ideas into one category and call it a "kooky waste of time" and dismiss it all with the wave of an ignorant hand. That is insulting to our intelligence.