The Conspiracy Chart. Where are YOU on it?

[flowerthief00]

^ Yeah, your head isn't right. Not because you just went off about "evil metaphysical beings" and "interdimensional beings" and "zionist elites" being "inhuman and demonic", but because you committed the logical error of placing the burden of proof for all this (aka argument from ignorance, aka impossible to prove a negative) on me. We get it. Everyone else is blind and needs bifocals. We can't see what YOU can see.

[flowerthief00]

I don't expect you to provide any proof. No such proof can be given either way. And that was my point. You talk as if the idea of things outside of the materialist science worldview are definitely wrong. Not only wrong, but worthy of ridicule.

Hey, you were the one who used the word "idiot" first.

No, you were trying to shift burden of proof there. Whether you are trying to shift it to the "denial" side or trying to shift it to the middle, that's still shifting it. I'm not gonna believe a claim someone makes if they can't provide compelling evidence for it.

Similarly, if I were to boast to you that I could transform into a werewolf at will, you wouldn't believe my claim simply because you can't prove me wrong. (I hope you wouldn't) Burden of proving that I'm a shapeshifting werewolf would be on me, not on you.

We don't accept as true every claim we hear simply because we can't give proof either way. We default to absence of belief. Otherwise we would be obligated to believe in an infinite number of false and absurd claims.

And that's my position on reptilian overlords. You call it "denial" but it is simply absence of belief.

It's similar to why I believe that between an atheist and a Christian debating the existence of a God the atheist always tends to be more irrational in their belief. They tend to be people who outright deny any idea of paranormal phenomenon, religion or alternative ideas and are set in their ways.

Seriously? Every time I see an atheist and Christian debate I start feeling embarrassed for the Christian because of how badly he's getting wrecked.

How far would your denial go? Would you change your mind if you had an encounter with a ghost or poltergeist or anything like that? Or would you persistently cling to your current worldview?

What the? I don't know why you're asking this. I'm pretty sure I didn't deny the existence of ghosts anywhere in this thread. If you're asking whether I'd believe that I saw a ghost if I were to see a ghost, then I guess?? Really, it would depend on how we are defining "ghost", and how the alleged ghost does or does not meet the definition of the term, as well as on my mental state, and probably other factors. I don't find this hypothetical useful.

[flowerthief00]

Just out of interest @Flowerthief00 have you ever done any research of your own into the theory of reptilians?

No.

Have you ever done any research of your own into the theory that I can transform into a werewolf?

It's quite okay to not research every wild thing you hear. No one has time for that, and if a new theory really has that much evidence going for it, eventually it will get widespread recognition as such.

Overall though the argument for intelligent design is one which resonates with me personally.

Intelligent design isn't a scientific theory. You'd rather believe that when there's a scientific theory available to explain the origins of life?

Most people who adopt the atheist worldview often lack these traits and instead are happy to blindly accept a model of reality promoted by the materialist high priests of atheism. These types of people often ridicule alterative viewpoints and dismiss anyone who suggests they COULD be real, like the idea of a creator god or reptilian overlords, as batshit crazy lunatics who deserve to be mocked. I bet most people who mock these alternate viewpoints never even do any of their own research first, and therefore have no knowledge on the subject or a cause to see it as worthy of ridicule. Often, their views are based on ignorance. That is why they are idiots. How can they argue against something which they have no knowledge about?

If anything the opposite strikes me as more the case. Quite a lot of atheists (myself included) once did believe in a god, but through research and critical thinking and honest challenging of their own beliefs arrived at the counter conclusion.

Nor is it true that atheists lack knowledge of religions. Atheists know more about religions than the religious do.

I would hazard a guess that you are the type of person who mocks the flat earth theory as well, seeing it as nothing but an archaic and outdated model and it's proponents are nothing but mindless idiots. If we are talking about the burden of proof then flat earthers have provided proof for how their model could work using experiments which demonstrate the Faraday Effect etc. Upon proper research into the topic you can see that the model isn't as stupid as people claim.

Are you even being serious? If there's any CT you can take to the bank as being unequivocally false, it's that one. We have reams and reams of data that tell us the Earth is round. (going back thousands of years!) There's hardly any natural phenomena in all of science that we are more sure of than that the Earth is round. Belief in flat earth theories is all but tantamount to a rejection of science itself. It's like the pinnacle of science denial.

But like any conspiracy theory, I think most of them stem from a complete distrust of the system.

On that we can agree. Hardcore conspiracy theorists seem to have such an extreme irrational distrust of "the system" that they can hand wave away entire disciplines of study. It's usually pointless to debate with such people since the real issue isn't actually the one we're debating. The real issue is, as you said, the question of trust.

I have some conspiracy theories I will post below and if you're game I would like you to place each of them on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 being the most rational and 5 being batshit crazy and completely on another planet. Others are also welcome to take part if they like.

Here are the conspiracy theories:

1. Flat Earth.

2. The Moon Landing.

3. Princess Diana Murdered.

4. Twin Towers Were An Inside Job.

5. Reptilian Overlords Rule The World.

6. The Lottery Is A Trap To Catch Out Time Travellers.

7. Covid 19 Is A Scam.

1. 5
2. 4
3. 2 or 3
4. 3 or 4
5. 5
6. Never heard this one but it sounds like a 4
7. 2