Conspiracy Theories And World Politics Thread

[KRYPTON INC.]

Ask a certain type of American today to explain the state of their nation and the world and chances are high that more than once their go to anwers will contain more than one irrational and paranoid conspiracy theory. Talk to many on the streets of Cairo and you will likely get a narrative that places the government of the U.K. as the wellspring of all that nations current problems. Go to China and discuss the outbreak of Covid-19 that originated in Wuhan and you will hear the unfounded, nonsensical and Chinese government backed theory that in fact Covid-19 was brought into China via American service members. Wealthy philanthropist George Soros is not just the subject of conspiracy theories in the U.S.A. He's the target for those believing out and out lies about him promoted by his birth country of Hungary's own current government.


Conspiracy theories are not just concepts that make for good thrillers or sci fi. They aren't even fringe, if they ever were. Conspriacy theories are right now the animating force in far too many political movements seeking to change their governments or used as tools by the powers that be to deflect public attention from the powerful and influential.


At any given moment in the last 30 years conspiracy theories have actually been a large motivating factor in the concerns of electorates all over the globe.

This thread is dedicated to discussion about the conspiracy theories, past and present, that have or are taking on a life of their own and via osmosis are being absorbed into the body politic to the point that even the most insane ideas have to actually be debated or fought over in the public square, and whether or not each one has any merits or validity to them, and how and why they get accepted or rejected by individuals and groups. And of course, we should also discuss if the widespread belief in these conspiracies is positive or negative.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

This video is long and you may wonder exactly what Flat Earthers have to do with politics directly.

If you want to jump to the meat of the political/social analysis jump to the 36:00 mark. Because that's where we get into the phenomenon known as "Q" in the current political climate and the hows and whys of this rebranding of various Conspiracy Theory smears like the Blood Libel against those of Jewish anscestry or the Satanic Panic of the late 70's and 80's.

With the world of online media we now live in an environment where misinformation and paranoid delusions can spread at the speed of light. So, having sprung from the bowels of the Internet (4 Chan) into the popular consciousness of the Right Wing of the poltical spectrum, the Q conspiracy is now embraced, and without any shame I might add, by too many in positions of power and influence or those in or seeking elected office.

The free floating Anti-Semitism that was part of European culture for centuries eventually progressed to the point that by the 20th Century the attempt at killing all those who would identify as Jewish was being carried out on a literal industrial scale. And they didn't have the Internet and social media then.

My belief right now is that we will have to deal with these people on a society wide basis in the near future regarless of the outcome of the 2020 American Presidential election. And frankly, this was always going to happen given the slide of Right Wing politics into its form today. From the time Bill Clinton took office there was a strong sentiment on the Right that America needed a purging of anything that was not in total alignment with Reactionary world views on almost every single subject one can imagine.

History conspired (heh) to put us off truly confronting this threat to American civic and political life. While things like the Oklahoma City bombing and the Olympic Park bombing of 1996 made more people focus on what exactly was happening at the fringes of the conservative movement and how it was spreading into the mainstream, the contested election of the year 2000 and then the attacks of September 11th, 2001 sucked the oxygen out of most of the other poltical conversations of that time, or the response to the attacks subsumed those debates and concerns we were having. The fringe Right types now had a "far enemy" to dedicate themselves to. Remember how every single small town in the U.S. thought they were gonna be the target of a Muslim terrorist action between 2002 and 2008? Once that faded from the zeitgeist though, where did the Reactionary fringe reset their targeting computers to zero in on? Yup. The struggle against the "near enemy".


And so we come to repackaged paranoia for the 21st Century media"savy" American that has the greatest hits of enemies on its target list. And if this were just a popular but ultimately impotent movement like say, Flat Earthers, it would be sad and silly but we could all move on with our lives. As anyone paying actually attention the last few years can tell you, this mindset is not at all impotent when flexing their powers in the sphere of politics. The idea that very soon, the sitting president will call upon law enforcement to arrest, coast to coast, a grab bag of elected officals, business people, entertainers, journalists and varying other private citizens, is a more widely accepted pillar of a large swath of the American public's world view than I think all of us are willing to admit right now, but we better get over that squeamishness soon.


This is how a large chunk of our fellow citizens actually thinks, and as in the past, this delusion, this belief in conspiracy theories will lead to a lot of dead people if we get complacent.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Once again, this starts out as seeming just about "Flat Earth" but it implies a lot about how Reactionary Conspiracy theories get a chance at life and being spread around online and via Youtube in particular.

Why concern ourselves with this? Because the speed at which movements based around completly delusional ideas is mind blowing these days. Flat Earth was a fringe concept, but it was also a mostly "dead" idea in society... Until just a few years ago. Fast forward to Feburary of this year (Yeah... I know, it feels like 15 years ago but it was only Feb.) and you have someone who lost their life from a Flat Earther funded attempt at creating a home made rocket which they assumed would prove the lack of curvature of the planet. If you look further into the Flat Earth subculture you'll quickly see the same "evil doers" in their narrative as you do in most Reactionary political views on history and politics. And I need to stress this... The folks who are getting into this, they aren't out of it "boomers". A far too large portion is made up of those well under 50years old, which is too say, people that grew up in the most media saturated era ever and whom the computer to them was what the TV was to the Boomer generation... A ubiquitous feature of life that most can barely remember a time without. This is the generation that should be the most savy about social media and the internet who still fall prey to the most ridiculous of conspiracy theories promoted there.


Look around your world right now.

All this is what happens when people believe in things that simply are not so.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

A very good rundown and analysis of the Q phenomenon.

The Prophecies of Q


Somewhat depressing in the article, it recounts a period of mass shootings in the U.S. where the killers all either referred to a conspiracy theory or uploaded a "manifesto" to some community online where the very identity of the place is intertwined with fringe conspiracy belief.

Why bring it up?

Because Q is not merely like the Alien/Area 51 conspiracy theories or the JFK assasination ones. Evangelizing for Q and the constant girding of one's loins for the coming "storm" are hallmarks of this movement. In other words it's built in premise is action or preparring for action.

The Q Brigade truly at this moment believes it's in a fight against the shadowy powers of darkness. A big chunk of them won't just melt back into the recesses of the Internet.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Conspiracy Theorists Are Complaining After 5G 'Blockers' They Bought Slowed Down Their Internet

 

[InCali]

This video is long and you may wonder exactly what Flat Earthers have to do with politics directly.

If you want to jump to the meat of the political/social analysis jump to the 36:00 mark. Because that's where we get into the phenomenon known as "Q" in the current political climate and the hows and whys of this rebranding of various Conspiracy Theory smears like the Blood Libel against those of Jewish anscestry or the Satanic Panic of the late 70's and 80's.

With the world of online media we now live in an environment where misinformation and paranoid delusions can spread at the speed of light. So, having sprung from the bowels of the Internet (4 Chan) into the popular consciousness of the Right Wing of the poltical spectrum, the Q conspiracy is now embraced, and without any shame I might add, by too many in positions of power and influence or those in or seeking elected office.

The free floating Anti-Semitism that was part of European culture for centuries eventually progressed to the point that by the 20th Century the attempt at killing all those who would identify as Jewish was being carried out on a literal industrial scale. And they didn't have the Internet and social media then.

My belief right now is that we will have to deal with these people on a society wide basis in the near future regarless of the outcome of the 2020 American Presidential election. And frankly, this was always going to happen given the slide of Right Wing politics into its form today. From the time Bill Clinton took office there was a strong sentiment on the Right that America needed a purging of anything that was not in total alignment with Reactionary world views on almost every single subject one can imagine.

History conspired (heh) to put us off truly confronting this threat to American civic and political life. While things like the Oklahoma City bombing and the Olympic Park bombing of 1996 made more people focus on what exactly was happening at the fringes of the conservative movement and how it was spreading into the mainstream, the contested election of the year 2000 and then the attacks of September 11th, 2001 sucked the oxygen out of most of the other poltical conversations of that time, or the response to the attacks subsumed those debates and concerns we were having. The fringe Right types now had a "far enemy" to dedicate themselves to. Remember how every single small town in the U.S. thought they were gonna be the target of a Muslim terrorist action between 2002 and 2008? Once that faded from the zeitgeist though, where did the Reactionary fringe reset their targeting computers to zero in on? Yup. The struggle against the "near enemy".


And so we come to repackaged paranoia for the 21st Century media"savy" American that has the greatest hits of enemies on its target list. And if this were just a popular but ultimately impotent movement like say, Flat Earthers, it would be sad and silly but we could all move on with our lives. As anyone paying actually attention the last few years can tell you, this mindset is not at all impotent when flexing their powers in the sphere of politics. The idea that very soon, the sitting president will call upon law enforcement to arrest, coast to coast, a grab bag of elected officals, business people, entertainers, journalists and varying other private citizens, is a more widely accepted pillar of a large swath of the American public's world view than I think all of us are willing to admit right now, but we better get over that squeamishness soon.


This is how a large chunk of our fellow citizens actually thinks, and as in the past, this delusion, this belief in conspiracy theories will lead to a lot of dead people if we get complacent.

If the earth is flat, how deep is it? Wouldn't that make it a box or cylinder earth? Maybe it's a box/cylinder earth and it has sort of rounded edges.

I still have a hard time believing that people REALLY think this is the case. I figure they're just saying it to screw with us.

 

[Hobgoblin]

I was told by in laws that they taught their kids to question everything. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but sometimes the alternative answers that people come up with are crazy. At the same time, the claims aren’t always provable so the rumors go on.


People don’t trust the people in power, which is sometimes understandable. The powerful don’t always have the best intentions and they have done themselves no favors in earning the public’s trust. We know that deals are made between the powerful and that’s really all that some people need to believe in a conspiracy. A theorist becomes emotionally attached to the theory and their passion attracts the attention of others.

The passion behind the theory overrides the plausibility of it and those that criticize the conspiracy are “one of them.” As a kid, my friend told me about the chemtrail theory. When I told my father, a mechanic for United Airlines, he smirked and said that the lines behind the airplanes was nothing but exhaust. I think my buddy got the chemtrail idea from his dad, a Vietnam vet. But that sets up the “who do you trust” argument and obviously that sets up the division between believers and doubters.
In college a classmate said he questioned a representative that visited his school about subliminal messages in TV commercials to make viewers buy more. The rep said the companies that buy airtime spend enough money on a proven, legitimate method to spend money on a crackpot theory. Again, do you trust the politician to tell you the truth? His claim is unprovable and he may be “one of them.”

We don’t just not trust the elites, we don’t trust each other. In grad school I heard the theory that African Americans were allowed to die in hospitals so their organs could be harvested. As a delivery driver, I delivered to a mechanic that was always watching Fox News or videos on YouTube. He was watching Louis Farrakhan and said mockingly, “Ohhh, he’s an angry black man! And they’re trying to make more of them!” He didn’t say who “they” are.

Everyone is out to get you, is what they think. Even when a conspiracy is true, they still wonder what is “really” going on. There was a conspiracy to bring down the World Trade Center...but it was created by al Qaida, not George Bush. Of course, a conspiracy theorist will cite Operation Northwoods and say the US government always had such plans for it’s citizens. That’s when we come back to not trusting those in power and not being able to prove a theory as wrong. It’s the small possibility of a conspiracy being true that keeps it alive.

 

[Iceman]

Why can’t they question the conspiracy theories with the same vigour is what I always find confusing.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

*Edit Tweet had non Hype approved language.


The psychological spiral of all these paranoid delusional people will haunt us in the US for decades.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I'm a paranoid schizophrenic (on meds) and I always jokingly said I like conspiracy theories because they keep me on my toes but it's terrifying how convinced people are of conspiracy theories without any proof or verification.

What's even scarier is how successful authoritarians are at weaponizing conspiracy theories to deligitimize anyone in the fact checking business (journalists, academics, scientists, etc).

 

[writer0327]

Never thought I'd say this, but Vive La France!

'Out-of-control woke leftism and cancel culture' in US is a threat to FRANCE, French politicians say | Daily Mail Online

 

[moviedoors]

There's a conversation to be had about the way white liberals bleat about in the name of demographics they don't belong too, but at the same time, nothing makes me roll my eyes harder than the rich, the privileged, the famous, and the powerful moaning about cancel culture.

 

[Donner]

Never thought I'd say this, but Vive La France!

'Out-of-control woke leftism and cancel culture' in US is a threat to FRANCE, French politicians say | Daily Mail Online

That was the stupidest article I ever read. So the French don't like people learning about colonialism in universities? Too forking bad. Their history in Vietnam is bad enough and the atrocities committed by Europeans in Asian and African countries should be taught far and wide.

Pathetic.

 

[writer0327]

That was the stupidest article I ever read. So the French don't like people learning about colonialism in universities? Too ****ing bad. Their history in Vietnam is bad enough and the atrocities committed by Europeans in Asian and African countries should be taught far and wide.

Pathetic.

I just find it interesting that the American influence that French leaders seem to be worried about isn't coming from the right, but from the left. Color me surprised.

Makes ya wonder why...

 

[moviedoors]

I just find it interesting that the American influence that French leaders seem to be worried about isn't coming from the right, but from the left. Color me surprised.

Makes ya wonder why...

I don't think you're being quite obvious enough.

 

[InCali]

Conspiracy Theorists Are Complaining After 5G 'Blockers' They Bought Slowed Down Their Internet

Take the challenge.....

Never underestimate the intelligence of the American voter.

The funniest thing isn't that there are these incredibly stupid people. It's that there are these people who are getting rich off them. I'm in the wrong business. LMFAO.

 

[InCali]

@KRYPTON INC. Thanks to you, I have just spent about 15 minutes watching Flat Earth YouTube videos. Is there a way to find someone who is serious about this? I'm having a hard time figuring out whether they are making fun of Flat Earthers or not.....

 

[InCali]

This is actually kind of a fun thread. You get to make fun of people and don't have to worry about big red letter threat posts from those people whose names are in a funny color.

So, I find myself a little bit confused. When they are trying to block 5G are they talking about Gen 5 cellular tech or 5Ghz Wifi......or don't they know the difference? I kinda have some bad news for people who are trying to block 5G by putting a cage around their router......their router doesn't provide 5G service. I know this is going to sound crazy, but if they are talking about the 5Ghz signal their router emits, they might consider going into the router configuration and disabling the 5Ghz access point unless they like funny hats and suits and are trying to make a fashion statement. Maybe a better idea would just be to build a cage that blocks everything and have little faraday gloves that poke out so you can type and mouse on your computer (or maybe figure out voice recognition that actually works). Don't forget to add a bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom in the cage. You can put all your electronic devices outside the cage and never be affected by their harmful effects.

Just remember, for health and safety reasons, to never go outside for a walk. I'm feeling like something of an expert on this subject and am considering writing a book to advise people how to avoid these harmful emissions and selling it on Amazon. I probably shouldn't have said that as someone on here will probably steal my idea.

 

[Donner]

I just find it interesting that the American influence that French leaders seem to be worried about isn't coming from the right, but from the left. Color me surprised.

Makes ya wonder why...

Uh huh. Sure. You just find it interesting.

Also, the Daily Mail isn't exactly unbiased media. Maybe try finding this story on a different platform to see if it's even accurate.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

G

I just find it interesting that the American influence that French leaders seem to be worried about isn't coming from the right, but from the left. Color me surprised.

Makes ya wonder why...

I find it interesting that you are so very, very obviously always arguing in bad faith.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Uh huh. Sure. You just find it interesting.

Also, the Daily Mail isn't exactly unbiased media. Maybe try finding this story on a different platform to see if it's even accurate.

Literally spreading conspiracy theories maybe?

 

[writer0327]

Uh huh. Sure. You just find it interesting.

Also, the Daily Mail isn't exactly unbiased media. Maybe try finding this story on a different platform to see if it's even accurate.

Is the NY Times accurate these days? Honest question....

Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some of Its Leaders Think So

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

This is actually kind of a fun thread. You get to make fun of people and don't have to worry about big red letter threat posts from those people whose names are in a funny color.

So, I find myself a little bit confused. When they are trying to block 5G are they talking about Gen 5 cellular tech or 5Ghz Wifi......or don't they know the difference? I kinda have some bad news for people who are trying to block 5G by putting a cage around their router......their router doesn't provide 5G service. I know this is going to sound crazy, but if they are talking about the 5Ghz signal their router emits, they might consider going into the router configuration and disabling the 5Ghz access point unless they like funny hats and suits and are trying to make a fashion statement. Maybe a better idea would just be to build a cage that blocks everything and have little faraday gloves that poke out so you can type and mouse on your computer (or maybe figure out voice recognition that actually works). Don't forget to add a bathroom, kitchen, and bedroom in the cage. You can put all your electronic devices outside the cage and never be affected by their harmful effects.

Just remember, for health and safety reasons, to never go outside for a walk. I'm feeling like something of an expert on this subject and am considering writing a book to advise people how to avoid these harmful emissions and selling it on Amazon. I probably shouldn't have said that as someone on here will probably steal my idea.

Tech in society seems to always bring with it a level of mistrust or paranoia.

Often it is understandable. Other times it evokes something really irrational.

You ever read Neal Stephenson's CRYPTONOMICON?

 

[writer0327]

G

I find it interesting that you are so very, very obviously always arguing in bad faith.

Okay, I admit at being a bit facetious (at times) but I do just find this interesting. One of America's top exports has always been our culture, it was something we used pride ourselves in and try and spread across the world. It makes me wonder how our country's prominent cultural and social views are being received in other countries, if more countries will begin to speak out like France's leaders, and what impact, if any, that might have over here.

 

[KRYPTON INC.]

Is the NY Times accurate these days? Honest question....

Will American Ideas Tear France Apart? Some of Its Leaders Think So

Yes... There is a rising reactionary tide based on the fragile egos of people whose identity is tied to a non factual and mythic POV of history and current society and there are politicians willing to play to that audience for votes.

We have been paying attention.

Some of the most motivating myths that activate the Reactionaries are unfounded conspiracy theories.